Calorie & TDEE Calculator
Your resting and daily calorie burn from three separate equations, a target intake for losing, holding or gaining, and a macro split you can actually eat.
Instant answers
Works offline once loaded
Nothing you type is sent anywhere
BMR and TDEE
Goal-based targets
Macro breakdown
Unlocks the Katch-McArdle equation, the most accurate one if you know it.
What are you aiming for?
Daily calorie target
—
Maintenance (TDEE)—
Resting burn (BMR)—
Burned by activity—
Daily deficit or surplus—
Expected weight change—
Range across the three equations—
Macros at that intake
1.6 g per kg of body weight — the level most studies find preserves muscle in a deficit.
Every equation, every activity level
| Equation | BMR | Sedentary | Light | Moderate | Very | Extreme |
|---|
Mifflin-St Jeor is the modern default and the one used for the headline figure. Katch-McArdle only appears if you supply a body fat percentage, and is the most accurate of the three when you do.
Instructions
How to use this calculator
Step by step
- Enter your height, weight, age and sex. These four are all the standard equations need; everything else on the page refines the estimate or interprets it.
- If you know your body fat percentage from a DEXA scan or reliable calipers, put it in. It switches the headline figure to Katch-McArdle, which works from lean mass and is the most accurate of the three.
- Pick your activity level honestly. This is by far the largest source of error on the page — the gap between sedentary and very active is over 500 kcal a day for the same body. Describe a typical week, not your best one.
- Choose a goal. The percentages are deliberately expressed relative to your own maintenance rather than as a flat 500 kcal, because a flat deficit is far more aggressive for a small person than a large one.
- Read the target, then the expected weight change underneath. If that pace looks too fast, step back a goal button — slower deficits are kept off far more reliably.
- Set a macro split and check the protein floor. Protein is the macro worth getting right in a deficit; the rest is largely preference and what you will actually stick to.
- Use the bottom table to see the spread between equations. The width of that range is the honest uncertainty in any number on this page.
Good to know
- Track your actual weight for two to three weeks against your assumed maintenance, then adjust. Your own data beats any equation within a month.
- Weigh yourself daily and look at the seven-day average. Day-to-day swings are water, glycogen and gut contents, and they will hide a real trend for a fortnight.
- Most people underestimate what they eat by 20–30% and overestimate what they burn in exercise by a similar margin. The equations are not usually the problem.
- Protein at 1.6–2.2 g per kilogram of body weight preserves muscle in a deficit better than anything else you can change. Hit that floor before you optimise anything else.
- Do not eat back calories your fitness tracker says you burned. Consumer trackers overestimate exercise burn substantially, and the activity multiplier here already includes your training.
- Metabolic adaptation is real — after a long deficit your maintenance drops below the calculated figure. Expect to recalculate after every 5% of body weight lost.
The maths behind it
- Mifflin-St Jeor BMR = 10·kg + 6.25·cm − 5·age + s s = +5 for men, −161 for women. The current clinical default.
- Harris-Benedict (revised) men: 88.362 + 13.397·kg + 4.799·cm − 5.677·age women: 447.593 + 9.247·kg + 3.098·cm − 4.330·age. Tends to read a little high.
- Katch-McArdle BMR = 370 + 21.6 × lean mass (kg) Needs body fat percentage; the most accurate of the three when you have it.
- Total daily energy expenditure TDEE = BMR × activity multiplier Multipliers run 1.2 (sedentary) to 1.9 (extremely active).
- Weight change rate kg/week = daily deficit × 7 ÷ 7700 Roughly 3500 kcal per pound. An approximation that runs optimistic over time.
- Calories per gram protein 4, carbohydrate 4, fat 9 Alcohol is 7, and is not counted anywhere on this page.
What is the difference between BMR and TDEE?
BMR is what you would burn lying completely still all day keeping your organs running — typically 60–70% of the total. TDEE is BMR plus everything else: digestion, fidgeting, walking to the kitchen, and deliberate exercise. TDEE is the number that matters for eating; BMR is the floor it is built on.
Which activity level should I pick?
If you have a desk job and train three or four times a week, "moderately active" is usually right, not "very active". Very active means a physical job or serious daily training. When in doubt pick one level lower than feels flattering, then adjust after two weeks of real weight data — you will be closer.
How accurate are these numbers?
The equations predict measured BMR to within about 10% for most people, and worse at the extremes of body size. The activity multiplier adds considerably more uncertainty on top. Treat the result as a starting point that you correct with two to three weeks of your own weight data, not as a measurement.
Why does the calculator refuse to go below a certain intake?
Because sustained intakes below roughly 1200 kcal for women and 1500 for men make it very hard to meet micronutrient needs, and are associated with muscle loss, gallstones and rebound. Very-low-calorie diets exist and work, but they belong under medical supervision rather than in a web calculator.
Is a calorie really just a calorie?
For energy balance, broadly yes — thermodynamics does not negotiate. For everything else, no. Protein costs more to digest, is far more filling per calorie, and protects muscle in a deficit. The macro split matters for adherence, body composition and hunger even when the calorie total is identical.
Why has my weight loss stalled at the same intake?
Three reasons compound. You are lighter, so maintenance genuinely fell. Your body adapts by moving less and running slightly more efficiently. And portion creep is close to universal after a couple of months. Re-run this page at your current weight, and weigh your food for a week to check the third.
Should I eat back the calories from exercise?
Not if you chose an activity multiplier that already accounts for your training — that would double-count it. If you selected "sedentary" and then do a heavy session, adding some of it back is reasonable, but take roughly half of what your tracker claims: consumer devices overestimate exercise burn considerably.