TDEE Calculator

TDEE calculator

Learn how much energy you use each day

Enter a few details, choose a long-term activity ratio, and compare your resting estimate with total daily energy use.

Estimated TDEE

Typical daily energy use

Example result

2,308kcal/day

Resting energy: 1,649 kcal/day
Selected PAL: 1.40
7-day equivalent: 16,158 kcal

1,649REE×1.40PAL=2,308TDEE

What the multiplier addsBased on this result—not a fixed 70/20/10 split

Resting baseline 71% PAL adjustment 29%

Method: Mifflin-St Jeor (1990)

Estimate only—not a calorie prescription. PAL represents habitual all-day energy demand, not one workout.

Formula and review status

Multiplies an explicitly selected adult REE prediction equation by an explicitly supplied long-term physical activity level. No exercise-frequency default is inferred.

Formula: health.tdee-adult.v1
Version: 1.0.0
Execution: release

Long-term activity multiplier model

TDEE Uses a Declared PAL, Not a Guess from Workout Frequency

Total daily energy expenditure is estimated here in two visible stages: predict adult resting energy with a selected published equation, then multiply the unrounded result by a user-supplied physical activity level from 1.40 through 2.40. The output represents a long-run daily average and should not be mistaken for today's wearable reading.

Step-by-step guide · Long-term activity multiplier model

Build TDEE from Two Auditable Layers

Core relationship: Predicted REE × long-term PAL
Accepted PAL span: 1.40–2.40
Display unit: Estimated kcal/day

Select the resting equation
Choose Mifflin–St Jeor or revised Harris–Benedict rather than allowing a hidden default. Age, centimeters, kilograms, and the published sex coefficient produce a resting-energy prediction.
Supply a sustainable PAL
PAL is the long-term ratio of total to basal or resting expenditure. It must reflect the whole pattern of living, not just the number of gym visits on a calendar.
Multiply before rounding
The calculator retains the raw resting estimate, multiplies by PAL, and rounds only the displayed kilocalories. Intermediate display rounding never feeds the total.

TDEE Uses a Declared PAL, Not a Guess from Workout Frequency: Total daily energy expenditure is estimated here in two visible stages: predict adult resting energy with a selected published equation, then multiply the unrounded result by a user-supplied physical activity level from 1.40 through 2.40. The output represents a long-run daily average and should not be mistaken for today's wearable reading.

Build TDEE from Two Auditable Layers

Select the resting equation
Choose Mifflin–St Jeor or revised Harris–Benedict rather than allowing a hidden default. Age, centimeters, kilograms, and the published sex coefficient produce a resting-energy prediction.
Supply a sustainable PAL
PAL is the long-term ratio of total to basal or resting expenditure. It must reflect the whole pattern of living, not just the number of gym visits on a calendar.
Multiply before rounding
The calculator retains the raw resting estimate, multiplies by PAL, and rounds only the displayed kilocalories. Intermediate display rounding never feeds the total.

Choose PAL from a Week of Living, Not One Memorable Session

PAL includes sleeping, sitting, commuting, household work, employment, and leisure movement across the full day. The FAO/WHO/UNU framework treats it as a lifestyle multiple. A strenuous run does not automatically justify the upper bound, and a person without scheduled exercise may still accumulate considerable expenditure through work. If you need a standards-based maintenance equation with named activity categories instead, compare the independent 2023 calorie calculator rather than forcing its labels into this numeric PAL input.

A useful selection method is to write a seven-day activity diary, identify whether the observed pattern is typical, and choose one value you can defend. Travel, illness, seasonal work, or a temporary training camp may deserve a separate scenario. Avoid averaging incompatible weeks merely to manufacture a precise-looking decimal.

Separate Daily Total from Exercise and Food Decisions

TDEE versus a workout estimate

A MET-based session estimate covers one activity interval. TDEE covers the complete 24-hour pattern and already contains activity, thermic effects, and resting expenditure in aggregate.

TDEE versus a nutrient layout

The total does not dictate a macro split. The protein reference calculator addresses a separate weight-based question and still cannot construct a complete diet.

TDEE versus an intake target

Maintenance expenditure is not automatically a recommended deficit, surplus, or treatment goal. Direction and magnitude require context beyond the multiplier.

Audit Changes Before Reusing Yesterday's Total

Recalculate when body weight, usual work demands, training volume, mobility, or the chosen resting equation changes materially, and preserve the old inputs for comparison.
Do not add a watch's “active calories” on top of this result without understanding overlap; that commonly counts activity twice.
Sleep disruption can alter behavior and training even though this equation has no sleep input. Use the sleep schedule planner for clock arithmetic, not as an undocumented TDEE correction.
Pregnancy, lactation, growth, acute illness, clinical undernutrition, and medically supervised weight management need life-stage or clinical methods outside this adult model.

Let Longitudinal Evidence Calibrate the Multiplier

Neither formula selection nor a carefully chosen PAL turns the answer into calorimetry. Energy intake is itself difficult to measure, and scale weight fluctuates. Compare several weeks of reasonably consistent intake and comparable weigh-ins before deciding that the estimate is systematically high or low. Then revise one assumption at a time so the change remains interpretable.

This page does not diagnose slow metabolism, prescribe energy intake, predict weight change, or replace a clinician or registered dietitian. If weight is changing unexpectedly, performance is deteriorating, intake feels compulsive, or a health condition affects energy needs, treat those signals as reasons for individualized care rather than reasons to push the PAL beyond its evidence range.

Important limitations

TDEE Calculator returns REE equation used, predicted resting energy expenditure, and estimated total daily energy expenditure only for the stated population, method, and source period. It is an informational calculation rather than a diagnosis, treatment plan, dosing instruction, exposure assessment, or individualized clinical recommendation.

This formula passed its registered engineering tests and is published under an explicit site-owner policy authorization. No independent expert, QA, editorial, legal, or third-party review is claimed. Verify consequential results with a qualified professional.

This subject may affect health, finance, tax, legal, or other consequential decisions. It has not received an independent domain-expert review; consult a qualified professional before relying on it.

Long-term activity multiplier model

TDEE Uses a Declared PAL, Not a Guess from Workout Frequency

Step-by-step guide · Long-term activity multiplier model

Build TDEE from Two Auditable Layers

Core relationship: Predicted REE × long-term PAL
Accepted PAL span: 1.40–2.40
Display unit: Estimated kcal/day

Select the resting equation
Choose Mifflin–St Jeor or revised Harris–Benedict rather than allowing a hidden default. Age, centimeters, kilograms, and the published sex coefficient produce a resting-energy prediction.
Supply a sustainable PAL
PAL is the long-term ratio of total to basal or resting expenditure. It must reflect the whole pattern of living, not just the number of gym visits on a calendar.
Multiply before rounding
The calculator retains the raw resting estimate, multiplies by PAL, and rounds only the displayed kilocalories. Intermediate display rounding never feeds the total.

Build TDEE from Two Auditable Layers

Select the resting equation
Choose Mifflin–St Jeor or revised Harris–Benedict rather than allowing a hidden default. Age, centimeters, kilograms, and the published sex coefficient produce a resting-energy prediction.
Supply a sustainable PAL
PAL is the long-term ratio of total to basal or resting expenditure. It must reflect the whole pattern of living, not just the number of gym visits on a calendar.
Multiply before rounding
The calculator retains the raw resting estimate, multiplies by PAL, and rounds only the displayed kilocalories. Intermediate display rounding never feeds the total.

Choose PAL from a Week of Living, Not One Memorable Session

Separate Daily Total from Exercise and Food Decisions

TDEE versus a workout estimate

A MET-based session estimate covers one activity interval. TDEE covers the complete 24-hour pattern and already contains activity, thermic effects, and resting expenditure in aggregate.

TDEE versus a nutrient layout

The total does not dictate a macro split. The protein reference calculator addresses a separate weight-based question and still cannot construct a complete diet.

TDEE versus an intake target

Maintenance expenditure is not automatically a recommended deficit, surplus, or treatment goal. Direction and magnitude require context beyond the multiplier.

Audit Changes Before Reusing Yesterday's Total

Recalculate when body weight, usual work demands, training volume, mobility, or the chosen resting equation changes materially, and preserve the old inputs for comparison.
Do not add a watch's “active calories” on top of this result without understanding overlap; that commonly counts activity twice.
Sleep disruption can alter behavior and training even though this equation has no sleep input. Use the sleep schedule planner for clock arithmetic, not as an undocumented TDEE correction.
Pregnancy, lactation, growth, acute illness, clinical undernutrition, and medically supervised weight management need life-stage or clinical methods outside this adult model.

Typical daily energy use

Select the resting equation

Supply a sustainable PAL

Multiply before rounding

Build TDEE from Two Auditable Layers

Choose PAL from a Week of Living, Not One Memorable Session

Separate Daily Total from Exercise and Food Decisions

TDEE versus a workout estimate

TDEE versus a nutrient layout

TDEE versus an intake target

Audit Changes Before Reusing Yesterday's Total

Let Longitudinal Evidence Calibrate the Multiplier

Important limitations

Typical daily energy use

Select the resting equation

Supply a sustainable PAL

Multiply before rounding

Build TDEE from Two Auditable Layers

Choose PAL from a Week of Living, Not One Memorable Session

Separate Daily Total from Exercise and Food Decisions

TDEE versus a workout estimate

TDEE versus a nutrient layout

TDEE versus an intake target

Audit Changes Before Reusing Yesterday's Total

Let Longitudinal Evidence Calibrate the Multiplier