Find BMR for men — the calories your body burns while resting.
The Mifflin-St Jeor equation, using the male-specific constant (+5).
Men: 10 × weight(kg) + 6.25 × height(cm) − 5 × age + 5
This calculator estimates the basal metabolic rate of an adult man: the calories his body uses in a day lying at rest, just to run the heart, lungs, brain, liver, kidneys and muscles at their idling level. It uses the Mifflin-St Jeor equation with the male constant of +5.
Men usually want this number when planning weight loss, a bulking phase or a sensible daily diet. BMR is the floor of daily energy use. Real needs are higher once walking, work and exercise are added, which is why BMR is normally multiplied by an activity factor to give total daily energy expenditure (TDEE).
For an office-going Indian man who travels by car or metro, the gap between BMR and TDEE can be small. For a construction worker, delivery rider or athlete it is much larger, so BMR alone should never be treated as a food target.
1. Note weight in kilograms, height in centimetres and age in completed years.
2. Multiply weight by 10.
3. Multiply height by 6.25.
4. Multiply age by 5.
5. Combine them: BMR = 10 × weight + 6.25 × height − 5 × age + 5.
6. Round to the nearest whole kilocalorie; the answer is kcal per day.
7. For daily needs, multiply BMR by an activity factor, for example 1.2 for desk work with little exercise and 1.55 for moderate exercise most days.
In 1990 Mifflin, St Jeor and colleagues measured the resting energy use of several hundred healthy adults by indirect calorimetry, which calculates heat output from oxygen used and carbon dioxide produced. They fitted a linear regression and found that weight, height, age and sex explained most of the variation. The fitted coefficients say that each extra kilogram adds about 10 kcal a day, each centimetre adds 6.25 kcal, and each year of age removes 5 kcal. Later reviews found it predicts measured resting energy within about 10% for most non-obese and obese adults, better than the older Harris-Benedict equation.
Sex enters the equation only through the final constant: +5 for men and −161 for women. At the same weight, height and age, a man's estimate is therefore 166 kcal higher. The reason is body composition. On average men carry more fat-free mass, mainly muscle and larger organs, which use more energy at rest than fat tissue. The constant is an average correction, not a personal one. A lean, heavily muscled man will usually burn more than the formula says, and a man with little muscle and more body fat may burn less.
Strictly, basal metabolic rate is measured after an overnight fast, lying still in a warm room just after waking. Resting metabolic rate is measured under looser conditions and runs slightly higher. Mifflin-St Jeor was fitted to resting measurements, so many texts call its output RMR; in everyday use the two terms are treated as the same. TDEE is BMR plus the energy of digesting food (roughly a tenth of intake) and all movement. Eating below BMR for long periods is not advisable without medical supervision.
Suresh is a 42-year-old software team lead in Pune who weighs 68 kg and stands 168 cm tall. He wants his resting calorie figure before planning meals around his new badminton routine.
Answer: BMR 1,525 kcal/day
Treating BMR as the daily calorie target, which leaves out every calorie spent on movement and digestion.
Entering height in feet and inches or weight in pounds without converting to centimetres and kilograms.
Using age at last birthday plus months as a decimal inconsistently; small errors matter little, but use completed years for comparability.
Expecting the result to be exact for very muscular men or men with thyroid problems, where measured values can differ widely.
Picking an activity factor for the one gym day a week rather than the typical week.
Estimating TDEE as a starting point for a weight-loss or muscle-gain diet.
Checking that a crash diet plan is not far below the body's resting needs.
Tracking how resting needs fall as weight is lost, so the plan can be adjusted.
Fitness trainers and dietitians preparing a first-pass calorie estimate for a male client.
Why does the men's formula add 5 while the women's subtracts 161?
On average, men carry more muscle for their body weight, which burns more calories at rest. The formula's fixed number accounts for this average difference between men and women.