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TDEE Calculator — Total Daily Energy Expenditure

Type your stats and pick an activity level. Get the calories you actually burn day-to-day.

ft in
BMR
—
at complete rest
TDEE
—
—

What is tdee calculator?

TDEE — total daily energy expenditure — is the calories your body burns in a day. It’s the maintenance number that anchors every other calorie plan: deficits subtract from it, surpluses add to it, macro splits divide it into protein, carbs, and fat. Without an honest TDEE, every other target floats.

The math here is two-step:

  1. Compute BMR via Mifflin-St Jeor (the same formula the BMR calculator uses).
  2. Multiply by an activity factor — 1.2 (sedentary) through 1.9 (extremely active) — that estimates everything beyond rest: digestion, fidgeting, walking, formal exercise.

The activity multipliers come from metabolic ward studies that bucket people by self-reported lifestyle. They’re useful starting points but not precise — the 1.55 (“moderate”) rung is the most validated, and it’s the rung most adults reach for too eagerly. A common pattern: a person picks “moderately active” because they go to the gym, but they have a desk job and walk under 5,000 steps a day; “lightly active” would be closer. When in doubt, pick one rung below your first instinct, then let the scale tell you whether to adjust.

The other thing worth naming: TDEE drops as you lose weight. Less mass to maintain means lower BMR, and prolonged dieting suppresses NEAT (your body conserves energy by reducing fidgeting, postural muscle activity, and unconscious movement). After 5–10 lb of loss your TDEE is usually 200–300 kcal/day below the original estimate, which is why most cuts plateau around then. The fix isn’t a smaller deficit — it’s recomputing TDEE at your new weight and taking a fresh deficit from the updated number.

Privacy is the final detail worth naming. Every calculation runs locally in your browser. Your inputs are never transmitted. The only state saved is your unit preference (imperial vs. metric) in localStorage, shared across all our fitness tools. Estimates only — not medical advice.

When to use a tdee calculator

  • Finding maintenance calories before starting a deficit or surplus — Every weight-loss or weight-gain plan rests on a maintenance number — the calories you burn day-to-day at your current activity. TDEE is that number. Subtract 500 kcal/day for ≈1 lb/week loss, or add 250 kcal/day for ≈0.5 lb/week clean gain. Without a TDEE, every other target is guesswork.
  • Sizing macros around your real burn — Macro splits (protein/carbs/fat percentages) are applied to TDEE, not BMR — you eat at TDEE during a maintenance phase, below it for cutting, above it for bulking. Knowing TDEE first means the macro grams in any preset are anchored to a number that matches your real energy needs.
  • Recalibrating after a stall — If you've been losing weight and the scale plateaus, your TDEE has dropped (less mass to fuel + lower NEAT from prolonged dieting). Recompute TDEE with your current weight, then take a fresh deficit from the new number. Most stalls are TDEE drift, not metabolism breakdown.

How to use the TDEE Calculator — Total Daily Energy Expenditure

  1. Pick your unit system — Toggle between Imperial and Metric at the top. Your choice persists across all our fitness tools through a shared <code>localStorage</code> preference.
  2. Enter your sex, age, weight, and height — Same Mifflin-St Jeor inputs as the BMR calculator — the math reuses the BMR result internally and applies the activity multiplier on top.
  3. Pick an activity level — Be honest. Most people overshoot — selecting 'Moderately active' when 'Lightly active' is closer adds ~175 kcal/day to your target, which is enough to silently undermine a cut. Default to one rung below your gut answer.
  4. Read your TDEE — The headline is the calories you actually burn day-to-day. Use this number as the anchor for any deficit, surplus, or macro plan.

Worked examples

Sedentary man, 35y, 180 lb, 5'10"

Input:  Sex Male, Age 35, Weight 180 lb, Height 5'10", Activity Sedentary
Output: BMR 1,758 → TDEE ≈ 2,109 kcal/day

Sedentary multiplier is 1.2 — desk-bound, no exercise. The base TDEE most office workers should compare against.

Moderately active woman, 30y, 65 kg, 165 cm

Input:  Sex Female, Age 30, Weight 65 kg, Height 165 cm, Activity Moderate
Output: BMR 1,370 → TDEE ≈ 2,124 kcal/day

Moderate multiplier is 1.55 — gym 3–5 days/week at meaningful intensity. The 754 kcal gap from BMR is the cost of 'normal-active' living.

Very active man, 25y, 200 lb, 6'0"

Input:  Sex Male, Age 25, Weight 200 lb, Height 6'0", Activity Very active
Output: BMR 1,945 → TDEE ≈ 3,355 kcal/day

1.725 multiplier — daily hard training plus a generally active lifestyle. The TDEE/BMR gap (~1,400 kcal) is roughly equivalent to a long run plus lifting.

Frequently asked questions

What is TDEE?
Total daily energy expenditure — the total calories your body burns in a day. It's the sum of BMR (the energy you'd burn lying still), the thermic effect of food (digestion, ~10% of intake), and all movement (NEAT plus structured exercise). TDEE is the maintenance number — eat at TDEE and your weight stays flat over time.
How is TDEE different from BMR?
BMR is the floor — your body's energy cost at complete rest. TDEE is BMR plus everything else: walking to the kitchen, fidgeting at your desk, your workout, the energy your body burns digesting your last meal. TDEE is always higher than BMR, by 1.2× (sedentary) to 1.9× (extremely active). Most adults sit between 1.375 and 1.55.
How accurate are the activity multipliers?
They're rule-of-thumb numbers from old metabolic ward studies. The 1.55 'moderate' multiplier is the most validated — most office workers who lift or run 3–5 days a week land within 5% of it. The endpoints (1.2 sedentary and 1.9 extremely active) are less reliable because they correspond to outliers — true bedrest is rare, and 'physical job + hard daily training' is a small population. Treat the result as a starting estimate, then adjust based on whether the scale moves.
Should I pick the higher activity level if I'm starting a new program?
No. Pick the level that matches your current habits. If you start lifting tomorrow you can update the calculator next week. Most overshoot bias comes from people picking the activity level they want to be, not the one they live. If your gut says 'moderate,' default to 'light' for a week and see how the scale tracks — it's much easier to add calories than to claw back from a stall.
What if my weight stalls — does TDEE go down as I lose weight?
Yes. TDEE drops with weight in two ways: less mass to maintain (lower BMR) and lower NEAT (your body conserves energy during prolonged deficit). If you've lost 10 lb and the scale stops moving, your TDEE has typically dropped 200–300 kcal/day. Recompute TDEE with your current weight and rebuild your deficit from the new number. The original calorie target is no longer your maintenance.
What's NEAT and why does it matter?
Non-exercise activity thermogenesis — the calories you burn through everything that isn't formal exercise (walking, fidgeting, cooking, standing). NEAT varies wildly between individuals (sometimes by 1,000+ kcal/day) and decreases on a calorie deficit because your body conserves. The activity multiplier tries to capture NEAT but can't match it precisely; that's the largest source of TDEE estimation error. Tracking step count is a useful crosscheck.
Is my activity level the same on weekends?
Almost never. Most people are 'moderately active' on weekdays and 'lightly active' on weekends, or vice-versa. If your weekly variance is large, average it — pick the level that matches your typical 7-day pattern. The math is calorie-target-per-day, so a one-day binge or rest doesn't move the long-run target much.
Are my numbers stored or sent anywhere?
No. Every calculation runs locally in your browser. Your inputs are never transmitted — there is no server, no API call, no analytics on input values. The only state we save is your unit preference (imperial vs metric) in localStorage, shared across our fitness tools so the toggle remembers your choice. Estimates only — not medical advice. Consult a registered dietitian or your doctor before a structured calorie plan.

Macro Calculator — Daily Protein, Carbs, and Fat

Pick an activity level and a macro split. Get grams of protein, carbs, and fat per day.

Calorie Deficit Calculator — Daily Target and Timeline

Pick a goal weight and pace. Get your daily calorie target and projected end date.

BMR Calculator — Estimate Your Basal Metabolic Rate

Type your age, weight, and height. Get the calories your body burns at complete rest.