TDEE Calculator — Total Daily Energy Expenditure

What Is This Calculator?

Your Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE) is the total number of calories your body burns in a typical 24-hour period, accounting for your basal metabolic rate plus all physical activity. It is the single most important number for managing your weight and nutrition.

How to Use This Calculator

Enter your details into the calculator above and click the calculate button. Results are instant and personalised to your specific inputs. All formulas are evidence-based and transparently explained.

Why TDEE Is the Most Important Number in Nutrition

Total Daily Energy Expenditure is the total number of calories your body burns in a typical 24-hour period. It is not a fixed value — it fluctuates day to day based on your activity, but the weekly average is the single most important number for managing your weight. Eat consistently below your TDEE and you lose weight. Eat above it and you gain weight. Eat at your TDEE and your weight is stable. Everything else in nutrition — macros, meal timing, food quality — operates within this foundational calorie balance.

TDEE has four components: BMR (60–70% of total), the thermic effect of food or TEF (~10%), exercise activity thermogenesis or EAT (5–20%), and non-exercise activity thermogenesis or NEAT (15–30%). NEAT — the calories burned through incidental movement like walking, fidgeting, standing, and household tasks — is the most variable and underestimated component. Highly active people have NEAT values 2,000 kcal/day higher than their sedentary counterparts, explaining why some people seem to "eat whatever they want" without gaining weight.

The Mifflin-St Jeor Equation

Our calculator uses the Mifflin-St Jeor equation (1990) multiplied by an activity factor. For men: TDEE = (10 × kg + 6.25 × cm − 5 × age + 5) × activity. For women: TDEE = (10 × kg + 6.25 × cm − 5 × age − 161) × activity. Activity multipliers: 1.2 sedentary, 1.375 lightly active, 1.55 moderately active, 1.725 very active, 1.9 extra active. This equation is validated as more accurate than the older Harris-Benedict equation and is the current standard recommended by the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.

The Most Common Mistake: Overestimating Activity

Research consistently shows that people overestimate their activity level by approximately one category. If you exercise 3–4 times per week but work a desk job and drive everywhere, you are likely lightly active — not moderately active. This single error introduces a 200–400 kcal/day overestimation of TDEE, which is enough to prevent fat loss entirely. When in doubt, choose the lower activity category and track results for 2 weeks — if your weight is not moving as expected, adjust.

Using Your TDEE Result

Your TDEE is your maintenance calorie level. For fat loss, eat 250–500 kcal below your TDEE (targeting 0.25–0.5 kg loss per week). For muscle building, eat 200–300 kcal above your TDEE. Recalculate every 4–6 weeks as your body weight changes — a lighter body has a lower TDEE, and failing to recalculate is the primary cause of weight loss plateaus after 8–12 weeks of dieting.