Your BMI, a healthy weight for your height, waist risk, and how much protein, fat and carbohydrate a day suits you.
A general guide for healthy adults, not medical advice. Talk to your doctor or a qualified dietitian before changing your diet, especially if you have high blood pressure (hypertension), diabetes, heart disease (CAD), kidney or liver disease, are pregnant or breastfeeding, are under 18 or over 65, or take regular medicines.
Height (feet and inches)
Calories burned
Add what you did today. Uses the weight entered above.
Calories = MET × weight (kg) × hours, using MET values from the 2024 Adult Compendium of Physical Activities. These include the calories your body burns at rest anyway (1 MET). Real figures vary by fitness, age and effort; fitness trackers often overestimate.
min
How these numbers are worked out
BMI = weight (kg) ÷ height (m)². South Asians tend to carry more body fat and get diabetes and heart disease at a lower BMI, so the Indian standard calls 23 overweight and 25 obese (revised consensus for Asian Indians, 2025). China uses 24 and 28 (WS/T 428). The WHO standard used in the USA and Europe uses 25 and 30. BMI does not tell muscle from fat, so very muscular people can show a high BMI.
Waist: a waist more than half your height (waist-to-height ratio above 0.5) points to belly fat, which raises the risk of diabetes and heart disease. For Indians, the waist limit is 90 cm (35.5 in) for men and 80 cm (31.5 in) for women.
Calories use the Mifflin–St Jeor equation with your activity level. Real needs vary by about 10% either way; watch your weight for a few weeks and adjust.
Protein: 0.83 g per kg of body weight a day (ICMR-NIN and WHO), worked out on a healthy weight for your height if you are above it. Older adults may need a little more. ICMR-NIN advises against protein supplements for building muscle; above about 1.6 g/kg a day there is no further gain.
Fat: at most 30% of calories, saturated fat (ghee, butter, coconut and palm oil, fatty meat) under 10%, and trans fat as close to zero as possible (ICMR-NIN 2024, WHO). Carbohydrate: 45–65% of calories (US National Academies); ICMR-NIN 2024 advises getting no more than 45% of calories from cereals and millets, and keeping added sugar under 5%. Fibre at least 25 g and salt under 5 g a day (WHO).
Please check with your doctor or a dietitian before following these numbers if you have hypertension, diabetes, heart disease (CAD), kidney disease, thyroid problems or any other health condition. People with kidney disease often need less protein; people with diabetes may need carbohydrate set by their doctor.