Calorie calculator

How this is calculated

Maintenance uses the Mifflin-St Jeor equation, which is the one most commonly used clinically and is generally more accurate than the older Harris-Benedict formula. It estimates your resting metabolic rate from your sex, age, height and weight, then multiplies it by an activity factor.

The fat loss figure is maintenance minus 18%. That is deliberately moderate. A larger deficit loses weight faster on paper and in practice loses more muscle, makes training worse, and is abandoned sooner.

The protein target is 1.8 g per kilogram of bodyweight, in the middle of the range that research supports for preserving muscle during a deficit.

Why this number is probably a little too high for an Indian body

Both halves of the sum above were built on Western data, and ICMR has published how far off each half is for Indians. This is the part no calorie calculator tells you, and it points in one direction.

The resting rate. ICMR-NIN compared BMR measured in Indians against the FAO/WHO/UNU prediction equations and found the equations overestimate Indian BMR by 10 to 12%. Their stated reason is body composition: the international dataset was built on young, muscular subjects, and Indians at the same weight carry relatively more fat, which is metabolically quieter. The 2010 Indian committee already applied a 5% reduction; the 2020 committee reviewed the evidence and cut a further 5%.

The activity multiplier. The same report found the activity ratios from FAO/WHO/UNU, also Western-derived, overstate what Indians actually spend. Recalculating from Indian data moved the sedentary figure from 1.53 down to 1.40, and the report says the other activity levels came down too.

Mifflin-St Jeor is not the FAO equation. It was derived on 498 adults in Nevada and has not been validated against an Indian population, but ICMR's correction was written about a different formula, so this page does not quietly apply it to one ICMR was not describing. What the evidence does support is the direction: if your maintenance figure above is wrong, it is more likely too high than too low, and possibly by a tenth.

The practical answer is not a different formula. It is to treat the number as a starting point, hold it for two or three weeks, and let the scale and the tape tell you what your maintenance actually is — which is what the next section is about.

Hitting that protein number on a vegetarian diet

This is where most people in Surat come unstuck. A normal Gujarati day can easily land at 40–50 g of protein without anyone doing anything wrong, and the target above is often double that.

The fix is addition rather than replacement: a full bowl of dal or chana with both main meals, curd or chaas daily, milk, paneer a few times a week, and, if you eat them, eggs. The Gujarati diet guide goes through this in detail.

Treat the number as a hypothesis

Any calculator is an estimate, typically within about 10%. Use the figure for a fortnight while tracking your weight and your waist, then adjust. If nothing has moved in two weeks, the estimate was high for you; if you are losing quickly and your training is falling apart, it was low.

And do not eat back what your watch says you burned. Activity is already in the multiplier, and wearables overestimate energy expenditure substantially. Counting it twice is the commonest way a deficit disappears without anyone noticing.

Where a doctor comes in

If you are pregnant, under 18, managing diabetes, thyroid disease, PCOS or an eating disorder, or taking medication that affects appetite or weight, speak to a doctor before acting on any of this.