TDEE Calculator

How to Use This TDEE Calculator

Choose US or metric units. Enter sex, age, height, and weight. Pick a BMR formula and activity level. Select maintain, cut, or surplus. Results show TDEE, BMR, goal calories, weekly totals, and an activity comparison chart.

Defaults load so a maintenance estimate appears immediately. Change activity carefully. Overestimating training is a common reason people stall while logging “at deficit.”

What is total daily energy expenditure?

TDEE combines resting metabolism with movement and the energy cost of digesting food. BMR often makes up the largest share. Exercise, walking, standing, and fidgeting (often called NEAT) make up much of the rest. The activity factor is a simplified way to capture that movement in one number.

Eating near true TDEE usually holds weight steady when measurements are consistent. Eating below TDEE creates a deficit. Eating above creates a surplus. Real world results still depend on adherence, sleep, hormones, medications, and measurement error.

How to calculate TDEE manually

1. Convert height and weight to centimeters and kilograms. 2. Compute Mifflin St Jeor BMR for your sex. 3. Choose an activity factor that matches your week, not your best day. 4. Multiply BMR × factor for TDEE. 5. Add or subtract 250 to 500 kcal for a starting goal. 6. Recheck after two to four weeks of weight data.

Worked example: Male, 30 years, 178 cm, 77 kg. BMR = 10×77 + 6.25×178 − 5×30 + 5 = 1,737.5 kcal. Lightly active factor 1.375 → TDEE ≈ 2,389 kcal. A 500 kcal cut targets about 1,889 kcal per day.

Choosing the right activity level

Sedentary fits desk work with almost no planned exercise. Light covers a few weekly sessions. Moderate fits regular training most weeks. Very active and extremely active are for hard daily training or physically demanding jobs. If weight rises while you “eat at maintenance,” try the next lower factor before cutting more aggressively.

Fat loss and surplus targets

About 3,500 kcal is a rough historical estimate for one pound of body fat, though real composition change is not that simple. A 500 kcal daily deficit is about 3,500 kcal per week and often cited as roughly one pound per week on average. Milder 250 kcal cuts can be easier to sustain. Large deficits raise hunger and muscle loss risk, especially without enough protein and resistance training.

Common mistakes

• Picking “very active” when workouts are two short sessions per week
• Eating back all tracker exercise calories after already using an active TDEE
• Ignoring weight trend for weeks while changing targets daily
• Going far below roughly 1,200 kcal (women) or 1,500 kcal (men) without clinical supervision
• Forgetting to recalculate after meaningful weight change

Practical scenarios

Office workers often start at sedentary or lightly active. Recreational lifters often land on moderate. Endurance athletes and laborers may need very active or extremely active factors, then still validate with scale trends. After weight loss, TDEE falls because a lighter body costs less energy to move and maintain.

Use the Macro Calculator next to split goal calories into protein, carbs, and fat. Use the BMR Calculator when you want formula comparisons at rest without goal overlays.

Components inside TDEE

Resting metabolism covers organs, breathing, and basic cell work. Activity energy covers planned training plus everyday movement. Digestion also costs energy, often near one tenth of intake depending on meal composition. The activity multiplier used here is a practical shortcut that folds those non resting pieces into one scale rather than measuring each part in a lab.

People with similar body size can still differ by hundreds of calories because of NEAT. Standing desks, walking meetings, and restless movement can matter as much as a short gym session. That is another reason to validate calculator output against real weight change.

When this calculator is useful

Use it to set maintenance calories, plan a cut or lean bulk, compare activity levels, and estimate weekly energy budgets before you build a meal plan. Keep protein high enough during cuts to protect lean mass.

When this calculator may not be enough

It does not measure metabolic rate in a lab, account for illness, pregnancy, or some medications, or replace registered dietitian care for disordered eating or medical nutrition therapy.

How to interpret your result

The hero number is estimated TDEE (maintenance). Goal calories apply your selected surplus or deficit. The donut shows BMR versus activity related calories. The bar chart compares TDEE across all five activity factors so you can see how sensitive the estimate is to that choice.

Units and conversions

Formulas use kilograms and centimeters. US mode converts pounds and feet/inches automatically before the BMR step so you do not need to convert by hand.

Limitations

Predictive equations are population averages. Individual error of about 10% is common. Activity factors are planning conventions, not lab measurements. Confirm progress with consistent weigh ins and adjust slowly.

Sources & References

• Mifflin MD, St Jeor ST, et al. A new predictive equation for resting energy expenditure in healthy individuals. Am J Clin Nutr. 1990. PMID 2305711.
• Medscape reference summary of the Mifflin St Jeor equation and activity scale factors: reference.medscape.com
• Roza AM, Shizgal HM. The Harris Benedict equation reevaluated. Am J Clin Nutr. 1984 (revised Harris Benedict coefficients used as an alternate BMR option).