TDEE Calculator
How This Calculator Works
Two-step calculation. First, we get your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) using the Mifflin-St Jeor equation — the most accurate predictive equation for healthy adults. Then we multiply BMR by an activity factor to estimate your full-day calorie burn.
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
Sedentary × 1.2
Lightly active × 1.375
Moderately active × 1.55
Very active × 1.725
Extra active × 1.9Citation: Mifflin MD, St Jeor ST, Hill LA, Scott BJ, Daugherty SA, Koh YO. "A new predictive equation for resting energy expenditure in healthy individuals." American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 1990;51(2):241–247.
What This Means For Weight Management
Your TDEE is the most useful single number for weight management. To lose weight, eat below your TDEE. To maintain, eat at TDEE. To gain, eat above it. A 500 kcal/day deficit corresponds to roughly 1 lb (0.45 kg) of fat loss per week — though the body adapts over time and that rule is an approximation.
Limitations
The Mifflin-St Jeor equation is accurate within about 10% for healthy adults. It can underestimate for very muscular people (more lean tissue means more calories burned) and overestimate for people with significantly above-average body fat. Activity multipliers are population averages — your individual NEAT (non-exercise activity thermogenesis, like fidgeting) varies a lot.
For meaningful weight change planning, recalculate every 5–10 lb of weight change, and pay attention to actual results over 3–4 weeks rather than the calculator output.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is TDEE?
TDEE stands for Total Daily Energy Expenditure. It's the total number of calories your body burns in a day — including the calories you burn at rest (your BMR), plus the calories you burn moving around, working, exercising, and digesting food. For most adults it lands somewhere between 1,800 and 3,000 kcal per day.
How is TDEE different from BMR?
BMR (basal metabolic rate) is just the calories you'd burn lying still in bed all day — keeping your heart beating, your lungs breathing, your brain thinking. TDEE is BMR plus everything else: walking, working, exercising, fidgeting, even shivering. TDEE is always higher than BMR. The activity multiplier is how we estimate that extra burn.
Is the Mifflin-St Jeor equation accurate?
It's the most accurate of the common predictive equations for healthy adults — research from the early 2000s found it predicts resting energy expenditure within about 10% of measured values for most people. It's more accurate than the older Harris-Benedict formula, which is why most modern dietitians use Mifflin-St Jeor.
Which activity level should I pick?
Be honest with yourself. 'Sedentary' means desk job, no real exercise. 'Lightly active' means light exercise 1–3 days a week or a job where you're on your feet. 'Moderately active' is exercise 3–5 days a week. 'Very active' is hard exercise 6–7 days a week. 'Extra active' is rare — physical job plus daily training. Most people overestimate.
Should I eat at my TDEE?
If you want to maintain your weight, yes. If you want to lose weight, eat below your TDEE — a 500 kcal/day deficit corresponds to roughly 1 lb (0.45 kg) of fat loss per week, though that rule is approximate. If you want to gain weight (especially muscle), eat slightly above TDEE — usually 200–300 kcal.
Does TDEE change over time?
Yes. As you lose weight, your TDEE drops because your smaller body needs fewer calories. This is why weight loss often slows after a few months — it's not your metabolism breaking, it's just math. Recalculate every 5–10 lb of weight change.
Why do men and women have different formulas?
On average, men have more lean muscle mass per pound of body weight than women, and lean tissue burns more calories at rest than fat tissue. The Mifflin-St Jeor equation accounts for this with a different constant at the end (+5 for men, −161 for women).
Is TDEE the same as 'maintenance calories'?
Yes — they're the same thing. 'Maintenance calories' is just the everyday term for TDEE. Eat at this number and your weight stays put. Eat below it consistently and you lose weight. Eat above it consistently and you gain.