Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE) Calculator

The Engine of Your Body

Your Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE) is the absolute most important number in fitness and nutrition. It represents the total number of calories you burn in a 24-hour period. Whether you want to lose fat, build muscle, or maintain your current physique, your TDEE is the baseline mathematical metric from which all of your dietary decisions must be made.

Many people assume that exercising is the primary way they burn calories. In reality, the calories burned during a 45-minute gym session make up a surprisingly small fraction of your TDEE. Your body is a highly complex furnace that burns energy constantly—even while you sleep.

The Four Pillars of TDEE

Your TDEE is composed of four distinct metabolic processes. Understanding these is the secret to hacking your metabolism:

How to Use Your TDEE Number

Once our calculator generates your TDEE, you have the ultimate blueprint for your physical transformation:

• To Lose Weight (Cutting): You must eat fewer calories than your TDEE. This forces your body to tap into stored body fat for the missing energy. A standard, healthy deficit is subtracting 300 to 500 calories from your TDEE, resulting in about 1 pound of fat loss per week.
• To Gain Muscle (Bulking): You must eat more calories than your TDEE to give your body the surplus energy and building blocks required to synthesize new muscle tissue. A standard surplus is adding 200 to 400 calories to your TDEE.
• To Maintain (Recomp): Eat exactly your TDEE. If you combine this with strength training, you can slowly alter your body composition (lose fat and build muscle simultaneously) while keeping your scale weight identical.