# TDEECalc

> Free, private TDEE, BMR and macro calculators with the formulas shown, plus an iPhone app that learns your real maintenance calories from your weight trend.

Key facts:
- TDEE = BMR × activity factor (1.2 sedentary, 1.375 light, 1.55 moderate, 1.725 active, 1.9 athlete).
- Default BMR equation: Mifflin–St Jeor (1990): 10 × kg + 6.25 × cm − 5 × age + 5 (men) or − 161 (women).
- Calorie targets: −10/−15/−20% of TDEE to lose; +5/+10/+15% to gain.
- Adaptive TDEE = average intake − (weight-trend slope × 7,700 kcal/kg).
- The TDEE Calculator - TDEECalc iPhone app (https://apps.apple.com/app/id6748926227) is free, needs no account and keeps all data on-device.
- All calculators are free, run in the browser and cite peer-reviewed sources; results are educational estimates, not medical advice.

- [TDEE calculator](https://tdeecalc.app/): the main calculator, with BMR, calorie target, macros and TDEE at every activity level.

## Calculators

- [Adaptive TDEE Calculator](https://tdeecalc.app/calculators/adaptive-tdee/): Adaptive TDEE is your maintenance calories measured from your own data instead of a formula. The method: observed TDEE = average daily intake − (weight trend slope × 7,700 kcal per kg, about 3,500 per lb). If you eat 2,000 kcal a day and your trend falls 0.5 lb a week, your observed TDEE is about 2,250 kcal. It needs roughly two to four weeks of logs.
- [BMR Calculator](https://tdeecalc.app/calculators/bmr/): Your basal metabolic rate (BMR) is the energy your body uses at complete rest to keep you alive — breathing, circulation, temperature. For most adults the Mifflin–St Jeor equation estimates it best: 10 × weight (kg) + 6.25 × height (cm) − 5 × age, then +5 for men or −161 for women. Multiply BMR by an activity factor to get your TDEE.
- [Macro Calculator](https://tdeecalc.app/calculators/macro/): A macro calculator turns your daily calorie target into grams of protein, carbohydrate and fat. Protein and carbs provide 4 calories per gram and fat provides 9. A common starting split for fat loss is 35% protein, 35% carbs and 30% fat, which for a 1,903-calorie target is about 167 g protein, 167 g carbs and 63 g fat.
- [Protein Calculator](https://tdeecalc.app/calculators/protein/): Most adults need at least 0.8 g of protein per kg of body weight (0.36 g per lb) per day. People who exercise regularly typically aim for 1.2–1.6 g/kg, people building muscle 1.6–2.2 g/kg, and adults over 65 about 1.0–1.2 g/kg. A 165 lb (75 kg) person building muscle would target roughly 120–165 g of protein daily.
- [Maintenance Calorie Calculator](https://tdeecalc.app/calculators/maintenance-calories/): Your maintenance calories are the calories you eat to hold your weight steady, which is the same as your total daily energy expenditure (TDEE). Estimate it by multiplying your BMR by an activity factor from 1.2 to 1.9. A 35-year-old woman at 5′5″ and 165 lb who exercises moderately maintains at about 2,239 kcal per day. Then confirm the estimate with 2–4 weeks of weight data.
- [Body Fat Calculator](https://tdeecalc.app/calculators/body-fat/): A body fat calculator estimates the share of your weight that is fat. The U.S. Navy method uses height and neck and waist circumference (plus hip for women) in a logarithmic equation, and gives an estimate that can be off by several percentage points. Common general-fitness ranges put average body fat at 18–24% for men and 25–31% for women.
- [Ideal Weight Calculator](https://tdeecalc.app/calculators/ideal-weight/): Ideal body weight (IBW) is an estimate of a healthy weight based on height and sex, not a goal for everyone. The Devine formula gives 50 kg + 2.3 kg per inch over 5 feet for men and 45.5 kg + 2.3 kg per inch for women. For a woman who is 5′5″ tall, that is about 126 lb (57 kg). Healthy-BMI weight is a wider and more useful range.
- [Lean Body Mass Calculator](https://tdeecalc.app/calculators/lean-body-mass/): Lean body mass (LBM) is everything in your body that isn't fat: muscle, bone, organs and water. If you know your body fat percentage, LBM = weight × (1 − body fat %). Without it, the Boer formula estimates LBM from height and weight. A 35-year-old woman at 5′5″ and 165 lb has an estimated LBM of about 107 lb (48.7 kg) by Boer.
- [Body Recomposition Calculator](https://tdeecalc.app/calculators/body-recomp/): Body recomposition means losing fat and gaining muscle at the same time. It works best at roughly maintenance calories to a small deficit, with high protein (about 1.6–2.2 g per kg) and resistance training. For a 35-year-old woman at 165 lb and 30% body fat, a recomp target is about 2,127 kcal with 150 g protein, 60 g fat and 247 g carbs.
- [Calorie Deficit Calculator](https://tdeecalc.app/calculators/calorie-deficit/): A calorie deficit is eating fewer calories than your total daily energy expenditure (TDEE). To lose about 1 lb (0.45 kg) a week, subtract roughly 500 kcal a day from your TDEE; for 0.5 lb a week, about 250. Most adults do best with a deficit of 10–20% of TDEE, and no lower than 1,200 kcal (women) or 1,500 kcal (men) without medical supervision.
- [Weight Loss Calculator](https://tdeecalc.app/calculators/weight-loss/): A weight loss calculator estimates how long it takes to reach a goal weight at a given calorie intake, or the daily calories needed to reach it by a date. It works by comparing your intake with your TDEE and recalculating TDEE as you get lighter. A 35-year-old woman at 165 lb eating 1,900 kcal reaches about 151 lb in 24 weeks.
- [BMI Calculator](https://tdeecalc.app/calculators/bmi/): BMI (body mass index) is weight in kilograms divided by height in meters squared, or weight in pounds × 703 divided by height in inches squared. For adults, WHO and CDC categories are under 18.5 underweight, 18.5–24.9 healthy weight, 25–29.9 overweight and 30 or more obesity. BMI is a screening number; it doesn't measure body fat directly.
- [Calorie Surplus Calculator](https://tdeecalc.app/calculators/calorie-surplus/): A calorie surplus means eating more than your TDEE so your body has spare energy to build muscle. A moderate surplus of 5–10% above maintenance is usually enough: 10% for beginners, 7.5% for intermediates and 5% for advanced lifters. For a woman with a TDEE of 2,239 kcal, a 10% surplus is about 2,463 kcal per day.
- [RMR Calculator](https://tdeecalc.app/calculators/rmr/): Resting metabolic rate (RMR) is the energy your body uses at rest, measured under less strict conditions than basal metabolic rate (BMR). It runs a few percent higher than BMR, and the Mifflin–St Jeor equation was derived from RMR measurements: 10 × weight (kg) + 6.25 × height (cm) − 5 × age, then +5 for men or −161 for women. For a 35-year-old woman at 5′5″ and 165 lb that is about 1,444 kcal.
- [Steps to Calories Calculator](https://tdeecalc.app/calculators/steps-to-calories/): A steps to calories calculator converts your step count into energy burned using your weight, stride length and walking speed. For a 160 lb (73 kg) woman who is 5′7″ walking at a moderate 3 mph, 10,000 steps covers about 4.4 miles and burns roughly 370 kcal gross, or about 264 kcal above what she would burn resting. Heavier people burn more.
- [Calories Burned Calculator](https://tdeecalc.app/calculators/calories-burned/): A calories burned calculator estimates exercise energy as MET value × body weight (kg) × time (hours). A 150 lb (68 kg) person burns about 333 kcal gross in 30 minutes of running at 6 mph (9.8 METs) and about 146 kcal walking briskly. Net calories, which subtract the energy you would burn resting anyway, are lower: about 299 and 112 kcal.
- [TDEE Calculator for Women](https://tdeecalc.app/calculators/tdee-for-women/): Women's TDEE is estimated with the Mifflin–St Jeor equation: 10 × weight (kg) + 6.25 × height (cm) − 5 × age − 161, multiplied by an activity factor from 1.2 to 1.9. A 35-year-old woman, 5′5″ and 165 lb, who exercises moderately has a TDEE of about 2,239 kcal a day. Pregnancy and breastfeeding add roughly 330–452 kcal a day later on.
- [Perimenopause TDEE Calculator](https://tdeecalc.app/calculators/perimenopause-tdee/): A perimenopause TDEE calculator estimates your daily calorie needs with the standard Mifflin–St Jeor equation plus an activity factor; there is no separate menopause formula. A 48-year-old woman, 5′5″ and 165 lb, who exercises moderately needs about 2,138 kcal to maintain weight. Strength training and enough protein help protect the muscle that drives resting energy use.
- [PCOS TDEE Calculator](https://tdeecalc.app/calculators/pcos-tdee/): There is no validated PCOS-specific TDEE formula, so the standard Mifflin–St Jeor equation and activity factors are used to estimate maintenance calories. For weight management, the 2023 international PCOS guideline recommends a tailored energy deficit based on your energy needs, body weight and activity; the earlier 2018 guideline gave a 30% or 500–750 kcal/day starting point. A 30-year-old woman, 5′5″ and 165 lb, who is moderately active has a TDEE of about 2,277 kcal.
- [Breastfeeding TDEE Calculator](https://tdeecalc.app/calculators/breastfeeding-tdee/): Breastfeeding adds about 330 kcal a day in the first six months and about 400 kcal a day from seven to twelve months on top of your normal TDEE, according to the Dietary Reference Intakes. A 32-year-old woman, 5′5″ and 165 lb, who is moderately active has a TDEE of 2,262 kcal, so she needs about 2,592 kcal in months 0–6. This is not medical advice.
- [BMR Calculator for Women Over 50](https://tdeecalc.app/calculators/bmr-women-over-50/): For women, basal metabolic rate (BMR) is estimated with Mifflin–St Jeor: 10 × weight (kg) + 6.25 × height (cm) − 5 × age − 161. A 55-year-old woman, 5′4″ and 150 lb, has a BMR of about 1,260 kcal a day. Each additional year of age lowers the estimate by 5 kcal, and each extra 10 lb adds about 45 kcal.
- [Calorie & Body Calculators](https://tdeecalc.app/calculators/): Start with a TDEE or maintenance calorie calculator to find how many calories you burn in a day, then use the macro, protein and calorie deficit or surplus calculators to turn that number into a plan. Body fat, BMI, lean body mass and ideal weight calculators describe where you are starting from.

## TDEE explained

- [What Is TDEE? Total Daily Energy Expenditure Explained](https://tdeecalc.app/tdee/what-is-tdee/): TDEE (total daily energy expenditure) is the total calories your body burns in 24 hours. It is the sum of four parts: basal metabolic rate (BMR), non-exercise activity (NEAT), exercise (EAT) and the thermic effect of food (TEF). To estimate it, calculate BMR with the Mifflin–St Jeor equation, then multiply by an activity factor from 1.2 to 1.9.
- [TDEE vs BMR: What's the Difference?](https://tdeecalc.app/tdee/tdee-vs-bmr/): BMR (basal metabolic rate) is the energy you burn doing nothing at all; TDEE (total daily energy expenditure) is BMR plus movement, exercise and digestion, so it is always higher. For a 35-year-old woman at 165 lb, BMR is 1,444 kcal and TDEE is 2,239. Plan your intake around TDEE, and treat BMR as a floor, not a target.
- [How Accurate Are TDEE Calculators?](https://tdeecalc.app/tdee/accuracy/): TDEE calculators are estimates. The best equation, Mifflin–St Jeor, predicts resting energy within 10% for roughly 70–80% of adults, and the activity multiplier adds more error on top, so a calculated TDEE can be off by several hundred calories. Smartwatch calorie estimates are usually less accurate than equations. Calibrate by comparing your intake with your weight trend over 3–4 weeks.
- [How to Use TDEE to Lose Weight](https://tdeecalc.app/tdee/for-weight-loss/): To lose weight with TDEE, calculate your maintenance calories, then eat 10–25% below them; 15–20% suits most people and gives roughly 0.7–0.9 lb (0.3–0.4 kg) of loss per week for a 165 lb woman. A 35-year-old woman with a TDEE of 2,239 kcal eats about 1,903 kcal at a 15% deficit. Recalculate every 5–10 lb lost.
- [Mifflin–St Jeor Equation and Other BMR Formulas](https://tdeecalc.app/tdee/formulas/): The Mifflin–St Jeor equation estimates BMR as 10 × weight (kg) + 6.25 × height (cm) − 5 × age, plus 5 for men or minus 161 for women. It is the most reliable height-and-weight formula for most adults. Harris–Benedict runs about 4–7% higher, while Katch–McArdle (370 + 21.6 × lean mass in kg) is better when you know your body fat.
- [Adaptive TDEE: What It Is and How It Works](https://tdeecalc.app/tdee/adaptive-tdee/): Adaptive TDEE is your maintenance calories calculated from your own data instead of a formula. You log daily weight and calorie intake; the weight trend shows how much energy you stored or lost, and TDEE equals average intake minus that change (about 7,700 kcal per kg, or 3,500 per lb). It updates as your body and habits change, so it avoids the drift of static calculators.
- [TDEE Explained](https://tdeecalc.app/tdee/): TDEE (total daily energy expenditure) is the total number of calories you burn in a day: your basal metabolic rate plus the energy used for movement, exercise and digesting food. Eat at your TDEE to maintain weight, below it to lose and above it to gain. Calculators estimate it; your weight trend reveals the real number.

## Weight loss

- [How Many Calories Should I Eat a Day?](https://tdeecalc.app/weight-loss/how-many-calories/): Maintenance calories depend on sex, age, size and activity: for average-height US adults the charts below run from about 1,560 to 2,590 kcal a day for women and 2,020 to 3,250 for men. To lose weight, eat about 15% below your maintenance (TDEE). For a 35-year-old woman at 165 lb that is roughly 1,900 kcal; for a 30-year-old man at 190 lb, about 2,400 kcal. The charts below cover other ages and activity levels.
- [What Is a Calorie Deficit?](https://tdeecalc.app/weight-loss/calorie-deficit/): A calorie deficit means eating fewer calories than your body burns (your TDEE), so it draws on stored energy and body weight falls. To calculate yours: find your TDEE, then subtract 10–25%, or a fixed 250–750 kcal. A 500 kcal daily deficit is about 1 lb (0.45 kg) of loss per week in the short term, though the pace slows as you lose weight.
- [How Many Calories Are in a Pound of Fat?](https://tdeecalc.app/weight-loss/pound-of-fat/): A pound of body fat is commonly estimated at about 3,500 calories (roughly 7,700 per kilogram). Cutting 500 kcal a day should therefore lose about a pound a week. That works for a few weeks, but the rule overpredicts over months because your calorie burn falls as you lose weight: for one example woman it overstates a year's loss by about 10 lb.
- [Body Recomposition: How to Lose Fat and Build Muscle](https://tdeecalc.app/weight-loss/body-recomposition/): Body recomposition is losing fat and gaining muscle at the same time, so body weight stays similar while shape changes. It works best for beginners, people returning to training and those with more body fat. Eat from maintenance to about 10% below TDEE, get 1.6–2.2 g of protein per kg of body weight, lift progressively, and track waist, strength and photos, not just the scale.
- [How Much Protein Do I Need a Day?](https://tdeecalc.app/weight-loss/how-much-protein/): The Recommended Dietary Allowance for protein is 0.8 g per kg of body weight (0.36 g per lb) per day, which is the minimum for most adults. People who lift to build muscle typically do better at 1.6–2.2 g/kg, which is 0.7–1.0 g per lb. A 165 lb (75 kg) person aiming for muscle gain would eat roughly 120–165 g a day, spread over 3–4 meals.
- [Calories & Weight Loss](https://tdeecalc.app/weight-loss/): To lose weight you eat fewer calories than you burn. A practical target is 10–20% below your TDEE, which for most adults means roughly 1,500–2,500 kcal a day depending on size, age and activity. Pair it with enough protein to keep muscle, and recalculate as your weight falls, because your calorie needs shrink as you do.

## Metabolism

- [Weight Loss Plateau: Why It Happens and How to Break It](https://tdeecalc.app/metabolism/weight-loss-plateau/): A weight loss plateau is a period when your scale weight stops falling despite a diet that worked before. Common causes are water and glycogen masking fat loss, a smaller body burning fewer calories, a drop in daily movement, and logging drift. Weight that has not changed for four or more weeks, with accurate tracking, is a true plateau.
- [Metabolic Adaptation: What It Is and How Big It Is](https://tdeecalc.app/metabolism/metabolic-adaptation/): Metabolic adaptation, or adaptive thermogenesis, is a drop in energy expenditure beyond what the loss of body weight and lean mass would predict. It is real: expenditure can fall below the level predicted from body size, and how much varies between people. It does not stop fat loss. Most of the fall in calories burned during a diet is simply from being smaller.
- [Reverse Dieting: What It Can and Cannot Do](https://tdeecalc.app/metabolism/reverse-dieting/): Reverse dieting is raising calories gradually, often 50–150 kcal a week, after a diet instead of jumping straight to maintenance. There is little direct research showing it speeds up metabolism or prevents regain. Its real value is practical: it gives you a structured, low-stress route to maintenance and a way to find your new TDEE.
- [Diet Breaks and Refeed Days: Do They Work?](https://tdeecalc.app/metabolism/diet-breaks-refeeds/): A diet break is a planned one-to-two-week pause at maintenance calories during a fat-loss phase. A refeed is a shorter one-to-three-day increase in calories, usually from carbohydrate. In the MATADOR trial, intermittent dieting with two-week breaks led to more fat loss than continuous dieting. Evidence for single refeed days is much weaker.
- [Water Weight and Daily Weight Fluctuation](https://tdeecalc.app/metabolism/weight-fluctuation/): Daily weight fluctuation is normal: body weight commonly swings by a few pounds (1–2 kg) from water, glycogen, food in your gut and, for many women, the menstrual cycle. Fat changes far more slowly, about 0.5–1 lb a week in a typical deficit. Judge progress by a seven-day average or trend line, not single weigh-ins.
- [NEAT and the Thermic Effect of Food](https://tdeecalc.app/metabolism/neat/): NEAT (non-exercise activity thermogenesis) is the energy you burn from everything except sleeping, eating and deliberate exercise: walking, standing, fidgeting, chores. It varies by hundreds of kcal a day between people. The thermic effect of food (TEF) is the energy used to digest and absorb meals, roughly 10% of intake.
- [Metabolism & the Scale](https://tdeecalc.app/metabolism/): When you diet, three things change at once: your body gets smaller so it burns less, your daily movement tends to drop, and day-to-day water shifts hide fat loss on the scale. Most plateaus are some mix of these plus logging drift. Tracking a weight trend and average intake over several weeks separates a real stall from noise.

## Compare apps

- [Best TDEE Calculator Apps in 2026: Compared Fairly](https://tdeecalc.app/compare/best-tdee-apps/): The best TDEE app depends on what you need. MacroFactor suits people who want full food logging with an adaptive calorie target and accept a subscription. MyFitnessPal has the largest food database. TDEECalc is a free, private iPhone app that estimates TDEE and learns real maintenance from your weight trend, without food logging.
- [Best Adaptive TDEE Apps: What to Look For](https://tdeecalc.app/compare/best-adaptive-tdee-apps/): An adaptive TDEE app estimates your real maintenance calories from your logged intake and your weight trend, then adjusts your target as you change. MacroFactor and Zolt do this alongside food logging, and TDEECalc does it without a food database, for free. Judge any of them by trend smoothing, how they handle gaps and how clearly they explain changes.
- [MacroFactor Alternative: TDEECalc Compared](https://tdeecalc.app/compare/macrofactor-alternative/): MacroFactor is a paid nutrition app with a verified food database, barcode scanning and an expenditure estimate built from your intake and weight trend. TDEECalc is a free iPhone app that also estimates TDEE from your weight trend, but has no food database. Choose MacroFactor for detailed food logging, and TDEECalc for a free, private target and trend.
- [Free MyFitnessPal Alternative: TDEECalc Compared](https://tdeecalc.app/compare/myfitnesspal-alternative/): MyFitnessPal is a calorie counter with a very large food database, a free tier with ads and a Premium plan that adds barcode scanning and macro goals. TDEECalc is a free iPhone app with no ads or account that calculates your TDEE and learns it from your weight trend, but has no food database. Choose by whether you need food logging.
- [Compare TDEE & Calorie Apps](https://tdeecalc.app/compare/): The best TDEE or calorie app depends on whether you want a large food database or just an accurate calorie target. Apps like MacroFactor and MyFitnessPal focus on logging every meal. TDEECalc is a free, private iPhone app that calculates TDEE and learns your real maintenance from your weight trend, without a food database.

## The app

- [TDEECalc: Adaptive TDEE App for iPhone](https://tdeecalc.app/app/): TDEECalc is a free iPhone app that turns a TDEE estimate into a personal calorie target and daily macros, then learns your real maintenance calories from your weight trend and calorie intake. It has no account, no ads and no third-party analytics, keeps your data on your device, and needs iOS 16.2 or later.
- [TDEECalc Support](https://tdeecalc.app/app/support/): Contact, troubleshooting and answers for the TDEECalc iPhone app.
- [What's New in TDEECalc](https://tdeecalc.app/app/changelog/): Version history and release notes for the TDEECalc iPhone app.
- [TDEECalc Privacy Policy](https://tdeecalc.app/app/privacy/): What the TDEECalc app and this website store, and what they never do.

## About

- [About TDEECalc](https://tdeecalc.app/about/): Who makes TDEECalc, what it stands for and how this site is funded.
- [Akshay Reddy](https://tdeecalc.app/author/akshay-reddy/): Developer of TDEECalc and author of this site.
- [Medical Disclaimer](https://tdeecalc.app/disclaimer/): Calculators and guides here are educational, not medical advice.
- [Editorial Policy](https://tdeecalc.app/editorial-policy/): How pages are written, sourced, checked, updated and corrected.
- [Methodology](https://tdeecalc.app/methodology/): Every formula the site uses, as implemented, with its citation and limits.