TDEE Calculator

Find your total daily energy expenditure — the calories you burn in a day — with two BMR equations side by side, your TDEE at every activity level, and targets to cut or bulk.

Example Enter your own details above.

Your TDEE (maintenance calories)

2,763 calories/day

Moderately active · BMR 1,783 × 1.55 · Mifflin-St Jeor

BMR (Mifflin-St Jeor)

1,783

calories/day at complete rest

TDEE (Katch-McArdle)

—

Add your body fat % to compare

Lowest advised (men)

1,500

calories/day without medical supervision

Cut, maintain or bulk (1 lb ≈ 3,500 calories — an approximation)
Goal	Calories/day
Aggressive cut−2 lb a week · −1,000/day	1,763
Cut−1 lb a week · −500/day	2,263
Mild cut−0.5 lb a week · −250/day	2,513
Maintainno change	2,763
Lean bulk+0.5 lb a week · +250/day	3,013
Bulk+1 lb a week · +500/day	3,263

Your TDEE at each activity level (calories/day)
Activity level	Mifflin
Sedentarylittle or no exercise, desk job · × 1.2	2,139
Lightly activelight exercise 1–3 days a week · × 1.375	2,451
Moderately activemoderate exercise 3–5 days a week · × 1.55	2,763
Very activehard exercise 6–7 days a week · × 1.725	3,075
Extra activevery hard exercise or a physical job · × 1.9	3,387

Working

Height: 5 ft × 12 + 10 in = 70 in × 2.54 = 177.8 cm
Weight: 180 lb × 0.45359237 = 81.65 kg
BMR (Mifflin-St Jeor, men) = 10 × 81.65 + 6.25 × 177.8 − 5 × 30 + 5 = 816.47 + 1,111.25 − 150 + 5 = 1,782.7 → 1,783 calories/day
Maintenance (TDEE) = BMR × 1.55 (moderately active) = 1,782.7 × 1.55 = 2,763.2 → 2,763 calories/day
3,500 calories ≈ 1 lb of body weight (approximate), so 1 lb a week ≈ 500 calories a day
Cut (about 1 lb a week): 2,763 − 500 = 2,263; lean bulk (about 0.5 lb a week): 2,763 + 250 = 3,013 calories/day
Safety check: every weight-loss target is at or above 1,500 calories/day, the usual minimum for men without medical supervision

For healthy adults aged 18 and over; not for pregnancy or breastfeeding. An estimate for general information, not medical advice — talk to a doctor or registered dietitian before a big change in how you eat.

How to use the TDEE calculator

Choose your sex and units, then enter your age, height and weight (US units are the default; switching to metric converts what you typed). Pick the activity level that matches a typical week. If you know your body fat percentage, add it: the calculator then shows a second estimate from the Katch-McArdle equation next to the standard Mifflin-St Jeor result. Below the answer you get a cut / maintain / bulk table, your TDEE at every activity level and the full working. Until you type, the example shows a 30-year-old man. Your inputs stay in the page address, so you can bookmark or share the result.

What TDEE is made of

Your total daily energy expenditure has three parts. The biggest for most people is the basal metabolic rate (BMR), the energy needed at complete rest to keep your heart, lungs, brain and other organs working. Next is activity: planned exercise plus all the everyday movement of walking, standing, fidgeting and chores. The smallest is the thermic effect of food, the energy spent digesting and storing what you eat. Calculators estimate BMR with an equation and then scale it up for everything else with an activity multiplier.

The formulas

Mifflin-St Jeor BMR (men)   = 10 × weight + 6.25 × height − 5 × age + 5
Mifflin-St Jeor BMR (women) = 10 × weight + 6.25 × height − 5 × age − 161
Katch-McArdle BMR           = 370 + 21.6 × lean body mass
Lean body mass              = weight × (1 − body fat % ÷ 100)
TDEE                        = BMR × activity multiplier

Weight and lean mass are in kilograms, height in centimeters and age in years; US inputs are converted exactly first (1 lb = 0.45359237 kg, 1 in = 2.54 cm). Mifflin-St Jeor was published in 1990 from measurements of 498 healthy adults, and a 2005 systematic review for the American Dietetic Association found it the most reliable of the common equations. The Katch-McArdle equation, from the exercise physiology textbook by William McArdle, Frank Katch and Victor Katch, ignores age and sex and works only from fat-free mass — the tissue that burns most of the energy at rest.

Activity multipliers are a rule of thumb

Activity multipliers
Activity level	Typical week	Multiplier
Sedentary	Little or no exercise, desk job	× 1.2
Lightly active	Light exercise 1–3 days a week	× 1.375
Moderately active	Moderate exercise 3–5 days a week	× 1.55
Very active	Hard exercise 6–7 days a week	× 1.725
Extra active	Very hard exercise or a physical job	× 1.9

These five factors are used by almost every TDEE calculator, but they are a convention, not a measured standard. Each step up the list adds 0.175 × BMR — 312 calories a day in the example below — so choosing the right level often matters more than the choice of equation. For comparison, the FAO/WHO/UNU expert report on human energy requirements puts sedentary or lightly active adults at 1.40 to 1.69 times BMR, so the 1.2 “sedentary” figure is cautious. For the example below, the range runs from 2,139 calories a day (sedentary) to 3,075 (very active) — a reminder to choose honestly and check against the scale.

Worked example

A 30-year-old man is 5 ft 10 in tall, weighs 180 lb, trains 3–5 days a week (moderately active) and measures 18% body fat.

Convert: 180 lb × 0.45359237 = 81.65 kg; 70 in × 2.54 = 177.8 cm.
Mifflin-St Jeor BMR = 10 × 81.65 + 6.25 × 177.8 − 5 × 30 + 5 = 1,782.7, about 1,783 calories a day.
TDEE = 1,782.7 × 1.55 = 2,763.2, about 2,763 calories a day.
Katch-McArdle: lean mass = 81.65 × 0.82 = 66.95 kg; BMR = 370 + 21.6 × 66.95 = 1,816.1; TDEE = 1,816.1 × 1.55 = 2,815.
Targets from the Mifflin figure: cut (about 1 lb a week) 2,763 − 500 = 2,263; lean bulk (about 0.5 lb a week) 2,763 + 250 = 3,013.

The two equations land within 52 calories of each other here, which is typical for someone of average build. They drift apart for very lean, very muscular or higher-body-fat people.

Cutting, maintaining and bulking

The targets use the rule of thumb that 3,500 calories equal about 1 lb of body weight, so 500 a day below TDEE is about 1 lb a week. The CDC notes that people who lose about 1 to 2 lb a week are more likely to keep the weight off, and Harvard Health advises not going below 1,200 calories a day for women or 1,500 for men without medical supervision — targets under those levels are marked “Not advised”. The 3,500 rule also overstates long-term loss, because TDEE falls as weight comes off: NIH researchers estimated in The Lancet (2011) that each 10-calorie daily cut eventually leads to about 1 lb of loss, about half of it within a year. For a bulk, a smaller surplus limits fat gain; pair it with resistance training and enough protein.

Tips and common mistakes

Treat the number as a first guess. Eat at your TDEE for two to three weeks and compare weekly average weights. If you are gaining or losing, adjust by 100–200 calories.
Do not count exercise twice. The activity multiplier already includes your workouts, so do not add back calories from a tracker.
Recalculate as you go. Update your weight every 10 lb or so; both BMR equations drop as you get lighter.
Protein, carbs and fat. The macro calculator splits a calorie target into grams, and the calorie calculator gives the same Mifflin-St Jeor numbers with slower and faster loss rates.
Check the inputs. A result far outside 1,600–3,000 calories for an adult is often a units mix-up; see pounds to kilograms or kcal to kJ for kilojoule labels.

Frequently asked questions

What does TDEE mean?

Total daily energy expenditure: all the calories your body uses in a day. It is your resting metabolism (BMR) plus the energy for digesting food, everyday movement and exercise. Eating about your TDEE keeps your weight steady, which is why it is also called maintenance calories.

Should I use Mifflin-St Jeor or Katch-McArdle?

If you do not know your body fat percentage, use Mifflin-St Jeor — it is the equation the American Dietetic Association’s 2005 review found most accurate for most adults. Katch-McArdle works from lean mass, so it can suit very muscular or very lean people better, but only if the body fat figure is reasonably accurate. When the two disagree a lot, start with the lower one and adjust.

How do I find my body fat percentage?

The body fat calculator estimates it from a tape measure using the U.S. Navy method. DEXA scans are more precise; smart scales and handheld devices can be several points off. Any of them is fine here as long as you remember the TDEE is an estimate too.

How many calories should I eat to cut or bulk?

A common cut is about 500 calories below TDEE, which the approximate 3,500-calorie rule turns into roughly 1 lb a week. A lean bulk is often about 250 calories above TDEE. Most women should not go below 1,200 calories a day, and most men below 1,500, without medical supervision. Turn calories into protein, carbs and fat with the macro calculator.

Why does my fitness tracker say I burn more (or less)?

Trackers estimate activity from movement and heart rate, and different devices can give quite different numbers for the same day. This calculator uses a single activity multiplier instead. Neither is a measurement. The most reliable check is your own scale: if your weekly average weight is stable, you are eating at your TDEE.

Does TDEE change as I lose weight?

Yes. A smaller body burns fewer calories, so the same intake gives a smaller deficit over time. Recalculate every 10 lb or so. For long-term plans, the NIH’s Body Weight Planner models how energy needs adapt.

Sources

Last reviewed 25 September 2026 · Built and checked by the Reeliy team · How we test our tools