What's My TDEE

TDEE calculator

Find out how many calories you burn in a day. You’ll get a range as well as a number, because no formula can pin down one person exactly.

Updated

Sex
Height
Weight
Everyday movement, not counting exercise

Go by your steps on a normal day without your workouts: leave out the steps of walks or runs you add as exercise below. Or choose the kind of day that sounds most like yours.

A phone you carry around usually reads a little low, because it misses steps when it isn’t on you. Measured with research devices, the typical adult takes about 6,500 steps a day. See how your steps compare

Exercise

Switches your estimate to the Katch-McArdle formula, which works from your lean mass. Best if the figure comes from a reliable scan.

Your TDEE

For a 35-year-old woman, 165 cm and 65 kg, some walking, with 2 exercise sessions a week:

2,190kcal a day

2 in 3 people like you are between

1,950and2,430kcal

No formula is exact for one person. Even the National Academies’ 2023 equations, built from measured daily energy use, are typically out by about 240 kcal a day for a woman. So your range runs 240 either side of your estimate. About 2 in 3 people like you should fall in it, if your everyday level is right.

Your everyday movement and exercise put you in the National Academies’ “low active” band.

Resting rate from Mifflin-St Jeor. You can choose another formula in the table below.

Your exercise adds 30 to 50 kcal a day.

That’s 72 to 100% of what it burns. On average the body offsets about 28% of exercise calories in a study of 1,754 adults (Careau, 2021), while a 2026 review found the evidence mostly supports exercise adding to daily burn but says better data are needed (Lieberman, 2026).

This is an estimate, not medical advice. It isn’t for anyone 18 or under, or for pregnancy or breastfeeding, when energy needs change. If you have a health condition, ask your GP or a dietitian.

How the main formulas compare

Your TDEE from each main formula, put through the same everyday and exercise steps
Use for my estimateFormulaResultNote
National Academies (2023)2,209Built from the measured daily energy use of 2,358 adults, for your activity band. Shown for comparison: its error figure sets the width of your range.
2,193The most reliable for healthy adults in a review of the studies (Frankenfield, 2005). In athletes it often comes out too high or too low (O’Neill, 2023).
Revised Harris-Benedict (1984)2,294A 1984 refit of the original 1918 equation.
Katch-McArdle—Add your body fat to see this one.

Your estimate uses the ticked formula. Choose another if it suits you better.

The formulas agree within about 100 kcal a day.

What moves your number

  • +81 kcalOne level more active
  • +17 kcalEach extra kilo
  • −8 kcalEach extra year

TDEE: the key numbers

  • For a 35-year-old woman, 165 cm and 65 kg, with some walking and weights twice a week, the estimate is about 2,190 kcal a day, with about 2 in 3 women like her between 1,950 and 2,430.
  • For one person, the National Academies’ 2023 equations have a standard error of about 240 kcal a day for women and 340 for men, so about 2 in 3 people are within that of their estimate (National Academies, 2023).
  • Mifflin-St Jeor, the usual resting equation, came within 10% of measured resting burn for 82% of 337 adults in a 2013 study (Frankenfield, 2013).
  • The typical adult takes about 6,500 steps a day on research step counters (Paluch, 2022), and 5,000 to 7,500 is the most common band: the “Some walking” level, where this calculator starts.
  • Exercise counts at 72 to 100% of what it burns, because on average the body offsets about 28% of it (Careau, 2021, 1,754 adults).
  • With steady weight, day-to-day weight swings alone leave about ±190 kcal a day after four weeks of food logs and weigh-ins, in the numbers you log.

Find your real maintenance

Any formula is a starting point. Weigh yourself most mornings and note what you eat. After three or four weeks your weight trend shows what you actually burn, and the range closes in.

Measure your real maintenance

Uses the numbers from the food app you already use.

Example weigh-ins scattered around a smooth trend line, then your likely range from the formula beside what 2, 3, 4 and 6 weeks of daily weigh-ins could narrow it to.

Morning weigh-ins

Example

Your likely range

  1. Formula±240
  2. 2 weeks±260
  3. 3 weeks±140
  4. 4 weeks±90
  5. 6 weeks±50

From your result above, and what daily weigh-ins could narrow it to with steady weight. Each holds about 2 in 3 people, in the numbers you log.

Short answers

BMR or TDEE: which should I eat?

BMR is what you’d burn lying still all day. TDEE adds everything you do on top. Eat around your TDEE to stay the same weight, and a little under it to lose.

Will I lose weight eating below my TDEE?

Over time, yes, if you’re under it on average. Loss slows as you get lighter, because your TDEE falls with your weight. That’s why “500 a day less = 1 lb a week” overstates it.

How accurate is a TDEE calculator?

For one person, the National Academies’ 2023 equations have a standard error of about 240 kcal a day for women and 340 for men, so about 2 in 3 people are within that of their estimate. That’s why you get a range, and why measuring your own trend is the step that pins it down.

Should I add my watch’s calories?

Not on top of this. Your everyday movement and exercise are already counted here. Watch calorie figures can be off by a lot in either direction, so use them to compare days, not as a total.

Sources

Checked against each source on 22 and 23 October 2026

  • National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (2023). Dietary Reference Intakes for Energy. doi:10.17226/26818
  • Mifflin MD, St Jeor ST, et al. (1990). A new predictive equation for resting energy expenditure in healthy individuals. Am J Clin Nutr 51(2):241–7. PMID 2305711
  • Roza AM, Shizgal HM (1984). The Harris Benedict equation reevaluated: resting energy requirements and the body cell mass. Am J Clin Nutr 40(1):168–82. PMID 6741850
  • Cunningham JJ (1991). Body composition as a determinant of energy expenditure: a synthetic review and a proposed general prediction equation. Am J Clin Nutr 54(6):963–9. PMID 1957828
  • ten Haaf T, Weijs PJM (2014). Resting energy expenditure prediction in recreational athletes of 18–35 years: confirmation of Cunningham equation and an improved weight-based alternative. PLoS One 9(9):e108460. PMID 25275434
  • O’Neill JER, et al. (2023). Accuracy of resting metabolic rate prediction equations in athletes: a systematic review with meta-analysis. Sports Med 53(12):2373–98. PMID 37632665
  • Frankenfield D, Roth-Yousey L, Compher C (2005). Comparison of predictive equations for resting metabolic rate in healthy nonobese and obese adults: a systematic review. J Am Diet Assoc 105(5):775–89. PMID 15883556
  • Frankenfield DC (2013). Bias and accuracy of resting metabolic rate equations in non-obese and obese adults. Clin Nutr 32(6):976–82. PMID 23631843
  • Herrmann SD, et al. (2024). 2024 Adult Compendium of Physical Activities: a third update of the energy costs of human activities. J Sport Health Sci 13(1):6–12. PMID 38242596
  • Byrne NM, et al. (2005). Metabolic equivalent: one size does not fit all. J Appl Physiol 99(3):1112–9. PMID 15831804
  • Careau V, et al. (2021). Energy compensation and adiposity in humans. Curr Biol 31(20):4659–66. PMID 34453886
  • Lieberman DE, Yegian AK, Heymsfield SB (2026). Physical activity and metabolic rates in humans. J Exp Biol 229(7):jeb251083. PMID 41668510
  • FAO/WHO/UNU (2004). Human energy requirements: report of a joint FAO/WHO/UNU expert consultation. fao.org
  • Tudor-Locke C, Bassett DR (2004). How many steps/day are enough? Preliminary pedometer indices for public health. Sports Med 34(1):1–8. PMID 14715035
  • Tudor-Locke C, et al. (2018). How fast is fast enough? Walking cadence (steps/min) as a practical estimate of intensity in adults: a narrative review. Br J Sports Med 52(12):776–88. PMID 29858465
  • Paluch AE, et al. (2022). Daily steps and all-cause mortality: a meta-analysis of 15 international cohorts. Lancet Public Health 7(3):e219–28. PMID 35247352
  • Hall KD, et al. (2011). Quantification of the effect of energy imbalance on bodyweight. Lancet 378(9793):826–37. PMID 21872751