Last updated March 2026
TDEE Calculator
Find out how many calories you burn per day based on your activity level.
Weight Loss
Weight Gain
What Is TDEE?
Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE) is the total number of calories you burn in a day. It is composed of several components that together account for every calorie your body uses:
- Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR): The calories your body needs at complete rest to maintain basic functions like breathing, circulation, and cell repair. BMR accounts for approximately 60-70% of your TDEE.
- Thermic Effect of Food (TEF): The energy used to digest, absorb, and process the food you eat, roughly 10% of TDEE.
- Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis (NEAT): Calories burned through daily movement that is not formal exercise—walking, fidgeting, cleaning, and standing. This accounts for roughly 15% of TDEE and varies widely between individuals.
- Exercise Activity Thermogenesis (EAT): Calories burned through intentional exercise such as running, weight lifting, or sports, typically 5-15% of TDEE depending on how active you are.
How TDEE Is Calculated
This calculator uses the Mifflin-St Jeor equation, which research has shown to be the most accurate for estimating BMR:
Male: BMR = 10 × weight(kg) + 6.25 × height(cm) - 5 × age + 5Female: BMR = 10 × weight(kg) + 6.25 × height(cm) - 5 × age - 161 Example: A 30-year-old male who weighs 77 kg and is 178 cm tall would have a BMR of 10(77) + 6.25(178) - 5(30) + 5 = 770 + 1,112.5 - 150 + 5 = 1,737 calories/day. At a moderately active level (1.55), his TDEE would be 1,737 × 1.55 = 2,693 calories/day.
Understanding Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR)
BMR is the single largest component of your daily calorie burn. Several factors influence your BMR:
- Muscle mass: Muscle tissue burns more calories at rest than fat tissue. People with more lean muscle have higher BMRs.
- Age: BMR decreases by approximately 1-2% per decade after age 20, primarily due to muscle loss.
- Sex: Males generally have higher BMRs than females due to greater average muscle mass and larger body size.
- Genetics: Metabolic rate has a genetic component that can cause variation of up to 200-300 calories between individuals of similar size.
The Mifflin-St Jeor equation used here is considered the most accurate for the general population. The older Harris-Benedict equation (1919) tends to overestimate BMR by about 5%. The Katch-McArdle equation factors in lean body mass and can be more accurate for athletic individuals, but requires knowing your body fat percentage.
Activity Level Multipliers Explained
Choosing the correct activity level is crucial for an accurate TDEE estimate. Here is what each level looks like in practice:
- Sedentary (1.2): Desk job with minimal walking. You drive to work, sit most of the day, and do not exercise regularly. Typical step count under 5,000 per day.
- Lightly Active (1.375): Mostly sedentary but you exercise lightly 1-3 days per week—such as yoga, casual walking, or light cycling. Around 5,000-7,500 steps per day.
- Moderately Active (1.55): You exercise at moderate intensity 3-5 days per week—jogging, swimming, weightlifting, or active hobbies. Around 7,500-10,000 steps per day.
- Very Active (1.725): Hard exercise 6-7 days per week, or a physically demanding job combined with regular exercise. Athletes training daily typically fall here. Over 12,500 steps per day.
- Extra Active (1.9): Very intense training twice per day, or extremely physical labor combined with exercise. This applies to competitive athletes in heavy training, military personnel, or construction workers who also exercise regularly.
When in doubt, choose the lower activity level. Most people overestimate their activity, which leads to consuming too many calories.
TDEE for Weight Loss
To lose weight, you must create a calorie deficit by eating fewer calories than your TDEE. A deficit of 500 calories per day leads to approximately 1 pound of weight loss per week (since 1 pound of fat equals about 3,500 calories). A deficit of 250 calories per day results in about 0.5 pounds per week—slower but more sustainable.
Important guidelines for safe weight loss:
- Women should not consume fewer than 1,200 calories per day without medical supervision.
- Men should not go below 1,500 calories per day without medical supervision.
- Aim to lose no more than 1-2 pounds per week. Faster loss often means losing muscle, not just fat.
Crash diets that dramatically cut calories often backfire due to adaptive thermogenesis—your body lowers its metabolic rate in response to prolonged severe calorie restriction. This makes further weight loss harder and weight regain more likely. A moderate, consistent deficit produces better long-term results.
TDEE for Muscle Building
To build muscle, you need a calorie surplus combined with resistance training. A lean bulk approach uses a surplus of 250-350 calories per day, which supports muscle growth while minimizing fat gain. A more aggressive surplus of 500+ calories per day will build muscle faster but also adds more body fat.
Protein intake is critical when building muscle. Most research recommends consuming 0.7-1.0 grams of protein per pound of body weight per day during a muscle-building phase. For a 170-pound person, that means 120-170 grams of protein daily. The remaining calories should come from a balanced mix of carbohydrates and healthy fats to fuel workouts and recovery.
Using TDEE for Your Goals
Maintenance
Eating at your TDEE maintains your current weight. This is useful once you have reached your goal weight, during diet breaks, or when you want to focus on body recomposition (losing fat and gaining muscle simultaneously at maintenance calories). Track your weight over 2-3 weeks at your calculated TDEE to confirm it is truly your maintenance level.
How to Track and Adjust Your TDEE
No calculator is perfectly accurate for every individual. Here is a practical 4-step method to dial in your true TDEE:
- Calculate your starting TDEE using this calculator and eat at that level for 2 weeks.
- Weigh yourself daily at the same time (morning, after using the bathroom) and track the weekly average.
- Evaluate after 2-3 weeks: If your weight is stable, you have found your maintenance TDEE. If you are gaining, reduce by 100-200 calories. If losing, increase by 100-200 calories.
- Recalculate periodically. As your weight, activity level, or age changes, your TDEE will shift. Recalculate every 10-15 pounds of weight change or every 3-6 months.
Frequently Asked Questions
How accurate is TDEE?
TDEE calculators provide an estimate within 5-10% of actual expenditure. Individual metabolism varies based on genetics, hormones, and daily activity fluctuations. Use your calculated TDEE as a starting point, then adjust based on real-world results over 2-4 weeks.
Should I eat back exercise calories?
Your TDEE already accounts for exercise through the activity multiplier. If you track exercise separately with a fitness tracker, be careful not to double-count activity calories. If you do add exercise calories back, only add 50-75% of what your tracker reports, as most devices overestimate burn.
What is the difference between BMR and TDEE?
BMR is the number of calories your body burns at complete rest—just to keep your organs functioning, your blood circulating, and your lungs breathing. TDEE is your total daily burn, which includes BMR plus all calories burned through movement, exercise, and digesting food. TDEE is always higher than BMR.
How often should I recalculate my TDEE?
Recalculate your TDEE whenever your weight changes by 10-15 pounds, your activity level changes significantly, or every 3-6 months. As you lose weight, your body requires fewer calories, so your TDEE naturally decreases. Failing to recalculate can lead to weight loss plateaus.
Why am I not losing weight at a calorie deficit?
Several factors can stall weight loss despite a perceived deficit. The most common reasons are underestimating calorie intake (not weighing food, forgetting snacks and drinks), overestimating exercise calories, water retention masking fat loss (especially after starting a new exercise program), or adaptive metabolic slowdown from prolonged dieting. Try tracking food intake more precisely for two weeks and compare weekly weight averages rather than day-to-day changes.
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