TDEE Calculator
Maintenance calories — your BMR scaled by activity, the number to plan around.
Updated
Maintenance calories
2,556 kcal/day
To maintain your current weight
- BMR (at rest)
- 1,649 kcal/day
- Gentle loss (−15%)
- 2,172 kcal/day
- Gentle gain (+15%)
- 2,939 kcal/day
Estimates for general information, not medical advice. Consult a healthcare provider for personal guidance.
In short
How many calories does a body burn in a day?
Total daily energy expenditure is a Mifflin-St Jeor resting estimate multiplied by a physical activity level factor. A 30-year-old man at 70 kg and 175 cm has an estimated resting rate of 1,649 kcal; at the moderate factor of 1.55 that becomes about 2,556 kcal a day, and about 1,979 at sedentary.
The activity factor is by far the largest source of error here, because the bands are broad and self-selected: the same body spans 1,979 to 3,133 kcal across the five options, a range of over 1,150 kilocalories.
How to use the TDEE calculator
Enter four things about your body and one about your week, and the tool returns a total daily energy expenditure: an estimate of the energy a body of your dimensions spends in an ordinary day. Sex, age, weight and height feed the Mifflin-St Jeor equation, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition in 1990 from 498 healthy adults measured by indirect calorimetry, which produces the resting figure underneath.
The activity selector then multiplies that resting figure by a physical activity level factor. Every field arrives pre-filled with a representative example, a 30-year-old at 70 kg and 175 cm at the moderate setting, so you can watch the arithmetic before replacing them. Weight takes kilograms or pounds and height centimetres or inches, and the tool converts to metric internally because the equation is defined that way.
1,649 kcal
Resting estimate
Mifflin-St Jeor, 70 kg at 175 cm, age 30
2,556 kcal
Moderate total
the resting figure times 1.55
1,154 kcal
Spread across the bands
1,979 sedentary to 3,133 very active
The activity selector is where nearly all of the uncertainty lives. Each option applies a fixed multiplier to the resting figure, and the one-line description attached to each band is its entire definition.
- Sedentary, x1.2
- little movement beyond ordinary daily living
- Light, x1.375
- light exercise a few days a week
- Moderate, x1.55
- moderate exercise on most days, the default
- Active, x1.725
- hard training most days
- Very active, x1.9
- heavy physical work or twice-daily training
They are broad bands fitted to populations, and a person can sit between two of them.
These multipliers descend from the physical activity level concept formalised in the FAO, WHO and UNU expert consultation reports of 1981 and 1985, which expressed total energy requirements as multiples of basal metabolic rate, and they were popularised in this particular five-step form through fitness and dietetics texts.
What the tool will not do is tell you what to eat. It reports what a published equation and a published multiplier predict for a body of certain dimensions, and that is not the same as a recommendation, a target or a calorie allowance. Real energy use varies with muscle mass, body composition, non-exercise movement, thyroid function, medication, illness and pregnancy, none of which appear anywhere in the calculation.
The most useful thing a figure like this can do is give you a starting point to compare against what actually happens to your weight over several weeks, and even that comparison belongs in a conversation with a doctor or a registered dietitian rather than a spreadsheet. This page is general information and carries a medical disclaimer for exactly that reason.
Do
- Pick the activity band that matches an ordinary week rather than your best one.
- Set the kg or lb and cm or in toggles to match how you measured.
- Read the resting estimate printed beneath the total, so you can see what was multiplied.
- Check the same resting figure across all five bands in the table before settling.
Don't
- Choose a band one step high, which adds 288 kilocalories on the defaults.
- Multiply the resting figure by an activity factor yourself after the tool has already applied one.
- Treat the total as a calorie allowance, since it is arithmetic on a self-assessed band.
- Trust the decimal on a figure whose bands are separated by 10 to 15 percent each.
A resting estimate read across all five activity multipliers at once, so the size of the activity guess is visible on a single row. Find the Mifflin-St Jeor resting figure closest to your own in the left column and read across. Sedentary means little beyond daily living; Light is light exercise a few days a week; Moderate is moderate exercise most days; Active is hard training most days; Very active is heavy physical work or twice-daily training.
| Mifflin-St Jeor resting estimate | Sedentary x1.2 | Light x1.375 | Moderate x1.55 | Active x1.725 | Very active x1.9 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1,200 kcal | 1,440 | 1,650 | 1,860 | 2,070 | 2,280 |
| 1,250 kcal | 1,500 | 1,719 | 1,938 | 2,156 | 2,375 |
| 1,300 kcal | 1,560 | 1,788 | 2,015 | 2,243 | 2,470 |
| 1,350 kcal | 1,620 | 1,856 | 2,093 | 2,329 | 2,565 |
| 1,400 kcal | 1,680 | 1,925 | 2,170 | 2,415 | 2,660 |
| 1,450 kcal | 1,740 | 1,994 | 2,248 | 2,501 | 2,755 |
| 1,500 kcal | 1,800 | 2,063 | 2,325 | 2,588 | 2,850 |
| 1,550 kcal | 1,860 | 2,131 | 2,403 | 2,674 | 2,945 |
| 1,600 kcal | 1,920 | 2,200 | 2,480 | 2,760 | 3,040 |
| 1,650 kcal | 1,980 | 2,269 | 2,558 | 2,846 | 3,135 |
| 1,700 kcal | 2,040 | 2,338 | 2,635 | 2,933 | 3,230 |
| 1,800 kcal | 2,160 | 2,475 | 2,790 | 3,105 | 3,420 |
| 1,900 kcal | 2,280 | 2,613 | 2,945 | 3,278 | 3,610 |
| 2,000 kcal | 2,400 | 2,750 | 3,100 | 3,450 | 3,800 |
How much of the total is the activity guess?
Read the output as two linked numbers rather than one. The headline is the total; beneath it sits the resting estimate the activity factor was applied to, so you can see how much of the figure came from the body and how much from the multiplier.
On the defaults the resting estimate is about 1,649 kcal and the moderate total is about 2,556 kcal, which means roughly 907 kilocalories of the headline is the activity guess alone. Push the same body to the sedentary end and it reads about 1,979; push it to very active and it reads about 3,133.
That spread of more than 1,150 kilocalories comes entirely from a single dropdown, which is the clearest reason to treat the total as an orientation figure with a wide band around it rather than a precise daily number.
Read it: The distance from the bottom of that ladder to the top is 1,154 kilocalories, produced by no change to the person at all.
Computed as the 1,648.75 kcal Mifflin-St Jeor resting estimate times each published factor.
Want the resting half on its own?
The BMR calculator runs the same Mifflin-St Jeor equation and stops there, with no activity multiplier applied on top of it.
Open the BMR calculator →Full guide
What Is TDEE? Total Daily Energy Expenditure, With Real Numbers
The resting floor, the activity multiplier that scales it, and how to read the maintenance number that comes out.
Read the full guide →The formula, worked line by line
The calculation runs in two steps. First the Mifflin-St Jeor equation estimates resting energy expenditure from sex, age, weight and height. That equation was published by M. D. Mifflin, S. T. St Jeor and colleagues in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition in 1990, fitted to 498 healthy adults aged 19 to 78 whose resting expenditure was measured directly under a ventilated hood.
Second, that resting figure is multiplied by a physical activity level factor. The idea of expressing total energy requirements as a multiple of basal metabolic rate comes from the FAO, WHO and UNU expert consultation reports of 1981 and 1985.
The familiar five-step ladder from 1.2 to 1.9 is the simplified version that dietetics and fitness texts settled on. It is a single number standing in for everything a person does between getting out of bed and getting back into it.
BMR = Mifflin-St Jeor (sex, age, weight, height)
TDEE = BMR x activity factor
factors: 1.2 sedentary, 1.375 light, 1.55 moderate,
1.725 active, 1.9 very active- Mifflin-St Jeor, 10 x 70 + 6.25 x 175 - 5 x 30 + 5
- 1,648.75 kcal
- Activity factor, moderate
- x 1.55
- Total daily energy expenditure
- 2,555.56, about 2,556 kcal a day
Hold the body constant and change only the dropdown and the same resting figure produces 1,979 at 1.2, 2,267 at 1.375, 2,844 at 1.725 and 3,133 at 1.9.
That spread is the honest headline of this tool. The resting half of the calculation carries the usual error of a predictive equation, roughly 10 percent for Mifflin-St Jeor in the populations it has been tested on, but the activity half carries far more, because the bands are wide, self-assessed and separated by 10 to 15 percent each.
Every step on the ladder happens to be exactly 0.175 wide, so an honest reading of any total daily figure keeps the whole width of the neighbouring bands in view rather than trusting the decimal.
None of this is a prescription. The tool reports what published equations predict for a body of certain dimensions under a chosen activity assumption, and that is categorically different from advice about what anyone should eat. Real expenditure varies with muscle mass, body composition, spontaneous non-exercise movement, thyroid function, medication, illness and pregnancy, none of which the calculation can see.
If you intend to act on a figure like this, the useful move is to treat it as a starting point, watch what actually happens over several weeks, and have the conversation with a doctor or registered dietitian who can weigh your health history alongside the arithmetic.
Questions people ask
What is total daily energy expenditure and how does it differ from basal metabolic rate?
Basal metabolic rate is the energy a body uses at complete rest just to stay alive. Total daily energy expenditure is that resting figure multiplied by an activity factor, so it attempts to cover everything done once awake and moving. Resting is the floor; the total is the whole day. On the defaults, a 30-year-old male body at 70 kg and 175 cm, Mifflin-St Jeor gives about 1,649 kcal and the moderate multiplier of 1.55 gives about 2,556 kcal. The bmr-calculator reports the resting figure on its own.
Covered in depth in What Is TDEE? Total Daily Energy Expenditure, With Real Numbers →
Where do the 1.2 to 1.9 activity multipliers come from?
From the physical activity level concept formalised in the FAO, WHO and UNU expert consultation reports of 1981 and 1985, which expressed total energy requirements as multiples of basal metabolic rate. The familiar five-step ladder of 1.2, 1.375, 1.55, 1.725 and 1.9 is a simplified version that dietetics and fitness texts settled on and that calorie-tracking tools have used ever since. They are broad population bands rather than measurements, and a real person can easily sit between two of them.
Which activity level should I choose?
Pick the band that matches an ordinary week rather than your best one, because this is the input people most often overstate. Sedentary at 1.2 is little beyond daily living; Light at 1.375 is light exercise a few days a week; Moderate at 1.55 is moderate exercise most days; Active at 1.725 is hard training most days; Very active at 1.9 is heavy physical work or twice-daily training. A desk job with a few weekly gym sessions usually lands at Light or Moderate. Every step on the ladder is exactly 0.175 wide, so on the defaults one band too high adds 288 kilocalories.
How accurate is a total daily energy expenditure estimate?
It is an estimate stacked on an estimate. Mifflin-St Jeor lands within 10 percent of a measured resting rate for most people, which on 1,649 kcal is a band of roughly 1,484 to 1,814. The activity multiplier adds much more uncertainty, since the five bands are separated by 10 to 15 percent each and are self-assessed. The same body reads 1,979 at sedentary and 3,133 at very active, a spread of 1,154 kilocalories from a single dropdown. Treat the number as orientation with a wide band around it.
Can this tool tell me how much to eat?
No. It reports what a published equation and a published multiplier predict for a body of certain dimensions, which is not the same as advice about what anyone should eat. Real needs depend on health, medication, history, body composition and goals that four inputs and a dropdown cannot see. If you want to act on a figure like this, treat it as a starting point, watch what actually happens over several weeks, and take the decision to a doctor or a registered dietitian. This page is general information and carries a medical disclaimer for that reason.
Sources
Where the constants and formulas on this page come from. Each line names the figure it backs.
The physical activity level concept this tool applies: total energy expenditure expressed as a multiple of basal metabolic rate. The specific 1.2 to 1.9 ladder is the simplified version used in dietetics texts, not the report bands.
Human energy requirements — Report of a Joint FAO/WHO/UNU Expert Consultation, chapter 5 — FAO, WHO and UNU, 2004
The earlier expert consultation that established the BMR-multiple approach to energy requirements.
Energy and protein requirements — Report of a Joint FAO/WHO/UNU Expert Consultation — WHO Technical Report Series 724, 1985
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