TDEE calculator
Your total daily energy expenditure — the maintenance number every cut and every bulk is measured against.
Maintenance calories (TDEE)
2,763kcal
Basal metabolic rate (BMR)
1,783kcal
| Activity level | Calories / day |
|---|---|
| Sedentary | 2,139 |
| Lightly active | 2,451 |
| Moderately active | 2,763 |
| Very active | 3,075 |
| Extremely active | 3,387 |
To lose fat, eat ~15–20% below maintenance (2,211–2,349 kcal). To build muscle, ~10% above (3,040 kcal).
How it's calculated
We compute your basal metabolic rate with the Mifflin-St Jeor equation — the formula with the best validation across modern populations — then multiply by an activity factor from 1.2 (sedentary) to 1.9 (physical job plus daily training). The table shows your maintenance calories at every level, so you can see how much an extra training day or an on-your-feet job actually moves the number.
Once you have maintenance, the plan writes itself: eat 15–20% under it to lose fat, about 10% over it to build muscle, and adjust every few weeks from real-world results. If you want the full protein, carb and fat breakdown, the macro calculator picks up where this one leaves off.
Frequently asked questions
What is TDEE?
Total daily energy expenditure is everything you burn in a day: your resting metabolism, digestion, training, and all the walking and fidgeting in between. It's your maintenance number — eat at it and your weight holds steady, so every cut or bulk is defined relative to it.
What's the difference between TDEE and BMR?
BMR (basal metabolic rate) is what you'd burn lying still all day — the engine idling. TDEE is BMR multiplied by an activity factor to account for how much you actually move. Dieting at your BMR is a common and miserable mistake; deficits should come off TDEE.
How accurate is a TDEE calculator?
Any formula is a starting point with roughly ±10% error, mostly because activity level is hard to self-score honestly. Pick the level that matches your average week, eat the number for 2–3 weeks, and adjust by 100–200 calories based on what your weight actually does. Your own data beats every equation.
Why am I not losing weight in a deficit?
Usually one of three things: the activity level was overestimated so the 'deficit' is actually maintenance, intake is underestimated (untracked bites and liquid calories add up fast), or it's water retention masking fat loss — common in the first weeks of training. Track honestly for three weeks before concluding the number is wrong.
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