TDEE Calculator
Estimate your Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE): the calories you burn in an average day, including exercise. Enter your stats below to get a BMR estimate and calorie targets for cutting, maintenance, and bulking.
- BMR
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- Maintenance (TDEE)
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- Cutting (-20%)
- ...
- Bulking (+10%)
- ...
Assumptions
- Your activity level is matched honestly to your actual weekly exercise, not your goal.
- TDEE estimates from any formula carry roughly ±10% error versus your true expenditure.
- Katch-McArdle tends to be more accurate for lean or highly muscular individuals because it accounts for body composition directly.
- Katch-McArdle depends entirely on the accuracy of the body fat percentage you enter. An unreliable estimate (from a bathroom scale or a rough visual guess) makes this formula less trustworthy than Mifflin-St Jeor, even though its extra input makes it look more precise.
- Cutting and bulking targets assume a moderate, sustainable pace (about 0.5-1% of body weight per week), not aggressive short-term dieting.
Sources
- Mifflin MD, St Jeor ST, et al. "A new predictive equation for resting energy expenditure in healthy individuals." Am J Clin Nutr. 1990.
- Roza AM, Shizgal HM. "The Harris Benedict equation reevaluated: resting energy requirements and the body cell mass." Am J Clin Nutr. 1984.
- McArdle WD, Katch FI, Katch VL. Exercise Physiology: Nutrition, Energy, and Human Performance. 9th ed. Philadelphia: Wolters Kluwer, 2023.
Why the three formulas disagree
Mifflin-St Jeor and Harris-Benedict were both built from population studies that measured resting energy expenditure and fit an equation to weight, height, age, and sex, but they used different study populations decades apart, so their coefficients differ by roughly 5-10%. Neither one knows your actual body composition: two people with the same weight and height can have very different amounts of muscle versus fat, and muscle burns more energy at rest. Katch-McArdle sidesteps that gap entirely by calculating BMR from lean body mass instead of total weight, which is why it needs a body fat percentage to work.
Which formula should you use
Mifflin-St Jeor is the default here because it's the equation most consistently validated as accurate for the general population in modern studies, and it's what most dietitians reach for first. Harris-Benedict is the classic choice and still reasonable, though it tends to run slightly higher. If you know your body fat percentage (from a DEXA scan, calipers, or a reliable smart scale), Katch-McArdle is usually the most precise, especially if you're notably lean or muscular. If the numbers from different formulas disagree, that's expected: treat the spread as your margin of error, not a sign something is broken.
Worked example
A 30-year-old man, 80 kg, 180 cm tall, moderately active, using Mifflin-St Jeor.
BMR = 10(80) + 6.25(180) - 5(30) + 5 = 1780 kcal/day. TDEE = 1780 × 1.55 (moderate activity) ≈ 2759 kcal/day. That gives a cutting target of about 2207 kcal/day, maintenance at 2759 kcal/day, and a bulking target of about 3035 kcal/day.
Frequently asked questions
How is an online TDEE calculator different from a BMR calculator?
A BMR calculator only estimates the energy your body burns at complete rest. This tool takes that BMR and multiplies it by an activity factor to estimate your total daily burn, including movement, exercise, and daily activity, which is the number you actually need for setting calorie targets.
How do I use this to set a calorie target for losing weight?
Use the maintenance figure as your baseline, then aim for the cutting target shown, which is roughly 20% below maintenance. That's a pace most people can sustain without excessive muscle loss or energy crashes. If the weight isn't moving after two to three weeks, adjust down slightly rather than cutting drastically.
What exactly counts toward total daily energy expenditure?
It's the sum of four components: your resting metabolic rate, the energy used digesting food, any structured exercise, and all your other daily movement like walking, fidgeting, and standing. The activity multiplier you select approximates the combined effect of the last three on top of your resting rate.
How accurate are the numbers this tool gives me?
Expect roughly ±10% error even with a correct formula and honest inputs, since no equation captures individual variation in metabolism perfectly. Treat the result as a starting point: track your actual weight trend over two to three weeks and adjust your intake based on what really happens, not just the estimate.
Which formula should I trust the most?
There isn't a single best formula for everyone. Mifflin-St Jeor is the strongest general-purpose default based on modern validation studies, but Katch-McArdle edges it out if you have a reliable body fat percentage, particularly if you're lean or carry more muscle than average. Comparing more than one, as this tool lets you do, gives a more honest picture than trusting any single number.
Why does this tool show both BMR and TDEE instead of just one number?
BMR tells you the energy cost of simply being alive, which is useful context, but it's not a calorie target: eating at BMR while active would put you in a large deficit. TDEE is BMR adjusted for your activity level, and it's the number the cutting, maintenance, and bulking targets are actually based on.
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