TDEE calculator: total daily energy expenditure

Estimated total daily energy expenditure for 80 kg, 180 cm, 30 yearsworked example

2,759 kcal

Resting metabolic rate (Mifflin-St Jeor): 1,780 kcal±10% band: 1602–1958 kcal
Activity multiplier applied: × 1.55A convention, not a published coefficient
FAO/WHO/UNU activity band: sedentary or light activity lifestyle
Per week: 19,313 kcal

The resting part of this figure comes from an equation fitted on 498 adults; the total depends on a multiplier that nobody published. Treat 2,759 kcal as the middle of the range below, and the scale over two or three weeks as the only measurement that is actually yours.

Realistic range

2,483 kcal to 3,035 kcal

The ±10% prediction band from the Frankenfield 2005 review, carried through the 1.55 multiplier. The multiplier's own error is not included, because no source published one.

WeightIn kilograms — or type "80 kg" or "176 lb" to be explicit.HeightIn centimetres — 5'11" and 1.8 m both parse.AgeThe equation subtracts 5 kcal per year.

Sex, as the equation defines it

Mifflin-St Jeor was fitted on two groups and differs between them by a flat 166 kcal. That is the whole of what this input does.

Activity level

Sedentary × 1.2Desk work and little deliberate exercise.Below the lowest physical activity level band FAO/WHO/UNU documents for adults (1.40–1.69).Lightly active × 1.375Light exercise or a walk on one to three days a week.Below the lowest physical activity level band FAO/WHO/UNU documents for adults (1.40–1.69).Moderately active × 1.55Moderate exercise on three to five days a week.Inside the FAO/WHO/UNU sedentary or light activity lifestyle band.Very active × 1.725Hard exercise on six or seven days a week.Inside the FAO/WHO/UNU active or moderately active lifestyle band.Extra active × 1.9Hard daily training, or a physically demanding job on top of training.Inside the FAO/WHO/UNU active or moderately active lifestyle band.

Every rung of the activity ladder for this body (80 kg, 180 cm, 30 y)
Activity level	Multiplier	TDEE	FAO/WHO/UNU band
Sedentary	1.2	2,136 kcal	below every documented band
Lightly active	1.375	2,448 kcal	below every documented band
Moderately active	1.55	2,759 kcal	sedentary or light activity lifestyle
Very active	1.725	3,071 kcal	active or moderately active lifestyle
Extra active	1.9	3,382 kcal	active or moderately active lifestyle

Resting figure from Mifflin 1990. The multipliers are a field convention with no primary source; the band column is from the FAO/WHO/UNU 2004 report, which documents physical activity levels from 1.40 upwards for adults.

The same arithmetic, framed for a different question, is on the maintenance calorie calculator. For the resting figure on its own, next to two other published equations, see the BMR calculator.

Your TDEE is the calories you burn in a day: a resting metabolic rate from the Mifflin-St Jeor equation, multiplied by an activity factor. This calculator shows both, brackets the answer with the 10 percent error the equations carry, and names where your chosen activity factor sits against the FAO/WHO/UNU activity bands.

Resting energy expenditure (Mifflin-St Jeor) — BMR (kcal/day) = 10 x weight(kg) + 6.25 x height(cm) - 5 x age(y) + 5 (male) or - 161 (female). Verified 2026-07-30 against Mifflin et al., Am J Clin Nutr 1990 (Derived from 498 healthy adults aged 19 to 78. It landed within 10% of measured resting metabolic rate for more people than any other equation in the Frankenfield 2005 review, which also means it missed by more than 10% for some of them.)
Activity multipliers for total daily energy expenditureconvention — TDEE = BMR x activity multiplier (1.2, 1.375, 1.55, 1.725 or 1.9). Verified 2026-07-30 against FAO/WHO/UNU, Human energy requirements (2004) - the documented PAL framework this ladder approximates (No primary source publishes this ladder and no error term was ever attached to it. Choosing one rung rather than its neighbour moves the answer by roughly 200 to 300 kcal/day, which makes it the largest single source of disagreement between two calculators given the same body.)
Physical activity level (PAL) bands — PAL = total energy expenditure / BMR; 1.40-1.69 sedentary or light, 1.70-1.99 active or moderately active, 2.00-2.40 vigorously active. Verified 2026-07-30 against FAO/WHO/UNU, Human energy requirements (2004), energy requirements of adults (Bands describe habitual lifestyles across populations; an individual's measured PAL can sit between them or outside them.)
Accuracy of resting-metabolic-rate equations — the review's accuracy criterion was a prediction within 10% of measured RMR. Verified 2026-07-30 against Frankenfield et al., J Am Diet Assoc 2005 (systematic review) (This describes how often an equation lands within 10% across groups of people. It is not a confidence interval for one person's result.)

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Frequently asked questions

How is TDEE calculated?

In two steps. First a resting metabolic rate from the Mifflin-St Jeor equation: 10 x weight in kg + 6.25 x height in cm - 5 x age, then + 5 for men or - 161 for women. That figure is then multiplied by an activity factor between 1.2 and 1.9.

Why do two TDEE calculators give me different numbers?

Almost always the activity factor. The ladder of multipliers from 1.2 to 1.9 has no primary source behind it, and moving one rung changes the answer by roughly 200 to 300 kcal a day. The resting figure underneath is far more consistent between calculators than the total is.

How accurate is a TDEE estimate?

The resting part was judged in a 2005 systematic review by whether it landed within 10 percent of a measured value, and Mifflin-St Jeor did that more often than the alternatives, which also means it missed by more for some people. The activity factor adds error nobody has quantified.

What activity level should I pick?

That is the one thing this tool cannot decide for you, so it gives you the information instead: each rung is described, and the tool tells you whether that multiplier falls inside a physical activity level band FAO/WHO/UNU documented for adults. The 1.2 and 1.375 rungs fall below all of them.

Is TDEE the same as maintenance calories?

Yes, they are two names for one quantity: the energy that leaves body weight where it is. The maintenance-calorie page here runs the same arithmetic and spends its words on the practical check, which is watching the scale over two or three weeks rather than trusting any single estimate.

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The next number

No body metric means much on its own. Here is what this one feeds into.

Protein calculatorProtein targets are set per kilogram of body weight, so they are the one nutrition number that does not depend on this estimate being right.Macro calculatorTurn the calorie figure into grams of protein, carbohydrate and fat inside the IOM published ranges.Calorie deficit calculatorA deficit only means something as a gap from this number, which is why the two pages belong in that order.

Related calculators

BMR calculatorMetabolism Maintenance calorie calculatorMetabolism Calorie deficit calculatorEnergy balance

Every formula on this page is listed with its source on the methodology page, and changes to any reference value are logged in the data changelog. Canonical URL: https://myhealthmywellness.com/tdee-calculator