TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure) Calculator
Pick your sex, enter age, height and weight, and the calculator instantly works out your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) and shows all five activity-level TDEE values side by side — sedentary, lightly active, moderately active, very active and extra active. Tap any row to make it your maintenance baseline, then read off the daily and weekly calories needed. Useful for planning a cut, a lean bulk, or simply understanding why your current intake is or is not sustaining your weight.
Please enter a valid number
Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR)
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kcal
Selected TDEE
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All five activity levels — side by side
Tap any row to pick that level as your maintenance need.
TDEE = BMR × activity factor — the calories you need each day to keep weight steady. To lose, eat 250–500 kcal below TDEE; to gain lean mass, eat 250–500 kcal above. Sources: Mifflin et al. 1990 / Roza & Shizgal 1984; activity multipliers from the Harris-Benedict table.
Formula
BMR (Mifflin-St Jeor): Male = 10·W + 6.25·H − 5·A + 5 Female = 10·W + 6.25·H − 5·A − 161 TDEE = BMR × activity multiplier Sedentary ×1.20 · Light ×1.375 · Moderate ×1.55 · Very active ×1.725 · Extra active ×1.90 (W weight in kg, H height in cm, A age in years)
- · Defaults to Mifflin-St Jeor (1990) — the BMR predictor recommended by the US Academy of Nutrition & Dietetics as the most accurate for healthy adults. The revised Harris-Benedict (Roza & Shizgal 1984) is offered as a cross-check.
- · Activity multipliers use the classic Harris-Benedict five-tier table (×1.20, 1.375, 1.55, 1.725, 1.90) that the fitness and nutrition industries adopted decades ago.
- · TDEE = BMR × activity factor — it bundles resting metabolism, the thermic effect of food (TEF), non-exercise activity (NEAT) and planned exercise (EAT) into a single daily figure.
- · Rules of thumb: to lose fat, eat 250–500 kcal/day below TDEE (≈ 0.25–0.5 kg per week); to add lean mass, eat 250–500 kcal above. Very large deficits suppress BMR and impair performance.
- · Treat the result as an estimate. Individuals vary ± ~10 % due to lean mass, body fat, thyroid status and medication. Verify by tracking real-world weight change for 2–3 weeks and adjust intake accordingly.
- · Pregnancy, lactation, serious illness or extreme BMI — defer to a doctor or registered dietitian rather than this tool.
- · Sources: Mifflin et al. AJCN 1990; Roza & Shizgal AJCN 1984; Harris-Benedict 1919 / 1984 revision; ACE Fitness; NIH.
Frequently asked
What is the difference between BMR, RMR and TDEE?
BMR is your resting energy under strict laboratory conditions — fully awake, fasted, supine, neutral temperature. RMR (resting metabolic rate) is measured under relaxed conditions and runs ~3 % higher than BMR; it is the figure most real-world calculators actually approximate. TDEE adds movement, exercise and the thermic effect of food (TEF) on top. Mifflin-St Jeor is labelled "BMR" historically but its measurements line up close to RMR, which is why it works well as a starting point for TDEE in this tool.
Which activity level should I pick?
Be honest — most people over-estimate. Quick guide: (1) Sedentary ×1.20 — desk job, very little walking. (2) Light ×1.375 — light exercise or 7,000–10,000 steps 1–3 days a week. (3) Moderate ×1.55 — 30–60 min training 3–5 days a week. (4) Very active ×1.725 — hard training 6–7 days a week. (5) Extra active ×1.90 — physical job, two-a-day training or professional athlete. If your weight is not changing, picking one level lower is usually closer to truth than picking one higher: surveys show the average person over-reports activity by 25 %+.
How many calories do I need to eat below TDEE to lose a pound (0.45 kg) of fat?
The classic "3,500 kcal = 1 lb of fat" rule comes from Wishnofsky 1958, so eating 500 kcal/day below TDEE should drop ≈ 0.45 kg per week. In practice the body adapts — BMR ticks down and non-exercise activity falls — so the long-term loss is usually smaller than the math implies. Most dietitians therefore recommend 0.25–0.5 kg per week, i.e. a 250–500 kcal daily deficit; the suggested cutting range here sits inside that window.
Why default to Mifflin-St Jeor rather than Katch-McArdle?
Katch-McArdle uses lean body mass (LBM) as its input, which is more accurate in theory — but only if your body-fat percentage is genuinely known. Lay estimates of body fat are typically off by ± 5 %, which introduces more error than the formula removes. Mifflin-St Jeor needs only age, sex, height and weight, and a 2005 systematic review (Frankenfield) showed it had the smallest mean error (~ ± 10 %) of every published predictor. If you have a reliable DEXA / BIA reading, you can cross-check via this site's Lean Body Mass Calculator and Katch-McArdle: BMR = 370 + 21.6 × LBM (kg).
How is this different from the BMR Calculator on this site?
The maths is identical — what differs is presentation. The BMR Calculator focuses on "BMR + one chosen activity level → five calorie goals (lose fast/slow, maintain, gain slow/fast)". This TDEE Calculator does the reverse: it shows all five activity-level TDEE values side-by-side so you can answer "If I added two more training days a week, by how much would my maintenance calories jump?" It is the better tool when you are evaluating a change in training volume.
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