TDEE Calculator
Your maintenance calories, with the formula filled in, a realistic range, and an activity picker that separates your job from your workouts.
Example result for a 35-year-old woman, 5 ft 5 in, 160 lb, lightly active. Enter your numbers above to replace it.
Example TDEE (maintenance calories)
1,955 kcal/day
Likely range 1,759 to 2,150 (±10%) · about 13,683 kcal a week
BMR (Mifflin-St Jeor): 10 × 72.6 kg + 6.25 × 165.1 cm − 5 × 35 − 161 = 1,422 kcal
TDEE = BMR × Lightly active (× 1.375): 1,422 × 1.375 = 1,955 kcal/day
To maintain your weight, eat about 1,955 kcal/day.
| Macro | Grams | % of calories | Rule |
|---|---|---|---|
| Protein | 116 g | 24% | 1.6 g per kg of body weight |
| Fat | 54 g | 25% | 25% of calories |
| Carbs | 251 g | 51% | the rest |
| Level | Multiplier | TDEE |
|---|---|---|
| Sedentary | × 1.2 | 1,706 kcal |
| ▸ Lightly active | × 1.375 | 1,955 kcal |
| Moderately active | × 1.55 | 2,204 kcal |
| Very active | × 1.725 | 2,452 kcal |
| Extra active | × 1.9 | 2,701 kcal |
Each step is worth about 249 kcal a day. Picking one level too high is the most common reason a deficit does not work. How to choose.
Different number on another calculator? Here is why
| Formula | BMR | TDEE (× 1.375) |
|---|---|---|
| Mifflin-St Jeor (this site) | 1,422 | 1,955 |
| Harris-Benedict (revised 1984) | 1,479 | 2,033 |
| Katch-McArdle | needs your body fat % (enter it above) | |
- Activity step. One level down gives 1,706, one level up gives 2,204. Some sites use in-between multipliers (1.465) or a different scale (1.4 to 2.4), which moves the result by 100 to 300 kcal on its own.
- Units and rounding. 160.0 lb is 72.6 kg and 5 ft 5 in is 165.1 cm. A site that rounds to 80 kg and 175 cm shifts BMR by a few kcal; a site that rounds the multiplier shifts more.
- Body fat. Formulas that use lean mass give lower numbers for people with more body fat and higher numbers for lean, muscular people.
Differences of 100 to 200 kcal between calculators are normal and smaller than the ±10% error of any formula. Why calculators disagree.
BMI 26.6 (overweight, CDC categories). BMI is not used in the calculation.
Total daily energy expenditure (TDEE) is the number of calories your body burns in 24 hours: your basal metabolic rate plus everything you do, including digesting food. Eat that amount and your weight holds steady, which is why TDEE is also called maintenance calories.
This calculator estimates it in two steps. First it computes your basal metabolic rate (BMR) with the Mifflin-St Jeor equation, the formula that predicted measured resting metabolism most closely in a systematic review of healthy adults. Then it multiplies BMR by an activity factor. Both steps are shown above with your own numbers, so you can check them.
How to calculate TDEE
The math takes three lines. For a 35-year-old woman who is 5 ft 5 in (165.1 cm) and 160 lb (72.6 kg), lightly active:
- BMR with Mifflin-St Jeor: 10 × 72.6 kg + 6.25 × 165.1 cm − 5 × 35 − 161 = 1,422 kcal.
- Activity factor: lightly active is × 1.375.
- TDEE = 1,422 × 1.375 = 1,955 kcal/day.
The men's version of the equation ends in + 5 instead of − 161; everything else is the same, and the women's page covers pregnancy and breastfeeding additions. The five activity factors are 1.2, 1.375, 1.55, 1.725 and 1.9. A full walkthrough of every formula is on the TDEE formula page.
What the three parts of TDEE are
- Basal metabolic rate (BMR). The energy your organs use at complete rest. For most adults it is the largest share, usually 60 to 75% of the total.
- Activity. Planned exercise plus everything else you do on your feet: walking, chores, fidgeting, standing. The non-exercise part is often larger than the workout part, which is why the job question matters.
- Thermic effect of food. The cost of digesting and storing what you eat, around 10% of intake. The activity factors already include it, so you do not add it separately.
Activity levels, in a real week
| Level | Factor | What a typical week looks like |
|---|---|---|
| Sedentary | × 1.2 | Desk or driving job, no planned exercise, under about 5,000 steps a day. |
| Lightly active | × 1.375 | Desk job plus 1 to 3 workouts, or an on-your-feet job with no workouts. This is where most people who "work out three times a week" belong. |
| Moderately active | × 1.55 | Hard training 3 to 5 days a week plus an active day, or a physical job plus a couple of workouts. |
| Very active | × 1.725 | Hard training 6 to 7 days a week, or a physical job plus regular hard training. |
| Extra active | × 1.9 | Heavy physical labor plus daily hard training, or two-a-day sessions. Rare outside sport and manual trades. |
Each step changes the result by about 17% of BMR, roughly 306 kcal for a 176 lb man. Picking one level too high is the most common reason a calorie target does not work. The activity level guide goes through real examples, and the "Not sure?" questions in the form estimate it from your job, workouts and steps.
How to use your TDEE
- To maintain: eat about your TDEE. Expect your weight to drift by a pound or two either way from water and food in the gut; that is noise, not fat.
- To lose fat: eat 250 to 500 kcal below TDEE for about 0.5 to 1 lb a week. Larger deficits work faster but are harder to keep up, and this site caps targets at 1,200 kcal for women and 1,500 for men without medical supervision. Details on the weight-loss calculator.
- To gain muscle: eat 250 to 500 kcal above TDEE with enough protein and resistance training. Bigger surpluses mostly add fat.
- Then check it. Every formula carries about ±10% error. Save your baseline, log your weight and calories for two weeks in the tracker, and the page shows the TDEE you actually have.
Questions
What is a good TDEE?
There is no good or bad TDEE; it is a description of your body and your week, not a score. Most adult women land between about 1,600 and 2,400 kcal and most men between about 2,000 and 3,000, with larger, younger and more active people at the top. What matters is the gap between your TDEE and what you eat.
Is TDEE the same as maintenance calories?
Yes. Maintenance calories is the intake at which your weight stays the same, and that is by definition your total daily energy expenditure. Sites that show both numbers are showing the same thing twice.
Do I add exercise calories on top of my TDEE?
No. The activity factor already includes your workouts. Adding what a watch or app reports for a session counts the same exercise twice, and wearables overestimate the burn in the first place. If your training changes, change the activity level instead.
Should I eat below my BMR?
Eating below BMR is not dangerous by itself, because BMR is simply the energy you burn at rest, not a minimum intake. The practical concern with very low intakes is getting enough protein and micronutrients, which is why this calculator applies floors of 1,200 kcal for women and 1,500 for men. If a sensible deficit still lands below your BMR, a slower rate or a clinician-supervised plan is the better route.
How often should I recalculate my TDEE?
After every 10 lb of weight change, or whenever your job or training changes. A lighter body burns less: losing 20 lb lowers the BMR in the Mifflin equation by about 91 kcal a day before the activity factor. The tracker on this site does the recalculation from your real numbers instead of the formula.
Which TDEE calculator is the most accurate?
None of them measures anything; every online calculator applies a population equation to four or five inputs, and the Mifflin-St Jeor equation used here is the one that validated best against measured metabolism. Differences between sites come from the formula, the activity multipliers and rounding, and they are smaller than the formula's own ±10% error. The only accurate number for you is the one observed from your weight trend and intake over a few weeks.
Can you calculate my TDEE for me?
That is what the form at the top does. Enter sex, age, height, weight and the activity level that matches a normal week, and the result updates instantly, with the equation filled in so you can see how it was done.
Does this TDEE calculator work in kg and cm?
Yes. Tap "kg, cm" at the top of the form. Values convert exactly (1 lb = 0.45359237 kg, 1 in = 2.54 cm), and your choice is remembered on this device.
By Alton Vieira · Updated . Estimates for healthy adults; not medical advice. How every number is calculated.
- Mifflin MD et al. A new predictive equation for resting energy expenditure in healthy individuals. Am J Clin Nutr. 1990.
- Frankenfield D, Roth-Yousey L, Compher C. Comparison of predictive equations for resting metabolic rate in healthy nonobese and obese adults: a systematic review. J Am Diet Assoc. 2005.
- Hall KD et al. Quantification of the effect of energy imbalance on bodyweight. Lancet. 2011.
- Morton RW et al. A systematic review, meta-analysis and meta-regression of the effect of protein supplementation on resistance training-induced gains in muscle mass and strength in healthy adults. Br J Sports Med. 2018.
- McArdle WD, Katch FI, Katch VL. Exercise Physiology: Nutrition, Energy, and Human Performance. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins (textbook).
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Adult BMI categories.