CI Calorie Calculator

Add the shortcode [ci_calorie_calculator] to a page or post. In the block editor use a Shortcode block. In a theme template use <?php echo do_shortcode( '[ci_calorie_calculator]' ); ?>.

title (1 or 0), theme (light, dark or auto), accent (a hex colour such as #2563eb) and max_width (for example 720px, 80% or 40rem). See the Usage section for examples. Invalid values are ignored and the default is used instead.

Use theme="dark" for always dark, or theme="auto" to follow the visitor's light/dark system setting. The default, theme="light", keeps the calculator light on any background.

Yes. Use title="0" and the heading with the calculator's icon is not printed, so you can write your own.

No. The calculation happens in the visitor's browser, nothing they enter leaves the page, and the plugin makes no requests to calculator.io or any other external service. It sets no cookies and loads no ads or trackers.

The frame adjusts its height automatically while the page is open. If your theme or a caching or optimisation plugin removes scripts from the page, the frame keeps a default height; exclude the plugin's ci-embed.js file from script optimisation.

On average, adult males need between 2,000 and 3,000 calories a day to maintain their weight, while adult females need between 1,600 and 2,400. Your exact needs depend on age, weight, height, biological sex, and activity level, which is why the calculator estimates them from your own inputs.

It first estimates your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR), the calories your body burns at complete rest, using the Mifflin-St. Jeor, Harris-Benedict, or Katch-McArdle equation. It then multiplies that BMR by an activity factor (typically 1.2 to 1.95) to give your total daily energy expenditure (TDEE), the calories needed to maintain your weight.

Because roughly 3,500 calories equals about one pound of fat, eating 500 calories below your daily maintenance level aims for about 1 pound of weight loss per week. Cutting up to 1,000 calories a day targets 2 pounds per week, but losing more than 2 pounds weekly can harm your health and muscle mass.

Zigzag calorie cycling alternates higher- and lower-calorie days while keeping your weekly total the same, preventing your metabolism from adapting to a constant low-calorie intake. For example, to hit a 14,000-calorie week you might eat 2,300 calories on three days and 1,775 on the other four instead of a flat 2,000 every day.

Unless you are monitored by a medical professional, Harvard Health Publications recommends women eat no fewer than 1,200 calories per day and men no fewer than 1,500. Chronically eating below this baseline forces your body to prioritize survival functions while shutting down processes essential for hormone production and overall health.