Free tool
NEAT estimator
NEAT is the kcal you burn doing anything that isn't sleep, food digestion, or planned exercise. Job, commute, chores, fidgeting. Levine's research found it varies by up to 2,000 kcal/day between people. Here's a rough estimator.
Estimated daily NEAT
264
kcal/day · Bottom 10% (Mostly desk + drive + no fidgeting)
- Baseline
- 200 kcal
- Job contribution
- +0 kcal
- Commute
- +0 kcal
- Active hobbies
- +64 kcal
- Fidgeting
- +0 kcal
- Range typical
- 250–2,000 kcal
Ways to add NEAT
- • Switch to a standing desk for 4 hours/day: +120 kcal
- • Take a 20-minute walk after lunch: +90 kcal
- • Walking meeting (1 per day, 30 min): +135 kcal
- • Park at the far end of the lot: +20–50 kcal
These numbers are population averages. Your real NEAT depends on small habits we can't capture in a form. Use the output as a starting hypothesis, not a contract.
Buy it back
Open the CalBurndown app to log 264 kcal and see what to walk, ruck, or stand to stay on budget.
Formula & assumptions
Total Daily Energy Expenditure breaks down as:
TDEE = BMR + TEF + NEAT + EAT BMR — basal metabolic rate (resting) TEF — thermic effect of food (~10% of intake) NEAT — non-exercise activity thermogenesis EAT — exercise activity thermogenesis (planned workouts)
NEAT is the one term that varies the most between people at the same body weight. Levine's landmark research showed NEAT can range from ~250 kcal/day (sedentary office worker who drives everywhere) to ~2,000 kcal/day (farm worker or fidgety warehouse worker).
How this calculator works: it's a profile-based estimator, not a measurement. We use rough averages from the literature for each activity category and add them. Real NEAT depends on countless small habits — taking the stairs, standing on calls, pacing while thinking — that no calculator can fully capture.
Treat the output as "within 200-300 kcal/day" of your actual NEAT. The most accurate way to ground your TDEE is to back-calculate from real intake and weight change over 2-3 weeks — exactly what the CalBurndown app does automatically.
References
Levine, J. A. (2002). Non-exercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT). Best Practice & Research Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, 16(4), 679–702.
Levine, J. A. et al. (1999). Role of nonexercise activity thermogenesis in resistance to fat gain in humans. Science, 283(5399), 212–214.
Ainsworth, B. E. et al. (2011). Compendium of Physical Activities: a second update of codes and MET values. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 43(8), 1575–1581.