Your TDEE Calculator
Mifflin-St Jeor formula — most accurate for general use
(-1kg/week)
(-0.5kg/week)
(+0.25kg/week)
(+0.5kg/week)
What Is TDEE and Why Does It Matter?
Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE) is the total number of calories your body burns in a day, accounting for all activity — basal metabolism, digestion (thermic effect of food), deliberate exercise, and non-exercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT). It is the single most important number for anyone trying to manage body weight.
Eat below your TDEE and you lose weight. Eat above it and you gain weight. The accuracy of your TDEE estimate is the foundation of any nutrition strategy. That's why using a validated formula — and tracking actual results over 2–4 weeks — is more reliable than any app that guesses your intake without accounting for your real metabolic rate.
Why Multiple BMR Formulas?
This calculator shows four BMR estimates because no single formula is universally accurate. Mifflin-St Jeor (1990) is validated as the most accurate for most adults in multiple studies. Katch-McArdle (1975) is theoretically more accurate when you know your lean body mass, because it directly accounts for muscle vs. fat composition — muscle tissue is metabolically more expensive than fat. If your body fat % is accurate, Katch-McArdle is generally preferred.
Understanding NEAT — Why Calculators Can Be Off
Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis (NEAT) — fidgeting, posture, walking, cooking, gesturing — can account for 200–900 additional calories per day between individuals. This explains why identical people on identical diets can have very different weight outcomes. NEAT also dramatically down-regulates during calorie restriction, which is why weight loss slows after the first few weeks despite no change in diet.
Track your food intake accurately using a food scale (not cups or tablespoons) for 2–3 weeks at your calculated TDEE. If your weight is stable, the estimate is accurate. If you're gaining weight, your actual TDEE is lower; if losing weight, it's higher. Adjust by 100–200 kcal based on 2-week trends rather than day-to-day fluctuations.