Weight Maintenance Calories is the number of calories needed to maintain your current weight.
Another, more scientific name for it is Estimated Energy Requirements, or EER.
MyNetDiary uses the official formulas for Estimated Energy Requirements provided by the Food and Nutrition Board of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies.
Adult man: EER = 662 - 9.53 x age (y) + PA x (15.91 x wt [kg] + 539.6 x ht [m])
Adult woman: EER = 354 - 6.91 x age (y) + PA x (9.36 x wt [kg] + 726 x ht [m])
PA indicates activity level, and is equal to 1.0 for sedentary, 1.12 for low active, 1.27 for active, and 1.45 for very active.
The Institute of Medicine provides detailed tables and formulas for nutrients and energy (if link does not open please go to http://iom.edu and search for "DRI summary listing" keywords or click here). You can see the formulas on page 5, as well as the table that lists Estimated Energy Requirements calculated using this formula for 30-year-olds. For example, for a 30-year-old male, 1.80m (5ft 11in) tall, "low active", with a BMI of 24.99 (178 lbs), it lists 2884 calories, and for "active" it lists 3200 calories.
We recommend making sure correct activity level is selected and accurately accounting for any extra energy-burning activities and exercises.If you are not sure if your weight maintenance calories are calculated correctly, please double check your date of birth, sex, height, current weight, and activity level.
Please see Planning Weight & Calories article for more information about the three major components of energy expenditure (BMR, thermic effect of food, and physical activity).
MyNetDiary Premium subscription provides nutrient planing features adjusting macronutrient balance. Also check our Nutrient Planning article.