TDEE & Calorie Calculator
Daily energy expenditure (Mifflin-St Jeor) with cut, maintain, and bulk targets plus macros.
- tdee
- bmr
- calories
- macros
- protein
- mifflin
About TDEE & Calorie Calculator
TDEE — Total Daily Energy Expenditure — is the number of calories your body burns in a typical day, including everything from breathing and digestion to deliberate exercise. It's the central figure in any fat-loss, maintenance, or muscle-gain plan, because eating below it leads to weight loss and eating above it leads to weight gain.
This calculator uses the Mifflin-St Jeor equation, which is the formula most current nutrition research treats as the best general-purpose BMR estimate. Your TDEE is then derived by multiplying BMR by an activity factor that accounts for how much you move during a typical week. From there it shows aggressive-cut, cut, maintain, and bulk calorie targets and translates the maintenance number into protein, carb, and fat grams using your chosen macro split.
How to use
Pick metric or imperial units, then enter your sex, age, weight, and height. Choose the activity level that honestly matches your weekly routine — most people overestimate, so when in doubt pick the lower option.
The "Daily targets" panel shows four calorie figures: an aggressive cut (−1000 kcal/day, about 2 lb of fat loss per week), a moderate cut (−500 kcal, about 1 lb/week), maintenance, and a lean bulk (+500 kcal). The macros panel takes the maintenance calorie figure and splits it into grams of protein, carbohydrate, and fat — use the macro-split dropdown to switch between balanced, high-protein, and low-carb ratios.
Frequently asked questions
What's the difference between BMR and TDEE?
BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate) is the calories your body burns at complete rest — just keeping organs running, breathing, regulating temperature. TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure) is BMR multiplied by an activity factor that accounts for movement, exercise, and the thermic effect of food. TDEE is the number that actually matters for weight management.
Why Mifflin-St Jeor over Harris-Benedict?
The Harris-Benedict equation was first published in 1919 and updated in 1984, but a 2005 study found it overestimates BMR for modern populations by about 5%. The Mifflin-St Jeor equation (1990) is currently considered the most accurate general-purpose BMR predictor, and is what most clinicians and registered dietitians use.
How accurate is the activity multiplier?
It's a rough estimate — most people overestimate how active they are, which inflates the TDEE figure and explains why "I'm eating at maintenance" diets sometimes fail. When in doubt, pick the lower activity option and adjust upward only if your weight stays steady on the calculated maintenance calories over 2–3 weeks.
How much protein do I need?
For sedentary adults, 0.8 g per kg of body weight is the basic requirement. For active people and those losing fat while preserving muscle, 1.6–2.2 g/kg is widely recommended by current sports-nutrition research. The "high protein" macro split in this calculator targets that higher range.
Why does the aggressive cut warn about being too steep for some people?
Because a 1000 kcal/day deficit can be more than 40–50% of TDEE for smaller or less active people — which is hard to sustain, risks losing muscle along with fat, and can trigger metabolic adaptation. A −500 kcal cut (about 1 lb/week) is much more reliable for most people; reserve aggressive deficits for short periods or with professional supervision.