TDEE calculator
Use this TDEE calculator to estimate your total daily energy expenditure: the calories you burn in a typical day, and the number to eat around if you want to keep your weight steady. It uses the same formula Meal Planner Pro uses to set the calorie target in your meal plan.
Calculate your TDEE
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Maintenance calories (TDEE)
1953 kcal/day
Of which BMR
1420 kcal/day
Estimates for healthy adults, not medical advice.
How the TDEE calculator works
First it estimates your basal metabolic rate (BMR) with the Mifflin-St Jeor equation, from your sex, age, height and weight. Then it multiplies your BMR by an activity factor.
Your job adjusts that factor: physical work adds 0.1, a desk job takes off 0.05, and a mixed job leaves it unchanged.
- Sedentary (little or no exercise): BMR × 1.2
- Lightly active (1–3 days a week): BMR × 1.375
- Moderately active (3–5 days a week): BMR × 1.55
- Very active (6–7 days a week): BMR × 1.725
Two worked examples
For a 30-year-old woman, 165 cm and 70 kg, lightly active with a mixed job, BMR is about 1420 kcal and TDEE about 1953 kcal a day.
For a 40-year-old man, 178 cm and 85 kg, moderately active with a desk job, BMR is about 1768 kcal and TDEE about 2651 kcal a day.
What to do with your TDEE
- To keep your weight steady, eat around your TDEE on average across the week.
- To lose weight, eat less than your TDEE; the calorie deficit calculator shows targets for 10–25% below it.
- To gain weight or build muscle, eat a little above it and keep protein high.
- Recalculate after a big change in weight or activity.
Turn your TDEE into a week of meals
Meal Planner Pro sets your daily calories from this same calculation and plans seven days of meals to hit them, with a grocery list.
Create My Meal PlanPlans from $8.99/week. No free plan or trial. See pricing
Frequently Asked Questions
Total daily energy expenditure: all the calories your body uses in a day, including your basal metabolism, digesting food, exercise and everyday movement.
Yes. If you eat about your TDEE on average, your weight should stay roughly stable. Eat less to lose weight, more to gain.
Activity level only counts exercise. A job on your feet burns noticeably more than a desk job, so the calculator nudges the activity factor up for physical work and slightly down for desk work, as Meal Planner Pro does for plan targets.
It is an estimate. Real needs can differ by a few hundred calories from the formula. Track your weight for 2–3 weeks at a steady intake and adjust from there.