TDEE calculator

TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure) is how many calories you burn in a day, all in. It starts with your BMR — the energy your body spends at complete rest — and scales it up for movement.

BMR is estimated with the Mifflin–St Jeor equation, the most accurate of the common predictive formulas for the general population:

BMR_male   = 10·W + 6.25·H - 5·A + 5
BMR_female = 10·W + 6.25·H - 5·A - 161
W = body weight (kg), H = height (cm), A = age (years)

TDEE then multiplies BMR by an activity factor that captures everything you do beyond lying still — walking, fidgeting, training, and the cost of digesting food:

TDEE = BMR × activity multiplier

1.200   Sedentary        desk job, little or no exercise
1.375   Lightly active   light exercise 1-3 days / week
1.550   Moderately active  exercise 3-5 days / week
1.725   Very active      hard exercise 6-7 days / week
1.900   Extremely active physical job or 2x-a-day training

The multipliers are the soft part. BMR from height, weight, age and sex is fairly reliable; the activity factor is an honest guess. Most people overestimate how active they are, so if the scale disagrees with the math after a couple of weeks, trust the scale and adjust. The number here is a starting point, not a verdict.

Deficit and surplus. Roughly 3,500 kcal equals one pound of body fat, so a steady ~500 kcal/day deficit trends toward about a pound a week, and a ~250 kcal/day surplus toward a slow, leaner gain. The targets table applies these offsets to your TDEE.