MyCalculatorZone

TDEE Calculator

Total daily energy expenditure, or TDEE, is the number of calories your body uses in a full day, including everything from breathing and circulating blood to workouts and walking to the kitchen. This calculator combines your basal metabolic rate with a Harris-Benedict activity multiplier so you can see the full day of energy burn behind your maintenance calories.

Enter values

Pick the row that matches an average week, not your best one

Results update as you type.

Results

Total daily energy expenditure
2,468 kcal/day
BMR (resting burn)
1,593 kcal/day
Activity factor used
1.55 — Moderately active
Burned by movement
+876 kcal/day

How is the TDEE calculated?

First the calculator finds your basal metabolic rate with the Mifflin-St Jeor equation from your age, sex, height and weight. That is the energy your body spends just keeping you alive. We then multiply it by an activity factor taken from the Harris-Benedict system: 1.2 for a sedentary day, 1.375 for light exercise, 1.55 for moderate training, 1.725 for hard sessions and 1.9 for physical jobs plus daily workouts. The result is your TDEE, and the gap to your BMR is what your movement adds.

Formula

TDEE = BMR × activity multiplier, where BMR (Mifflin-St Jeor) = (10 × weight in kg) + (6.25 × height in cm) − (5 × age) + 5 for men, or −161 for women. Multipliers: 1.2 sedentary, 1.375 light, 1.55 moderate, 1.725 active, 1.9 very active.

Example

Take a 35-year-old man, 170 cm and 70 kg, who trains moderately. His BMR is (10 × 70) + (6.25 × 170) − (5 × 35) + 5 = 700 + 1062.5 − 175 + 5 = 1592.5 kcal a day. With the moderate multiplier of 1.55, his TDEE is 1592.5 × 1.55 ≈ 2468 kcal a day, so movement accounts for roughly 876 of those calories. At the sedentary factor of 1.2 the same person would burn about 1911 kcal, and at the very active 1.9 around 3026 kcal.

Things to remember

It sits comfortably above your BMR because it counts the energy your life outside the bed adds. Use the maintenance figure as a starting point, track your weight for a couple of weeks and adjust in small steps, since equations estimate and your scale is the final referee.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the difference between BMR and TDEE?

BMR is the energy your body uses at complete rest for twenty-four hours, covering breathing, circulation and cell repair. TDEE adds the calories burned by everything you do on top of that, from workouts to typing, so it is always the larger number. A sedentary day sits close to BMR.

Which activity level should I choose?

Pick the level that honestly matches your last few weeks rather than your ambitions. Sedentary covers desk work with no exercise, light one to three easy sessions, moderate three to five workouts, active six hard sessions. Starting one step lower and adjusting later usually beats overshooting.

Is TDEE accurate enough to plan a diet around?

It is a strong starting estimate, but no equation measures your individual metabolism. Treat the number as a baseline and compare it with real data: weigh yourself under the same conditions for two weeks while eating that amount. If the scale drifts, adjust by two hundred to three hundred calories and retest.

Do I need to recalculate my TDEE when my weight changes?

Yes, because TDEE depends on body weight, so losing or gaining several kilos shifts your maintenance calories. Recalculate whenever your weight moves by about five percent, roughly every few months during a long cut or bulk, or whenever progress stalls. An outdated TDEE is a common reason diets quietly stop working.

Related Calculators