FREE · MIFFLIN-ST JEOR

TDEE Calculator

Find your maintenance calories — the number you burn in a day. This TDEE calculator uses the Mifflin-St Jeor equation and shows your BMR, your total daily burn, and the exact calorie target for the rate you want to lose at.

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Units

Sex

AgeyrsWeightlb

Heightft in

Activity level

Maintenance calories (TDEE)

2,064 kcal

Eat this much and your weight stays roughly where it is.

Basal metabolic rate (BMR)

1,501 kcal

What you burn at complete rest, before the 1.375× activity factor.

Daily calorie targets

Goal	Rate	Eat per day
Maintain	No change	2,064 kcal
Mild loss	0.5 lb/week	1,814 kcal
Standard loss	1 lb/week	1,564 kcal
Aggressive loss	1.5 lb/week	1,314 kcal
Lean gain	+0.5 lb/week	2,314 kcal

Picked a rate? Find the date it gets you to your goal weight, then see what you look like when you get there.

How to use your TDEE number

The number itself is not the point. What you do with it in the next three weeks is.

Start at the estimate

Take your TDEE, subtract 500 for roughly a pound a week, and eat at that number. Do not go lower out of impatience — a bigger deficit mostly buys you more hunger and more muscle loss.

Track for two to three weeks

Weigh yourself at the same time of day and take the weekly average. A single morning's reading is mostly water. What you want is the trend line, not any one point on it.

Adjust from reality

If the average has not moved after three weeks, your true TDEE is lower than the estimate — drop another 100 to 200 calories. If you are dropping faster than planned, eat a little more. Your body is the real calculator.

Activity multipliers, honestly

This is where most TDEE estimates go wrong — people pick a level one notch above where they actually live.

Sedentary

Desk job, little or no exercise

1.2×

Lightly active

Light exercise 1–3 days a week

1.375×

Moderately active

Moderate exercise 3–5 days a week

1.55×

Very active

Hard exercise 6–7 days a week

1.725×

Extra active

Physical job or twice-daily training

1.9×

A note on accuracy

The Mifflin-St Jeor equation is the most accurate of the widely used BMR formulas, but it is still a population average — individual metabolic rate varies by roughly 10 percent in either direction, and more than that with thyroid conditions, medication, or unusual body composition. Activity multipliers are coarse by nature. Treat the result as a starting point to test, not a measurement. Nothing here is medical or nutritional advice; talk to a doctor or registered dietitian before making significant changes to your intake.

TDEE Calculator FAQ

Questions about BMR, activity multipliers, deficits, and accuracy.

What is TDEE?

TDEE stands for Total Daily Energy Expenditure — the total number of calories your body burns in a day, including everything from breathing and digestion to walking and training. Eat at your TDEE and your weight stays roughly flat; eat below it and you lose, above it and you gain.

How is TDEE calculated?

First your BMR — basal metabolic rate, the calories you would burn lying still all day — is estimated from your weight, height, age, and sex using the Mifflin-St Jeor equation, the most accurate of the common formulas. That BMR is then multiplied by an activity factor between 1.2 and 1.9 depending on how much you move.

What is the difference between BMR and TDEE?

BMR is the floor — what you burn at complete rest. TDEE is the real-world total, which includes digestion, daily movement, and exercise. TDEE is always higher, typically 20 to 90 percent higher depending on how active you are. For setting a calorie target, TDEE is the number you want.

Which activity level should I pick?

Most people overestimate. If you have a desk job and train three times a week, you are 'lightly' to 'moderately' active, not 'very'. 'Very active' means hard training six or seven days a week, and 'extra active' means a physical job on top of training. When in doubt, pick the lower one — you can adjust after two weeks of real-world results.

How many calories should I eat to lose weight?

Subtract a deficit from your TDEE. Roughly 500 calories a day below maintenance gives about a pound a week, and 250 gives about half a pound. The calculator shows these targets directly. Going much below a 1,000-calorie deficit is rarely sustainable and increases muscle loss.

How accurate is a TDEE calculator?

It is an estimate with a real error bar — typically within 10 percent for most people, but individual metabolism, body composition, medication, and non-exercise movement all shift the true number. Use it as a starting point, then track your actual weight for two to three weeks and adjust based on what happens.

Is this TDEE calculator free?

Yes, entirely. It runs in your browser, needs no account, and uses no credits. Credits on this site only apply to the AI photo simulator.

Want a target date? Use the goal weight date calculator. Checking your category? Try the BMI calculator. Working across units? Convert pounds to kilograms.

Calories in, picture out

You have the number. Now see the result — upload one photo and preview a realistic before-and-after at your target weight. First simulation is free.

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