Find out exactly how many calories you need to reach your goals. Get personalized macro targets based on your body and activity level.
Fill in your details and click "Calculate My TDEE" to see your personalized calorie and macro targets.
Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE) is the total number of calories you burn each day, including your basal metabolic rate (BMR) plus calories burned through activity.
TDEE stands for Total Daily Energy Expenditure. It is a daily baseline estimate of how many calories you burn in a day. Eating above this number generally leads to weight gain, while eating below it generally leads to weight loss.
The usual process is simple: estimate your Basal Metabolic Rate, then multiply it by an activity factor. Your BMR is the energy your body uses at rest. Your activity multiplier accounts for movement, exercise, and physical work.
This is the formula used by the calculator above and is considered a strong default for most people.
Harris-Benedict is an older classic equation. It uses age, weight, height, and sex, but can run a little high for many modern users.
Katch-McArdle estimates BMR from lean body mass, so it can be useful if you know your body fat percentage accurately.
Cunningham is another lean-mass formula, most useful for very lean athletes or people with a reliable fat-free mass measurement.
Eat below your TDEE. A 500 calorie daily deficit is a common starting point.
Eat close to your TDEE and adjust based on your real-world results.
Eat above your TDEE. The calculator uses a moderate 300 calorie surplus.