The TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure) Calculator estimates how many calories you burn per day, including activity. Enter your details below to find your maintenance calories and calorie targets for losing or gaining weight.
The TDEE calculator estimates your Total Daily Energy Expenditure - the total number of calories your body burns in a day once you account for everything from basic survival functions to exercise. TDEE is the single most important number for managing your weight, because it tells you how many calories you need to eat to maintain your current weight. Eat fewer and you lose weight; eat more and you gain. Enter your age, gender, height, weight, and activity level above, and the calculator returns your maintenance calories along with practical targets for losing or gaining weight at different rates.
Total Daily Energy Expenditure is the sum of all the energy your body uses in 24 hours. It is built up from four components: your basal metabolic rate, the energy used to digest food, the calories burned during deliberate exercise, and the calories burned through everyday movement that is not formal exercise. Together these determine how much fuel your body requires each day.
Because the last three components depend heavily on lifestyle, TDEE is estimated by first calculating BMR and then multiplying it by an activity factor that reflects how active you are.
The calculation happens in two steps. First, the calculator estimates your BMR using a validated equation. Then it multiplies that BMR by an activity multiplier to arrive at TDEE.
TDEE = BMR × Activity Multiplier
This calculator offers two well-established BMR equations:
Mifflin-St Jeor Equation (the default and most widely recommended):
Men: BMR = 10W + 6.25H − 5A + 5
Women: BMR = 10W + 6.25H − 5A − 161
where W is body weight in kilograms, H is height in centimeters, and A is age in years. Published in 1990, the Mifflin-St Jeor equation is considered the most accurate general-purpose formula for estimating BMR in healthy adults, which is why it is the default here.
Katch-McArdle Formula (for those who know their body fat percentage):
BMR = 370 + 21.6 × LBM
where LBM (lean body mass) = W × (1 − body fat % / 100)
Because the Katch-McArdle formula is based on lean body mass rather than total weight, it can be more accurate for lean, muscular individuals who know their body fat percentage. If you do not know your body fat, the Mifflin-St Jeor equation is the better choice.
Once BMR is known, it is multiplied by a factor that reflects your weekly activity level:
Be honest when choosing your activity level - overestimating it is one of the most common reasons people stall on a diet. Most people who exercise a few times a week and have a desk job fall in the Light to Moderate range, not Active.
Once you know your TDEE, managing your weight becomes a matter of energy balance:
The results table above turns this into ready-made targets. It shows the daily calories for mild, moderate, and aggressive rates of loss and gain, each expressed both as a calorie figure and as a percentage of your TDEE. A deficit of 250 calories supports about half a pound a week, 500 calories about a pound a week, and 1,000 calories about two pounds a week.
It is tempting to slash calories for faster results, but very large deficits backfire. Eating too little - generally below about 1,500 calories a day for men or 1,200 for women - makes it hard to get adequate nutrition, accelerates the loss of muscle along with fat, and can slow your metabolism through adaptive thermogenesis. Extreme dieting also tends to be unsustainable, leading to rebound eating and weight regain. The calculator flags targets that fall below these minimums and recommends consulting a doctor before attempting them. A moderate deficit of 10-20% below TDEE is sustainable, preserves muscle, and is easier to maintain long term.
BMR is the energy your body burns at complete rest; TDEE is BMR plus all the energy used through digestion, movement, and exercise. BMR is essentially your body's idle fuel consumption, while TDEE is what you actually burn living your life. Because nobody spends all day motionless, your real calorie needs are always higher than your BMR - which is exactly why the activity multiplier exists. For practical diet planning, TDEE is the number that matters, while BMR is useful as a floor you should rarely eat below.
Several variables influence how many calories you burn:
Start by treating the calculated TDEE as an educated estimate, not an exact measurement - individual metabolism varies by 5-10% even between people with identical stats. Pick the goal that matches your aim (maintain, lose, or gain), eat at that calorie level consistently for two to three weeks, and track your weight. If the scale is not moving the way you expect, adjust your intake by 100-200 calories and reassess. This feedback loop, anchored to your TDEE estimate, is far more reliable than any single calculation. Pairing the calorie target with adequate protein and resistance training will help ensure that weight you lose comes from fat and weight you gain comes from muscle.
It provides a solid estimate based on validated equations, typically within about 10% of your true energy expenditure. Because individual metabolism varies, use the result as a starting point and fine-tune it by tracking your weight over a few weeks.
Neither directly. To lose weight you eat below your TDEE - usually a deficit of 250 to 500 calories a day. You should generally not eat below your BMR for extended periods, as it can be hard to meet nutritional needs and may cost you muscle.
Use Mifflin-St Jeor (the default) unless you know your body fat percentage and are relatively lean and muscular, in which case Katch-McArdle may be slightly more accurate because it is based on lean body mass.
Different sources use slightly different multipliers. This calculator uses a finer-grained scale where "Moderate" (exercise 4-5 times a week) maps to 1.465 and "Active" maps to 1.55, giving you more precise options between activity levels.
Recalculate whenever your weight changes by about 10 pounds (4-5 kg) or your activity level changes meaningfully, since both affect how many calories you burn. As you lose or gain weight, your TDEE shifts accordingly.
Yes. The activity multiplier already includes the calories burned through your typical weekly exercise, so you should not add exercise calories on top of your TDEE unless your activity for a given period is far above your usual level.
This TDEE Calculator is provided for educational and general informational purposes and is not medical or nutritional advice. Calorie needs vary between individuals, and any significant change to your diet - especially aggressive calorie restriction - should be discussed with a qualified healthcare professional or registered dietitian.