TDEE in plain words
TDEE stands for total daily energy expenditure: every calorie your body uses in a day. It adds up three things. Your basal metabolic rate keeps you alive at rest. Digesting food uses a little more. Movement, from a workout to walking to the kettle, uses the rest, and it is the part that changes most from person to person.
This TDEE calculator estimates your BMR, scales it for your activity, and lists the result for all five activity levels so you can see how much difference moving more would make.
How to use it
- Choose metric or US units, then enter your sex, age, height and weight.
- Pick the activity level that matches a normal week.
- Leave the equation on Mifflin-St Jeor unless you want to compare it with Harris-Benedict.
- Read your TDEE, then the full list of activity levels underneath, with yours marked.
The TDEE formula
TDEE = BMR × activity factor
Mifflin-St Jeor BMR (men) = 10 × kg + 6.25 × cm − 5 × age + 5
Mifflin-St Jeor BMR (women) = 10 × kg + 6.25 × cm − 5 × age − 161The Mifflin-St Jeor equation is the default because it was built from measured resting energy in hundreds of healthy adults, and its authors found the older Harris-Benedict equations overshot by about 5%. The revised Harris-Benedict equation is offered too, for comparison or if a coach or course asks for it. The activity factors run from 1.2 to 1.9.
Worked example: a lightly active 30 year old
A 30 year old man is 180 cm tall, weighs 80 kg and does light exercise one to three days a week.
- BMR: 10 × 80 + 6.25 × 180 − 5 × 30 + 5 = 1,780 calories
- TDEE: 1,780 × 1.375 = 2,447.5, about 2,448 calories
- At moderate activity instead: 1,780 × 1.55 = 2,759 calories
His TDEE is about 2,448 calories a day. Moving up one activity level would add about 310 calories, which shows why steady exercise makes a real difference over weeks and months.
Where the calories go
| Part | What it covers | Rough share |
|---|---|---|
| Basal metabolic rate | Breathing, heartbeat, keeping warm, the brain | The largest part for most people |
| Digesting food | Breaking down and storing what you eat | A small slice |
| Activity | Exercise and all everyday movement | The most variable part |
Everyday movement that is not exercise, like walking, standing and fidgeting, can matter as much as workouts. That is part of why two people with the same BMR can have quite different TDEEs.
Using your TDEE well
- Choose your activity level honestly. Over-rating it is the most common reason estimates run high.
- Use it as a starting point and adjust from your weight trend over a few weeks.
- Recalculate after your weight changes noticeably, because a lighter or heavier body uses a different amount.
- For a goal weight and date, the NIH Body Weight Planner models how the body adapts over time. The calorie calculator here shows gentle loss and gain targets.
Frequently asked questions
What does TDEE mean?
TDEE means total daily energy expenditure: the total calories your body uses in a day, including rest, digestion and movement. It is the figure to compare your food intake with. Eating about your TDEE keeps weight roughly steady; eating less or more changes it over time.
What is the difference between TDEE and BMR?
BMR, basal metabolic rate, is the energy you would use lying still all day. TDEE starts from BMR and adds the energy for activity and digestion, so it is always higher. In this calculator, TDEE is BMR multiplied by an activity factor between 1.2 and 1.9.
Which equation should I choose?
Mifflin-St Jeor is the default and the better choice for most adults; studies comparing equations with measured energy use tend to rate it highly. The revised Harris-Benedict equation usually gives a slightly higher number. It is there for comparison, or if your coach or course uses it.
How do I pick my activity level?
Think about a normal week, not your most active one. Little or no exercise fits most desk jobs. Light means exercise one to three days a week, moderate three to five, hard six or seven. Very hard is for daily hard training or a physical job. If in doubt, pick the lower level.
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