What Is TDEE? How to Estimate Your Daily Calories
TDEE stands for total daily energy expenditure. It's an estimate of how many calories your body burns in a typical day, counting everything: resting, moving around, exercising, and even digesting food.
It matters because it's the starting point for almost every nutrition target. Once you have a rough idea of your TDEE, you can decide whether to eat around that number, a bit below it, or a bit above it.
What's inside your TDEE
Your TDEE has four parts:
- BMR (basal metabolic rate). The calories you'd burn lying in bed all day. This is the biggest piece for most people.
- Daily movement. Walking, chores, standing, fidgeting. It adds up more than most people expect.
- Exercise. Your planned workouts.
- Digestion. Your body uses energy to process food. Protein takes the most.
For example, if your BMR is 1,700 and your daily movement and exercise add about 500, your TDEE is about 2,200 calories.
Why it matters
TDEE is your estimated maintenance level.
- Eat around your TDEE, and your body weight tends to hold steady.
- Eat consistently below it (a calorie deficit), and body mass tends to go down over time.
- Eat consistently above it (a calorie surplus), and body mass tends to go up.
That's the whole idea. Everything else, such as macro splits and meal timing, builds on this number.
How to estimate your TDEE in two steps
Step 1: Estimate your BMR. A widely used formula is the Mifflin-St Jeor equation:
- Men: (10 × weight in kg) + (6.25 × height in cm) − (5 × age) + 5
- Women: (10 × weight in kg) + (6.25 × height in cm) − (5 × age) − 161
Step 2: Multiply by an activity factor.
| Activity level | Multiplier |
|---|---|
| Sedentary (little or no exercise) | 1.2 |
| Lightly active (1 to 3 days a week) | 1.375 |
| Moderately active (3 to 5 days a week) | 1.55 |
| Very active (6 to 7 days a week) | 1.725 |
| Extra active (hard training and/or a physical job) | 1.9 |
A worked example
A 35-year-old man who is 70 inches tall (177.8 cm), weighs 180 lb (81.6 kg), and exercises three to five days a week:
- BMR = (10 × 81.6) + (6.25 × 177.8) − (5 × 35) + 5 ≈ 1,758 calories
- TDEE = 1,758 × 1.55 ≈ 2,725 calories
That's his estimated maintenance level.
It's an estimate, not an exact number
Treat your TDEE as a starting point, not a fact.
- Activity multipliers are rough. Most people overestimate how active they are.
- Two people with the same stats can burn different amounts.
- The real test is your own results. Track your intake consistently for two to four weeks and watch your weight trend. If it holds steady, you've found your maintenance. If it drifts, adjust a little.
Adjusting for your goal
Many people start with a modest change, roughly 10 to 20 percent below maintenance to lose weight or about 10 percent above to gain. Those are common coaching rules of thumb, not medical recommendations. Small changes are easier to stick with than extreme ones.
If you have a medical condition, are pregnant, are under 18, or have a history of disordered eating, talk to your doctor or a registered dietitian before changing how you eat.
Skip the math
Our free Macro & Calorie Planner does these calculations for you. Enter your age, sex, height, weight and activity level, and it estimates your TDEE and daily target, then splits your calories into carbs, protein and fat for your training days and rest days.
Free Macro & Calorie Planner
Get the free plannerWant the reasoning behind the numbers? Chapter 2 of the A.W.C.L. Foundations Guide walks through calories, macros, and micronutrients in plain English.
This article is general education and not medical advice. Talk to your doctor or a registered dietitian before starting a new nutrition or exercise program. Calorie and macro figures are estimates. Results vary and are not guaranteed.