What is TDEE?
TDEE is your estimated total daily energy expenditure: the calories your body burns in a day.
TDEE stands for total daily energy expenditure: an estimate of how many calories your body uses in a day. Eat around it and your weight tends to hold steady. Eat below it and weight tends to drop. Eat above it and weight tends to climb.
TDEE starts with BMR, your basal metabolic rate: the energy your body uses keeping the basics running at rest. One common evidence-based estimate is the Mifflin-St Jeor equation, which works from sex, age, height, and weight.
What gets added on top
- Daily movement like walking, standing, chores, and work.
- Structured exercise like lifting, running, cycling, or sports.
- Digesting and processing food.
- Normal day-to-day variation from sleep, stress, and routine.
No calculator knows your true TDEE. Activity multipliers are guesses, fitness trackers are guesses, and food labels are not perfect either. That does not make TDEE useless. It makes the first number a starting estimate, one you adjust once you have real trend data.
A practical approach: pick a starting calorie target, hold it for two to four weeks, and watch the trend in your average body weight. Stable means you are near maintenance. Moving faster or slower than you meant to means it is time to adjust the target.
TDEE moves as well. Lose weight and your body usually burns fewer calories. Gain muscle, train more, walk more, or change jobs and it can climb. The target worth using is the one that matches what your body is doing now.
FAQ
Keep learning
Calorie deficit vs surplus
Cutting and bulking are just eating below or above maintenance, done at a sensible pace.
Macros 101
When people say macros they mean protein, carbohydrates, and fat: the nutrients most of your calories come from.
How much protein do you need?
Protein targets work best as a range you can actually hit, not as the number on a supplement tub.