TDEE Calculator

What Is TDEE?

TDEE stands for Total Daily Energy Expenditure. It's the total number of calories you burn in a full day.

It has four parts:

• BMR: what your body burns at rest just to keep running. This is the biggest piece.
• Digestion: breaking down food uses about 10% of what you eat.
• Exercise: planned workouts like running, lifting or a fitness class.
• Everyday movement: walking to the car, standing, chores, even fidgeting. Researchers call this NEAT.

This calculator finds your BMR with the Mifflin-St Jeor equation, then multiplies it by an activity factor to cover the other three parts.

TDEE = BMR x Activity Multiplier

The Five Activity Levels

These multipliers are a long-standing rule of thumb, not the result of one study. They are rough on purpose. Your real activity level sits somewhere on a sliding scale, not in one of five boxes.

Worked Example: Same Man, Five Activity Levels

A 42-year-old man, 198 lb (90 kg), 5'11" (180 cm).

First, his BMR:

BMR = (10 x 90) + (6.25 x 180) - (5 x 42) + 5 = 1,820 calories

Now his TDEE at each activity level:

Look at the jump from sedentary to moderately active. It's 637 calories a day for the same person. Picking the wrong activity level is the biggest source of error in any TDEE number, much bigger than the formula itself.

Worked Example: Woman With a Desk Job Who Walks

A 35-year-old woman, 150 lb (68 kg), 5'5" (165 cm). She works at a desk and walks 30 minutes most days, with no gym sessions.

BMR = (10 x 68) + (6.25 x 165) - (5 x 35) - 161 = 1,375 calories
TDEE (Lightly Active) = 1,375 x 1.375 = 1,891 calories

If she's unsure between sedentary (1,650) and lightly active (1,891), a good move is to start with the lower one. It's easier to add food later than to wonder why the scale isn't moving.

How to Check Your TDEE Against Real Life

Any calculator gives an estimate. Your own weight trend gives the real answer. Here is a simple 3-week test:

1. Eat close to your calculated TDEE every day and log what you eat.
2. Weigh yourself each morning, after the bathroom and before eating.
3. After 3 weeks, compare the average of week 1 with the average of week 3.

Then read the result:

• Weight steady: your calculated TDEE is about right.
• Losing about 0.5 lb a week: your real TDEE is roughly 250 calories higher.
• Gaining about 0.5 lb a week: your real TDEE is roughly 250 calories lower.

Daily weight jumps around with water and salt, so ignore single days. Weekly averages are what count.

How to Use Your TDEE

• Lose weight: eat 300 to 500 calories below TDEE. For most people that means about 0.5 to 1 lb a week.
• Maintain: eat at your TDEE.
• Build muscle: eat 200 to 300 calories above TDEE and train with weights.

The Calorie Deficit Calculator turns your TDEE into a daily target and a timeline. For a deeper look at how BMR and TDEE connect, read BMR vs. TDEE explained.

When This Estimate Is Less Reliable

• Very muscular or very lean people: Mifflin-St Jeor can run low. Try the Lean Body Mass Calculator if you know your body fat.
• Adults over 60: muscle loss can make the estimate run high.
• Long periods of dieting: your body tends to move less without noticing, so real TDEE can drift below the calculated one.
• Not meant for: anyone under 18, pregnancy or breastfeeding, or medical conditions that affect metabolism.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is TDEE the same as maintenance calories?

Yes. Your TDEE is the number of calories you'd eat each day to keep your weight the same.

Should I eat back the calories my fitness tracker says I burned?

Not if your activity level already includes your workouts. Adding tracker calories on top counts that exercise twice. Trackers also tend to overestimate calorie burn, sometimes by a lot. See our guide on fitness tracker calorie accuracy.

My job is at a desk, but I lift weights 4 days a week. Which level do I pick?

Lightly active is usually the safer choice. An hour of lifting burns less than most people think, and the rest of the day still looks sedentary. Use the 3-week test above to fine-tune it.

How often should I recalculate my TDEE?

Every 10 lb (about 5 kg) of weight change, or whenever your activity changes a lot, like a new job or a new training plan.

Why is my TDEE so much higher than my BMR?

Because TDEE adds everything BMR leaves out: movement, exercise and digestion. Depending on how active you are, that adds about 20 to 90% on top of BMR.

Sources

1. Mifflin MD, St Jeor ST, et al. A new predictive equation for resting energy expenditure in healthy individuals. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 1990;51(2):241-247. doi.org/10.1093/ajcn/51.2.241
2. Frankenfield D, Roth-Yousey L, Compher C. Comparison of predictive equations for resting metabolic rate in healthy nonobese and obese adults: a systematic review. Journal of the American Dietetic Association. 2005;105(5):775-789. doi.org/10.1016/j.jada.2005.02.005
3. Hall KD, Sacks G, Chandramohan D, et al. Quantification of the effect of energy imbalance on bodyweight. The Lancet. 2011;378(9793):826-837. doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(11)60812-X