TDEE Calculator
Find out how many calories your body actually burns in a day — and finally stop guessing. This free tool helps you calculate your Total Daily Energy Expenditure based on your body, activity, and goal.
Why This Calculator Matters
Most people think fat loss is just about eating less or “cleaning up their diet.” But if you’re not eating the right amount of calories for your body, nothing else matters.
Your TDEE — or Total Daily Energy Expenditure — is the number of calories you actually burn in a day, including workouts, movement, and basic functions like breathing and digestion.
Once you know this number, you can stop guessing, start eating smarter, and finally build a plan that aligns with your goal — whether that’s losing fat, maintaining, or building lean muscle.
“No, 1200 calories is not a magic number. And no, eating more won’t ‘trick your metabolism’ — but fueling it correctly will.”
What Is TDEE?
TDEE stands for Total Daily Energy Expenditure — the number of calories you burn every day through everything you do. That includes sleeping, thinking, digesting, walking, training, and even breathing.
Knowing your TDEE gives you the power to:
- Lose body fat by eating less than your TDEE
- Build muscle by eating slightly more
- Maintain your weight by matching it
What Is BMR (And How Is It Different)?
BMR stands for Basal Metabolic Rate. It’s the number of calories your body burns just to stay alive — no movement, no workouts, just keeping your heart beating and brain functioning.
Think of it like this:
- BMR: your “engine idle” — calories burned just existing
- TDEE: your full tank — everything you burn throughout the day
What Makes Up Your TDEE?
Your Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE) isn’t just a guess or a static number — it’s made up of four key components that account for how your body burns calories.
- BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate): The calories your body burns at rest — just to keep you alive. This is the foundation.
- NEAT (Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis): The calories burned through daily movement — walking, fidgeting, chores, stairs. This varies a lot person to person.
- EAT (Exercise Activity Thermogenesis): The calories you burn from intentional exercise — lifting, cardio, sports.
- TEF (Thermic Effect of Food): The calories your body uses to digest food. Yes, eating burns energy too — protein burns the most.
All four of these systems add up to your TDEE — the real number of calories your body burns each day. This is the number that matters for fat loss, muscle gain, and maintaining your physique.
How TDEE Is Calculated
We use the Mifflin-St Jeor Equation, one of the most accurate and proven formulas for estimating BMR — the baseline of your daily calorie burn.
For men:
BMR = 10 × weight (kg) + 6.25 × height (cm) – 5 × age + 5
For women:
BMR = 10 × weight (kg) + 6.25 × height (cm) – 5 × age – 161
We automatically convert your weight and height from pounds/feet/inches into metric to make this work — you don’t need to do a thing.
Then we multiply your BMR by an Activity Multiplier based on how active you are day-to-day. This gives us your true Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE):
- 1.2 – Sedentary: Desk job, little movement
- 1.375 – Lightly Active: Light movement, walks, light workouts
- 1.55 – Moderately Active: Regular workouts, on feet often
- 1.725 – Very Active: Intense training + active lifestyle
- 1.9 – Extra Active: Athlete, labor job, double training
This final number — your TDEE — is your daily maintenance calorie level. The calculator below will handle all this for you.
Example:
Let’s say you’re a 30-year-old male, 5’10” tall, 190 lbs, and you train 4–5x per week. That puts you in the “Moderately Active” category (multiplier = 1.55).
Your estimated BMR would be around 1,900 calories/day.
Multiply that by 1.55 → your TDEE = ~2,945 calories/day.
- Cutting: 2,356 kcal/day (20% deficit)
- Maintenance: 2,945 kcal/day
- Bulking: 3,386 kcal/day (15% surplus)
These are the real numbers you can build your entire plan around.
Now that you understand what TDEE is and how it’s calculated, it’s time to put that knowledge to work. Use the calculator below to get your personal numbers based on your body, age, and activity level.
This is where you stop guessing — and start using real data to guide your goals.
TDEE Calculator
What to Do With Your Number
Now that you’ve got your TDEE — it’s time to apply it.
This number tells you how many calories you burn per day. What you do next depends on your goal:
- Fat loss: Eat around 80% of your TDEE
- Maintenance: Match your TDEE
- Muscle gain: Eat 10–15% more than your TDEE
But calories are just part of the picture. If you want to improve your performance, body composition, and energy — you need to get your macros right too.
That’s where we go next.
What Are Macros?
Macros — short for macronutrients — are the three nutrients that make up the calories you eat: protein, carbohydrates, and fat.
Every gram of food you eat has a caloric value:
- Protein: 4 calories per gram
- Carbs: 4 calories per gram
- Fat: 9 calories per gram
Once you know your TDEE (how many calories you need daily), you can decide how to break it down based on your goal.
Common Macro Ratios
- Fat Loss: 40% protein / 35% carbs / 25% fat
- Maintenance: 30% protein / 40% carbs / 30% fat
- Muscle Gain: 30% protein / 50% carbs / 20% fat
These aren’t set in stone — but they’re a great place to start. Adjusting your macros based on how your body responds is where real progress happens.
You’ve got your TDEE — now it’s time to break it into Protein, Carbs, and Fats based on your goal.
Use the Forged Macro Calculator to generate your daily macros instantly.
Launch Macro Calculator