TDEE Calculator

Free TDEE and BMR calculator using the Mifflin-St Jeor formula. Get maintenance calories, cut targets, and bulk targets for any goal in kg or lb.

Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE) is the calorie level at which your weight holds steady. Every nutrition target you set is a deviation from it, which is why it's the first number to find. Eat below it and weight generally comes off; eat above it and it generally goes on. The calculator's cut and bulk presets move you 500 kcal either way.

This calculator estimates your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) with the Mifflin-St Jeor equation, then multiplies by an activity factor to project your TDEE. It's the same math MuscleBuddy uses to set your starting macros. The difference is that the app then keeps adjusting your calories against your real weigh-in trend, so you're not left wondering whether a formula guessed your metabolism a few hundred calories wrong.

BMR (calories at rest)1699 kcal/day
TDEE (maintenance)2633 kcal/day
Target for goal2633 kcal/day

How this works

BMR is the energy you burn while completely at rest: keeping your brain running, heart beating, and organs functioning. The Mifflin-St Jeor formula, published in 1990, estimates BMR from weight, height, age, and biological sex:

BMR (male) = 10 × weight(kg) + 6.25 × height(cm) − 5 × age + 5

BMR (female) = 10 × weight(kg) + 6.25 × height(cm) − 5 × age − 161

TDEE = BMR × activity factor. Activity factors run from 1.2 (sedentary office worker) to 2.0 (athlete or manual laborer). Almost everyone picks one level too high. Four or five weight-training sessions a week is "moderate" (1.55), not "very active" (1.9). That one is for two-a-day athletes and people whose jobs are physical.

The old rule of thumb puts a pound of body fat at roughly 3,500 kcal (about 7,700 kcal per kilogram), so a 500 kcal daily deficit projects to about a pound of fat loss a week. It's a projection, not a promise: real weight change is lumpy, and your body adjusts as you go. The cut and bulk presets on this page both use that 500 kcal step; plenty of lifters run a smaller surplus on a bulk to keep the gain leaner.

Mifflin-St Jeor typically lands within about 10% for healthy adults. So treat the number as a starting point: eat at it for 2–3 weeks, watch the scale, and adjust from what actually happened rather than from what the formula predicted. That recalibration is the part MuscleBuddy does for you.

Frequently asked questions

What is TDEE?
Total Daily Energy Expenditure is the number of calories you burn in a day from all sources: your basal metabolism, the food you digest, the exercise you do, and your non-exercise movement.
What is BMR and how is it different from TDEE?
BMR is Basal Metabolic Rate: the calories your body burns at complete rest. TDEE is BMR multiplied by an activity factor (1.2 to 2.0 depending on lifestyle) to account for daily movement.
Which BMR formula does this calculator use?
Mifflin-St Jeor (1990). It generally estimates resting metabolism more closely than the older Harris-Benedict equation, which is why most modern calculators use it.
How accurate is a TDEE estimate?
Usually within about 10% for healthy adults. The biggest source of error is the activity multiplier you pick, and most people choose one level too high. Treat the number as a starting target and let your weigh-in trend correct it.
Should I cut 500 calories below TDEE to lose a pound a week?
That is the standard projection, and it is a reasonable place to start. It rarely plays out that cleanly week to week, because your metabolic rate adapts as you lose. Recalculate every 4 weeks or so.
Why is my weight not moving even though I’m eating at TDEE?
A TDEE estimate carries roughly a 10% margin, so your real maintenance may be a few hundred calories off the number. If the scale is climbing at what you calculated as maintenance, take calories down a little and give it a couple of weigh-ins before judging.
Do men and women calculate TDEE differently?
The Mifflin-St Jeor formula differs by sex (men add 5 to the BMR result, women subtract 161) to account for systematic differences in lean mass and metabolic rate.

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