TDEE calculator
What you burn in a day, and the resting figure underneath it, in kg or stone. Nothing you type leaves your device, and this page sets you no target.
What you burn in a day
2,030 kcal a day
Of which, at complete rest
1,477 kcal a day
Your activity answer multiplies the resting figure to get the daily one.
This is an estimate from a published equation, not a measurement of you. Two people the same age, height, weight and sex can burn noticeably different amounts, and no calculator can tell which of them you are.
The way to find out your real number: eat roughly the same amount for two or three weeks, weigh yourself in the same conditions across that time, and see what happens. Steady weight means you have found maintenance, whatever this page said. That measurement beats any equation, including this one.
If you have ever had a problem with eating, if you are pregnant, or if you are under medical care for your weight, a number on a screen is not the right starting point. Speak to your GP or a registered dietitian, who can look at the whole picture rather than five inputs.
What a TDEE calculator actually works out
TDEE stands for total daily energy expenditure: everything your body spends in a day, added up. Staying alive is most of it. Moving about, training, and digesting your food make up the rest, and the proportions are less dramatic than people expect.
The figure here comes from the Mifflin-St Jeor equation, which estimates what you burn at rest from your height, weight, age and sex, multiplied by a factor for how active your week is. Both halves are approximations, and the second one is the rougher of the two: a single multiplier is standing in for everything you do between getting up and going to bed.
Why BMR and TDEE are two different numbers
Your basal metabolic rate is what you would burn lying still all day: breathing, pumping blood, keeping warm, repairing things. It is the floor, and for most people it is the majority of the total.
TDEE is that floor multiplied by your activity. Both are shown above deliberately, because the gap between them is the part you influence, and seeing it is more useful than being handed one number with no idea what it is made of. It also explains why a single hard session changes the daily total less than most people assume.
What the number is worth, and how to check it
Treated as a starting point it is genuinely useful. Treated as a fact about your body it will mislead you, because the equation knows four things and there are many more that matter: how much muscle you carry, what medication you take, how you sleep, and how much you move without noticing.
Common questions
- What is the difference between BMR and TDEE?
- BMR is what you burn doing nothing at all: the cost of staying alive for a day. TDEE is that number multiplied by how active you are, so it covers walking about, training, work and everything else. Both are shown on this page because the difference between them is the part your week decides.
- Which activity level should I pick?
- The one that matches an ordinary week rather than your best one. Each option here describes a week in plain terms rather than naming a multiplier, and if you are between two, the lower is the safer guess: overstating activity is the single most common way people end up with a maintenance figure that is too high.
- Does my TDEE change as my weight changes?
- Yes, and that is worth knowing if you plan to use it for anything. A smaller body costs less to run and to move, so the figure drifts down as weight comes off. Recalculating every stone or so keeps it roughly current, and what your weight actually does over a few weeks keeps it more current than that.
- Why does this page not tell me how much to eat?
- Because that is a different decision with different safeguards around it, and it belongs on the page built for it. This one shows you what you burn and what the figure is worth. The calorie deficit calculator applies floors we will not display underneath, which is not something a maintenance figure needs.
- Is a TDEE calculator accurate enough to be useful?
- As a starting point, yes. As a statement about you, no, and no calculator on any site is in a position to be. Use it to get in the right area, then let two or three weeks of your own weight tell you where in that area you actually sit.
A number from an equation, or a number from you.
This page gives you the equation's answer and tells you how to check it. Trael does the checking: it works from what your weight and your check-ins actually do week to week, and moves your targets when the evidence says to rather than when a calculator is reloaded. See what is included.
£24.99 a month with a 3-day free trial. No card needed to start.
Where the numbers come from
Related
- All free tools - the rest of the free calculators and generators
- Calorie deficit calculator - if you want a figure to eat below this one, with the floors that come with it
- Protein intake calculator - the other half of the nutrition question, worked out from your weight
- How many calories to lose weight? A UK guide - the longer read, with the same sources
- Free workout plan generator - Pick your days, time, equipment, level and goal, and get a full week of training with form cues for every exercise.
- Personal trainer cost calculator - What a personal trainer costs a month and a year at UK rates, next to what an app costs.
Trael provides general fitness guidance only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice. Always consult a doctor before starting any exercise or diet programme.