TDEE Calculator — Daily Calorie Needs
Total daily energy expenditure is what your body actually gets through in a day — resting metabolism plus your commute, your job, your training and the energy it costs to digest what you eat.
This is your maintenance number. Eat around it and your weight holds steady; that makes it the honest starting point for gaining or losing.
This is an estimate for healthy adults, not medical advice. If you are pregnant, breastfeeding, or managing a medical condition, speak to your doctor before acting on it.
How it works
We calculate your BMR with the Mifflin-St Jeor equation, then multiply by an activity factor from 1.2 for a desk-bound week up to 1.9 for physical work or twice-daily training.
TDEE = BMR x activity factor (1.2 to 1.9)
A worked example
The 28-year-old man from the BMR example has a BMR of about 1,679 kcal. Training three to five days a week gives an activity factor of 1.55, so his TDEE is roughly 2,602 kcal a day.
What it cannot tell you
- Activity factors are broad brackets. Two people who both pick "moderate" can genuinely differ by several hundred calories.
- Most people overestimate how active they are. If your weight is not moving as the number predicts, your real factor is probably lower.
- It is an estimate to start from and adjust, not a measurement.
Frequently asked
- How accurate is a TDEE calculator?
- It gets most people within about 10%. Use it as a starting point: track your weight for two to three weeks and adjust the number based on what actually happens.
- Which activity level should I pick?
- Count deliberate exercise, not general busyness. If you sit at a desk and train three times a week, that is moderate, not very active.
- Does TDEE change?
- Yes. It falls as you lose weight, because a smaller body costs less to run, and it shifts with how much you move. Recalculate every few kilograms.
- What do I do with this number?
- Eat around it to maintain, below it to lose, above it to gain. How far below is the question the calorie deficit calculator answers.