TDEE Calculator

TDEE — total daily energy expenditure — is the total calories you burn in a day. The tool estimates it as your BMR × an activity factor: Sedentary 1.2, Lightly Active 1.375, Moderately Active 1.55, Very Active 1.725, Extra Active 1.9. So a 1,600-calorie BMR at moderate activity is a TDEE of about 2,480. It is the practical number for planning how much to eat — get your BMR from the BMR Calculator.

Four components. BMR is 60–70% of the total. TEF (the energy to digest food) adds about 10%. NEAT — fidgeting, standing, walking, everyday movement — and structured Exercise make up the rest. NEAT is highly variable between people and is often the largest discretionary piece of the total.

Most people overestimate. The factor is meant to capture your whole week — desk job and rest days included — not just training days, so a few gym sessions on an otherwise sedentary lifestyle is usually “Lightly Active,” not “Very Active.” If your weight is not moving as predicted after a few weeks, the multiplier is the likeliest place the estimate was off. When in doubt, pick the lower option and adjust.

TDEE is your maintenance level — eat at it and weight holds. To lose fat, eat below it by roughly 300 to 500 calories a day; to gain, a similar modest surplus above it. Since about 3,500 calories equal a pound, a 500-calorie daily deficit is around a pound a week. Treat the estimate as a starting point and let a few weeks of real weight data fine-tune it. Then split the target into macros with the Macronutrient Calculator.

The formula uses population averages, and two people with the same stats can differ by a few hundred calories, mostly through NEAT. Your TDEE is not fixed either: it drops somewhat during a prolonged deficit as the body conserves energy (adaptive thermogenesis) and as you lose weight. So the estimate is a launch point, and your own weight trend over two to three weeks is the real measurement.