Your TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure) is the total number of calories you burn per day — including exercise, walking, and even sleeping.
Daily calorie targets
TDEE = BMR × Activity multiplier. Your BMR is the calories burned at complete rest. TDEE adds daily movement and exercise.
TDEE stands for Total Daily Energy Expenditure — the total number of calories your body burns in a 24-hour period. It includes your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR), the thermic effect of food (digestion), non-exercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT), and intentional exercise.
Your TDEE is the single most important number for any diet plan. Eat below it to lose weight. Eat at it to maintain. Eat above it to gain. No food is inherently "fattening" — what matters is your total calorie intake relative to your TDEE.
The TDEE calculator multiplies your BMR by an activity factor. Choosing the right level is critical — overestimating your activity is the most common reason calorie calculators seem "wrong."
| Level | Multiplier | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Sedentary | 1.2 | Desk job, no exercise. Most people overestimate and should start here. |
| Lightly active | 1.375 | Light exercise 1–3 days/week, or a job with some walking. |
| Moderately active | 1.55 | Moderate exercise 3–5 days/week. Most regular gym-goers. |
| Very active | 1.725 | Hard exercise 6–7 days/week, or a physically demanding job. |
| Extremely active | 1.9 | Professional athletes, military training, or hard labor + daily exercise. |
If you're unsure, start with "Sedentary" and adjust based on results after 2–3 weeks. It's better to underestimate and adjust up than to overestimate and wonder why you're not losing weight.
BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate) is the calories your body burns at complete rest — just to keep your heart beating, lungs breathing, and brain functioning. It accounts for about 60–75% of your total daily burn. You'd only burn exactly your BMR if you lay in bed motionless all day.
TDEE is your BMR plus all the calories burned through daily movement, exercise, digestion, and fidgeting. TDEE is the number that actually matters for diet planning because it reflects your real-world calorie burn.
A deficit of 500 calories per day (about 15–20% below TDEE for most people) produces roughly 1 pound of fat loss per week. This is the most sustainable rate — faster cuts risk muscle loss, metabolic adaptation, and burnout.
Track your weight weekly (same time, same conditions) for at least 3 weeks before adjusting. Water weight fluctuates 2–5 pounds daily, so single weigh-ins are meaningless. Use the weekly average trend.
If you're not losing weight after 3 weeks at a calculated deficit, reduce by another 100–200 calories. Your TDEE estimate may be slightly high, or you may be underestimating food intake.
TDEE calculators are estimates, typically within 10–15% of your actual expenditure. The main source of error is the activity multiplier — most people overestimate their activity level. Treat the result as a starting point, then adjust based on real-world results over 2–3 weeks.
If you selected an activity level that includes your exercise, no — your TDEE already accounts for it. If you selected "Sedentary" and exercise separately, you can add roughly 50–70% of estimated exercise calories (trackers tend to overestimate burns by 30–50%).
Yes. TDEE decreases as you lose weight (smaller body = fewer calories to maintain), as you age (muscle mass decreases), and through metabolic adaptation during extended diets. Recalculate every 10–15 pounds of weight change.
General guidelines suggest not going below 1,200 calories for women or 1,500 for men without medical supervision. Very low calorie diets risk nutrient deficiencies, muscle loss, gallstones, and metabolic slowdown.
Yes. Your TDEE is your maintenance calories — the number of calories at which your weight stays stable. Eating consistently at this level means no weight gain or loss over time.