How to use this calculator
Select your gender, then enter your age, height, and weight. Choose the activity level that best matches a typical week — be honest, most people overestimate. Hit calculate and you will instantly see your maintenance calories along with cutting and bulking targets.
What is TDEE?
TDEE stands for Total Daily Energy Expenditure — the total number of calories your body burns in 24 hours, including your resting metabolism, daily movement, digestion, and exercise. It is the single most useful number for managing your weight: eat below your TDEE and you lose weight, eat above it and you gain.
TDEE is built on top of your BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate) — the calories your body burns at complete rest just keeping you alive. Your activity level then scales that baseline up to a realistic daily total.
How is TDEE calculated?
This calculator uses the Mifflin-St Jeor equation — the formula the American Dietetic Association found to be the most accurate BMR predictor for healthy adults, outperforming the older Harris-Benedict equation.
The Mifflin-St Jeor formula
Weight (kg) = lbs ÷ 2.205
Height (cm) = inches × 2.54
// Step 2 — BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate)
Men: BMR = 10 × weight + 6.25 × height − 5 × age + 5
Women: BMR = 10 × weight + 6.25 × height − 5 × age − 161
// Step 3 — Multiply by activity factor
TDEE = BMR × activity multiplier (1.2 to 1.9)
Formula source: Mifflin MD, St Jeor ST, et al. A new predictive equation for resting energy expenditure in healthy individuals. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 1990. Activity multipliers from standard exercise-physiology practice.
Activity multipliers explained
| Level | Multiplier | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Sedentary | 1.20× | Desk job, little or no exercise |
| Lightly active | 1.375× | Light exercise 1–3 days per week |
| Moderately active | 1.55× | Moderate exercise 3–5 days per week |
| Very active | 1.725× | Hard exercise 6–7 days per week |
| Extremely active | 1.90× | Physical job plus daily hard training |
Example TDEE values
| Person | BMR | TDEE (moderate) |
|---|---|---|
| Male, 30y, 5'10", 180 lb | ~1,783 cal | ~2,763 cal |
| Female, 30y, 5'5", 140 lb | ~1,372 cal | ~2,127 cal |
| Male, 45y, 6'0", 210 lb | ~1,907 cal | ~2,956 cal |
Cutting and bulking with your TDEE
A 500-calorie daily deficit produces roughly one pound of fat loss per week — a sustainable rate for most people. A 500-calorie surplus supports muscle gain at around half a pound to a pound per week when combined with progressive strength training. Larger swings tend to cost muscle (when cutting) or add excess fat (when bulking).
Whichever direction you go, recalculate your TDEE every 10 to 15 pounds of weight change — your maintenance number moves with your body weight.
Frequently asked questions
The Mifflin-St Jeor equation is considered the most accurate BMR formula for healthy adults and is recommended by the American Dietetic Association. It predicts resting metabolic rate within 10% of measured values for most people, outperforming the older Harris-Benedict equation.
Eat roughly 500 calories below your TDEE per day. That deficit produces about one pound of fat loss per week. For a person with a TDEE of 2,700 calories, that means eating around 2,200 calories per day. Avoid cutting more than 25% below TDEE — larger deficits cost muscle and are hard to sustain.
BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate) is the calories your body burns at complete rest — keeping your heart, brain, and organs running. TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure) is BMR plus everything else: walking, exercise, digestion, and daily activity. TDEE is the number you should base your eating targets on.
A good TDEE calculator gets within about 10% of your true daily burn. Individual factors like muscle mass, genetics, and hormone levels create variation. Treat the result as a starting point: track your weight for two to three weeks, and adjust intake up or down by 100 to 200 calories based on the trend.
No — your activity multiplier already accounts for exercise. If you selected the activity level that matches your real training schedule, adding exercise calories on top would double-count them. Only adjust if your training volume changes significantly.
Recalculate every 10 to 15 pounds of weight change, or whenever your activity level changes meaningfully. As you lose weight your TDEE drops, and as you gain muscle it rises — keeping the number current keeps your progress predictable.
Important
Not medical advice. Calorie estimates are based on the Mifflin-St Jeor equation and are intended for healthy adults. Individual metabolism varies with muscle mass, hormones, medication, and health conditions. Talk to a clinician or registered dietitian before starting an aggressive cut or bulk, especially if you have a medical condition, are pregnant or postpartum, or have a history of disordered eating.