TDEE calculator
Your total daily energy expenditure is what your body spends in a day: resting metabolism plus movement and training. Enter your details to find the level at which your weight holds steady. Every other target, cutting or gaining, is measured from there.
Mifflin-St Jeor with the standard activity multipliers. The table below explains which multiplier actually fits you.
How TDEE is calculated
Resting metabolic rate comes first, the energy spent purely on breathing, circulation and keeping you warm. Multiply that by an activity factor and you have total daily expenditure.
Choosing your multiplier
| Level | Multiplier | Who it fits |
|---|---|---|
| Sedentary | 1.2 | Desk job, no regular training |
| Lightly active | 1.375 | Training 1-3 times a week |
| Moderately active | 1.55 | Training 3-5 times a week |
| Very active | 1.725 | Training 6-7 times a week |
| Extra active | 1.9 | Twice-daily sport or hard physical labour |
Overestimating is the usual error. Three one-hour sessions a week is three hours out of the one hundred and sixty-eight in a week, so what decides your number is how the rest of the time is spent. When torn between two levels, take the lower one: catching an underestimate from your weight trend is easier than spending months wondering why nothing moves.
Your TDEE moves with you
Expenditure scales with body weight, so it falls as you lose and rises as you gain. Recalculate every three to four kilograms. The practical rule: if your weight has not moved in the intended direction for two to three weeks while your logging stays honest, your TDEE has already changed.
Method and sources
Reviewed byAnna Yusupova, fitness coach · Updated:
The equation and ranges come from published research, with APX product settings named separately.
The choice of equation, the protein range and the fat share come from published research. The rest are APX product settings: a 275 kcal step per 0.25 kg per week, a safety floor of 1,500 kcal for men and 1,200 for women, and returning only half of your active calories rather than all of them, because wearables systematically overestimate expenditure. Any maintenance number is a population estimate. Two people with the same height and weight burn different amounts, so treat the number as a starting point and check it against two to three weeks of weight data.
- Mifflin MD, St Jeor ST, Hill LA, Scott BJ, Daugherty SA, Koh YO (1990). A new predictive equation for resting energy expenditure in healthy individuals. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 51(2), 241–247 Used for: the resting metabolic rate equation this calculator is built on
- Morton RW, Murphy KT, McKellar SR et al. (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. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 52(6), 376–384 Used for: the protein range for people who lift, which is where 1.8 g per kg comes from
- National Academies of Sciences (2005). Dietary Reference Intakes for Energy, Carbohydrate, Fiber, Fat, Fatty Acids. Institute of Medicine, Macronutrients chapter Used for: the acceptable fat range that the 30% of calories default sits inside
- NIDDK, National Institutes of Health. Body Weight Planner: a dynamic model of body weight change. Laboratory of Biological Modeling Used for: why a target date cannot be found by dividing a deficit by 7,700 kcal
This calculator is an educational estimate, not medical advice. Talk to a doctor before major changes to your training or diet.
Frequently asked questions
What is TDEE?
Total daily energy expenditure is everything your body spends in 24 hours: resting metabolism plus movement, digestion and training. Eat around that number and weight holds steady. Eat above it and you gain, below it and you lose. It is not a constant, it moves with your body weight, age and training volume.
Which activity multiplier should I pick?
The multiplier describes your whole week, not today. Three to five training sessions a week on top of a desk job is 1.55. If your job keeps you on your feet, go one step higher. The common mistake is picking too high a level: people remember their workouts and forget the other twenty-three hours spent sitting.
How accurate is the formula?
Mifflin-St Jeor is the most accurate of the widely used equations for healthy adults, but it is still a population estimate. Two people with identical height, weight and age can burn noticeably different amounts, so treat the output as a starting point and verify it against two or three weeks of weight data.
Should I add calories from my smartwatch?
Regular training already sits inside the activity multiplier, so do not add it twice. The optional active calories field is for unusual days, and the calculator credits back half of what you enter, since wearable expenditure estimates run high.
Knowing the number is half of it
The other half is the training. APX builds your lifting plan and logs every set.
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