Free TDEE Calculator — Total Daily Energy Expenditure (2026)
Calculate your TDEE: BMR by Mifflin-St Jeor × your real activity level, with the full maintenance table, honest accuracy notes, and a one-click jump to a personalized USDA food plan. Free, no signup.
Total daily energy expenditure is the number that actually matters for your weight: everything you burn in a real day — resting metabolism, movement, exercise, even digestion. Enter five details and get your TDEE, your maintenance table, and what to do with it.
What goes into TDEE
TDEE stacks four burns: your basal metabolic rate (60–75% for most people), the thermic effect of food (≈10% — digestion costs energy), planned exercise, and all the non-exercise movement of a normal day. The activity multiplier is a shorthand for the last two, which is why picking the honest level matters more than any decimal in the equation.
People overwhelmingly overestimate their activity level. If you have a desk job and train three times a week, 'moderately active' is usually the honest pick — 'very active' describes physical jobs and athletes in season.
How accurate is a TDEE estimate?
Equations predict averages; individuals vary by ±10% or more. Treat your TDEE as a starting hypothesis: eat near it for two or three weeks, watch the scale's weekly average, and adjust by 100–200 kcal as the data tells you. That feedback loop beats any formula's precision.
This calculator shows its work — Mifflin-St Jeor BMR with coefficients in the open, times the conventional 1.2–1.9 multipliers — so when another site gives you a different number, you can see exactly which assumption moved.
Formula & sources
Total daily energy expenditure
BMR from Mifflin-St Jeor; PAL is the physical-activity-level multiplier for the selected activity level.
Activity multipliers (PAL)
| Activity level | Multiplier |
|---|---|
| Sedentary | 1.20 |
| Moderately active | 1.55 |
| Active | 1.725 |
| Very active | 1.90 |
Sources
- Mifflin MD, St Jeor ST, et al. (1990) A new predictive equation for resting energy expenditure in healthy individuals. Am J Clin Nutr 51(2):241–247.
- Physical-activity-level scale The conventional 1.2–1.9 activity multipliers derived from WHO/FAO physical-activity-level (PAL) categories — a widely used scale, not a single source study.
TDEE questions, answered
What is TDEE in simple terms?
The total calories you burn in a real day — resting metabolism plus digestion plus all movement. Eat about your TDEE and your weight tends to stay put; eat consistently below or above it and weight gradually falls or rises.
What's the difference between BMR and TDEE?
BMR is the engine idling: calories burned at complete rest. TDEE is the engine driving: BMR scaled up by an activity multiplier (1.2–1.9) to cover digestion, movement, and exercise. Targets are set against TDEE, not BMR.
How big should a calorie deficit be?
A 250–500 kcal/day deficit below TDEE is the conventional starting range, producing roughly 0.25–0.5 kg (0.5–1 lb) per week. Larger deficits cost muscle, energy, and adherence; below-BMR intakes belong under medical supervision.
Why does every TDEE calculator give a different number?
Different BMR equations, different multiplier scales, and different rounding. The spread is usually 5–10%. Ours shows both the equation and the multiplier so nothing is hidden — and real-world tracking beats all of them.
How often should I recalculate?
Whenever your weight changes by more than a few kilograms or your routine genuinely changes. TDEE falls as you lose weight — recalculating every 5 kg or so keeps a deficit from quietly disappearing.
Is this the same as the MyPlate calorie calculator?
Related but different: the MyPlate Plan uses the IOM EER equations that USDA's food patterns are calibrated to, then translates calories into food groups. Your profile carries over with one click.