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Estimated Energy Requirement Calculator

Enter your sex, age, weight, height, and activity level to estimate your daily energy needs.

How it is calculated

The tool uses the Institute of Medicine equations for maintaining weight in adults. Women: EER = 354 - 6.91 × age + PA × (9.36 × weight + 726 × height). Men: EER = 662 - 9.53 × age + PA × (15.91 × weight + 539.6 × height). Age is in years, weight in kilograms, and height is entered in centimetres and converted to metres inside the formula. PA is the activity coefficient: sedentary 1.00, low active 1.11 (men) or 1.12 (women), active 1.25 or 1.27, very active 1.48 or 1.45. The result is kcal per day, rounded to a whole number, shown with the coefficient used. These are adult equations, so ages below 19 (or above 120), and zero or negative weight or height, give no result. If no sex is chosen the male equation is used, and an unrecognised activity level falls back to "active".

Worked example

A woman aged 35, 65 kg, 165 cm (1.65 m), low active (PA 1.12). Step 1, age term: 354 - 6.91 × 35 = 354 - 241.85 = 112.15. Step 2, inside the brackets: 9.36 × 65 = 608.4 and 726 × 1.65 = 1197.9, which add to 1806.3. Step 3: 1806.3 × 1.12 = 2022.99. Total = 112.15 + 2022.99 = 2135.14, which the tool shows as 2,135 kcal/day. That is the estimate for holding her current weight, not a target for losing or gaining.

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Common mistakes

  • Entering height in metres or inches. The field is centimetres, so 1.65 gives a result that is far too low.
  • Entering weight in pounds. The field is kilograms.
  • Choosing a higher activity level than the week really contains. The coefficient multiplies the whole bracket, so one level too high adds several hundred kcal.
  • Leaving sex unselected without noticing that the male equation is then used.
  • Treating the output as a fixed calorie target. It is an estimate for weight maintenance in a healthy adult; deficits, surpluses, pregnancy and medical conditions need separate guidance.

Sources

About this calculator

The Estimated Energy Requirement (EER) comes from equations published by the US Institute of Medicine's Dietary Reference Intakes, which predict the calories needed to maintain current weight in a healthy person based on sex, age, weight, height and a physical activity coefficient reflecting sedentary through very active lifestyles — separate formulas apply for men and women.

Registered dietitians use the EER as a starting point for calorie counseling and weight-management plans, nutrition students learn it as the standard reference method taught alongside simpler formulas like Harris-Benedict or Mifflin-St Jeor, and individuals use it to estimate their own daily calorie needs for maintenance, surplus or deficit goals. In 2023 the National Academies published updated Dietary Reference Intakes for Energy with new equations; this tool uses the earlier 2005 IOM equations, which can give somewhat different figures.

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