Estimate your Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE) from your BMR and activity level, plus a weight gain/loss calorie breakdown.
Total Daily Energy Expenditure is everything your body burns in a day: your basal metabolic rate (energy used at rest), plus digestion, plus all activity — exercise and everyday movement alike. This calculator estimates BMR with the Mifflin-St Jeor equation, then multiplies it by an activity factor to reach TDEE, which also represents your calorie maintenance level.
Eating at your TDEE maintains your current weight. A calorie deficit below it leads to weight loss; a surplus above it leads to weight gain — roughly 3,500 calories corresponds to about 1 pound of body weight, which is where the weekly rate estimates below come from.
BMR is just the energy your body needs at complete rest. TDEE adds everything else — activity, exercise, and digestion — on top of BMR, so it's always a higher number.
They compute the same underlying number, but our Calorie Calculator also lets you pick between three different BMR formulas (including one based on body fat percentage) if you want more control over the estimate.
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