TDEE Calculator
Your TDEE is everything you burn in a normal day: staying alive, moving around and training. It is the number your diet is actually measured against — eat under it to lose, over it to gain.
Your numbers
Result
- To lose weightkcal/day
- 2,007
- To gain weightkcal/day
- 3,007
- Your BMR (at rest)kcal/day
- 1,618
| Goal | Daily calories |
|---|---|
| Lose weight (moderate deficit) | 2,007 |
| Lose slowly (small deficit) | 2,257 |
| Maintain weight | 2,507 |
| Gain slowly (small surplus) | 2,757 |
| Gain weight (moderate surplus) | 3,007 |
How TDEE is calculated
Two steps. First your BMR (what you burn at rest) from the Mifflin-St Jeor equation. Then multiply it by an activity factor:
Sedentary ×1.2 · Light ×1.375 · Moderate ×1.55 · Intense ×1.725 · Very intense ×1.9.
So TDEE = BMR × factor. Everything else — deficits, surpluses, macros — is built on this number.
Picking the right activity level
This is where most people go wrong, and it is the single biggest source of error in the result. The factor covers your whole week, not your best day. Three gym sessions plus a desk job is "light" to "moderate", not "intense". If your weight is not moving the way the maths says it should after a few weeks, your factor is usually the culprit — not the equation.
Turning TDEE into a goal
Roughly 7,700 kcal is worth a kilogram of body mass, so a 500 kcal daily deficit trends to about half a kilo a week. Bigger deficits are not automatically better: they cost muscle and adherence. The table above lays out conservative and moderate targets in both directions.
Informational and educational result. Not a substitute for professional advice.
Frequently asked questions
Sources
- Mifflin MD, St Jeor ST et al. — A new predictive equation for resting energy expenditure (Am J Clin Nutr, 1990)
- WHO/FAO/UNU — Human energy requirements: physical activity level (PAL) factors
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