TDEE Calculator

Total Daily Energy Expenditure is an estimate of the energy your body uses across a full day. It starts with resting energy use and adds an activity assumption.

TDEE is useful as a maintenance-energy estimate, but it is not a direct measurement and it should not be treated as a calorie prescription.

1. Choose Metric Units, US Units, or Other Units.
2. Enter age, sex coefficient, height, and weight.
3. Select a BMR equation and activity level.
4. Add body fat percentage only if using Katch-McArdle.
5. Review the activity and formula comparisons before using the estimate.

NexaCalc converts height and weight to metric units, estimates BMR, then applies the selected activity multiplier.

Food labels commonly use Calorie to mean kilocalorie. On this page, kcal/day and calories/day refer to that nutrition unit.

Mifflin-St Jeor is the default method. Revised Harris-Benedict is shown for comparison. Katch-McArdle is available when body fat percentage is entered because it uses lean body mass.

For a resting-energy-only tool, use the BMR Calculator.

Example 1: male coefficient, age 30, 70 kg, 175 cm, Mifflin-St Jeor, moderately active. BMR is 10 x 70 + 6.25 x 175 - 5 x 30 + 5 = 1,648.75 kcal/day. TDEE is 1,648.75 x 1.55 = 2,555.5625 kcal/day, displayed as 2,556 kcal/day.

Non-resting estimate: 2,555.5625 - 1,648.75 = 906.8125 kcal/day, displayed as 907 kcal/day. Resting share is about 64.5%, and weekly expenditure is about 17,889 kcal/week.

Example 2: female coefficient, age 35, 150 lb, 5 ft 5 in, lightly active. Inputs convert to about 68.04 kg and 165.1 cm. BMR is about 1,376 kcal/day and TDEE is about 1,892 kcal/day.

Example 3: Katch-McArdle with 70 kg, 20% body fat, and moderately active. Lean body mass is 56.0 kg, BMR is about 1,580 kcal/day, and TDEE is about 2,448 kcal/day.

Activity factors are broad multipliers. Exercise days matter, but they do not fully capture occupation, commuting, standing, walking, household work, training duration, and non-exercise movement.

The activity table in the result shows how strongly the multiplier changes the estimate. It does not mean every activity level is equally appropriate.

Total energy expenditure includes resting energy expenditure, exercise activity, non-exercise movement, thermic effect of food, and physiological variation.

The standard multiplier formula does not separately measure these components. NexaCalc shows BMR and TDEE minus BMR as a non-resting estimate, not as measured exercise calories.

BMR estimates energy used at rest. TDEE estimates daily energy use after an activity multiplier is applied. TDEE is closer to a maintenance-energy estimate, while BMR isolates the resting part.

The TDEE Calculator focuses on expenditure and maintenance energy. Need a daily calorie target for maintenance, weight loss, or weight gain? Use the Calorie Calculator.

BMI is a body-size screening estimate, not an energy formula. You can use the BMI Calculator for weight-to-height context, but BMI does not calculate daily expenditure.

A TDEE calculator is a practical estimate. Actual expenditure can differ because sleep, illness, medications, hormones, climate, recovery, and training load can change energy use.

Exercise machines and wearable calorie estimates can also contain error. Direct assessment of free-living expenditure may require specialized methods.

This calculator is primarily designed for adults. Ages 10 to 17 receive a warning because growth and development change energy needs.

Pregnancy and breastfeeding can change energy requirements. The special-context selector adds warnings only; it does not silently add pregnancy or breastfeeding calories to the expenditure estimate.

Formula-based TDEE may be less accurate for competitive athletes, highly muscular users, very lean users, people with obesity, older adults, children, pregnant or breastfeeding users, people with medical conditions, and people taking medications that affect metabolism or activity.

The calculator does not diagnose a slow or fast metabolism, prescribe intake, guarantee weight change, or recommend extreme intake.

• Mifflin MD, St Jeor ST, Hill LA, Scott BJ, Daugherty SA, Koh YO. A new predictive equation for resting energy expenditure in healthy individuals. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 1990.
• Roza AM, Shizgal HM. The Harris Benedict equation reevaluated: resting energy requirements and the body cell mass. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 1984.
• National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. Dietary Reference Intakes for Energy, 2023.
• National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases: Body Weight Planner and research resources.
• FAO, WHO, and UNU. Human Energy Requirements: general energy expenditure concepts and population-level context.
• Katch, McArdle, and Katch exercise-physiology references: lean body mass and energy expenditure context.
• Public-health resources from CDC, NIH, and federal nutrition guidance: children, adolescents, pregnancy, breastfeeding, and energy-balance context.