Maintenance calories are the number of calories that keep your weight stable. Eat that amount and, on average, you neither gain nor lose. It is the single most useful number in nutrition, because every goal is just a step up or down from it. Here is what it means, how to find yours, and why it changes over time.
Maintenance calories and TDEE are the same thing
Your maintenance level is your TDEE, total daily energy expenditure: everything your body burns in 24 hours. It has a few parts:
- BMR (basal metabolic rate): what you burn at complete rest, just keeping you alive. This is the biggest chunk, often 60–70%.
- Activity: deliberate exercise plus all the incidental movement, walking, fidgeting, standing.
- Digestion: the energy used to process food itself.
Add those up and you have your maintenance calories. The full method is in how to calculate TDEE.
How to find yours
There are two ways, and they work best together:
- Estimate it. A TDEE formula gives you a starting figure from your height, weight, age and activity. It is an educated guess, usually within a couple of hundred calories.
- Confirm it. Eat around that estimate for two to three weeks and track your weight. If it holds steady, that is your real maintenance. If it drifts, adjust by 100–200 kcal and watch again. Your body is the final word, not the formula.
Using maintenance to hit any goal
| Goal | What to do |
|---|---|
| Lose weight | Eat below maintenance (calorie deficit) |
| Maintain | Eat around maintenance |
| Gain muscle | Eat a small amount above maintenance |
This is why maintenance is the anchor. Once you know it, how many calories to lose weight becomes simple subtraction.
Why it changes
Maintenance is not fixed for life. It drops a little as you lose weight (a smaller body burns less), rises with more muscle or activity, and shifts slowly with age. So recheck it every few months, or whenever your weight has changed a lot, rather than trusting one calculation forever.
Know your number without the spreadsheet
forme works out your maintenance calories and a daily target from your body and goal, then adjusts as your weight changes, so the number stays right without you redoing the maths.
The bottom line
Maintenance calories are the amount that keeps your weight steady, and they equal your TDEE. Estimate yours with a formula, confirm it by tracking your weight for a few weeks, then nudge up or down depending on your goal. Recheck it as your body changes. This is general guidance, not personalised medical or dietary advice.