TDEE & Calorie Calculator

Understanding Your Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE)

Your Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE) is the total calories you burn in 24 hours — from basic organ function through daily movement and exercise. Match intake to TDEE to maintain weight; eat less to lose, more to gain.

TDEE is built from BMR (often Mifflin–St Jeor), then multiplied by an activity factor from sedentary (1.2) to very active (1.9). That yields a personalized estimate grounded in physiology.

A ~500 kcal daily deficit yields about 0.5 kg fat loss per week; a modest surplus supports muscle gain. Protein near 2 g/kg helps preserve muscle when cutting or support growth when bulking. Adjust after 2–3 weeks using scale trends — equations can differ from reality by about 10–15%.

TDEE estimates combine basal metabolic approximations (Mifflin-St Jeor or similar) with activity multipliers. Real energy expenditure fluctuates with NEAT, sleep, stress, and thermic effect of food.

Treat outputs as starting points—adjust weekly based on scale trend and performance. Medical nutrition therapy belongs to registered dietitians.

How the estimate is built

First the calculator estimates your basal metabolic rate (BMR) with the Mifflin–St Jeor equation: 10 × weight (kg) + 6.25 × height (cm) − 5 × age, plus 5 for men or minus 161 for women. That is multiplied by an activity factor — 1.2 sedentary, 1.375 lightly active, 1.55 moderately active, 1.725 very active and 1.9 extra active — to give total daily energy expenditure (TDEE). Goal rows add or subtract 500 or 1,000 calories, never going below 1,000, and the macro split uses about 2 g of protein per kg, 25% of calories from fat and the rest from carbohydrate.

Worked examples

• A 30-year-old man, 75 kg and 175 cm, moderately active: BMR 1,699 kcal, TDEE 2,633 kcal. The macro split is about 150 g protein, 73 g fat and 344 g carbohydrate.
• A 30-year-old woman, 60 kg and 165 cm, lightly active: BMR 1,320 kcal and TDEE 1,815 kcal. A 500-calorie deficit puts her at 1,315 kcal a day.

Choosing an activity level honestly

The activity factor is the biggest source of error. Most people with desk jobs who exercise three or four times a week are “lightly” or “moderately” active, not “very active” — workouts burn fewer calories than fitness trackers often suggest, and everyday movement such as walking and standing (NEAT) varies more between people than gym time does. If you are unsure, pick the lower level and adjust from real results.

Adjusting from real results

• Eat at the estimated calories for two to three weeks and track your weight trend (a weekly average, not daily readings).
• If the trend is flat when you meant to lose, lower intake by 100–200 kcal a day; if you are losing faster than about 1% of body weight a week, eat a little more.
• Recalculate after every 5 kg or so of change — a lighter body burns less.
• Pregnancy, breastfeeding, eating disorders, diabetes and other medical conditions need individual advice from a doctor or registered dietitian rather than a formula.