TDEE calculator
TDEE — total daily energy expenditure — is the number of calories you burn in a day, training included. It’s the anchor for every eating decision: eat under it and you lose weight, at it and you hold, over it and you gain.
This calculator uses the Mifflin-St Jeor equation, a widely used estimate of resting metabolism, multiplied by your activity level. Complete, free, and ungated — the full result is below.
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I can work out how many calories you burn in a day. To get it right I need five things and your goal — takes about thirty seconds.
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First — pounds and inches, or kilos and centimeters?
Common questions
- How accurate is a TDEE calculation?
- It's an estimate built from population averages, so treat it as a starting point rather than a measurement. For most people it lands within a few hundred calories of reality. The reliable check is your own data: eat at the number for two to three weeks, watch the scale trend, and adjust up or down from there.
- Should I eat back exercise calories?
- Not on top of this number. The activity multiplier you pick already includes your training, so adding exercise calories back counts the same workout twice. If your training changes a lot week to week, pick the level that matches an average week.
- What's the difference between BMR and TDEE?
- BMR is what your body burns at complete rest — the cost of simply running. TDEE is BMR multiplied up to account for everything else you do: walking, working, training. You eat relative to TDEE, not BMR.
- Does my TDEE change as my weight changes?
- Yes. A lighter body burns fewer calories, a heavier one burns more. Recalculate roughly every 5 kg or 10 lb of change, or whenever progress stalls for a few weeks.