TDEE Lab

Tools / TDEE calculator

TDEE Calculator

Estimate maintenance calories, goal calories, and macro targets from age, sex, height, weight, and activity level.

Units
Sex
Height (cm)
Goal

This calculator uses an adult resting-energy equation and is for ages 18 and older. It does not generate adult calorie or macro targets for minors. Calorie needs during adolescence depend on growth and development. A teenager considering weight loss should talk with a parent or guardian and a pediatric clinician or registered dietitian. Read NIDDK guidance for teenagers.

2,460

Estimated daily target calories.

BMR1,789
TDEE2,460
Target2,460
Activity1.38x
GoalMaintenance
Protein2.0g/kg
Protein170g / 28%
Carbs291g / 47%
Fat68g / 25%

Your target matches maintenance. This is the cleanest baseline for understanding how your body responds.

These estimates are for education only and are not medical advice. Talk with a qualified professional before changing your diet, training, or weight-loss plan.

How the TDEE estimate is calculated

TDEE Lab first applies the Mifflin-St Jeor equation to age, sex, height, and weight. The original equation predicts resting energy expenditure, or REE.[1] The calculator keeps the familiar result label “BMR,” but it does not perform a laboratory measurement of strict basal metabolic rate.

Calculator method: Predicted resting expenditure is multiplied by the selected activity factor. Fat loss uses 80% of estimated TDEE, maintenance uses 100%, and muscle gain uses 115%. Protein is set at 2.3, 2.0, or 2.1 grams per kilogram by goal. Fat receives 25% of target calories. Carbohydrate receives the calories left after protein and fat. These are transparent planning rules, not individualized requirements.

For example, a resting estimate of 1,700 calories with a 1.55 activity factor produces a TDEE estimate of 2,635 calories. The fat-loss setting would display about 2,108 calories. The arithmetic follows the stated rules, but the result can only be as accurate as the equation and activity choice.

What TDEE includes

Total energy expenditure covers resting needs, the energy used to process food, planned exercise, and ordinary movement across the day.[2] A workout is only one part of that total. Work demands, walking, transport, household activity, and other nonexercise movement can create meaningful differences between people.

The activity menu compresses a complex week into one factor. These factors are heuristics, not measured personal physical activity levels. Read how to choose an activity level before treating the selected category as settled.

How to interpret the result

  1. Use estimated TDEE as an initial maintenance hypothesis.
  2. Keep intake tracking and weigh-in conditions reasonably consistent.
  3. Review average weight over about two to four weeks, not one day.
  4. Adjust the calorie target if the repeated trend differs from your goal.

Researchers can measure free-living expenditure with doubly labeled water.[3] This online tool does not use that method. Calibration from observed intake and weight trends is practical feedback, but it is still affected by food-log error, fluid shifts, and changing activity.

Important limitations: Population equations can underpredict or overpredict an individual's resting expenditure. Activity categories add further uncertainty. The fixed deficit, surplus, and macro rules may not fit your health, training, food preferences, or rate of change. Pregnancy, growth, illness, medication, eating-disorder risk, and intensive sport require more specific guidance.

Research sources

  1. Primary research Mifflin MD et al. A new predictive equation for resting energy expenditure in healthy individuals. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 1990. DOI: 10.1093/ajcn/51.2.241. Original source for the resting equation used by this calculator. Back to text
  2. Consensus report National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. Dietary Reference Intakes for Energy, 2023. Read the energy chapter. Defines total energy expenditure and its components. Back to text
  3. Primary research Schoeller DA, van Santen E. Measurement of energy expenditure in humans by doubly labeled water method. American Journal of Physiology, 1982. DOI: 10.1152/ajpregu.1982.242.6.R823. Foundational validation of free-living energy expenditure measurement. Back to text