Calculator
What the TDEE Calculator does
TDEE Calculator: calculates TDEE (kcal / day) and BMR (kcal / day) from Your Weight, Your Height and Your Age. Example: your weight 70 kg, your height 170 cm and your age 30 gives TDEE (kcal / day) 1,941.
The TDEE Calculator turns Your Weight, Your Height, Your Age and Sex into TDEE (kcal / day) and BMR (kcal / day). Adjust anything and the figures re-derive on the spot.
Most people who open the TDEE Calculator are readers checking a number from a clinic. Knowing how a figure is derived makes it much easier to interpret sensibly.
Nothing leaves the tab. You can watch your browser network panel while you use it and see for yourself.
Everything needed to verify a result is further down: the fields, the method and one fully worked example.
What do the TDEE Calculator fields mean?
The TDEE Calculator uses 5 inputs. A filled form means you can test one idea immediately instead of sourcing every input first.
| Field | What to enter | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Your Weight | measured in kg | 70 |
| Your Height | measured in cm | 170 |
| Your Age | required | 30 |
| Sex | choose from Male or Female | Male |
| Activity Level | choose from Sedentary, Light, Moderate, Active or Very active | Sedentary |
How does the TDEE Calculator work?
Each output is derived from the inputs above in a single pass; there is no hidden state carried between runs, so the same inputs always give the same calculation.
Inputs are validated before anything is computed, so a bad entry is reported rather than quietly producing a wrong answer.
Worked example
These are the values the TDEE Calculator loads by default, and the result it produces from them. Below is the same computation the tool performs on load, step by step.
| Your Weight | 70 kg |
|---|---|
| Your Height | 170 cm |
| Your Age | 30 |
| Sex | Male |
| Activity Level | Sedentary |
| TDEE (kcal / day) | 1,941 |
|---|---|
| BMR (kcal / day) | 1,617.5 |
| What this means | Your estimated total daily energy expenditure is about 1941 kcal. |
Where the activity multiplier comes from
TDEE is BMR multiplied by an activity factor. The BMR half rests on a validated equation (Mifflin-St Jeor); the multiplier half does not. Those factors are conventional planning values, and they are where nearly all of the error in a TDEE estimate lives.
Worth knowing
- The familiar 1.2 to 1.9 ladder is a convention, not a measurement. Two people who both describe themselves as "moderately active" can genuinely differ by several hundred calories a day.
- Most people overstate their activity level. If the estimate is not matching what the scale does over several weeks, the multiplier is the input to revise first, not the equation.
- Non-exercise activity, the fidgeting, walking and standing you do without thinking of it as exercise, varies far more between individuals than deliberate training does, and no self-reported category captures it.
- The only reliable calibration is your own data: hold intake roughly constant for two to three weeks, track weight, and adjust. A measured trend beats any equation, including this one.
- Energy expenditure also falls as you lose weight, partly because a smaller body costs less to move. A TDEE figure calculated at the start of a deficit will overstate your needs by the end of it.
Sources: Mifflin MD et al., Am J Clin Nutr 1990 (PMID 2305711) · 2011 Compendium of Physical Activities (PMID 21681120)
Read next: BMR and TDEE: Why Every Calculator Gives You a Different Number
How to use it
- Key in Your Weight in kg.
- Fill in Your Height in cm.
- Type Your Age.
- Pick a value for Sex: the options are Male or Female.
- Pick a value for Activity Level: the options are Sedentary, Light, Moderate, Active or Very active.
- It runs on every change, so there is no moment where the screen is out of date.
- Read TDEE (kcal / day), BMR (kcal / day) and What this means in the results panel.
- Copy Link when you want to return to this exact configuration; Print when someone needs it on paper.
What this tool does not do
- Body composition, ethnicity and age all shift what a "normal" result means for an individual.
- Population-level formulas cannot account for medical conditions, medication or pregnancy.
- Where a standard has revisions, the version used is the one named in the method section.
- A number that passes validation has been checked for plausibility, not for correctness.
Frequently asked questions
Enter Your Weight in kg and Your Height in cm. Each field states its unit next to the input, and outputs are labelled the same way.
With the values loaded when the page opens, TDEE (kcal / day) comes out as 1,941. Adjust any field to see how much the answer depends on it.
No. The work runs in JavaScript inside this page, so your values never leave your device. You can confirm it in your browser network tab.
No charge. Everything on the page is available without signing in.
The computation is exact. What it is computing is a population average, which is a different thing from a fact about you, so read the number as a prompt to ask a better question.