How to Find Your Maintenance Calories

Maintenance calories — sometimes called your total daily energy expenditure (TDEE) — are calculated by combining your basal metabolic rate (BMR) with the energy you burn through daily movement and exercise. Your BMR is the number of calories your body burns at complete rest just to keep basic functions running: breathing, circulation, cell repair, and so on.

Estimating your BMR

Several widely-used formulas estimate BMR from your weight, height, age, and biological sex. The Mifflin-St Jeor equation is one of the most commonly referenced in general nutrition guidance. The resulting number is then multiplied by an activity factor — sedentary, lightly active, moderately active, and so on — to give you an estimated daily maintenance figure.

Because these are statistical estimates, not precise measurements, the number you get is a starting point, not a fixed target. Body composition, hormonal factors, gut health, and medication effects can all influence how many calories your body actually uses on any given day. It is worth treating the result as a useful reference range rather than an exact figure to hit.

How GLP-1 medicines may affect your energy needs

Many people taking Mounjaro or Wegovy notice their appetite changes noticeably, which often leads to eating significantly less than before. If your intake drops well below your maintenance level for an extended period, your BMR can gradually adjust downward too — a common reason why progress can slow over time. Tracking your actual intake alongside your weight trend helps you spot these patterns early. For more on what maintenance calories mean in practice and how to use your estimate, that guide goes deeper into the concepts. You may also find it helpful to read about working out your maintenance calories step by step if you want a more detailed walkthrough of the calculation itself.

Estimating calories burned through activity

Beyond BMR, the calories you burn through movement vary day to day. Wearable fitness trackers and step counters give a rough guide, though all calorie-burn estimates carry a margin of error. What matters most is consistency in how you track, so you can spot trends over time rather than relying on any single day's figure. For practical guidance on finding your daily calorie intake, including how to log food accurately, that page covers the food-side of the equation in full.

Once you have a maintenance estimate, the most useful thing you can do is compare it against what you are actually eating — and that is where accurate, effortless food logging makes the real difference.

GLP Trackr's AI photo scan lets you point your phone camera at a meal and get an instant breakdown of calories, protein, and macros without manual entry. On days when appetite is low and eating feels like a chore, removing the friction from logging means you are far more likely to keep consistent records. You can also use the barcode scanner or search for foods manually when photo scanning is not practical.

Alongside food logging, the app lets you set a calorie target based on your goals — whether that is sitting at maintenance, a moderate deficit, or gradually moving toward maintenance as you approach your target weight. Your daily and weekly summaries show how your actual intake tracks against that number over time, so you can see patterns rather than reacting to a single day's data.

For a joined-up view of the whole picture — calories in, calories burned, weight trend, and progress — the calorie deficit tracker hub brings together all the related tools and guides in one place. And if you want to go further into defining your personal intake target, the guide on finding your daily calorie intake is a practical next step.

General educational calorie ranges are useful context, but the right target for you depends on your individual health history, any other conditions you have, and what your prescriber has recommended. Always follow the guidance of your prescriber or doctor when making decisions about your intake — they know your full picture in a way a calculator cannot.

Ready to put your maintenance estimate to work? GLP Trackr makes it simple to log every meal and watch how your intake compares to your goals, day by day. Download it free on the App Store or Google Play and explore all the tracking features with a 7-day free trial.