TDEE Calculator

TDEE, Total Daily Energy Expenditure, is the total number of calories your body burns in a day. It's built from four parts: your BMR (calories at rest, roughly 60 to 70 percent of the total), the thermic effect of food (energy used digesting, around 10 percent), exercise activity, and NEAT, all the non-exercise movement like walking, fidgeting and standing. This calculator estimates BMR with the Mifflin-St Jeor equation, then multiplies by an activity factor that bundles the rest together.

Your TDEE is the pivot point for any goal. Eat below it and you lose weight; eat above it and you gain; eat at it and you maintain. Everything in nutrition planning starts here, which is why it's worth getting a realistic figure rather than an optimistic one, then holding yourself to it day after day.

The most common mistake is overestimating activity. Three gym sessions a week plus a desk job is moderately active, not very active, and choosing the wrong tier can inflate your TDEE by 300 to 500 calories, which quietly stalls fat loss. The table on the right shows your burn at every level so you can see how much the choice matters.

A good rule: if you're not sure between two levels, pick the lower one. It's easier to add calories later when the scale is dropping faster than expected than to figure out why a too-high estimate isn't working.

Once you have your TDEE, set a target: subtract around 500 for steady fat loss (about 0.45 kg or 1 lb per week), add 300 to 500 for lean muscle gain, or eat at TDEE to maintain. Our calorie calculator does this adjustment for you, and the macro calculator splits the result into protein, carbs and fat.

Then validate against reality. Your true TDEE reveals itself after 2 to 3 weeks of consistent tracking: if your weight is dead flat, the calories you ate that fortnight are your maintenance, formula or not. That only works if you log honestly every day, which is exactly the habit Macroo is designed to keep you on. Read understanding energy balance for the full picture.