⚖️ CalToLbs

Maintenance Calories to Pounds

Find your maintenance calories (TDEE) and see what happens at different intake levels. Understand how small surpluses or deficits affect your weight over time.

🔥 Maintenance Calories to Pounds

Find your maintenance calories (TDEE) and see what happens at different intake levels. Understand how small surpluses or deficits affect your weight over time.

Enter age 10-100
Enter a positive weight
Enter a positive height

Interactive Visualization

Maintenance (TDEE) = BMR × Activity Factor
Eat at TDEE to maintain. Eat below to lose. Eat above to gain.

*Conversion calculations are based on thermodynamic body weight modeling. Adjust targets based on actual physical feedback.

Maintenance Calories: Finding Your Balance

Weight maintenance is the state of energy balance where calories consumed equal calories burned. Reaching your maintenance level is the ultimate goal after a weight loss phase, allowing you to sustain your progress long-term without gaining or losing fat. Finding your true maintenance calories requires consistent tracking and self-adjustment.

Transitioning to Maintenance:

  • Reverse Dieting: Slowly increase your calories back to maintenance over several weeks to avoid shock and rapid fat storage.
  • Adaptive Metabolism: Your maintenance level will be lower after losing weight than it was before you started.
  • Track and Adjust: Monitor your weight for 2-3 weeks at your calculated maintenance. Adjust by 100-200 calories if you see a trend.

❓ Frequently Asked Questions

Maintenance calories (TDEE) are the calories you need to eat to maintain your current weight. Eat less = lose weight. Eat more = gain weight. Knowing your TDEE is the foundation of all weight management.
Track your weight and calories for 2-3 weeks. If weight stays stable, your average intake is your maintenance. If you gain 1 lb, you were 500 calories above maintenance per day. If you lose 1 lb, you were 500 below.
Formulas are estimates. Individual variation in metabolism, hormones, and NEAT means your true TDEE may differ by 10-20%. If you're gaining, reduce by 100-200 calories and reassess after 2 weeks. Your body is the ultimate calculator.
Yes! Every 10-15 pounds lost, recalculate your TDEE. A lighter body burns fewer calories. If you don't adjust, your deficit shrinks and weight loss slows. This is a primary cause of weight loss plateaus.

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