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Energy · free tool

TDEE Calculator

What your body burns at rest, and what it burns once you live your day.

Your details

Sex

The equation was published with a sex term in it, so it needs one. That is a limitation of a 1990 population study, not a statement about you.

Activity level

Your result

What your body burns at rest, and what it burns once you live your day. Fill in the boxes and press Calculate — nothing is sent anywhere and no account is needed.

How this is worked out
  1. BMR (Mifflin-St Jeor) = 10 × weight(kg) + 6.25 × height(cm) − 5 × age + 5 for men, or − 161 for women.
  2. TDEE = BMR × an activity factor: 1.2 sedentary, 1.375 light, 1.55 moderate, 1.725 very active, 1.9 athlete.
  3. The two are shown separately because they answer different questions. BMR is what your body costs to run; TDEE is what your life costs on top of it.

Sources

  • Mifflin & St Jeor (1990). The resting-energy equation that replaced Harris–Benedict; it is the one most clinical practice uses. PMID 2305711

These are population equations. They describe averages well and individuals only roughly — which is what makes them a starting point rather than a prescription. Nothing here is medical advice.

The thinking

BMR and TDEE are not the same number

BMR and TDEE are not the same number

BMR is the floor: heart, lungs, brain, temperature, repair. It is most of what you burn, and it is not something you have much say over day to day.

TDEE is BMR plus everything else — walking to the car, the session you did, standing up, and the energy it costs to digest food. That is the number a calorie target is built from, which is why the calorie calculator asks for it.

Questions

Straight answers.

Which activity level should I pick?
Most people overestimate. If you train three or four times a week and otherwise sit at a desk, that is moderate — not very active. A physical job moves you up a band more reliably than the gym does.
Why does the answer differ from another calculator?
Different equations. Harris-Benedict, Katch-McArdle and Mifflin-St Jeor all give slightly different numbers, and the activity multipliers are conventions rather than measurements. This one uses Mifflin-St Jeor, which is the one most clinical practice uses.

Keep going

One number is a reading. A trend is progress.

Every calculator here gives you a starting point and nothing more. What turns it into something useful is logging what you actually do against it — which is free, takes a minute a day, and is where the 14-day START HERE challenge begins.

Start free

No card, no plan. Or see what coaching adds.

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