How much do you burn a day?
Five published formulas, side by side. “At rest” is what your body uses doing nothing; “a day” adds your activity. Katch-McArdle and Cunningham use lean mass, so they need your body fat.
| Formula | At rest | A day |
|---|---|---|
| Mifflin-St Jeor | 1,618 kcal | 2,510 kcal |
| Harris-Benedict (revised) | 1,672 kcal | 2,590 kcal |
| Oxford (Henry) | 1,587 kcal | 2,460 kcal |
| Katch-McArdle | needs body fat | — |
| Cunningham | needs body fat | — |
Every formula is an estimate for a typical body. Your real number shows up in your own weight trend over a few weeks, which is what the Kynvelo app adjusts your target from. Nothing you type here leaves your browser.
From resting calories to a daily estimate
Mifflin–St Jeor uses weight, height, age and sex to estimate resting energy. Harris–Benedict and Oxford use different population equations. Katch–McArdle and Cunningham use lean mass, so a body-fat estimate affects their result. The calculator multiplies resting energy by the activity level you select.
For a 30-year-old man weighing 70 kg at 175 cm, Mifflin–St Jeor gives about 1,649 kcal at rest. An activity multiplier of 1.55 gives about 2,556 kcal a day. This is arithmetic from a population formula, not a measurement of that person's metabolism.
Watch your weight and energy over several weeks and adjust with qualified advice where needed. These formulas are intended for adults; pregnancy, growth, illness and individual variation can change energy needs. Source: Mifflin et al., 1990.
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