TDEECalculator.
Find a practical estimate of how many calories you burn in a day, then use it as your starting point for fat loss, maintenance or gaining weight.
Your TDEE.
About 15% below estimated maintenance.
Start here if you want body weight to stay broadly stable.
About 8% above estimated maintenance for a small surplus.
Estimate. Test. Adjust.
Estimate total daily energy
The headline TDEE uses the 2023 National Academies adult energy equations, which estimate total daily energy directly from age, height, weight, sex equation and activity category.
Build an activity profile
Steps, normal workday movement and weekly training are used together to estimate an activity category. No website can measure your PAL perfectly from a few questions, so the category is deliberately shown as an estimate.
Use the trend to calibrate it
Hold your routine reasonably steady, track your body-weight trend for 2-3 consistent weeks, then adjust your intake if the estimate is not matching reality.
The Number Is The Start.
Your real TDEE changes with movement, training, body size and normal individual differences. Predictive equations are useful starting tools, not perfect measurements.
Do not chase a new calorie number every time your weight changes for one day. Look at the trend.
If your 2-3 week trend is not moving in the direction you expected, change intake by roughly 100-200 calories per day and reassess.
Sources + important notes
Main TDEE equation. The headline result uses the 2023 National Academies adult Estimated Energy Requirement equations. For weight-stable adults, the report states that EER equals total energy expenditure. The equations use age, height, weight, sex equation and one of four physical-activity categories.
Activity category. The National Academies categories are inactive, low active, active and very active. PAL is an aggregate of occupation, transport, recreation and daily living, and cannot be measured perfectly from steps or a short questionnaire. This calculator therefore uses steps when available, normal workday movement and training frequency as a transparent website heuristic, then labels the result as an estimate.
Resting energy. Mifflin-St Jeor is shown separately as a resting-energy estimate. It is not multiplied by PAL to create the headline TDEE result.
Goal adjustments. Fat loss starts at 15% below estimated TDEE and gaining starts at 8% above it. These are moderate starting adjustments, not clinical prescriptions. Major calorie outputs are rounded to the nearest 50 calories to avoid false precision. The calculator will not automate a fat-loss target if BMI is below 18.5 or if the result would fall below 1,200 calories per day. The 1,200-calorie floor is a conservative calculator guardrail, not a clinical threshold or a statement that 1,200 calories is appropriate for an individual.
Protein. The fitness protein starting point changes with training and goal. It uses a lower general starting point when there is no structured training, about 1.4 g/kg for cardio or sport, and about 1.6 g/kg for resistance or mixed training. During a fat-loss phase with structured training, the calculator uses 1.6 g/kg as a conservative starting point. At higher body weights, the calculation limits the reference weight to the equivalent of BMI 30 so the estimate does not scale indefinitely with total body weight. This is a practical calculator guardrail, not a clinical prescription.
- National Academies 2023 - adult EER equations
- National Academies 2023 - physical activity categories
- Mifflin et al. - original resting energy equation
- Australian Eat For Health - dietary energy and PAL context
- Australian Institute of Sport - athlete protein targets
- Australian Institute of Sport - energy availability
- Better Health Victoria - healthy weight loss
Turn The Number Into Food.
Take your calorie and protein starting points into Meal Planner Goal Mode.