Calorie needs at age 23, female
Enter your age, size and activity to see how many calories you use each day. The example below is a woman aged 23 who is 5 ft 4 in tall and weighs 150 lb.
How it works
Your body burns calories at rest. The page estimates that with the Mifflin-St Jeor equation: 10 times weight in kilograms plus 6.25 times height in centimeters minus 5 times age, then plus 5 for males or minus 161 for females. It multiplies the result by an activity factor from 1.2 to 1.9 to get your daily total. This 23-year-old woman uses a factor of 1.375 for the lightly active level.
Worked example
Take a woman aged 23 who is 5 ft 4 in tall and weighs 150 lb. In metric that is 162.56 cm and 68.04 kg. Multiply weight by 10: 10 × 68.04 = 680.4. Multiply height by 6.25: 6.25 × 162.56 = 1016. Subtract 5 × 23 = 115. Subtract 161. That gives 1420.4, which rounds to 1420 calories at rest. Multiply 1420.4 by 1.375 for the lightly active level to get 1953.1, which rounds to 1953 calories a day.
Maintenance calories at every activity level for the same woman aged 23 at 5 ft 4 in and 150 lb, with the lightly active level set in the form above.
- Sedentary (little or no exercise)
- 1704 calories a day
- Lightly active (light exercise 1 to 3 days a week)
- 1953 calories a day
- Moderately active (moderate exercise 3 to 5 days a week)
- 2202 calories a day
- Very active (hard exercise 6 to 7 days a week)
- 2450 calories a day
- Extra active (very hard exercise and a physical job)
- 2699 calories a day
Common questions
Why does age 23 change the result?
The formula takes 5 calories off for every year of age, which reflects that resting burn tends to fall over time. At 23 that is 115 calories. Without the age term this 23-year-old woman would burn 1535 calories at rest, or 2111 a day at the lightly active level.
How accurate is a calorie estimate?
It is a starting estimate. Track your weight over two or three weeks and adjust the target up or down based on what actually happens. For this 23-year-old woman, a 5 percent error on 1953 calories is 98 calories a day.
What is the difference between BMR and TDEE?
BMR is what your body burns at rest. TDEE adds the calories you use moving and exercising. It is always higher. For this woman aged 23 at 150 lb, BMR is 1420 calories and TDEE at the lightly active level is 1953.
Which activity level should I pick?
Pick the one that matches a typical week, not your best week. If you sit most of the day and train a few times, lightly or moderately active is usually closer than very active. Across the five levels this 23-year-old woman ranges from 1704 to 2699 calories a day, and the lightly active level gives 1953.
How big a calorie deficit is reasonable for weight loss?
A deficit of 500 calories a day is a common starting point and works out to roughly half a kilogram a week. Smaller deficits are slower and easier to keep up. A 500 calorie deficit here means 1453 calories a day for this 23-year-old woman at the lightly active level.