How to Calculate the Calories You Burn
There is no single device or formula that gives a perfectly precise answer, but several reliable methods let you build a good working estimate.
Step 1 — Estimate your basal metabolic rate (BMR)
Your BMR is the number of calories your body burns just keeping itself alive: breathing, circulating blood, maintaining temperature. The most widely cited estimation formula is the Mifflin-St Jeor equation, which takes your weight, height, age, and sex into account. Online calculators based on this formula give a solid starting point. See our calorie calculator hub for an interactive tool you can use right now.
Step 2 — Apply an activity multiplier
Your BMR is then scaled up by an activity factor — ranging from sedentary (desk work, little movement) to very active (physical job or daily intense training). Multiplying your BMR by the appropriate factor produces your TDEE: the total calories your body burns on an average day.
- Sedentary (little or no exercise): BMR × 1.2
- Lightly active (light exercise 1–3 days/week): BMR × 1.375
- Moderately active (exercise 3–5 days/week): BMR × 1.55
- Very active (hard exercise 6–7 days/week): BMR × 1.725
These multipliers are general population estimates, not a clinical prescription. Your actual burn will shift as your weight changes — something that happens fairly continuously on a GLP-1 medicine — so it is worth recalculating every few weeks.
Step 3 — Layer in logged movement
Step counts, exercise sessions, and non-exercise activity (walking to the shops, housework) all add up. Wearables and fitness apps estimate these calories burned, though their accuracy varies. The most practical approach is to use a TDEE estimate as your baseline and treat movement data as directional rather than exact. If you are thinking about how many calories are right for your daily intake, your TDEE is the anchor number you start from.
Why this matters on a GLP-1 journey
Reduced appetite is one of the most commonly reported effects of medicines like Mounjaro and Wegovy. Knowing roughly how many calories you burn helps you understand whether you are eating enough to support muscle retention and energy levels, even when food noise is low. For more on setting a daily intake target, see how many calories you should eat in a day and our guide on understanding your daily calorie needs.
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GLP Trackr's food logging feature does the heavy lifting once you have your TDEE figured out. Rather than manually adding up everything you eat, you can snap a photo of a meal and the app's AI food scanner returns an instant calorie and macro breakdown — useful when appetite is low and meals are smaller or less structured than usual.
From there, you set a personal calorie target inside the app and your daily logs track progress against it in real time. The insights dashboard then lets you see patterns over time: how your intake compares to your burn estimate, where your protein is landing, and how your weight trend relates to both. This kind of correlation view is hard to build in a spreadsheet but comes ready-made in GLP Trackr.
You can also log your daily step count and set a steps target, adding movement data to the picture alongside food and weight — so your calorie-burn estimate and your intake data live in the same place rather than scattered across several apps.
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Frequently asked questions.
The most practical method is to calculate your basal metabolic rate (BMR) using a formula like Mifflin-St Jeor, then multiply it by an activity factor to get your total daily energy expenditure (TDEE). This gives a reliable estimate that you can refine as your weight changes.
All estimation methods — formulas, wearables, and fitness apps — are approximations. BMR formulas are well-validated at a population level but individual metabolism varies. Treat your TDEE figure as a useful starting point and adjust based on how your weight and energy respond over several weeks.
GLP Trackr lets you set a daily calorie target based on your own TDEE estimate, log food via AI photo scan or barcode, and track steps — bringing your intake and activity data together in one place so you can see your energy balance clearly over time.
As your weight changes over the course of treatment, your BMR and TDEE will shift too, since a lighter body generally requires fewer calories at rest. It is worth recalculating your estimate every few weeks and discussing any major changes in energy levels with your prescriber or doctor.
Your TDEE is your maintenance level — the calories needed to hold your current weight. A modest reduction from that figure is a common starting point for a gradual deficit, but the right target for you depends on your individual circumstances and should be guided by your healthcare professional rather than set by a formula alone.