Calorie Calculator - TDEE from BMR and Activity

This calorie calculator is an educational estimate, not medical advice and not a diet prescription. Mifflin–St Jeor and Harris–Benedict are regression equations from population data. They do not measure your metabolism. Illness, pregnancy, lactation, thyroid disease, medications, eating disorders, and competitive sport change energy needs in ways this form cannot see. If any of those apply, work with a clinician or registered dietitian. Inputs never leave this browser; nothing is uploaded.

A calorie calculator answers a planning question: given sex, age, standing height, body weight, and a coarse activity label, what is a reasonable total daily energy expenditure (TDEE) in kilocalories? The pipeline is always the same. First estimate basal metabolic rate (BMR) with an adult equation. Then multiply by an activity factor: sedentary 1.2, light 1.375, moderate 1.55, active 1.725, extra 1.9. The product is TDEE. The default inputs on this page are male, 80 kg, 180 cm, 30 years, sedentary, Mifflin–St Jeor: BMR = 10×80 + 6.25×180 − 5×30 + 5 = 800 + 1125 − 150 + 5 = 1780 kcal/day, and TDEE = 1780 × 1.2 = 2136 kcal/day. When those defaults are still in the form, the result panel shows that check.

TDEE is not a grocery list. It does not choose foods, meal timing, or a “clean eating” rule. It does not diagnose hypothyroidism, starvation adaptation, or overtraining. It does not replace a metabolic cart, doubly labeled water, or a supervised diet. Treat 2136 as a starting budget you can compare against a food log, not as a moral grade.

BMR alone - without the activity multiply - lives on the BMR calculator. Once you have a calorie number, grams of protein, carbohydrate, and fat are a different job for the macro calculator, protein calculator, carbohydrate calculator, and fat intake calculator. Height and weight without energy are still useful on the BMI calculator. None of those pages write a clinical diet.

Sex is required because both Mifflin–St Jeor and Harris–Benedict use a sex-specific intercept. This tool offers male and female coefficients as published. It does not attempt a hormone panel, a gender-identity questionnaire, or a pediatric Schofield table. If those distinctions matter for your care, that is clinic work.

1. Choose metric (cm, kg) or imperial (feet, leftover inches, pounds). Imperial is converted to kilograms and centimetres before the equation runs so both unit systems share one formula.
2. Set sex (required), age in years, current height and weight.
3. Pick an activity factor that matches a typical week, not your best training day. Most desk jobs with little structured exercise belong on sedentary 1.2 even if you walk to the kitchen often.
4. Leave the formula on Mifflin–St Jeor unless you specifically want a Harris–Benedict comparison.
5. Read BMR, TDEE, maintain, cut ≈ TDEE−500, and gain ≈ TDEE+300. Those last two are labeled planning estimates. Copy if you need a record. Inputs stay in this browser for up to 30 days and are never uploaded.

Mifflin–St Jeor (1990) was fitted on adults and is the usual default in nutrition software because it tends to over-predict less than older Harris–Benedict versions on many modern samples. For the default man: 10×80 = 800, 6.25×180 = 1125, 5×30 = 150, then 800 + 1125 − 150 + 5 = 1780. Multiply by sedentary 1.2 and you get 2136 exactly. Light activity would be 1780 × 1.375 = 2447.5. Moderate is 1780 × 1.55 = 2759. Active is 1780 × 1.725 = 3070.5. Extra is 1780 × 1.9 = 3382. Those jumps are huge; mis-labeling “active” when you sit eight hours is the most common way to inflate TDEE.

The same body as a woman on Mifflin: 10×80 + 6.25×180 − 5×30 − 161 = 1614 kcal/day BMR, sedentary TDEE = 1936.8. The sex intercept is 166 kcal in this example (1780 − 1614). That is a population average offset, not a personal hormone measurement.

Harris–Benedict revised (Roza and Shizgal, 1984) for men is 88.362 + 13.397W + 4.799H − 5.677A. On the default man that is 88.362 + 1071.76 + 863.82 − 170.31 = 1853.632 kcal/day BMR, sedentary TDEE ≈ 2224. For women: 447.593 + 9.247W + 3.098H − 4.330A = 447.593 + 739.76 + 557.64 − 129.9 = 1615.093. This page uses those published coefficients. Original 1919 Harris–Benedict numbers are not implemented; they over-predict even more on many contemporary adults.

Katch–McArdle uses lean mass (370 + 21.6 × LBM_kg) and is available on the BMR calculator when you have a body-fat percentage. This calorie page stays with sex–age–height–weight equations because most people do not have a DEXA. If you do have lean mass, compute BMR there and multiply by activity yourself - or use that BMR as a sanity check against 1780.

The 1.2–1.9 multipliers are a teaching convention, not a wearable. They try to fold occupation, fidgeting, commuting, and planned training into one scalar. Two people with the same gym schedule can differ by hundreds of kilocalories of non-exercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT). A step count of 4,000 versus 12,000 is often larger than the difference between “light” and “moderate” on this menu.

Practical mapping used in many textbooks: sedentary - desk work, little structured training; light - training 1–3 days per week or a job with some walking; moderate - 3–5 days of intentional exercise; active - hard training most days; extra - physical labor plus training or two-a-days. If you lift three evenings and sit the rest of the day, moderate is often closer than active. When in doubt, start lower, log intake and weekly average weight for three to four weeks, and adjust. That feedback loop is more honest than arguing about 1.55 versus 1.725 on day one.

Exercise calorie estimates from MET tables (the calories burned calculator) should not be stacked on top of an already “active” TDEE or you double-count the workout. Either use a lower activity factor and add session burn, or use a higher factor and do not add the session again. This page does not add MET calories on top of TDEE.

On the default 2136 TDEE, maintain is 2136, cut is 1636, and gain is 2436. A 500 kcal/day deficit is the folk theorem that 3500 kcal ≈ 1 lb of fat, so 500 × 7 = 3500, about 0.45–0.5 kg per week. That accounting ignores glycogen, gut content, water, and adaptive thermogenesis. Many people lose faster in week one (water) and slower by week six (NEAT drop, slightly lower BMR as mass falls). The surplus of 300 kcal is a conservative bulk heuristic so the surplus is not an accidental 800 kcal of snacks. Neither number is a prescription, a rate guarantee, or a license to ignore hunger, fatigue, or medical red flags.

Aggressive deficits below about 1200 kcal/day for many adults (and higher floors for larger bodies) belong in supervised care. This calculator will still arithmetic TDEE−500 even if that lands low; it will not refuse the subtraction, and it will not call the result “safe.” Pregnancy and lactation need extra energy and micronutrients this form does not add. Athletes in-season often need more than extra × 1.9 if sport volume is extreme - and they still need a professional, not a web multiplier.

Weight change is measured in weekly averages, not daily scale panic. Pair TDEE with the healthy weight calculator or BMI calculator only as context, not as a target that overrides how you feel. Composition questions (Navy circumference, lean mass) are separate tools and still estimates.

Female, 65 kg, 165 cm, 28 y, Mifflin, light activity: BMR = 10×65 + 6.25×165 − 5×28 − 161 = 650 + 1031.25 − 140 − 161 = 1380.25. TDEE = 1380.25 × 1.375 ≈ 1898. Planning cut ≈ 1398, gain ≈ 2198.

Male, 95 kg, 178 cm, 45 y, Mifflin, moderate: BMR = 10×95 + 6.25×178 − 5×45 + 5 = 950 + 1112.5 − 225 + 5 = 1842.5. TDEE = 1842.5 × 1.55 ≈ 2856. Harris–Benedict on the same man: 88.362 + 13.397×95 + 4.799×178 − 5.677×45 = 88.362 + 1272.715 + 854.222 − 255.465 ≈ 1959.8 BMR, TDEE ≈ 3038. The two formulas already disagree by about 180 kcal of TDEE - another reason not to treat either as a lab.

Female, 72 kg, 160 cm, 55 y, Mifflin, sedentary: BMR = 720 + 1000 − 275 − 161 = 1284. TDEE = 1540.8. Age lowers the Mifflin term by 5 kcal per year; two decades is 100 kcal of BMR before activity. That is real on average and still not a reason to crash-diet.

Imperial check: 5 ft 11 in is 71 inches = 180.34 cm, 176 lb is about 79.83 kg. Mifflin male age 30 is then 10×79.83 + 6.25×180.34 − 150 + 5 ≈ 798.3 + 1127.125 − 150 + 5 ≈ 1780.4, sedentary TDEE ≈ 2136.5. The metric default 80 kg / 180 cm is the clean 1780 / 2136 demonstration; imperial rounding will sit a few tenths away.

After TDEE, 2136 kcal at 30/40/30 macros is 160.2 g protein, 213.6 g carbohydrate, and 71.2 g fat on the macro calculator. Protein-only at 1.6 g/kg for 80 kg is 128 g on the protein calculator- a different question from TDEE.

Desk equations assume you are weight-stable and eating enough. In a prolonged deficit, measured expenditure often falls more than the loss of tissue would predict: less fidgeting, lower resting pulse, more efficient movement. That is one reason a 500 kcal cut on paper becomes a stall. The honest response is to update intake from the log and the trend, not to slash another 500 from an already outdated TDEE.

Wrist wearables estimate active calories from heart rate and accelerometry. They can be useful for ranking days (Tuesday harder than Thursday) and poor as an absolute TDEE. If a watch says 3100 and Mifflin sedentary says 2136, you have a definition clash, not a moral failing. Pick one system for two weeks. This page will not ingest your FIT file; privacy here means the numbers never leave the browser.

Thermic effect of food is roughly 10% of intake on a mixed diet, higher for protein, and is already smeared into the activity factor in these crude models. Do not subtract another 10% from 2136 or you under-eat by design. Alcohol is 7 kcal/g and is not a fourth macro on this form.

Harris and Benedict published prediction equations in 1918–19 from calorimetry on small samples. Revisions in 1984 updated coefficients. Mifflin and St Jeor published in 1990 on 498 subjects and became the default in many U.S. dietetics settings. None of those papers claimed to replace clinical judgment for an individual with illness. Search still clusters on “calorie calculator,” “TDEE calculator,” and “how many calories to lose weight.” The honest answer is: estimate BMR, multiply by a conservative activity factor, then verify with weight trend. The default demonstration remains 1780 and 2136 so you can see the arithmetic is not a black box.

“Eat less, move more” is incomplete physiology. Medications (some antipsychotics, glucocorticoids, beta blockers), sleep debt, and shift work change both intake and expenditure. Eating-disorder recovery often requires more energy than a TDEE form suggests, under professional care. This tool will not detect those states. If food or weight thoughts are taking over your life, contact a clinician; a calorie number is the wrong instrument.

Related energy and composition tools on this site: BMR, calories burned, Navy body fat, lean body mass, ideal weight formulas, and target heart rate. Use the calculator that matches the question. This one only multiplies an adult BMR by an activity factor.

A weekly average of morning weights beats a single dramatic Tuesday. Glycogen binds water; a high-carb weekend can add a kilogram without adding a kilogram of adipose tissue. Sodium and menstrual cycle shifts do the same. If the three-week average is flat while you swear you ate 1636, the usual culprits are weekend extras, poured oils, and a sedentary factor that should have been 1.2 while you logged 1.55. Raise honesty before you slash another 300 kcal from an already estimated cut.

Reverse dieting, diet breaks, and refeeds are coaching tactics layered on TDEE, not extra buttons here. A diet break at estimated maintain (2136 on the default) is sometimes used to restore NEAT after a long cut; evidence is mixed and individual. This page will not schedule your break. It will keep showing TDEE−500 as a planning estimate even when that is a bad idea for your recovery, sport season, or mental health.

Step-count experiments: adding 3,000 steps can matter more than switching Mifflin to Harris (~74 kcal BMR on the default man). If a wearable and this form disagree by 800 kcal, pick one system for 21 days of consistent logging rather than averaging them into a fake precision of 2136.5. Private storage on this site is localStorage for 30 days - useful for iterating activity labels, useless as a medical record.

More arithmetic: male 70 kg, 175 cm, 22 y, Mifflin, light: BMR = 700 + 1093.75 − 110 + 5 = 1688.75, TDEE = 2322.03, cut planning 1822, gain 2622. Female 82 kg, 170 cm, 35 y, moderate: BMR = 820 + 1062.5 − 175 − 161 = 1546.5, TDEE = 2397.075. Male 88 kg, 185 cm, 50 y, active: BMR = 880 + 1156.25 − 250 + 5 = 1791.25, TDEE = 3089.9. Those examples exist so you can reproduce the multiply, not so you can skip a clinician when the context is illness or pregnancy.