TDEE Calculator — Daily Calories and BMR

Enter your sex, age, height, weight and activity level to get your basal metabolic rate (BMR) and total daily energy expenditure (TDEE), plus target calories for cutting, maintaining or bulking and a protein, fat and carb split. You can switch between the Mifflin-St Jeor, Harris-Benedict and Katch-McArdle formulas and compare.

How to use

  1. Pick your units (cm/kg or ft/lb) and enter sex, age, height and weight.
  2. Choose the activity level closest to your real week. When you're between two, the lower one is usually right.
  3. Read your TDEE and the goal calories, and switch formulas to compare if you like.

BMR is what you burn doing nothing; TDEE is that multiplied by how much you move. Every formula carries about ±10% individual error, so holding one calorie level for two or three weeks and watching the scale beats any calculator.

FAQ

What's the difference between BMR and TDEE?

BMR is the minimum you'd burn lying in bed all day. TDEE adds everything else — walking, work, training — and is what you actually burn. Eat your TDEE to hold your weight.

Which formula should I pick?

Mifflin-St Jeor unless you have a reason otherwise; it was built on modern population data and is the most widely recommended. If you know your body fat percentage accurately, Katch-McArdle fits better.

How big a deficit should I run to lose weight?

Ten to twenty percent below TDEE is a comfortable range. Cutting much harder raises the risk of muscle loss and rebound, and eating below your BMR isn't recommended at all.

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