Back to Health & Fitness

How to Use Our TDEE and Calorie Calculator

3 min read

How to Use Our TDEE and Calorie Calculator

Your Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE) is the number of calories your body burns in a day. Our TDEE Calculator gives you this number so you can plan your nutrition with precision.

What to Enter

  • Age -- Your metabolic rate decreases with age, so this affects the calculation.
  • Sex -- Males and females have different baseline metabolic rates due to body composition differences.
  • Height and Weight -- Used to estimate your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) via the Mifflin-St Jeor equation.
  • Activity Level -- Choose from sedentary to extremely active. Be honest -- most people with desk jobs who exercise 3 times a week are "lightly active," not "very active."

Understanding Your Results

BMR -- The calories your body burns at complete rest, just to keep you alive. This is typically 60-70% of your total daily burn.

TDEE -- Your total daily calorie needs including all activity. This is the number to focus on.

Goal-Based Targets -- The calculator provides calorie targets for different goals:

  • Weight loss: TDEE minus 300 to 500 calories
  • Maintenance: Match your TDEE
  • Muscle gain: TDEE plus 250 to 500 calories

Getting the Most Accurate Results

The calculator provides an estimate. For the most accurate number, eat at your calculated TDEE for two weeks while tracking your weight daily. If your weight stays stable, the estimate is correct. If you gain or lose, adjust by 100-200 calories and repeat.

Related Calculators