Most New Year’s resolutions are abandoned by February, and one reason is that small daily changes feel too small to matter. Turning them into totals helps: a 20-minute walk does not sound like much, but over a year it is tens of thousands of calories; two hours less on your phone each day add up to more than 700 hours, a month of waking time.
Choose a resolution and the calculator asks only for the numbers it needs. For exercise and healthy eating it estimates your daily energy needs from sex, age, height, weight and activity level (Mifflin–St Jeor equation), then shows the extra calories you would burn or the daily intake that reaches a target weight by your finish date – with a warning if the pace is unrealistic. For smoking it counts cigarettes avoided, money kept and life expectancy regained (about 20 minutes per cigarette). For screen time, learning, reading and saving it converts weekly effort into hours, books or money with interest.
Use realistic numbers – the best resolution is the one you can keep for 12 months.
How to use the New Year’s Resolution Calculator
- Resolution
- Start date
- Finish date
- Sex
- Age
- Height
- Your weight
- Activity now
- Activity with the resolution
- Target weight
- Cigarettes per day now
- Cigarettes per day with the resolution
- Cigarettes per pack
- Price per pack
- Hours online or on screens per day now
- Target hours per day
- Practice hours per week
- Goal
- Reading hours per week
- Reading speed
- Words per page
- Pages per book
- Amount saved per month
- Annual interest rate
Everything is calculated in your browser, so results appear instantly and nothing you type is sent to a server.
How it works
Set the start and finish dates (one year by default) and choose the resolution. The calculator multiplies the daily or weekly change by the number of days or weeks in between and converts it into the unit that matters for that goal.
Worked example
An 85 kg man, 1.75 m tall and 35 years old, has a basal metabolic rate of 10 × 85 + 625 × 1.75 − 5 × 35 + 5 = 1,773.75 kcal. Sedentary (× 1.2) he needs 2,129 kcal a day; exercising 1–2 times a week (× 1.375) raises that to 2,439 kcal, 310 kcal more. From 1 January to 31 December 2027 (364 days) that is about 113,000 kcal – up to 14.7 kg of fat if he eats the same.
Resolution totals for one year
| Daily or weekly change | Total in 365 days |
|---|---|
| 10 fewer cigarettes a day | 3,650 cigarettes, ≈ 51 days of life |
| 1 hour less screen time a day | 365 hours (≈ 23 waking days) |
| 3 hours of reading a week | ≈ 24 books of 300 pages |
| 5 hours of practice a week | ≈ 261 hours |
| Saving 200 a month at 4% | ≈ 2,443 with 44 interest |
Formula
Maintenance kcal = BMR (Mifflin–St Jeor: 10·kg + 625·m − 5·age + 5 men / −161 women) × activity factor · Weight change ≈ kcal ÷ 7,700 per kg · Books = hours × 60 × wpm ÷ words per page ÷ pages per book · Savings = monthly amount × ((1 + i)ⁿ − 1) ÷ i
Worked example
Inputs — Resolution: Exercise more; Start date: 2026-10-25; Finish date: 2027-10-25; Sex: Male; Age: 35 years; Height: 175 cm; Your weight: 85 kg; Activity now: Little or no exercise; Activity with the resolution: Exercise 1–2 times a week.
Results — Your resolution in numbers = Moving more burns about 310 extra kcal a day – 113,298 kcal by the finish date, worth roughly 14.7 kg of body fat if you eat the same.; Days in the resolution period = 365; Maintenance calories now = 2,129 kcal/day; Maintenance calories with more exercise = 2,439 kcal/day; Extra calories burned = 310 kcal/day; Extra calories over the period = 113,298 kcal.
Key terms
- Maintenance calories (TDEE)
- Energy you burn per day at your current activity level.
- Mifflin–St Jeor equation
- A standard formula for basal metabolic rate from weight, height, age and sex.
- Activity factor
- Multiplier from 1.2 (sedentary) to 1.9 (very active) applied to BMR.
- Compound interest
- Interest earned on earlier interest as well as on your deposits.
Frequently asked questions
What are the most popular New Year's resolutions?
Exercising more, eating healthier, losing weight, saving money, spending less time on phones and social media, reading more and learning a new skill top most surveys.
How many calories does exercising more burn?
Going from no exercise to exercising 1–2 times a week raises maintenance needs by about 15% – around 310 kcal a day for an 85 kg, 1.75 m, 35-year-old man.
How fast can I lose weight safely?
About 0.5–1 kg (1–2 lb) a week, or no more than about 1% of body weight per week; the calculator warns when your finish date asks for more.
How much life does quitting smoking give back?
A 2024 University College London analysis estimated about 20 minutes of life lost per cigarette; 15 a day for a year is about 76 days.
How many books can I read in a year?
At 3 hours a week and an average 238 words per minute, about 24 books of 300 pages.
Why do resolutions fail?
Goals that are vague, too ambitious or not tracked fade quickly. Turn the yearly total into a weekly target and review it every month.
Does 7,700 kcal really equal 1 kg?
It is the usual estimate for body fat; real weight change slows as your body adapts, so treat the number as an upper bound.