TDEE Calculator – Total Daily Energy Expenditure
The TDEE Calculator calculates your Total Daily Energy Expenditure — the total calories your body burns each day including all activity. Enter your age, sex, height, weight, and activity level to get your TDEE, BMR, calorie target for weight loss, calorie target for weight gain, and your maintenance calorie level. The most complete calorie baseline tool for weight management, fitness planning, and nutrition tracking. Formula uses the Mifflin-St Jeor BMR equation with standard activity multipliers. For personalised dietary advice, consult a qualified doctor or dietitian. Free TDEE calculator online with no sign-up required.
Formula
This calculator transforms the provided inputs into the requested outputs using standard domain equations.
Quick Tip
Use this output as guidance and confirm clinical decisions with a qualified professional.
Your TDEE is the single most important number in any diet or fitness plan — it tells you exactly how many calories your body burns each day. Enter your stats and get your number in under a minute.
Featured Answer
Q: How do I calculate my Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE)?
A: TDEE is calculated by multiplying your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) by an activity factor. BMR uses the Mifflin-St Jeor equation. Activity multipliers: sedentary × 1.2, lightly active × 1.375, moderately active × 1.55, very active × 1.725. A 30-year-old woman at 62 kg, 165 cm, moderately active has a TDEE of approximately 2,100 calories. Use this calculator for your personalised result.
How to Use TDEE Calculator
- Enter your age in years — affects BMR through the age component of the Mifflin-St Jeor formula.
- Select your sex — male or female — as the formula uses different constants for each.
- Enter your height — in centimetres for metric, or feet and inches for imperial.
- Enter your weight — in kilograms for metric, or pounds for imperial.
- Select your activity level — choose the option that best describes your typical weekly exercise and movement pattern.
What is Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE)?
Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE) is the total number of calories your body burns in a full day — including resting metabolism, digestion, and all physical activity. It is the most important number in any calorie-based nutrition plan.
TDEE is calculated in two steps:
- BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate) — calories burned at complete rest.
- Activity multiplier — BMR is multiplied by a factor representing your daily activity level.
Activity multipliers:
- Sedentary (desk job, minimal exercise): × 1.2
- Lightly active (light exercise 1–3 days/week): × 1.375
- Moderately active (exercise 3–5 days/week): × 1.55
- Very active (hard exercise 6–7 days/week): × 1.725
- Extra active (physical job + daily training): × 1.9
Your maintenance calories equal TDEE. Eat below it to lose weight; above it to gain. The calorie targets for loss and gain are pre-calculated in the results.
Example: 34-year-old male, 80 kg, 178 cm, moderately active.
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| BMR | 1,862 kcal |
| TDEE (maintenance) | 2,886 kcal |
| Calories to Lose Weight | 2,386 kcal |
| Calories to Gain Weight | 3,136 kcal |
A 500-calorie reduction from TDEE targets safe, sustainable fat loss.
TDEE: The Foundation of Every Successful Diet and Fitness Plan
Why TDEE Calculator Matters
Every diet, every macro plan, every calorie target ultimately depends on one number: how many calories does your body burn each day? Without knowing your TDEE, dietary advice is guesswork. With it, everything becomes a deliberate, adjustable plan.
TDEE is the answer to the foundational question of nutrition: how much should I eat? Eat at TDEE and your weight stays stable. Create a deficit below it and you lose fat. Build a surplus above it and you gain muscle (or weight). The maths is that direct.
What makes TDEE particularly powerful is that it accounts for your individual body — your size, your age, your sex, and your actual activity level. A generic recommendation of 2,000 calories may be exactly right for one person and wildly wrong for another. Your TDEE is yours.
How to Calculate TDEE — Step by Step
- Calculate BMR using Mifflin-St Jeor:
- Men: BMR = (10 × weight kg) + (6.25 × height cm) − (5 × age) + 5
- Women: BMR = (10 × weight kg) + (6.25 × height cm) − (5 × age) − 161
- Multiply by activity factor: sedentary 1.2 → extra active 1.9.
- Result is TDEE = maintenance calories.
- For weight loss target: TDEE − 500 kcal.
- For weight gain target: TDEE + 250–300 kcal.
Real-World Example
Showing TDEE and calorie targets for four different adult profiles.
| Profile | BMR | TDEE | Loss Target | Gain Target |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 28F, 58 kg, 162 cm, lightly active | 1,373 kcal | 1,888 kcal | 1,388 kcal | 2,138 kcal |
| 35M, 82 kg, 180 cm, moderate | 1,925 kcal | 2,984 kcal | 2,484 kcal | 3,234 kcal |
| 50F, 70 kg, 160 cm, sedentary | 1,397 kcal | 1,676 kcal | 1,176 kcal | 1,926 kcal |
| 40M, 95 kg, 182 cm, very active | 2,071 kcal | 3,572 kcal | 3,072 kcal | 3,822 kcal |
The 50-year-old sedentary woman has a much tighter weight-loss calorie window than the active 40-year-old man — important context for setting realistic expectations.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Overestimating activity level — this is the most common TDEE error. Most office workers are sedentary to lightly active, not moderately active. Overestimating TDEE leads to overeating relative to actual burn.
- Not recalculating as weight changes — TDEE decreases as you lose weight. Recalculate every 3–5 kg to keep targets accurate and avoid plateaus.
- Using TDEE as an exact measurement — it is an estimate with roughly 10% individual variation. Treat it as a starting point and calibrate based on 2–4 weeks of actual weight change.
- Eating at BMR to lose weight faster — this is too aggressive for most people and leads to muscle loss, fatigue, and metabolic adaptation. Eat at TDEE minus 500, not at BMR.
- Applying the same TDEE to every day — TDEE is a daily average. Rest days have lower TDEE than training days. Tracking weekly totals rather than rigid daily targets is often more practical.
- Ignoring NEAT — Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis (fidgeting, walking to the office, household tasks) contributes 200–400 calories daily and varies enormously between people. This is captured in the activity multiplier selection.
When to Use This Calculator
Use the TDEE Calculator at the start of any structured nutrition plan. Use it again after any significant change in body weight, activity level, or life circumstances. It is the first step before setting up a calorie deficit, a bulk phase, or a maintenance period.
For BMR alone without the activity adjustment, the BMR Calculator gives the resting baseline. For a goal-specific calorie intake that adds a deficit or surplus, the Calorie Intake Calculator combines TDEE with goal selection in one step.
Pro Tips
TDEE calories — this is your daily maintenance number. Write it down. It is your nutritional baseline from which every diet decision flows.
BMR — the resting floor. Never eat below this consistently. It is the irreducible minimum your body needs to function.
Calories to lose weight — a 500-calorie daily deficit below TDEE targets approximately 0.5 kg of fat loss per week — the safe, sustainable standard. For a more aggressive timeline, 750 calories below is generally the maximum recommended without clinical supervision.
Calories to gain weight — a 250–300 calorie surplus minimises fat gain while providing energy for muscle building. Larger surpluses lead to more fat alongside muscle.
Maintenance calories — use this during diet breaks, deload weeks, or holiday periods to maintain weight without continued deficit or surplus.
Important Assumptions and Limitations
This calculator uses the Mifflin-St Jeor equation for BMR and standard Harris-Benedict activity multipliers for TDEE. Individual metabolic variation of 10–15% is normal. Calculation reviewed against the Mifflin-St Jeor equation (1990) and standard activity multiplier references.
For personalised dietary advice, consult a qualified doctor or dietitian.
Frequently Asked Questions
Find answers to common questions about TDEE Calculator - Total Daily Energy Expenditure
TDEE is the total number of calories your body burns in a day, combining resting metabolism, the energy used to digest food, and all physical activity. It represents your true daily calorie burn and is the foundation of calorie-based nutrition planning. Eating at TDEE maintains weight; eating below creates a deficit for fat loss; eating above builds towards weight gain.
Calculate your BMR using the Mifflin-St Jeor formula, then multiply by your activity factor. Sedentary: × 1.2; lightly active: × 1.375; moderately active: × 1.55; very active: × 1.725; extra active: × 1.9. This gives your TDEE — your daily maintenance calories. This calculator computes it automatically when you enter age, sex, height, weight, and activity level.
The Mifflin-St Jeor equation is validated to be within 10% of measured metabolic rate for most healthy adults. The activity multiplier introduces additional variation since self-reported activity levels often overestimate actual movement. Track your weight for 2–3 weeks at the calculated TDEE and adjust by 100–200 calories if actual results differ from expected weight stability.
Maintenance calories is your TDEE — the number of calories at which your body weight stays stable over time. Consistently eating at this number neither loses nor gains body mass. It is the neutral reference point from which you set a deficit for fat loss or surplus for muscle gain. Understanding your maintenance calories makes dietary planning precise rather than guesswork.
Recalculate every time your body weight changes by 3–5 kg, when your activity level changes significantly, or when you change your fitness goal. As you lose weight, BMR decreases and so does TDEE — failing to recalculate is one of the most common reasons weight loss plateaus after initial progress.
For a moderately active Indian adult woman aged 25–35 at an average height and weight, TDEE typically falls between 1,800–2,200 calories per day. For men in the same demographic, 2,200–2,800 calories is a typical range. Individual results vary significantly based on exact weight, height, and activity level — use the calculator for your personalised figure.
Yes. The calculator provides a calories-to-gain-weight target — typically 250–300 calories above TDEE — which supports lean muscle building when combined with resistance training. Eating significantly above TDEE accelerates weight gain but increases fat storage alongside muscle. A modest surplus with structured training is the recommended approach for body composition improvement.
Activity level is the multiplier that converts BMR into TDEE. Moving from sedentary (× 1.2) to moderately active (× 1.55) increases TDEE by roughly 29% — typically 400–600 extra calories per day for an average adult. This difference shows the substantial calorie impact of regular exercise and why two people with identical BMRs can have very different daily calorie needs.