TDEE Calculator
Instant results as you type.
Fill in the values — results appear instantly.
For education only — this is not medical advice. The figures are population averages: real energy use, appetite and rate of loss vary from person to person, and weight loss slows as you get lighter. If you are pregnant, managing diabetes, heart or joint conditions, or taking medication, talk to a doctor before changing your diet or activity.
Total daily energy expenditure is what your body actually burns in a day: your resting metabolism plus everything you do on top of it. It is the number every calorie target is built from — eat below it and you lose weight, above it and you gain. This calculator uses the Mifflin-St Jeor equation, which clinical practice prefers, then applies an activity multiplier and shows what a sensible deficit or surplus looks like.
How to use it
- Enter your age, sex, height and weight — all four change the result.
- Pick the activity level that matches a normal week, not your best one.
- Read your maintenance calories, and the targets for losing or gaining.
Examples
- Female, 30, 165 cm, 70 kg, lightly active: about 1,953 calories a day to maintain.
- Eating around 1,453 would lose close to half a kilo a week.
Frequently asked questions
- What is TDEE and how is it different from BMR?
- BMR is what you would burn lying still all day — the cost of simply being alive, usually 60 to 70 per cent of the total. TDEE adds movement, exercise and the energy used digesting food. BMR is a floor you should not eat below; TDEE is the number your diet is actually built around.
- Which activity level should I pick?
- Choose for a typical week rather than an ambitious one — this is where most people overestimate. A desk job with two gym sessions is lightly active, not very active. If your weight does not move as predicted after a fortnight, the multiplier is almost always the part that was wrong.
- How accurate is a TDEE estimate?
- The equation itself is good to within about 10 per cent for most people. The activity multiplier is far cruder, and it is applied to the whole figure — so treat the result as a starting point, weigh yourself over two to three weeks, and adjust based on what actually happens rather than what the formula predicted.
- Should I eat back the calories I burn exercising?
- Not if you selected an activity level that already includes that exercise, or you would be counting it twice — a very common way a deficit quietly disappears. Fitness trackers also tend to overstate exercise calories. If you want to count workouts separately, choose the sedentary multiplier and add them deliberately.