TDEE Calculator
Free TDEE calculator. Calculate total daily energy expenditure and macros for weight loss, maintenance, or muscle gain. No signup required.
What TDEE means
TDEE — total daily energy expenditure — is the total number of calories you burn in a day: the energy your body uses just staying alive, plus everything you burn moving, working, and training. It is the single number that decides whether your weight trends up, down, or sideways. Eat less than your TDEE and you lose weight; eat more and you gain it. This calculator estimates your TDEE from four inputs, then converts it into a daily eating target and a macronutrient split.
How the TDEE calculator works
- Estimates your basal metabolic rate (BMR) with the Mifflin–St Jeor equation using age, sex, weight in pounds, and height in inches. The equation needs metric units, so the tool converts pounds to kilograms and inches to centimetres first.
- Multiplies BMR by an activity factor from 1.2 (sedentary) to 1.9 (physical job plus training) to reach your total daily energy expenditure.
- Adjusts the total for your goal: −500 kcal for fat loss, 0 to maintain, or +300 kcal to gain muscle.
- Splits the target into protein, fat, and carbohydrate in grams, so you do not need a separate macro calculator to set your targets.
A worked example
A 30-year-old male who weighs 170 lb and stands 5 ft 7 in, training three to five days a week (factor 1.55), maintaining weight. Here is exactly what the calculator returns:
| Step | Calculation | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Weight in kg | 170 lb × 0.45359 | 77.1 kg |
| Height in cm | 67 in × 2.54 | 170.2 cm |
| BMR (Mifflin–St Jeor) | (10 × 77.1) + (6.25 × 170.2) − (5 × 30) + 5 | 1,690 kcal |
| TDEE | 1,690 × 1.55 | 2,620 kcal |
| Maintenance target | 2,620 ± 0 | 2,620 kcal |
The suggested macros for that target: 170 g protein (680 kcal, 26%), 73 g fat (655 kcal, 25%), and 321 g carbohydrate (1,285 kcal, 49%). Protein is set at roughly 1 gram per pound of bodyweight — 1.1 g/lb in a gaining phase — fat is fixed at 25% of calories, and carbohydrate fills whatever remains.
Activity multipliers at a glance
| Level | Factor | Typical description |
|---|---|---|
| Sedentary | 1.2 | Desk job, little or no exercise |
| Light | 1.375 | Exercise 1–3 days a week |
| Moderate | 1.55 | Exercise 3–5 days a week (default) |
| Active | 1.725 | Exercise 6–7 days a week |
| Very active | 1.9 | Physical job plus training |
Turning TDEE into an eating target
Your maintenance calories are your TDEE: eat that amount and your weight should hold steady over time. From there:
- To lose fat, eat about 500 kcal below maintenance. That deficit should produce roughly one pound of fat loss a week. Keep protein high to protect muscle and stay full.
- To gain muscle, eat about 300 kcal above maintenance and train with progressive overload. A larger surplus mostly adds fat.
- To maintain, eat at TDEE and let weekly average weight decide whether the estimate needs small corrections.
Common mistakes
- Overrating activity. A desk job with three gym sessions is usually “light” or “moderate,” not “very active.” Most people land at 1.375–1.55.
- Eyeballing portions. Unmeasured food is routinely under-reported by 20% or more — enough to erase a 500-kcal deficit entirely.
- Judging by daily weight. Water and glycogen swing body weight by several pounds day to day. Compare weekly averages, not single readings.
- Never recalculating. A lighter body burns fewer calories, so a plateau is often just the old target becoming a new surplus.
- Cutting too hard. A 1,000-kcal deficit looks fast for two weeks, then hurts adherence and muscle. The steadier 500-kcal cut usually wins.
Frequently asked questions
How accurate is this TDEE estimate?
For most people it lands within about 10–15%. Mifflin–St Jeor is the most widely validated BMR equation in clinical use, but real metabolism shifts with muscle mass, sleep, stress, and spontaneous movement. Treat the number as a starting estimate, then let two to three weeks of weigh-ins tell you whether it needs nudging up or down.
Is BMR the same as TDEE?
No. BMR is the energy you would burn lying still all day; TDEE adds movement and exercise on top. In this example BMR is 1,690 kcal and TDEE is 2,620 kcal — the difference is daily activity. If you only need the at-rest figure, the BMR calculator isolates it.
Should I eat back the calories I burn in a workout?
Usually not separately. The activity multiplier is meant to already account for your training week, so adding burn calories on top tends to double-count them. If your weekly weigh-in trend is drifting faster than intended, adjust the target itself by 100–200 kcal rather than logging exercise calories.
Why does my TDEE estimate change?
Because two of its inputs are changing. Weight loss lowers BMR, which lowers TDEE; a new training block raises the activity factor. Recalculate after every 5–10 lbs of change, and again if your weekly activity genuinely shifts.
Once your target is set, the split between the three macros is a preference within reason. Protein first, fat at a level you can sustain, carbohydrate for the rest — then take the target to the macro calculator if you want to plan meals around the grams rather than the percentages.