TDEE Calculator
Calculate your Total Daily Energy Expenditure — BMR plus your activity level.
What TDEE Means and Why It Matters
Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE) is the number of calories your body burns in a full day. It combines resting metabolism, digestion, and physical activity into one number.
Every calorie target — fat loss, muscle gain, or maintenance — starts from this baseline.
Why This Calculator Shows a Range
Activity multipliers and metabolic formulas are population averages, not measurements of you specifically. Validation research shows Mifflin-St Jeor lands within 10% of measured resting metabolism for roughly 82% of adults, so this tool shows a range and a midpoint rather than one falsely precise number.2
We also split activity into two separate inputs — lifestyle activity and structured exercise — because many people misclassify their overall activity level when it's asked as a single question.
Choosing a Formula
Mifflin-St Jeor (1990) is the default and most broadly validated equation.1 Katch-McArdle becomes available once you enter a body fat percentage, and is more accurate for lean or muscular users since it's based on lean mass rather than total weight.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is TDEE?
TDEE is the total number of calories you burn in a day, including exercise, digestion, and basic bodily functions.
Why is my result a range instead of one number?
Because metabolic formulas are estimates. A range communicates that honestly instead of implying false precision.
Sources
- Mifflin MD, St Jeor ST, et al. "A new predictive equation for resting energy expenditure in healthy individuals." Am J Clin Nutr, 1990;51(2):241-247.
- Frankenfield DC. Validation of predictive equations for resting metabolic rate. J Acad Nutr Diet, 2013.