MyBMIGuide
HEALTH TOOLS
Calculate BMI • Know your calories • Build a real weight-loss plan
Instant BMI + visual avatar + progress chart + history export
BMR + activity levels • Beautiful bar chart • Cross-linked with BMI
Smart calorie target + macros + projected weight chart
Know your category instantly with visual avatar
Discover your daily maintenance needs
Get a realistic calorie & macro target
For informational and educational purposes only. This is not medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional about your individual health.
Enter height & weight • Watch your avatar change • Track progress over time
Enter values above to see your category
For informational and educational purposes only. This is not medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional about your individual health.
All calculations saved in your browser • Export anytime
Now that you know your BMI category, discover exactly how many calories your body needs daily.
Content reviewed by Dr. Ahmed Zaighan, MBBS · Last reviewed: August 2026
BMI is calculated as weight in kilograms divided by height in metres, squared: BMI = weight (kg) ÷ height (m)². It was designed in the 19th century as a population-level statistic, not an individual diagnostic tool, but it remains the most widely used screening measure because it's quick, free, and correlates reasonably well with health risk across large groups.
| Category | BMI range |
|---|---|
| Underweight | Below 18.5 |
| Normal weight | 18.5 – 24.9 |
| Overweight | 25.0 – 29.9 |
| Obese | 30.0 and above |
BMI cannot distinguish muscle from fat, so heavily muscled athletes are frequently misclassified as "overweight" or "obese" despite low body-fat percentages. Conversely, older adults who have lost muscle mass with age can fall in the "normal" range while still carrying excess fat — sometimes called "normal-weight obesity." BMI also doesn't account for where fat is stored: visceral (abdominal) fat carries more cardiovascular risk than fat stored elsewhere, at the same BMI. Pregnant people, children, and teenagers need entirely different reference standards, which is why this calculator is intended for adults only.
Treat your BMI as a starting point, not a verdict. If your number falls outside the "normal" range, that's a reasonable prompt to discuss it with a doctor — alongside other factors like waist circumference, blood pressure, and family history — rather than a reason to self-diagnose. Tracking the trend over weeks and months, using the chart below, is generally more informative than any single reading.
Body Mass Index (BMI) is a screening ratio of weight to height that sorts adults into four WHO-defined bands: underweight (below 18.5), normal weight (18.5–24.9), overweight (25–29.9), and obese (30+). It's a starting point for a conversation about health, not a diagnosis.
Not on its own. BMI can't tell muscle from fat, so athletes are often misclassified as "overweight," and older adults who've lost muscle can look "normal" while carrying excess fat. It also ignores where fat is stored, which matters for heart health. Doctors typically use it alongside other measures like waist circumference.
Every 2–4 weeks is usually enough to see a real trend without over-reacting to normal day-to-day water-weight fluctuations. Weighing at the same time of day, ideally right after waking, gives the most consistent readings.
It's a common, well-studied starting point for otherwise healthy adults, targeting about 0.5 kg (1 lb) of loss per week. It isn't appropriate during pregnancy or breastfeeding, for people with a history of disordered eating, for growing teenagers, or for anyone with a metabolic condition — those situations call for individualized medical guidance.
No. Every calculation runs in your browser. Your numbers and history are saved only in your device's local storage so the trend chart works, and are never sent to our servers — you can permanently delete them with one click.
BMR + Activity Level = Daily Calories You Need
Content reviewed by Dr. Ahmed Zaighan, MBBS · Last reviewed: August 2026
This calculator uses the Mifflin-St Jeor formula, generally considered the most accurate widely-available equation for estimating Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) — the calories your body burns at complete rest just to keep your organs, brain, and cells functioning.
Men: BMR = 10 × weight(kg) + 6.25 × height(cm) − 5 × age + 5
Women: BMR = 10 × weight(kg) + 6.25 × height(cm) − 5 × age − 161
Older formulas like Harris-Benedict tend to overestimate BMR, especially in people carrying more body fat, which is why this equation has become the modern clinical standard.
BMR alone only reflects resting energy use. Multiplying it by an activity factor accounts for everything else you do in a day — walking, working, exercising:
| Sedentary (desk job) | × 1.2 |
| Lightly active | × 1.375 |
| Moderately active | × 1.55 |
| Very active | × 1.725 |
| Extra active | × 1.9 |
These are estimates, not measurements — actual energy expenditure varies by 10–15% between individuals of the same age, weight, and activity level due to genetics and muscle mass. Use your result as a starting point and adjust based on real-world weight trends over 2–3 weeks.
BMI helps you understand if your calorie target is right for your body.
For informational and educational purposes only. This is not medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional about your individual health.
Safe 0.5 kg/week plan • Calorie target • Macros • Projected chart
Content reviewed by Dr. Ahmed Zaighan, MBBS · Last reviewed: August 2026
One kilogram of body fat stores roughly 7,700 kcal of energy. A sustained daily deficit of about 500 kcal therefore works out to roughly 0.5 kg of loss per week — a pace widely cited by health bodies as achievable without triggering the muscle loss, fatigue, and rebound weight gain that come with more extreme deficits. This planner deliberately caps its recommendation there rather than pushing for faster results.
Below roughly 1,200 kcal/day, it becomes very difficult to meet basic micronutrient needs, and prolonged very-low-calorie diets are associated with a higher risk of muscle loss, gallstones, and metabolic slowdown. If your inputs would produce a target that low, this tool flags it and recommends supervised guidance rather than silently generating the number.
The default split — roughly 30% protein, 40% carbohydrate, and 30% fat — leans higher in protein than a typical maintenance diet. Higher protein intake during a calorie deficit is associated with better preservation of lean muscle mass and greater satiety, both of which make a deficit easier to sustain and improve long-term outcomes compared with calorie restriction alone.
The weight-trend chart draws a straight line between your current and target weight — real progress is rarely linear. Water retention, hormonal cycles, and training adaptations cause week-to-week bounces even when the underlying trend is on track. Reassess your calorie target every few weeks against your actual weight trend rather than the projection alone, and involve a healthcare professional for any plan lasting more than a few months.
For informational and educational purposes only. This is not medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional about your individual health.
In-depth, research-backed guides on BMI, calories, and weight management — medically reviewed by Dr. Ahmed Zaighan, MBBS.
How pediatricians assess children's growth today, covering the 2023 AAP guidelines and CDC growth charts parents should know about.
Read more →Which exercises actually change body composition and BMI, based on WHO guidelines and peer-reviewed research, with real numbers.
Read more →A research-backed breakdown of the most common BMI myths, with real cutoff numbers and risk data from WHO and peer-reviewed studies.
Read more →A research-backed comparison of BMI and body fat percentage, with real accuracy data and evidence on which metric predicts health risk better.
Read more →Why the 3,500-calorie rule is wrong more often than right, what happens metabolically during a deficit, and how to set one that works.
Read more →What brown fat and cold-induced thermogenesis research shows about weight management, including real energy-expenditure numbers.
Read more →How daily calorie needs are actually calculated, how accurate the Mifflin-St Jeor equation is, and where it breaks down.
Read more →How screens affect sleep, hunger, and eating behavior, with real effect sizes from systematic reviews on screen time and weight.
Read more →The psychology and biology of emotional eating — the brain and hormone mechanisms involved, and gentle approaches that actually help.
Read more →How much DNA really influences body weight, with real heritability figures and the study showing exercise can blunt genetic risk by 27%.
Read more →What the gut microbiome research actually shows about weight, including why the Firmicutes/Bacteroidetes ratio claim is contested.
Read more →An evidence-based guide to nutrition, exercise, sleep, and mental health, built on WHO guidelines and practical daily habits.
Read more →How protein affects hunger, metabolism, and muscle during weight loss, including the kidney-safety question, by Dr. Ahmed Zaighan.
Read more →How leptin, cortisol, ghrelin, and thyroid function really affect weight, separating real mechanisms from 'balance your hormones' claims.
Read more →What hydration trials actually show about weight and health, grounded in an 18-RCT systematic review and a water-and-weight meta-analysis.
Read more →What intermittent fasting trials show for weight and metabolic health, grounded in a 2025 meta-analysis of 99 randomized trials.
Read more →What meal timing research shows about weight, grounded in a 2024 meta-analysis of 29 trials and controlled feeding studies.
Read more →Metabolism-boosting claims about protein, resistance training, green tea, and spicy foods, with real effect sizes from meta-analyses.
Read more →What randomized trials show about mindful eating and weight loss, with real effect sizes and a detailed trial example.
Read more →Whether short, high-intensity workouts really match longer sessions, including real EPOC numbers and where the claims hold up.
Read more →Last Updated: June 27, 2026
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MyBMIGuide was created with one simple goal: to make health tracking easy, accurate, and completely private.
Founded by Dr. Ahmed Zaighan, MyBMIGuide was built to provide reliable, science-based health calculation tools without the privacy risks, subscriptions, or complexity found in many other platforms.
To give people clear, accurate, easy-to-understand tools for tracking BMI, daily calorie needs, and weight management — while keeping every calculation private to your own device.
Founder & Medical Content Advisor
Dr. Ahmed Zaighan holds an MBBS degree from King Edward Medical University (KEMU), Lahore. With a clinical background and an interest in preventive healthcare and public health education, he created MyBMIGuide to make everyday health numbers easier to understand and act on.
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Developed under the guidance of a licensed MBBS doctor with content based on established medical guidelines.
Whether you're beginning your health journey or monitoring long-term progress, MyBMIGuide provides simple, accurate tools backed by medical expertise.
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