TDEE Calculator
Total daily energy expenditure — your true maintenance calories.
Quick answer
- Formula: TDEE = BMR (Mifflin-St Jeor) × activity multiplier (1.2 / 1.375 / 1.55 / 1.725 / 1.9)
- Worked example — BMR: 1,780 kcal/day (full example below).
TDEE Calculator
| BMR | 1,780 kcal/day |
| TDEE | 2,759 kcal/day |
| Maintenance calories | 2,759 kcal/day |
With a BMR of 1,780 kcal and moderate activity (×1.55), maintenance is 2,759 kcal per day.
TDEE is the total number of calories you burn in a full day: your basal metabolic rate plus everything you do. This calculator first estimates BMR with the Mifflin-St Jeor equation, then applies the classic Harris-Benedict activity multipliers (1.2 sedentary up to 1.9 for athletes and physical jobs).
Eating at your TDEE should keep your weight roughly stable. The multipliers are averages, so treat the result as an estimate to validate against 2–3 weeks of real weight trend — not medical advice.
The formula
Worked example
With a BMR of 1,780 kcal and moderate activity (×1.55), maintenance is 2,759 kcal per day.
The example is pre-loaded in the result panel — press Calculate with your own numbers to replace it.
Activity factors used by this calculator
| Activity level | Multiplier | Typical pattern |
|---|---|---|
| Sedentary | ×1.2 | Little or no exercise |
| Lightly active | ×1.375 | Exercise 1–3 days/week |
| Moderately active | ×1.55 | Exercise 3–5 days/week |
| Very active | ×1.725 | Exercise 6–7 days/week |
| Athlete / physical job | ×1.9 | Hard daily training or a physical job |
Maintenance calories = BMR × the multiplier for the activity level you select — these are exactly the factors the formula above uses.
When this estimate may be wrong
- The activity multiplier is an estimate of your whole day, not just your workouts — picking one level too high or too low is the single biggest source of error in any TDEE result.
- Mifflin-St Jeor predicts BMR from weight, height, age and sex only, so two people with identical inputs but different body composition can have genuinely different maintenance calories; individual BMR estimates can differ from measured values by roughly 10%.
- Safe floor: never use a TDEE-based target to eat below about 1,200 kcal/day (women) or 1,500 kcal/day (men) — calorie targets that low should only be followed under medical supervision.
Frequently asked questions
Which activity level should I choose?
Be honest and err low: most desk workers who train 3–5 times a week fit 'moderately active' (1.55). Choosing a higher multiplier than reality is the most common reason a calculated deficit fails.
How accurate is TDEE?
Expect ±10%. The reliable method is to eat at the calculated figure for 2–3 weeks, watch the weight trend, and adjust by 100–200 kcal based on what actually happens.
Why do different TDEE calculators give different numbers?
Two choices explain almost all of the disagreement: the activity level you select (each step changes the multiplier — for example from ×1.375 to ×1.55 — and most people overestimate their activity) and the BMR formula the calculator uses (Mifflin-St Jeor here; others use Harris-Benedict or Katch-McArdle, which can differ by a few percent on the same inputs). Our planned guide 'How accurate are TDEE calculators' will break down both sources of difference in detail.
Category: Health & Fitness calculators
Sources & methodology
This calculator applies the formula shown on this page exactly as written, using the standard definitions for its inputs. Results are computed from the values you enter — no data is stored — and are rounded only for display.
- Mifflin et al. (1990) — A new predictive equation for resting energy expenditure in healthy individuals (PubMed)
- NIH National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK)
Content last reviewed by CalcHub Editorial.
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