TDEE Calculator
Calculate your Total Daily Energy Expenditure — the calories you burn per day including activity — using the Mifflin-St Jeor equation.
Quick summary: TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure) is your BMR multiplied by an activity factor. It tells you roughly how many calories you burn in a day, and is the number to build a deficit (fat loss) or surplus (muscle gain) around — most people should adjust by 250–500 calories from TDEE, not guess from scratch.
What TDEE actually measures
Total Daily Energy Expenditure is the total number of calories your body burns in 24 hours: resting metabolism (BMR), digestion (thermic effect of food), non-exercise movement (NEAT), and structured exercise, combined into one number. It is the practical starting point for any calorie target — a deficit below TDEE drives weight loss, a surplus above it drives weight gain, and matching it maintains weight.
TDEE is an estimate, not a lab measurement. Real energy expenditure varies day to day and the formula-based estimate can be off by 10–15% for a given individual, which is why tracking actual weight trend over 2–3 weeks and adjusting is more reliable than trusting the first number in isolation.
How this calculator works
Enter your basic stats and activity level:
The formula behind the calculation
This tool uses the Mifflin-St Jeor equation, generally considered the most accurate widely-available BMR formula for the general population:
- Men: BMR = 10 × weight(kg) + 6.25 × height(cm) − 5 × age + 5
- Women: BMR = 10 × weight(kg) + 6.25 × height(cm) − 5 × age − 161
TDEE = BMR × activity multiplier (1.2 for sedentary up to 1.9 for very active). A ~500 kcal/day deficit produces roughly 0.5 kg/week of loss; a ~250 kcal/day deficit produces a milder ~0.25 kg/week, since one kilogram of body fat represents approximately 7,700 calories.
Worked example
A 30-year-old woman, 168 cm, 64 kg, moderately active: BMR = 10×64 + 6.25×168 − 5×30 − 161 = 640 + 1,050 − 150 − 161 = 1,379. TDEE = 1,379 × 1.55 ≈ 2,137 calories/day. A standard fat-loss target would be roughly 1,637–1,887 calories/day.
Activity multipliers explained
| Level | Multiplier | Typical pattern |
|---|---|---|
| Sedentary | 1.2 | Desk job, little to no structured exercise |
| Light | 1.375 | Light exercise or sports 1–3 days/week |
| Moderate | 1.55 | Moderate exercise 3–5 days/week |
| Active | 1.725 | Hard exercise 6–7 days/week |
| Very active | 1.9 | Physical job plus daily training |
Same person, three activity levels
For the 30-year-old woman in the worked example above (168 cm, 64 kg), only the activity level changes — everything else about BMR stays fixed at 1,379 calories:
| Activity level | TDEE | Fat-loss target (−500 kcal) |
|---|---|---|
| Sedentary | 1,655 | 1,155 |
| Moderate | 2,137 | 1,637 |
| Very active | 2,620 | 2,120 |
Cut, maintain, or bulk — which target fits you
Once you know your TDEE, the next decision is which target to eat toward:
- Eat 250–500 kcal below TDEE if your main goal is fat loss and you want to preserve muscle and training performance while losing roughly 0.25–0.5 kg per week.
- Eat at TDEE if you want to hold your current weight steady — useful during a maintenance phase between cutting and bulking, or after reaching a goal weight.
- Eat 250–350 kcal above TDEE if your priority is building muscle, especially alongside a structured strength-training program; larger surpluses mostly add fat rather than more muscle.
- Recheck after 2–3 weeks against your actual weight trend rather than the formula alone — adjust intake by 100–150 kcal if the scale isn't moving the way the target predicted.
Benefits and limitations
Benefits: gives an evidence-based starting calorie target in seconds, using a formula validated against measured energy expenditure in research populations.
Limitations: it is a population-average estimate — individual metabolic rate varies with genetics, muscle mass, hormones, and sleep. Activity level is self-reported and commonly overstated. Treat the number as a starting point to adjust from, not a fixed truth.
Expert tips
- Use this number as a starting point, then adjust ±100–150 calories every 2–3 weeks based on your actual weight trend.
- Weigh yourself several times a week and average it — daily fluctuation from water and food volume is normal and not fat gain or loss.
- If you wear a fitness tracker, its "calories burned" figure is also an estimate, not a substitute for tracking real-world results.
- Recalculate every 5–10 kg of weight change, since TDEE shifts as body weight and composition change.
Common mistakes
- Choosing "active" or "very active" when your day is mostly sedentary with only a gym session — this inflates TDEE and stalls fat loss.
- Treating the TDEE number as exact rather than a working estimate to adjust from actual results.
- Cutting far below TDEE for fast results, which risks muscle loss, fatigue, and poor training performance.
- Never recalculating after significant weight change.
Glossary
- BMR
- Basal Metabolic Rate — calories burned at complete rest to sustain basic functions.
- NEAT
- Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis — calories burned through daily movement outside formal workouts.
- TEF
- Thermic Effect of Food — calories used to digest and process what you eat.
- Caloric deficit/surplus
- Eating below or above TDEE to drive weight loss or gain respectively.
Beyond the formula
Wearable devices and metabolic-rate testing (indirect calorimetry) are increasingly used alongside formulas like Mifflin-St Jeor to personalize estimates, but for most people, a formula estimate combined with 2–3 weeks of real-world weight tracking remains the most practical and accessible approach.
Frequently asked questions
The Mifflin-St Jeor equation is widely regarded as the most accurate general-population formula for estimating BMR, which is then multiplied by an activity factor to get TDEE.
A common approach is eating 250–500 calories below your TDEE, producing roughly 0.25–0.5 kg of loss per week. Larger deficits are possible but increase the risk of muscle loss and fatigue.
TDEE is an estimate, not a measurement — individual metabolism, water retention, activity reporting accuracy, and adherence all cause real results to vary from the formula.
Yes — recalculate after roughly every 5–10 kg of weight change, since both BMR and TDEE shift as body weight changes.
Yes, TDEE and "maintenance calories" refer to the same thing — the calorie intake at which body weight stays roughly stable.
Sources & references
- A new predictive equation for resting energy expenditure — American Journal of Clinical Nutrition
- Dietary Reference Intakes for Energy — National Academies of Sciences
- Healthy Weight — Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
Author & reviewer
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