# Calorie Calculator: TDEE, BMR and Your Daily Calorie Target

Estimate your BMR and TDEE with the Mifflin-St Jeor formula, get a daily calorie target to lose, keep or gain weight, a protein range, and hawker meal comparisons.

Interactive tool: https://lookup.sg/tools/calorie-calculator

## How this works
BMR (basal metabolic rate, the energy you use at rest) is estimated with the Mifflin-St Jeor equation: 10 × weight in kg + 6.25 × height in cm − 5 × age, plus 5 for men or minus 161 for women. TDEE (total daily energy expenditure, your maintenance calories) is BMR multiplied by a standard activity factor, from 1.2 for a desk job with little exercise to 1.9 for a physical job plus training.

The weight-change targets add or subtract a fixed amount from TDEE: 500 kcal a day less for about 0.5 kg a week, 250 kcal for about 0.25 kg, using the common rule of thumb that a kilogram of body fat holds about 7,700 kcal. Real loss slows over time as your body adapts, so treat the number as a starting point and adjust after two or three weeks of weighing yourself.

Protein is shown as 0.8 g per kg of body weight (the usual minimum for adults) up to 1.6 g per kg, the level beyond which a 2018 meta-analysis found no extra muscle gain from strength training. Hawker meal calories are the Health Promotion Board's published figures per plate. All results are estimates for healthy adults; pregnancy, medical conditions and teenagers need individual advice.

## FAQs
### How many calories should I eat to lose weight?
Eat about 500 kcal a day below your TDEE to lose roughly 0.5 kg a week. For a 30-year-old man who is 170 cm, 70 kg and lightly active, TDEE is about 2,220 kcal, so the target is about 1,720 kcal a day.

### What is the difference between BMR and TDEE?
BMR is the energy you burn at complete rest, while TDEE adds your daily activity. A 30-year-old woman who is 160 cm and 60 kg has a BMR of about 1,290 kcal and a TDEE of about 2,000 kcal if she exercises 3 to 5 days a week.

### How many calories are in a plate of chicken rice?
The Health Promotion Board puts chicken rice with the skin removed at 635 kcal a plate and roasted duck rice at 714 kcal. Fish soup bee hoon without milk is one of the lighter hawker options at 326 kcal.

### How much protein do I need a day?
Most adults need at least 0.8 g of protein per kg of body weight, so 56 g for a 70 kg person. If you do regular strength training, up to about 1.6 g per kg (112 g at 70 kg) helps build muscle; more than that brings little extra benefit.

## Sources
- [Mifflin MD, St Jeor ST et al. A new predictive equation for resting energy expenditure in healthy individuals. Am J Clin Nutr 1990](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/2305711/)
- [HPB (HealthHub): Cut 100 calories from each meal every day, hawker dish calories](https://www.healthhub.sg/live-healthy/cut-100-calories-from-each-meal-every-day--without-going-hungry)
- [Morton RW et al. Protein supplementation and resistance training: a meta-analysis. Br J Sports Med 2018](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28698222/)

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