TDEE Calculator

Take a 30-year-old man who is 5'10" (178 cm) and weighs 185 lb (84 kg) and exercises 3-5 days a week. His BMR works out to about 1,808 calories, and at a "moderately active" factor of 1.55 his TDEE is roughly 2,800 calories per day. That single number tells him exactly where to start: eat about 2,800 to maintain, around 2,300 to cut, or about 3,300 to bulk. Knowing your TDEE turns vague calorie advice into a concrete daily target.

How TDEE is calculated

TDEE is your BMR multiplied by an activity factor. We first estimate BMR with the Mifflin-St Jeor equation, widely considered the most accurate calorie formula for the general population:

where s = +5 for men and −161 for women. We then multiply BMR by your activity factor to get TDEE:

Imperial inputs (pounds and feet/inches) are converted to kilograms and centimeters before the formula runs, so the result is identical whether you enter metric or imperial units.

The five activity factors

Choosing the right multiplier is the single most important step, because it can change your TDEE by hundreds of calories:

• Sedentary (1.2): little or no exercise, desk job.
• Lightly active (1.375): light exercise or sports 1-3 days a week.
• Moderately active (1.55): moderate exercise 3-5 days a week.
• Very active (1.725): hard exercise 6-7 days a week.
• Extra active (1.9): a physical job or training twice a day.

When in doubt, pick the lower factor. Most people overestimate how active they are, and an inflated multiplier is the top reason a "calorie deficit" quietly turns into maintenance.

Using TDEE to cut, maintain or bulk

Because about 3,500 calories roughly equals one pound of body fat, a daily 500-calorie deficit targets about 1 lb (0.45 kg) of fat loss per week, while a 500-calorie surplus supports steady weight gain. Eating at your TDEE keeps weight stable. The cut and bulk numbers in the calculator simply subtract or add 500 calories to your maintenance line.

Make your TDEE more accurate

No formula knows your exact metabolism, so treat your calculated TDEE as a hypothesis. Eat at that level (or your deficit/surplus) consistently for 2-3 weeks, weigh yourself a few times a week at the same time, and average the readings. If your weight is not moving the way you expect, adjust intake by 100-200 calories and re-check. Over time, your real-world results are far more reliable than any single estimate.

How to use this TDEE calculator

You only need a few numbers to get a realistic estimate. Work through the fields in order:

1. Units: choose imperial (pounds, feet/inches) or metric (kilograms, centimeters). The math is identical either way.
2. Sex: select male or female. This changes the constant in the BMR formula (+5 for men, −161 for women), which can shift your TDEE by roughly 150-200 calories.
3. Age: enter your current age in years. BMR falls slightly each year, so an accurate age keeps the estimate honest.
4. Height and weight: type your current measurements. Use today's weight, not a goal weight, so the calculator reflects what your body actually burns now.
5. Activity level: pick the factor that matches a typical week, not your best week. When unsure, choose the lower option.

The result updates instantly. Read your maintenance TDEE first, then look at the cutting (−500) and bulking (+500) targets to see exactly where to set your daily intake for your goal.

Who this calculator is for

This tool is built for anyone who wants a concrete daily calorie number instead of vague advice. That includes:

• People starting a fat-loss diet who need a sensible deficit rather than guessing or crash-dieting.
• Lifters and athletes planning a lean bulk and wanting a controlled surplus that limits fat gain.
• Anyone at maintenance who wants to hold their current weight and stop the slow creep up or down.
• Calorie trackers who already log food and need a daily target to compare against.
• Beginners learning the difference between BMR, TDEE and a calorie goal before committing to a plan.

Key terms explained

• BMR (basal metabolic rate): the calories your body burns at complete rest just to keep you alive - breathing, circulation, temperature and cell repair. It is the largest single piece of your daily burn.
• TDEE (total daily energy expenditure): BMR plus everything else you spend energy on - exercise, daily movement and digesting food. It is your maintenance calorie level.
• NEAT (non-exercise activity thermogenesis): the calories you burn from fidgeting, walking, standing and chores. It varies a lot between people and is the main reason two similar bodies can have different TDEEs.
• TEF (thermic effect of food): the energy used to digest and process what you eat, usually about 10% of intake. Protein has the highest thermic effect.
• Calorie deficit / surplus: eating below your TDEE (deficit) drives fat loss; eating above it (surplus) drives weight gain.

A second worked example: cutting on a busy schedule

Consider a 35-year-old woman who is 5'5" (165 cm) and weighs 150 lb (68 kg) with a desk job and light walking, so she selects "lightly active" (1.375). Her BMR is about 1,375 calories, giving a TDEE near 1,891 calories. To lose roughly 1 lb a week she eats about 1,391 calories (a 500-calorie deficit), or she can take a gentler route at 1,641 calories (a 250-calorie deficit) to lose about half a pound a week with less hunger. If she later starts strength training three days a week, she would bump her activity factor to "moderately active" (1.55), raising her TDEE to about 2,132 - so her cutting target would rise too, which is why activity level should be revisited whenever your routine changes.

What changes your TDEE the most

Several factors move the number, and not all of them are within your control:

• Activity level: the biggest lever in this calculator - it can swing TDEE by 700+ calories from sedentary to extra active.
• Body size and weight: a larger body burns more at rest, so heavier and taller people have higher BMRs and TDEEs.
• Muscle mass: muscle is more metabolically active than fat, so more lean mass nudges your burn up - one reason resistance training helps long-term.
• Sex and age: men generally have higher BMRs, and BMR gradually declines with age as muscle mass and hormone levels change.
• Daily movement (NEAT): a job on your feet or a habit of walking can add hundreds of calories that a desk-bound week does not.

Limitations and assumptions

This calculator is a planning estimate, not a metabolic measurement. Keep these points in mind:

• It uses the Mifflin-St Jeor equation, which is built on population averages and does not measure your individual metabolism.
• It does not factor in body-fat percentage; two people of the same weight but different builds can have different real BMRs.
• Activity factors are broad brackets, so your true expenditure can fall between them.
• It does not account for medical conditions, medications, pregnancy or breastfeeding, all of which can change calorie needs significantly.
• The 3,500 calories per pound rule is a useful approximation, not an exact law - real weight change also depends on water, glycogen and adaptation.

Scenario comparison: one body, five activity levels

To see how much the activity multiplier matters, take the same person - a 30-year-old man, 5'10" (178 cm), 185 lb (84 kg), with a BMR of about 1,808 calories - and run him through every activity factor. The maintenance number swings by more than 1,200 calories from one end to the other:

• Sedentary (1.2): about 2,169 calories/day - a desk job with little or no formal exercise.
• Lightly active (1.375): about 2,485 calories/day - light movement or 1-3 short workouts a week.
• Moderately active (1.55): about 2,802 calories/day - 3-5 solid training sessions a week.
• Very active (1.725): about 3,118 calories/day - hard training 6-7 days a week.
• Extra active (1.9): about 3,434 calories/day - a physical job plus daily training.

The takeaway: the formula and your body stats are fixed, but the bracket you pick is the lever you control - and picking one level too high quietly erases a 300-calorie deficit. If you want to remove that guesswork, log your daily steps and workouts for two weeks and compare the burn against your eating, or pair a sedentary base factor with the Calories Burned Calculator to add exercise on top of a known floor.

How men, women and age change the number

Two of the inputs are not lifestyle choices, and they shift your TDEE before activity is even applied. The Mifflin-St Jeor constant is +5 for men and −161 for women, a 166-calorie gap at the BMR level that widens once the activity factor multiplies it. On top of that, men typically carry more lean muscle mass, which is metabolically active and pushes resting burn higher - so a man and a woman of the same height and weight will rarely share the same maintenance number. Age works against everyone: BMR falls roughly 1-2% per decade in adulthood as muscle mass declines and hormones shift, which is why the same calorie intake that maintained your weight at 25 can slowly add pounds at 45. The fix is not crash dieting but recalculating periodically and protecting muscle with resistance training and protein. To check the resting-burn half of the equation on its own, use the BMR Calculator.

Turning your TDEE into a real diet plan

A number on a screen does not change your body - what you do with it does. Once you have your maintenance TDEE, pick a goal and a sustainable rate of change. For fat loss, a deficit of 10-20% below maintenance (often the 500-calorie line shown here) balances steady progress against hunger and muscle retention; a deeper cut works short-term but gets harder to sustain and risks lean-mass loss. For muscle gain, a smaller surplus of 5-15% above maintenance limits fat gain while still fuelling growth - "lean bulk" beats "dirty bulk" for most people. Whatever your target calorie line, set your protein first (about 0.7-1.0 g per pound of body weight), then split the remaining calories between carbohydrates and fats by preference and training style. The Macro Calculator turns your TDEE into exact gram targets, and if your priority is a structured cut you can refine the deficit side with the Calorie Deficit Calculator. Finally, give any plan 2-3 weeks before judging it, and let the trend on the scale - not a single weigh-in - tell you whether to adjust.

Why your tracked intake and your TDEE rarely match perfectly

Plenty of people eat at their calculated TDEE and still gain or lose weight, and the gap almost always comes from measurement rather than a "broken" metabolism. Food labels are allowed a margin of error, restaurant portions are routinely underestimated, cooking oils and condiments add hundreds of uncounted calories, and most people forget bites, sips and snacks when logging. On the burn side, NEAT - the energy you spend fidgeting, walking and standing - can vary by hundreds of calories day to day and tends to drop when you diet, blunting the deficit you thought you had. None of this means the formula is wrong; it means the calculated TDEE is a starting hypothesis to test, not a guarantee. Weigh your food for a couple of weeks to calibrate your eye, keep your logging honest, and adjust intake by 100-200 calories if the scale trend disagrees with the math. Over time your own tracked data becomes far more accurate than any equation.

How it compares to related calculators

This page answers "how many calories do I burn in a day?" If your question is slightly different, a sister tool fits better:

• To see only your resting burn, use the BMR Calculator.
• To plan a target around a goal weight or timeline, use the Calorie Calculator.
• To dial in a fat-loss deficit specifically, use the Calorie Deficit Calculator.
• To split your TDEE into protein, carbs and fat, use the Macro Calculator.

Sources

• National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK/NIH) - Weight Management and energy balance.
• U.S. Department of Agriculture & HHS - Dietary Guidelines for Americans (estimated calorie needs by age, sex and activity).
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) - Healthy Weight: calories and energy balance.
• Mifflin MD, St Jeor ST, et al. (1990), A new predictive equation for resting energy expenditure in healthy individuals, American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.