Stop guessing your calories.See exactly how many to eat to hit your goal.
Guessing is why the scale won't budge. Enter a few stats and get your real daily burn, plus the exact calories and macros to lose fat, hold steady, or build lean muscle. Thirty seconds, no signup.
How a TDEE calculator works
Your TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure) is the total number of calories your body burns in a day. It is the single most useful number in any diet plan: eat below it and you lose weight, eat above it and you gain. Every "how many calories should I eat" question comes back to this one figure.
TDEE is built in two steps. First, your basal metabolic rate (BMR) - the calories you burn at complete rest - is estimated from your sex, age, height, and weight using the Mifflin-St Jeor equation, the formula nutrition professionals trust most. If you know your body-fat percentage, the Katch-McArdle equation uses your lean body mass for a tighter number. Second, your BMR is multiplied by an activity factor (from 1.2 for a desk-bound day up to 1.9 for an athlete) to capture everything you do on top of resting.
From your TDEE, calorie targets follow directly. Subtract about 500 calories a day for roughly a pound of weekly fat loss, hold at TDEE to maintain, or add a few hundred for a lean bulk. Pair each target with enough protein - around 1 gram per pound of bodyweight - to keep the weight you lose coming from fat, not muscle.
Treat the result as a starting line, not gospel. A calculator can land within 5 to 10% of your true burn, but metabolism, hormones, and daily movement vary person to person. Eat at your target for two to three weeks, watch the scale, and nudge calories up or down based on what actually happens.
Common questions
How many calories should I eat to lose weight?
To lose fat, eat below the calories you burn in a day (your TDEE). A deficit of about 500 calories per day usually drives roughly 1 pound of fat loss per week, while a 20% cut is a faster but harder-to-sustain pace. This calculator shows both targets for your numbers, plus the protein, fat, and carbs to hit them. Most people should not drop below about 1,500 calories (men) or 1,200 (women) without medical supervision.
What is TDEE?
TDEE stands for Total Daily Energy Expenditure - the total number of calories your body burns in a day. It is your basal metabolic rate (the energy you burn at rest just to stay alive) multiplied by an activity factor that accounts for movement and exercise. Knowing your TDEE is the starting point for any cut, bulk, or maintenance plan because it tells you the calorie line you are eating above or below.
Is the TDEE calculator accurate?
A TDEE calculator gives a solid starting estimate, typically within 5 to 10% of your true expenditure. It cannot account for individual differences in metabolism, hormones, NEAT (fidgeting and daily movement), or how hard you actually train. The accurate way to use it: start at the estimate, track your weight for 2 to 3 weeks, and adjust calories up or down based on what the scale actually does. This tool runs Mifflin-St Jeor as the default and Katch-McArdle when you add body-fat percentage for a tighter estimate.
What is the best TDEE for weight loss?
There is no single TDEE for weight loss - your TDEE is just what you burn. For weight loss you eat below it. A moderate deficit (around 500 calories under TDEE) preserves more muscle and is easier to stick to than a crash diet. Pair the deficit with high protein (about 1 gram per pound of bodyweight) and resistance training to keep the weight you lose coming from fat rather than muscle.
How is BMR different from TDEE?
BMR (basal metabolic rate) is the calories your body burns at complete rest - breathing, circulation, cell repair - if you did nothing all day. TDEE is BMR plus everything else: walking, working, training, even digesting food. TDEE is always higher than BMR. You use BMR as a floor and TDEE as the real target, because you almost never spend a full day at total rest.