TDEE Calculator

Example 1 — man, 30, 80 kg, 180 cm, moderate

1. BMR = 10 × 80 + 6.25 × 180 − 150 + 5 = 1,780 kcal.
2. TDEE = 1,780 × 1.55 = 2,759 kcal.
3. Fat-loss start = 0.85 × 2,759 = 2,345 kcal. Protein at 2.2 g/kg = 176 g, so the cut is not a low-protein cut.
4. Expected scale loss at a 400 kcal deficit is about 0.35 kg of fat per week using 7,700 kcal per kilogram. Faster loss means a bigger deficit, water, or both. Slower loss for three weeks means the activity factor was high.

Example 2 — woman, 28, 65 kg, 165 cm, light activity

1. BMR = 10 × 65 + 6.25 × 165 − 5 × 28 − 161 = 650 + 1,031 − 140 − 161 = 1,380 kcal.
2. TDEE = 1,380 × 1.375 = 1,898 kcal, about 1,900.
3. A 15% cut is about 1,615 kcal. Protein at 2.0 g/kg is 130 g, or 520 kcal, which still leaves room for fat and carbohydrate.
4. A 1,200 kcal target is a 37% deficit here. Some clinical plans use it short-term. It is a poor default next to lifting. Use 1,200 only if a clinician set it, not because a listicle did.

Example 3 — same man, Katch-McArdle at 22% body fat

1. Lean mass = 80 × (1 − 0.22) = 62.4 kg.
2. BMR = 370 + 21.6 × 62.4 = 1,718 kcal, about 60 kcal under the Mifflin figure.
3. × 1.55 = 2,663 kcal maintenance. The gap is small. It gets larger if you had assumed 12% body fat and built a surplus on an imaginary 70 kg of lean mass.
4. Enter a tape-based body fat from the body fat calculator, then pick one equation and keep it for the month. Switching formulas every weigh-in hides the trend.

What is TDEE?

TDEE is total daily energy expenditure, the calories you burn in a day including rest, movement, and training. Maintenance calories are an estimate of that number. Eat at TDEE and weight tends to stay put. Eat under it and you lose weight, mostly fat if protein and lifting are in place. Eat over it and you gain. This calculator estimates TDEE. Your scale over two weeks confirms or corrects it.

How do I calculate TDEE with Mifflin-St Jeor?

BMR = 10 × weight in kg + 6.25 × height in cm − 5 × age, then add 5 for men or subtract 161 for women. Multiply by 1.2 if you are sedentary, 1.375 for light training, 1.55 for moderate, or 1.725 if you train hard most days. An 80 kg, 180 cm, 30-year-old man at moderate activity lands near 2,760 kcal. Pick the lower factor if you are unsure. It is easier to add calories than to undo a month of an inflated factor.

What is a safe calorie deficit?

About 10 to 20% below TDEE is a sustainable start for most adults who lift. On a 2,600 kcal maintenance that is roughly 2,100 to 2,350 kcal, enough for something like 0.3 to 0.6 kg per week depending on the person. Faster cuts raise the share of weight that comes from muscle and the chance you quit. Do not default to 1,200 kcal because it appeared in a headline. That number is only appropriate when a clinician chose it for a specific body size.

Should I use Katch-McArdle or Mifflin-St Jeor?

Use Mifflin-St Jeor when you do not have a body-fat measurement. Use Katch-McArdle when you do, because it keys off lean mass: 370 + 21.6 × fat-free mass in kg. They often agree within 100 kcal. They disagree when body fat is unusually high or low and the sex-and-age constants in Mifflin are a poor stand-in. Whichever you pick, keep it for the month so the adjustment you make from the scale is about food, not about swapping equations.

Why is my TDEE calculator result higher than what I actually maintain on?

The activity factor is the usual error. People count a three-day lifting week as “very active,” or they add watch calories on top of a factor that already includes training. Stress, low muscle, and under-reporting food also close the gap. Eat the printed number for 14 days with weighed food. If weight rises, drop the factor one notch or subtract 200 kcal and repeat. The formula is a hypothesis. The fortnight is the test.

Do I subtract workout calories from TDEE?

Not if you already chose an activity factor that includes those workouts. Subtracting a watch’s 600 kcal from a moderate TDEE double-counts the session and erases the deficit. Use the watch to compare weeks of steps, not to mint new calories every evening. If you are truly sedentary except for one hard class, pick sedentary or light and do not eat the class back unless weight is falling faster than you wanted.

How many calories should I eat to gain muscle?

Start around 5 to 12% above TDEE, not a 1,000 kcal bulk. On a 2,700 kcal maintenance that is about 2,850 to 3,000 kcal, with protein near 1.6 to 2.2 g/kg. Expect something like 0.25 to 0.5 kg per month of body weight after the first year of training, more in the first year. Faster gains are mostly fat. Recheck waist and FFMI so the surplus is not just a softer scale.

How often should I recalculate TDEE?

When body weight changes about 5%, when your job or step count changes, or every 8 to 12 weeks on a long cut. A 4 kg loss does not require a new equation every Monday. It does mean the old deficit got a little smaller because a smaller body uses slightly less energy. Recalculate, keep protein high, and only then decide whether to drop another 100 kcal or hold.