TDEE calculator
Free TDEE and BMR calculator using the NASEM 2023 energy equations and Mifflin-St Jeor. Get maintenance, cut and bulk calorie targets in kg or lb.
Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE) is the calorie intake at which your weight holds steady. Cut and bulk targets are set relative to it, so find it first. Eat below it and weight tends to come off; eat above it and it tends to go on. The calculator's cut and bulk presets move you 500 kcal either way.
This calculator estimates your TDEE with the NASEM 2023 Estimated Energy Requirement, a set of equations fitted on measured total daily energy expenditure, and your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) with the Mifflin-St Jeor equation (at 16 and 17 there is no separate BMR). It's the same math MuscleBuddy uses to set your starting macros. The app then adjusts your calories against your weigh-in trend, which catches a formula that was a few hundred calories off for you.
Estimated with the NASEM 2023 Estimated Energy Requirement, fitted on measured total daily energy expenditure. Mifflin-St Jeor with a standard activity multiplier gives 2633 kcal/day for the same goal. It estimates resting energy, and its multipliers sit below what most adults measurably burn, so it is shown for comparison only.
How this works
BMR is the energy you burn at complete rest, running your brain, heart and other organs. 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
The classic shortcut is TDEE = BMR × activity factor, with factors from 1.2 (sedentary office worker) to 2.0 (athlete or manual laborer). The calculator shows that figure for comparison, but builds its estimate from the NASEM 2023 equations, which were fitted on doubly labelled water measurements of what people burn. The 1.2 sedentary factor sits below what most inactive adults measurably expend. With either method, a common mistake is picking one activity level too high. Four or five weight-training sessions a week is "moderate"; "very active" is for two-a-day athletes and people with physical jobs.
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. Real weight change is lumpier than that, and the rate slows as you get lighter. 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.
For most healthy adults the resting-rate part lands within about 10%; the activity multiplier adds more. Treat the number as a starting point: eat at it for 2–3 weeks, watch the scale, and adjust from what happened rather than from what the formula predicted. In the app, MuscleBuddy makes that adjustment from your weigh-ins.
Frequently asked questions
- What is TDEE?
- Total Daily Energy Expenditure is the calories you burn in a day: your basal metabolism, digesting food, exercise, and the rest of your daily 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 everything you burn in a day, resting plus movement and training. A classic shortcut multiplies BMR by an activity factor (1.2 to 2.0 depending on lifestyle); this calculator estimates TDEE from equations fitted on measured daily expenditure instead, and shows the shortcut beside it.
- Which BMR formula does this calculator use?
- BMR comes from Mifflin-St Jeor (1990) from age 18. It generally estimates resting metabolism more closely than the older Harris-Benedict equation. TDEE comes from the NASEM 2023 Estimated Energy Requirement, equations fitted on measured total daily energy expenditure for your age, sex, height, weight and activity level, and Mifflin-St Jeor times the classic activity factor is shown beside it for comparison. At 16 and 17 there is no separate BMR, and the Mifflin-St Jeor figure is labelled as an adult equation.
- How accurate is a TDEE estimate?
- The resting-rate formula lands within about 10% of measured for most healthy adults. The activity level you pick adds more error on top, and picking one level too high is common. 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 a reasonable place to start. Week to week it won’t be that clean: water weight swings, and you burn less as you get lighter, so loss slows over time. Recalculate every 4 weeks or so.
- Why is my weight changing even though I’m eating at my TDEE?
- A TDEE estimate carries roughly a 10% margin, so your real maintenance may be a few hundred calories off. If your weekly average keeps climbing at the calculated maintenance, take calories down a little; if it keeps falling, bring them up. Give each change a couple of weeks of weigh-ins before judging it.
- Do men and women calculate TDEE differently?
- Yes. Mifflin-St Jeor adds 5 to a man’s BMR and subtracts 161 from a woman’s, and the NASEM equations carry separate coefficients for each sex, to account for systematic differences in lean mass and metabolic rate.
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