✦Free Tools LibraryRuns in your browser All 52 tools →
Health

Calorie Calculator (TDEE) – Daily Calorie Needs

Your total daily energy expenditure — BMR times how active you really are — with the daily calories to maintain, lose or gain weight.

Free · No sign-up · Works on phone and computerOpen the tool full-screen →

About this tool

TDEE (total daily energy expenditure) is the number that actually runs your weight: eat around it and you stay the same, eat under it and you lose, eat over it and you gain. This calculator builds it the standard way — first your BMR from the Mifflin-St Jeor equation, then one of five activity multipliers: 1.2 for sedentary, 1.375 for lightly active, 1.55 for moderately active, 1.725 for active and 1.9 for very active. The honest weakness is the activity guess: most people overestimate theirs, so if your weight does not move after two or three honest weeks at a target, the target — not your body — is what to adjust.

A note on health results: every figure this tool gives is an estimate from a standard formula — it is not medical advice and it does not diagnose anything. Bodies vary, and formulas cannot see your health history. Use the result as a starting point, and consult a clinician or registered dietitian for personal health decisions.

How to use it

  1. Enter sex, age, weight and height — kg/cm or lbs/ft-in; this sets your BMR.
  2. Pick your activity level honestly — desk job with no training is sedentary, even if your job feels busy.
  3. Read your BMR and TDEE — rest burn and real maintenance, side by side.
  4. Choose your target — maintain, mild loss, loss, mild gain or gain, each with its daily figure.

What you get

Frequently asked questions

What is TDEE?
Total daily energy expenditure: all the calories you burn in a day — your basal metabolic rate plus movement, exercise and digestion. It is estimated by multiplying BMR by an activity factor between 1.2 (sedentary) and 1.9 (very active). Eat at TDEE and your weight holds steady.
How many calories should I cut to lose weight?
The standard guide is 500 kcal a day below TDEE for about 0.5 kg a week, or 250 below for a gentler 0.25 kg a week. Faster is rarely better: very low intakes are hard to sustain and cost muscle as well as fat.
Which activity level am I?
Sedentary: desk job, under ~5,000 steps a day, no structured exercise. Lightly active: light exercise 1–3 days a week. Moderately active: training 3–5 days. Active: hard training 6–7 days. Very active: a physical job plus training. When torn between two, pick the lower one — the scale will tell you within a few weeks if it was wrong.

Related free tools

BMR CalculatorThe resting-burn figure this calculator starts from. Calorie Deficit CalculatorA full loss plan: paces, targets and weeks to your goal weight. Body Fat CalculatorCheck what the calories are made of — fat mass vs lean mass.

From the blog

New to this one? The blog walks through how to use the Calorie Calculator (TDEE) step by step — and what it is good for.

Read the Calorie Calculator (TDEE) guide →