TDEE Calculator
Everything you burn in a day, resting metabolism plus movement, and the macro targets built on top of it.
What is a macro calculator?
A macro calculator breaks your daily calorie target into the three macronutrients that matter most: protein, carbohydrates, and fat. Knowing your macros lets you build muscle, lose fat, or maintain weight while optimizing energy, recovery, and hormones.
This free tool uses the scientifically validated Mifflin–St Jeor equation to estimate your BMR, then factors in activity, goal, and diet preference to deliver personalized targets.
Frequently asked
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Your TDEE
Eat at this number and your weight holds. Everything else in fat loss or muscle gain is a deliberate move away from it in one direction.
Activity level is the swing factor
Your resting metabolism barely moves day to day. Your activity multiplier can swing the total by 700 calories, which is why picking it honestly matters more than any other input.
It is a starting line, not a verdict
Run these numbers for two weeks, average your daily weigh ins, and let the scale tell you whether your real TDEE sits above or below the estimate. Then adjust once.
How to adjust after two weeks
- 1Weigh in the same way every morningAfter the bathroom, before food or water, same clothing. One day means nothing. The seven day average is the number you read.
- 2Compare week two's average to week one'sLosing fat: you want a half pound to one percent of bodyweight down per week. Building: a quarter to half pound up. Holding steady inside those ranges means the numbers are right, so leave them alone.
- 3Move calories, not everything at onceOff target for two straight weeks? Change calories by roughly 150 to 200 and hold protein exactly where it is. Protein is what protects the muscle you already built.
- 4Recheck the calculator when your weight moves 10 lbA lighter or heavier body burns a different amount. Ten pounds in either direction is the trigger to run these numbers again.
Numbers are the easy part.
Eating them every day is where people fall off. Turn these macros into a full 7 day meal and training plan, built around your body, free.
Start my free 7 day kickstartCommon questions
What is TDEE?
Total Daily Energy Expenditure: every calorie you burn in 24 hours. It stacks your resting metabolism, the energy used to digest food, your training, and everyday movement like walking and fidgeting. Eat at your TDEE and your weight holds.
How is TDEE calculated?
First your BMR, the calories you would burn lying still all day, from the Mifflin–St Jeor equation using weight, height, age, and gender. Then that BMR is multiplied by an activity factor between 1.2 for a desk job and 1.9 for daily training plus physical work.
How accurate is a TDEE calculator?
It is a well validated estimate, not a measurement. Real people land within roughly 10 percent of it. Treat the number as your starting point, then let two weeks of scale data correct it. Your bodyweight trend is the only truly accurate calorie tracker you own.
What activity level should I pick?
Be honest and pick based on your whole week, not your best week. Three or four training sessions with a desk job is moderately active. Most people overestimate here, which is why their fat loss stalls at what should have been a deficit.
Does TDEE change as you lose weight?
Yes. A lighter body costs less to run, so your TDEE drifts down as you lose. Recalculate every time your weight moves about 10 pounds, or your original deficit quietly turns into maintenance.