Find your Total Daily Energy Expenditure — the number of calories your body actually burns in a day, accounting for your size, age, and how active you are.
Enter your sex, age, weight, height, and activity level. The calculator uses the Mifflin-St Jeor equation — the most accurate formula for estimating resting metabolic rate — then multiplies by an activity factor to find your total daily burn.
Use the Maintenance number to stay at your current weight. Eat below it to lose weight, above it to gain. A 500-calorie daily deficit typically produces about 1 lb of weight loss per week.
Step 1 — Calculate BMR using Mifflin-St Jeor:
Step 2 — Multiply BMR by your activity factor (1.2–1.9) to get TDEE. The activity factor accounts for calories burned through movement, exercise, and the thermic effect of food.
TDEE stands for Total Daily Energy Expenditure. It's the total number of calories your body burns in a day, including your basal metabolic rate (BMR), physical activity, and the thermic effect of food (calories burned digesting meals). It's the most important number for managing your weight.
BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate) is the calories your body burns at complete rest — just to keep your heart beating and organs functioning. TDEE takes BMR and adds all the calories burned through daily movement, exercise, and digestion. TDEE is always higher than BMR and is the more useful number for diet planning.
This calculator uses the Mifflin-St Jeor equation, which research shows is the most accurate BMR formula for most people. That said, TDEE is still an estimate — individual metabolism varies. Track your calories and weight for 2–3 weeks to calibrate the number for your body.
A common approach is to eat 500 calories below your TDEE daily, which creates a deficit of 3,500 calories per week — roughly equivalent to 1 lb of fat loss. For more sustainable results, a 250-calorie deficit (about 0.5 lb/week) is easier to maintain long-term.