Free TDEE Calculator (+ Guide)

What is a TDEE calculator?

A TDEE calculator estimates the calories your body uses in a day. It starts from your basal metabolic rate (BMR), the energy you'd burn lying still all day, and multiplies it by your activity level.

This calculator uses the Mifflin-St Jeor equation for BMR, published in 1990. It's the one most dietitians use today, because it came closest to measured values in later studies.

How to use the TDEE calculator

You only need to fill in yourself once, and every health calculator here reads it.

Your numbers stay in this browser, and nothing is sent anywhere.

How TDEE is worked out

The Mifflin-St Jeor equation is BMR = 10 × weight in kg + 6.25 × height in cm − 5 × age, plus 5 for men or minus 161 for women. TDEE is that times your activity level.

Pick the level that matches a normal week, not your best one. Overestimating activity is the most common reason a calorie plan stalls.

A worked example

Here's the example the calculator loads when you press Try an example.

A 35-year-old man is 178 cm tall, weighs 78 kg and exercises 3 to 5 days a week. His BMR is 1,723 calories a day, and his TDEE is about 2,670.

To lose 0.5 kg a week, he'd eat about 2,120 calories a day. To gain 0.25 kg a week, about 2,945.

How to use your TDEE

Your TDEE is a starting point, and your scale tells you how close it is.

Start at your number for 2 to 3 weeks

Eat at the calories for your goal and weigh yourself most mornings. Daily weight jumps around, so look at the weekly average.

Adjust by 100 to 200 calories

If your average doesn't move the way you planned, change your calories a little and give it another two weeks.

Recheck as your weight changes

A lighter body burns less, so your TDEE drops as you lose weight. Update your weight here every few weeks.

The calorie calculator sets a target and a date for a goal weight, and the macro calculator splits it into protein, fat and carbs.

Mistakes to avoid

These are the common ways a TDEE gets misused.

• Picking a higher activity level than your normal week
• Adding the calories your watch says you burned on top of an active TDEE
• Treating the number as exact instead of a starting point
• Never updating it as your weight changes

Use the number, then let your weight trend guide you.

Energy is the base of everything else

What you eat every day adds up over years.

Peter Attia's Outlive makes the case that nutrition, exercise and sleep together decide how well you age.

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For the daily habits around it, the longevity routine puts them into one day.

Who is the TDEE calculator for?

It's for anyone who wants to eat for a goal instead of guessing, and these tools take it further.

• Calorie calculator – for a daily target and a date for your goal weight
• Macro calculator – for splitting your calories into protein, fat and carbs
• Protein calculator – for how much protein you need for your goal
• Calories burned calculator – for what each workout adds
• Longevity diet plan – for eating well for the long run

Find your TDEE here, then pick the tool that answers your next question.

More health calculators

Every health calculator reads the same "You", so you only enter yourself once.

Start with the calorie calculator if you have a goal weight in mind.