TDEE Calculator for Weight Loss

Losing weight doesn’t have to be confusing. If you’ve ever wondered how many calories you should eat to lose fat (without feeling starved), calculating your TDEE is the key.

TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure) is the total number of calories your body burns each day through both basic functions like breathing and physical activities like walking or exercising, as described in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition by Hall et al. (2012) [1].

To lose weight, you need to eat fewer calories than your TDEE. Unlike random dieting, knowing your TDEE gives you a personalized target. It prevents you from under-eating or overeating and gives your body the fuel it needs while still burning fat.

How to Calculate TDEE

You can calculate your TDEE by multiplying your BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate) by your activity level.. Here’s how:

Step 1: Estimate Your BMR

BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate) is the number of calories your body burns at rest to keep you alive by supporting vital functions like breathing, digestion, and cell repair, , as explained in a 2005 review by Levine in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition [2]

The most widely used method to estimate BMR is the Mifflin-St Jeor equation, published in a 1990 study in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (Mifflin et al., 1990) [3].

Metric formula:
BMR = (10 × weight in kg) + (6.25 × height in cm) – (5 × age in years) + 5 (for men)
BMR = (10 × weight in kg) + (6.25 × height in cm) – (5 × age in years) –161 (for women)

Imperial formula:
BMR = (66 + 6.23 × weight in lbs) + (12.7 × height in inches) – (6.8 × age) for men
BMR = (655 + 4.35 × weight in lbs) + (4.7 × height in inches) – (4.7 × age) for women

These calculations give you an estimate of how many calories your body burns at rest.

Step 2: Choose Your Activity Level

Activity level is a factor used in nutrition science to estimate how many extra calories you burn through daily movement and exercise beyond your resting metabolism, as supported by a 2021 systematic review in Sports Medicine on total energy expenditure in athletes [4].

It helps adjust your BMR to account for how active your lifestyle is—whether you sit most of the day or work on your feet.

You need to multiply your BMR by an activity factor based on your daily lifestyle:

Back to calculator⬆️

TDEE, BMR & Calorie Deficit

To make sense of your TDEE results, it’s important to understand three key concepts: TDEE, BMR, and calorie deficit.

Calorie deficit is the gap between how many calories you eat and how many you burn, causing your body to use stored fat for energy—a principle supported by Hall and Kahan in a 2020 review on long-term weight management published in Medical Clinics of North America [5]

Here’s how they work together in real life:

• Fat loss: create a calorie deficit of 300–500 calories below your TDEE, but make sure your intake stays above your BMR. This helps you burn fat while still providing your body with enough energy to function properly and preserve muscle mass.
• Muscle gain: Eat 250–500 calories above your TDEE and focus on strength training. The surplus gives your body the energy it needs to build muscle.
• Maintenance: Eat at your TDEE to maintain your current weight. This is great for staying stable after weight loss or during a muscle-building phase.

But be careful: eating fewer calories than your BMR is not recommended. Doing so can slow down your metabolism and lead to muscle loss, fatigue, and long-term weight plateaus. That’s why most experts recommend aiming for a moderate deficit (300–500 calories below your TDEE) — losing 1–2 pounds fat per week

How to Make a Diet Plan Based on Your TDEE

Macronutrient

To build an effective diet plan, you need to understand macronutrients. Macronutrients are the nutrients your body requires in large amounts—protein, carbohydrates, and fats—and they play essential roles in energy balance and metabolic health, as described in a 2020 review published in Nutrition [6].

• Protein helps build and maintain muscle, keeps you feeling full, and supports recovery.
• Carbohydrates are your body’s main source of energy, especially for workouts and daily activity.
• Fats support hormone production, brain function, and help you absorb vitamins.

Source：

Diet Plan

To turn your calorie goal into a practical eating plan, you need to break those calories down into macronutrients — protein, carbohydrates, and fats. These are the primary nutrients your body needs in large amounts to function well and fuel your goals.

Each macronutrient has a different calorie value:

• Protein: 4 kcal/gram — supports muscle, satiety, and recovery
• Carbohydrates: 4 kcal/gram — fuels energy, especially for your brain and workouts
• Fats: 9 kcal/gram — essential for hormones, brain health, and absorbing nutrients

A good general guideline is to consume about 0.7 to 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight daily, which supports muscle retention during fat loss and enhances muscle growth when paired with strength training, as shown in a 2018 meta-analysis by Morton et al. in the British Journal of Sports Medicine [7]

Now let’s see how you can apply this balance in a typical day of meals:

1-Day Sample Meal Plan

The meal plan below is an example of how to turn your calorie target into real food choices based on those macronutrient ratios.

NEAT and TDEE

When it comes to weight loss and managing your TDEE, structured workouts aren’t the only way to burn calories. One of the most overlooked — and powerful — tools is something called NEAT, or Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis.

NEAT (Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis) is the calories you burn through everyday activities like walking, cleaning, or doing chores—not structured exercise. For example: folding laundry, unloading groceries, walking while chatting with a friend, or playing with your kids, as described by Levine in a 2005 review published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition [8]

How NEAT Influences Your TDEE

While a one-hour workout might burn 300–500 calories, NEAT can add up to hundreds of calories burned throughout the entire day, depending on how active your lifestyle is. For example, someone with a sedentary lifestyle—like an office worker who drives to work, sits most of the day, and relaxes on the couch in the evening—will burn far fewer calories through NEAT than a retail worker, stay-at-home parent, or dog walker who is on their feet, moving throughout the day.

NEAT (Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis) can vary by as much as 2,000 calories per day between people of similar size, depending on how much they move throughout daily life, according to a 1999 study published in Science by Levine and colleagues [9]

Simple Ways to Increase NEAT & TDEE:

• Walk around while taking calls
• Take the stairs instead of the elevator
• Park farther from the store entrance
• Use a standing desk
• Do light chores during TV time

Boosting your NEAT helps raise your TDEE without increasing hunger or stress, making fat loss more sustainable. It's especially helpful for those with busy schedules or limited time to hit the gym.

Frequently Asked Questions About TDEE

What’s the difference between TDEE and BMR?

BMR is the number of calories your body burns at rest, while TDEE includes all calories burned in a day—from rest, movement, exercise, and digestion.

How accurate is a TDEE calculator?

A TDEE calculator gives a close estimate of your daily calorie needs, but real-world factors like muscle mass, hormones, and metabolism can affect the exact number.

How often should I recalculate my TDEE?

TDEE should be updated regularly—typically every 4–8 weeks, after a 5–10 pound weight change, or if your daily activity level shifts significantly.

Conclusion

Calculating your TDEE is the first step you can take to control your weight, improve your health, and reach your fitness goals. Whether you’re trying to lose fat, build muscle, or maintain your progress, knowing your TDEE helps you set a clear, science-backed target for daily calorie intake.

By combining your TDEE with a thoughtful approach to protein intake, macronutrient balance, and everyday movement like NEAT, you can create a sustainable and personalized strategy that fits your lifestyle.

The journey to a healthier body doesn’t require guesswork — just the right tools, good habits, and consistency. Start with your TDEE, and build from there.

Reference

1. Hall, K. D., Heymsfield, S. B., Kemnitz, J. W., Klein, S., Schoeller, D. A., & Speakman, J. R. (2012). Energy balance and its components: implications for body weight regulation. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 95(4), 989–994.
2. Henry C. J. (2005). Basal metabolic rate studies in humans: measurement and development of new equations. Public health nutrition, 8(7A), 1133–1152. https://doi.org/10.1079/phn2005801
3. Mifflin, M. D., St Jeor, S. T., Hill, L. A., Scott, B. J., Daugherty, S. A., & Koh, Y. O. (1990). A new predictive equation for resting energy expenditure in healthy individuals. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 51(2), 241–247.
4. Broskey, N. T., Martin, C. K., Burton, J. H., Church, T. S., Ravussin, E., & Redman, L. M. (2021). Effect of Aerobic Exercise-induced Weight Loss on the Components of Daily Energy Expenditure. Medicine and science in sports and exercise, 53(10), 2164–2172.
5. Kim J. Y. (2021). Optimal Diet Strategies for Weight Loss and Weight Loss Maintenance. Journal of obesity & metabolic syndrome, 30(1), 20–31.
6. Capuano, E., & Janssen, A. E. M. (2021). Food Matrix and Macronutrient Digestion. Annual review of food science and technology, 12, 193–212.
7. Morton, R. W., Murphy, K. T., McKellar, S. R., Schoenfeld, B. J., Henselmans, M., Helms, E., Aragon, A. A., Devries, M. C., Banfield, L., Krieger, J. W., & Phillips, S. M. (2018). A systematic review, meta-analysis and meta-regression of the effect of protein supplementation on resistance training-induced gains in muscle mass and strength in healthy adults. British journal of sports medicine, 52(6), 376–384.
8. Henry C. J. (2005). Basal metabolic rate studies in humans: measurement and development of new equations. Public health nutrition, 8(7A), 1133–1152.
9. Levine, J. A., Eberhardt, N. L., & Jensen, M. D. (1999). Role of nonexercise activity thermogenesis in resistance to fat gain in humans. Science, 283(5399), 212–214.