TDEE Calculator

Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE) is the total number of calories your body burns in a day, accounting for physical activity on top of your resting metabolism (BMR). It is the most useful number for managing body weight: eating below your TDEE creates a deficit that leads to weight loss, eating at your TDEE maintains your current weight, and eating above it leads to weight gain. Use the BMR Calculator on this site to find your BMR, then enter it here alongside your activity level to get your personalized TDEE. Knowing your TDEE lets you set calorie targets with precision rather than guesswork — whether your goal is fat loss, muscle gain, or simply maintaining your current physique. Activity level selection is the largest variable, so choose honestly based on your actual weekly exercise frequency rather than your aspirational schedule. For most sedentary office workers, TDEE is approximately 1.2 times BMR. For moderately active individuals who exercise 3 to 5 days per week, the multiplier is 1.55 — meaning daily calorie needs are significantly higher than resting metabolism alone, highlighting how much activity influences total energy requirements.

TDEE is calculated by multiplying your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) by an activity factor known as the Harris-Benedict activity multiplier. The multiplier ranges from 1.2 for a sedentary lifestyle (little or no exercise) up to 1.9 for an extremely active person with a physical job or twice-daily training. The five standard levels are: sedentary (1.2), lightly active (1.375), moderately active (1.55), very active (1.725), and extra active (1.9). For example, a BMR of 1,700 with a 1.55 moderately active multiplier gives a TDEE of 2,635 calories per day. Eating at or near this number maintains your current weight. To lose weight, subtract 500 calories from your TDEE; to gain muscle, add 300–500 calories above it. BMR itself represents the calories burned at complete rest, accounting for roughly 60–75% of total daily energy expenditure.