TDEE Calculator

🧮 How Is TDEE Calculated?

TDEE = BMR × Activity Factor

Your Total Daily Energy Expenditure is built in two steps. First, we calculate your BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate) — the calories your body burns at complete rest — using the Mifflin-St Jeor equation, which the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics considers the most accurate formula for most people:

• Men: BMR = (10 × weight in kg) + (6.25 × height in cm) − (5 × age) + 5
• Women: BMR = (10 × weight in kg) + (6.25 × height in cm) − (5 × age) − 161

Then we multiply your BMR by an activity factor that reflects your lifestyle:

⚖️ TDEE vs BMR: What's the Difference?

Many people confuse these two numbers, but they serve very different purposes:

• BMR is the energy your body needs just to stay alive — breathing, circulating blood, maintaining body temperature, and keeping your organs working. If you stayed in bed all day without moving, you'd still burn your BMR.
• TDEE is your BMR plus everything else: walking to the kitchen, working at your desk, exercising, and even digesting your meals.

This is why you should never eat below your BMR for extended periods — it's the minimum fuel your body needs to function properly. Your TDEE, on the other hand, is the number you base your diet plan on.

🎯 How to Use Your TDEE for Any Goal

Once you know your TDEE, reaching any body goal becomes simple math:

• Fat loss: Eat 400–500 kcal below your TDEE. This creates a sustainable deficit that leads to roughly 0.5 kg of fat loss per week — fast enough to see progress, slow enough to keep your muscle.
• Maintenance: Eat at your TDEE. Your weight stays stable because the energy going in matches the energy going out.
• Muscle gain: Eat 250–300 kcal above your TDEE. A small surplus fuels muscle growth without adding unnecessary fat. Bigger surpluses mostly just add fat.

Important: These are starting points, not guarantees. Track your weight for 2–3 weeks and adjust by 100–200 kcal if you're not seeing the expected change.

🔥 What Makes Up Your TDEE?

Your daily calorie burn comes from four sources:

• BMR (60–75%): The biggest chunk — just keeping you alive. This is why even sedentary people burn significant calories.
• NEAT (15–20%): Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis — all the movement that isn't formal exercise: walking, fidgeting, cleaning, standing. This varies hugely between people and is why some seem to "eat anything without gaining weight."
• Exercise (5–15%): Your workouts. Surprisingly, this is often the smallest piece — an hour at the gym burns less than most people think.
• TEF (~10%): The Thermic Effect of Food — the energy used to digest and process what you eat. Protein has the highest TEF, which is one reason high-protein diets help with fat loss.

❌ Common TDEE Mistakes to Avoid

• Overestimating activity: Most people should pick one level lower than they think. Three gym sessions a week is "Moderate," not "Active."
• Cutting calories too aggressively: Eating 1,000+ kcal below your TDEE causes muscle loss, fatigue, and rebound weight gain. Slow and steady wins.
• Never recalculating: As you lose weight, your TDEE drops — a lighter body burns fewer calories. Recalculate every 4–6 weeks or after every 5 kg of change.
• Trusting fitness trackers blindly: Watches and machines often overestimate calorie burn by 20–50%. Your TDEE calculation is usually more reliable.

🔄 When Should You Recalculate?

Your TDEE isn't fixed — it changes as your body changes. Recalculate when:

• Your weight changes by 5 kg or more (in either direction)
• Your activity level changes (new job, new workout routine, injury)
• Your progress stalls for 2–3 weeks despite consistent eating
• Every 4–6 weeks during an active diet phase, as a general check-in

Remember: any calculator gives an estimate. Your real-world results over 2–3 weeks are the ultimate truth — adjust your intake based on what the scale and mirror tell you.