TDEE Calculator
Work out your Total Daily Energy Expenditure: the calories your body burns in a typical day once activity is factored in. Pick a formula (Mifflin-St Jeor is the modern default), set your activity tier honestly, and you get your BMR, TDEE, cut and bulk targets, and a starting macro split.
Explain like I'm 5 (what TDEE actually is)
Your body burns fuel in two ways: the background tick-over that keeps you alive (BMR), and everything you do on top of it (walking, typing, training, fidgeting). Add those together and you get TDEE, your total daily burn. Eat that number and your weight holds. Eat below it consistently and you lose fat. Eat above it and you gain. That is the whole game, give or take a bit of water weight.
Calculate
Enter your details and press Calculate.
Your numbers
- BMR (calories at rest)—
- TDEE (daily burn)—
Calorie targets
- Aggressive cut (−750)—
- Cut (−500)—
- Mild cut (−250)—
- Maintenance—
- Mild bulk (+250)—
- Bulk (+500)—
Macro starting point (at maintenance)
- Protein—
- Fat—
- Carbohydrates—
Protein at roughly 1.8 g per kg of body weight (or lean mass, for Katch-McArdle), fat at 25% of calories, carbs filling the rest. Adjust to taste and training. This is a starting point, not a prescription.
Prove it
Mifflin-St Jeor: male BMR = 10W + 6.25H − 5A + 5; female = 10W + 6.25H − 5A − 161. Harris-Benedict (revised Roza): male = 88.362 + 13.397W + 4.799H − 5.677A; female = 447.593 + 9.247W + 3.098H − 4.330A. Katch-McArdle: BMR = 370 + 21.6 × LBM(kg), where LBM = weight × (1 − body fat %). TDEE = BMR × activity multiplier (1.2, 1.375, 1.55, 1.725, 1.9).
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Why TDEE is the number that actually matters
If you care about cutting fat, holding your weight, or putting muscle on, TDEE is the number you are working against. Everything else (meal timing, macro splits, training splits, the brand of protein powder your cousin swears by) is detail stacked on top of calories in versus calories out. Get TDEE roughly right and you have a target to aim at. Get it wrong by a few hundred calories and you will spend weeks confused about why the scale is not moving.
The calculator above does the arithmetic. It cannot, however, watch you eyeball a tablespoon of peanut butter, pour four, and then blame your thyroid. That part is on you.
Mifflin-St Jeor, Harris-Benedict, Katch-McArdle: which to pick
Mifflin-St Jeor (1990) is the modern default. It was derived from a larger and more representative sample than Harris-Benedict, and in validation studies it gets closer to measured BMR for most adults. If you do not know your body fat percentage, this is the one to use.
Harris-Benedict (revised by Roza and Shetty, 1984) is the older formula, still widely cited. It tends to run slightly high, particularly for heavier or older individuals, which means it can overshoot maintenance calories by 100 to 200 kcal. Useful for comparison, not usually the best primary choice.
Katch-McArdle works from lean body mass rather than total weight, which is why it needs a body fat percentage. For a lean, muscular person it gives a meaningfully higher BMR than Mifflin would, because muscle is metabolically active and fat mostly is not. For someone carrying more body fat, it gives a lower number. If your body fat reading is accurate (DEXA, good callipers done by someone who knows what they are doing, or a smart scale you have sense-checked), Katch-McArdle is the most personalised of the three. If your body fat number is a guess, stick with Mifflin.
Activity multipliers: most people pick one too high
This is where TDEE estimates go wrong. People read "moderately active, 3 to 5 sessions a week" and think that sounds like them, forgetting that the remaining 160 or so waking hours a week are spent sitting at a desk and then on a sofa. Sedentary (1.2) is the right multiplier for a desk worker who does not formally exercise. If you do a couple of short runs and some light yoga, you are lightly active at best. True "heavy" territory means you genuinely feel battered by training volume, or you are on your feet all day and then train.
When in doubt, go one tier lower than you think. You will hit your calorie target more reliably and can always adjust upward if the scale tells you to.
What to do with your TDEE number
For fat loss, a deficit of 250 to 500 kcal a day is the sustainable range. 250 is a gentler cut that leaves energy for training and is easier to stick to. 500 is the classic rate, roughly half a kilo of fat lost per week on paper. 750 is aggressive, useful for short runs but not something to do for months, because it tends to cost you muscle and sleep as well as fat.
For muscle gain, a surplus of 250 to 500 kcal a day is the range. Most of the extra growth happens in the first few hundred calories over maintenance. Beyond that, you are mostly adding fat and work for a future cut.
Honest caveats
Every calorie calculator is an estimate. BMR varies by muscle mass, sleep, stress, hormonal status, medications and recent dieting history. Activity multipliers are based on self-reported behaviour, which is notoriously optimistic. The single best source of ground truth is your own data over two to three weeks: if you eat your calculated maintenance number and your weight holds steady, the calculator was right. If you gain or lose, adjust by 100 to 200 kcal and try again.
And if you are seriously under-eating, dealing with an eating disorder, or have a condition that affects metabolism (thyroid, diabetes, PCOS), talk to a GP or a registered dietitian. A tool in a browser cannot see what is actually going on.
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Frequently asked questions
Which TDEE formula is most accurate?
Mifflin-St Jeor is the best general-purpose default. Katch-McArdle is more accurate if you have a reliable body fat reading. Harris-Benedict tends to overestimate slightly and is kept mostly for comparison.
Why isn't my weight changing at my calculated TDEE?
Calculators give a starting estimate. Track your weight and intake for two to three weeks, then adjust your calories by 100 to 200 kcal based on what actually happened. Activity multipliers in particular tend to be overestimated.
How do I work out my macros?
Protein at 1.6 to 2.2 g per kg of body weight. Fat at 25% of calories, and no lower than 0.6 g per kg for hormonal health. Carbs fill in the remainder. Hitting calories and protein matter far more than the exact carb-to-fat split.
Should I eat back exercise calories?
Not if your activity multiplier already includes your training. Eating back watch-estimated calories on top of "moderately active" is double-counting. Pick the tier that matches your typical week and leave it.
What do the activity multipliers mean in practice?
1.2 is a desk job and not much else. 1.375 is light training once or twice a week. 1.55 is three to five real sessions. 1.725 is hard training six or seven days, or a physical job plus training. 1.9 is twice-daily training or serious volume on top of a physical job.