This number holds your weight
Your maintenance calories are what you can eat while the scale stays put — your body’s daily energy use. It is the same figure as your TDEE, seen from the goal side. Eat around it and you hold; below it you lose, above it you gain. Everything after this is about using the number, not deriving it.
Why the scale stalls on a “deficit”
The most common frustration is eating in what looks like a deficit and not losing. It is almost never a broken metabolism. Two things quietly close the gap:
- Intake is under-counted — the handful of nuts, the oil in the pan, the splash of dressing, the round-number portion. These add up to hundreds of calories a day.
- Activity is over-counted — the multiplier flatters, and wearable “calories burned” run high. A busy day is not a workout.
If the scale is flat for a few weeks, your true maintenance is roughly where your intake actually sits. That is information, not failure.
Maintenance is a range, not a line
Your burn changes daily and food labels are approximate, so maintenance is a zone. Weight bouncing a kilo up or down inside it is water, glycogen and food in transit — not fat, and not a lapse. Judge the weeks-long trend, not the morning number.
Where to go next
Want to lose? A deficit is built from this number — see the calorie deficit calculator. Want to know your real maintenance rather than an estimate? Log a couple of weeks in the diary and read the trend — it beats any formula.
FAQ
What are maintenance calories?
Maintenance calories are the amount you can eat while your weight stays the same — your body’s daily energy use. It is the same number as your TDEE, seen from the goal side. Because your burn shifts day to day, it is best treated as a range, not a single figure.
How do I calculate maintenance calories?
Estimate your resting burn (BMR) from sex, weight, height and age, then multiply by an activity factor — that is your maintenance range. We run five BMR formulas and show the spread, so you get an honest band rather than one number that looks more precise than it is.
Why am I not losing weight if I am in a deficit?
Two ordinary reasons, not a broken metabolism: intake is usually under-counted (unlogged bites, oil, dressings, generous portions) and activity is usually over-counted (both the multiplier and any tracker). If the scale is flat for a few weeks, your real maintenance is likely where your intake actually sits — logging honestly for two weeks shows it.
Is a stall of a kilo up and down a problem?
No. Weight swings within a few hundred grams to a couple of kilos are water, food still in transit, and glycogen — not fat gained or lost. Maintenance is a band, and moving around inside it is normal, not a lapse.
Do maintenance calories change?
Yes — they drift as your weight, muscle, activity and age change, so a number from six months ago may be stale. Re-check it now and then, and trust a two-week weight trend over any single calculation.