TDEE Calculator

Calculate your Total Daily Energy Expenditure — the calories you burn each day — from your BMR and activity level, with maintenance and goal targets.

Sex
Height cm
ft in
Activity level
  • Sedentary — little or no exercise
  • Light — exercise 1–3 days/week
  • Moderate — exercise 3–5 days/week
  • Active — exercise 6–7 days/week
  • Very active — hard exercise or physical job
BMR formula
  • Mifflin-St Jeor (recommended)
  • Harris-Benedict
  • Katch-McArdle (uses body fat)
Total Daily Energy —kcal/day
BMR (at complete rest)—
Maintain weight—
Mild weight loss—
Weight loss (0.5 kg/week)—
Weight gain (0.5 kg/week)—

Estimated with the Mifflin-St Jeor equation.

Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE) is the total number of calories you burn in a day — everything from keeping you alive at rest to walking, training, and digesting your food. It’s the most useful single number for planning your diet, because eating around your TDEE keeps your weight steady.

How TDEE is calculated

TDEE starts with your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) — the calories you burn at rest, from the Mifflin-St Jeor equation — and multiplies it by an activity factor:

Activity levelFactor
Sedentary (little or no exercise)1.2
Light (1–3 days/week)1.375
Moderate (3–5 days/week)1.55
Active (6–7 days/week)1.725
Very active (hard exercise or physical job)1.9

So a person with a BMR of 1,780 kcal who trains moderately has a TDEE of about 1,780 × 1.55 = 2,759 kcal/day.

Using your TDEE

  • Maintain weight: eat at your TDEE.
  • Lose weight: eat below it (a 500 kcal/day deficit ≈ 0.5 kg/week).
  • Gain weight: eat above it, ideally with resistance training.

Activity multipliers are approximations, and most people overestimate how active they are. Treat your TDEE as a starting point, then adjust by tracking your weight trend over a few weeks.

Frequently asked questions

What is TDEE?

TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure) is the total number of calories you burn in a day, including rest, movement, exercise, and digesting food. It equals your BMR multiplied by an activity factor, and it's the number to eat around to maintain your weight.

Which activity level should I choose?

Be honest and slightly conservative. 'Sedentary' suits desk jobs with little exercise; 'Moderate' fits 3–5 workouts a week; 'Very active' is for hard daily training or physical jobs. Most people overestimate — if unsure, pick the lower option and adjust from real results.

Should I eat my TDEE?

To maintain your current weight, yes. To lose weight, eat below it; to gain, eat above it. The calculator shows those targets alongside your TDEE.

References