TDEE Calculator
Work out your total daily energy expenditure (TDEE) — the calories you burn on a typical day — and the daily intake range for losing fat, holding your weight or gaining muscle. Metric and imperial units are both supported.
Each goal shows a 200 kcal window (±100) around the standard offset from your TDEE — one number would claim more precision than these estimates have. Do not take the fat-loss window below about 1,200 kcal/day (women) or 1,500 kcal/day (men) without medical supervision.
Formula and calculation
Worked example
A 30-year-old man, 180 cm and 80 kg, exercising 3–5 days a week: BMR = 10×80 + 6.25×180 − 5×30 + 5 = 1,780 kcal. With the moderate activity factor 1.55 his TDEE is 2,759 kcal/day. The fat-loss window is 2,159 – 2,359 kcal/day, maintenance is 2,659 – 2,859 kcal/day, and muscle gain is 2,959 – 3,159 kcal/day.
Choosing your activity level, and why your TDEE moves
The activity factor is where most of the error enters: you report it yourself, and the gap between sedentary and very active is over 50%. Count the whole week, not your best day — a desk job with three gym sessions lands at light to moderate, not active. Your TDEE is also not fixed. It falls as you lose weight, because a smaller body burns less at rest, and it rises slowly as muscle is built. Recalculate after every 5 kg (10 lb) of change, or whenever your routine shifts for more than a month.
What the results mean
- TDEE
- Total daily energy expenditure — the calories you burn on an average day: your resting metabolism scaled by how active you are. Eating this much holds your weight steady. It is an estimate, typically within about 10% for healthy adults.
- BMR
- Basal metabolic rate — the calories your body burns at complete rest, from the Mifflin-St Jeor equation. TDEE is this number multiplied by your activity factor.
- Fat loss
- Daily intake window for losing fat: about 500 kcal below TDEE, shown as a 200 kcal range. That pace targets roughly 0.5 kg (1 lb) of loss per week.
- Maintain weight
- Daily intake window that holds your weight steady: your TDEE, give or take 100 kcal. While you stay in this band, day-to-day scale changes are mostly water.
- Muscle gain
- Daily intake window for gaining muscle: about 300 kcal above TDEE, shown as a 200 kcal range. Bigger surpluses mostly add fat rather than muscle.
- Activity factor
- The activity multiplier applied to your BMR (1.2 to 1.9) for the activity level you picked. It is the biggest lever on your TDEE — and, because it is self-reported, the biggest source of error.
Frequently asked questions
How accurate is TDEE?
For healthy adults these estimates usually land within about 10% of measured energy expenditure — a few hundred calories either way. The activity multiplier is the largest source of error, because it comes from your own description of your week. Treat the number as a starting point and calibrate it with two to three weeks of weight data.
What is a good activity level to choose?
Pick the level that matches an average week: desk job and no exercise is sedentary (1.2), one to three workouts is light (1.375), three to five is moderate (1.55), six or seven is active (1.725), and a physical job plus training is very active (1.9). When two levels both seem to fit, take the lower one — most people overestimate.
What is the difference between BMR and TDEE?
BMR is what you would burn lying still all day; TDEE adds everything else — moving around, digesting food and exercise. The calculator shows both, so you can see how much of your daily burn comes from activity and how much from simply being alive.
How many calories should I eat to lose weight?
Start with the fat-loss window, about 500 kcal below your TDEE, which targets roughly 0.5 kg (1 lb) per week. If the scale has not moved in three weeks, trim another 100–150 kcal or add activity; if you are losing more than about 1% of body weight a week, eat a little more.