Total Daily Energy Expenditure Calculator

Estimate your maintenance calories, the intake at which your weight stays stable, by multiplying your Mifflin-St Jeor BMR by an activity multiplier.

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Calculation Examples

Calculation Case Result
Male, 30 years, 180 cm, 80 kg, moderately active BMR = 1,780 kcal → TDEE = 1,780 × 1.55 = 2,759 kcal/day
Female, 28 years, 165 cm, 62 kg, lightly active BMR = 1,350 kcal → TDEE = 1,350 × 1.375 = 1,856 kcal/day
Weight loss target (500 kcal/day below TDEE) 2,759 - 500 = 2,259 kcal/day, about 0.45 kg per week at first
Katch-McArdle, athlete, 85 kg, 12% body fat LBM = 85 × 0.88 = 74.8 kg → BMR = 370 + (21.6 × 74.8) = 1,986 kcal/day
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Founder and developer of CalcMate. Builds and maintains every calculator on this site, focusing on formula accuracy and clear, practical results.

How to Use the TDEE Calculator

Enter your age, sex, weight and height, then pick the activity level that matches a typical week. The calculator first estimates your basal metabolic rate (BMR) with the Mifflin-St Jeor equation: \[ \text{BMR}_{\text{men}} = 10 \times \text{weight (kg)} + 6.25 \times \text{height (cm)} - 5 \times \text{age} + 5 \] \[ \text{BMR}_{\text{women}} = 10 \times \text{weight (kg)} + 6.25 \times \text{height (cm)} - 5 \times \text{age} - 161 \] It then multiplies BMR by your physical activity level (PAL) multiplier: \[ \text{TDEE} = \text{BMR} \times \text{PAL} \]

If you know your body fat percentage, switch to Katch-McArdle, which works from lean body mass (LBM) and often fits muscular people better: \(\text{BMR} = 370 + 21.6 \times \text{LBM}\), where \(\text{LBM} = \text{weight} \times (1 - \text{body fat fraction})\) and LBM is in kg. The result is an estimate for healthy adults, not medical advice.

TDEE component breakdown: BMR, TEF, NEAT, and EAT proportions in total daily energy expenditure

The TDEE Formula: BMR and Activity Multipliers

TDEE has four parts. BMR is the largest, about 60 to 70% of the total for sedentary people. The thermic effect of food (TEF) is the energy spent digesting and absorbing food, about 10% of the calories you eat on a mixed diet: roughly 20 to 30% of protein calories, 5 to 10% of carbohydrate calories and 0 to 3% of fat calories (Halton and Hu, 2004). Non-exercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT) covers walking, standing, chores and fidgeting, and runs from about 15 to 30% of TDEE depending on lifestyle. Planned exercise (EAT) adds about 5 to 15% for most recreational exercisers.

The five multipliers are: sedentary (\(\times 1.2\)), desk work and little exercise; lightly active (\(\times 1.375\)), light exercise 1 to 3 days a week; moderately active (\(\times 1.55\)), exercise 3 to 5 days; very active (\(\times 1.725\)), hard training 6 to 7 days; extra active (\(\times 1.9\)), a physical job or twice-daily training. These factors come from the Harris-Benedict tradition and are conventions, not individually measured values. The FAO/WHO/UNU report (2004) uses a different system, with PAL values of roughly 1.40 to 2.40. One step up the scale adds about 230 to 310 kcal/day at a BMR of 1,320 to 1,780 kcal/day, so choose honestly.

PAL multiplier table: sedentary x1.2 to extra active x1.9 for TDEE calculation

Useful Tips 💡

  • Pick the lower multiplier when you are unsure. Overestimating activity can turn a planned deficit into maintenance without you noticing. Check your estimate by eating at your TDEE for 2 weeks: a steady change of 0.25 kg per week means the estimate is off by roughly 275 kcal/day.
  • Recalculate whenever your weight changes by more than 3 to 5 kg. The formula depends on weight, so a fixed calorie target slowly shifts from a deficit toward maintenance as you lose weight.

📋Steps to Calculate

  1. Enter your age, sex, weight (kg or lb) and height (cm or inches).

  2. Select your activity level: Sedentary (×1.2), Lightly Active (×1.375), Moderately Active (×1.55), Very Active (×1.725) or Extra Active (×1.9).

  3. Optionally select the Katch-McArdle method and enter your body fat percentage for a lean-mass-based BMR.

  4. Click "Calculate" to view your TDEE and suggested calorie targets for weight loss, maintenance or muscle gain.

Mistakes to Avoid ⚠️

  1. Overestimating activity. A desk job plus three 1-hour gym sessions a week usually fits lightly active (×1.375) or the low end of moderately active (×1.55), not very active. Each step up inflates TDEE by about 230 to 310 kcal/day, and two steps can erase a 500 kcal/day deficit.
  2. Ignoring metabolic adaptation. Leibel, Rosenbaum and Hirsch (NEJM, 1995) found that people holding a 10% weight loss burned roughly 300 to 500 kcal/day less than their smaller bodies predict, mostly through less physical activity. A formula cannot capture this, so expect to adjust your target if progress stalls.
  3. Eating back exercise calories on top of a TDEE target. The multiplier already includes your exercise, so adding workout calories counts it twice and cancels the deficit.
  4. Not recalculating after weight loss. A person who loses 10 kg has a TDEE about 120 to 190 kcal/day lower (10 kg × 10 kcal × multiplier of 1.2 to 1.9), so the old target gives a smaller deficit every week.

Practical Applications📊

  1. Find your maintenance level before you cut or bulk. A man with a TDEE of 2,759 kcal/day who eats 2,259 kcal/day runs a 500 kcal/day deficit, which the common rule of thumb (3,500 kcal per 0.45 kg of fat) puts at about 0.45 kg per week at first. Loss slows as you get lighter (Hall et al., Lancet, 2011), so judge by your 2 to 4 week trend.

  2. Use alongside our Calorie Calculator to turn TDEE into daily meal targets. If you train, the ISSN position stand (2017) suggests protein of 1.4 to 2.0 g/kg/day, which is 112 to 160 g/day at 80 kg.

  3. Recalculate every 4 to 6 weeks during weight loss or gain. Losing 5 kg lowers BMR by 50 kcal/day and TDEE by about 60 to 95 kcal/day, depending on your multiplier.

  4. Plan a lean gain. A surplus of 250 to 500 kcal/day above TDEE is a common starting range, so a TDEE of 2,759 kcal/day gives 3,009 to 3,259 kcal/day.

Questions and Answers

Can TDEE support muscle gain without excessive fat accumulation?

Yes, a surplus of about 250 to 500 kcal/day above TDEE is a common starting range for gaining muscle with limited fat gain. For a TDEE of 2,759 kcal/day, that is 3,009 to 3,259 kcal/day. Protein matters as much as the surplus: the ISSN position stand (2017) recommends 1.4 to 2.0 g/kg/day for people who train, and a meta-analysis by Morton et al. (Br J Sports Med, 2018) found resistance-training gains levelled off around 1.6 g/kg/day. Without a measured TDEE, an unplanned surplus can add far more fat than muscle.

Does the TDEE calculation account for NEAT?

Partly: the activity multipliers estimate average daily movement, including NEAT, but they cannot capture how much NEAT differs between individuals. In the overfeeding study by Levine et al. (Science, 1999), volunteers ate 1,000 kcal/day above maintenance for 8 weeks, and changes in NEAT largely explained who gained fat. Because NEAT is so variable, the multiplier is a rough estimate. Raising NEAT by walking more or standing during work is one of the easiest ways to lift TDEE without adding structured training.

How is TDEE calculated and which formula is used?

TDEE equals BMR multiplied by an activity multiplier: \(\text{TDEE} = \text{BMR} \times \text{PAL}\). BMR comes from the Mifflin-St Jeor equation (1990), which a systematic review (Frankenfield et al., 2005) found within 10% of measured resting rate in more nonobese and obese adults than the Harris-Benedict, Owen or WHO/FAO/UNU equations. PAL ranges from \(1.2\) (sedentary) to \(1.9\) (extra active). For athletes who know their body fat percentage, Katch-McArdle uses lean body mass directly: \(\text{BMR} = 370 + 21.6 \times \text{LBM}\), with LBM in kg.

How often should I recalculate my TDEE?

Recalculate every 4 to 6 weeks, or whenever your weight changes by 3 to 5 kg or your routine changes. Losing 5 kg lowers BMR by 50 kcal/day and TDEE by 60 to 95 kcal/day, depending on your multiplier. After a 10 kg loss at a multiplier of 1.55, TDEE is about 155 kcal/day lower. If you keep using the old figure, the deficit shrinks and can reach zero, which looks like a plateau even though your eating and exercise did not change.

What factors cause TDEE to change over time?

TDEE changes with body weight, activity, age, body composition and diet. Each kilogram of body weight shifts Mifflin-St Jeor BMR by 10 kcal/day, so 5 kg lost lowers TDEE by about 60 to 95 kcal/day depending on your multiplier. Adaptive thermogenesis adds to this: Leibel, Rosenbaum and Hirsch (NEJM, 1995) reported roughly 300 to 500 kcal/day less expenditure than predicted after a 10% weight loss, mostly from less physical activity. Protein raises TDEE slightly because its thermic effect is about 20 to 30% of its calories, against 5 to 10% for carbohydrate and 0 to 3% for fat. Age lowers BMR by about 5 kcal/day per year.

What is a TDEE calculator and what does it measure?

A TDEE calculator estimates the total kilocalories you burn in 24 hours, which is your maintenance intake: the amount at which your weight stays stable. It adds four components: basal metabolic rate (about 60 to 70% of TDEE for sedentary people), the thermic effect of food (about 10% of calories eaten), non-exercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT, 15 to 30%) and planned exercise (5 to 15%). A 30-year-old man who is 180 cm and 80 kg with moderate activity has a TDEE of about 2,759 kcal/day. TDEE is the reference point for any deficit or surplus. It is an estimate for healthy adults, not medical advice.

Why is TDEE the most important metric for weight management?

TDEE tells you whether you are eating in a deficit or a surplus. Eat below it and weight falls over time, eat above it and weight rises. The 2013 AHA/ACC/TOS obesity guideline suggests a deficit of 500 to 750 kcal/day for weight loss, about 0.45 to 0.7 kg per week at the start. Hall et al. (Lancet, 2011) showed that the 3,500 kcal per 0.45 kg rule overestimates long-term loss, because expenditure falls as you get lighter. For a TDEE of 2,759 kcal/day, the range is 2,009 to 2,259 kcal/day. Eating at BMR alone ignores activity and digestion, so it sets a deficit that is usually too large to sustain.
Disclaimer: This calculator is designed to provide helpful estimates for informational purposes. While we strive for accuracy, financial (or medical) results can vary based on local laws and individual circumstances. We recommend consulting with a professional advisor for critical decisions.