Calorie / TDEE Calculator
Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE) using the Mifflin-St Jeor BMR formula and an activity multiplier. Choose a goal preset to see the daily calorie target. Targets are clamped to a safety floor to avoid recommending unsupervised very-low-calorie intake.
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Your Daily Calorie Numbers
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How TDEE is calculated
Two-step calculation. First, Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) — calories your body burns at complete rest for basic function — is computed using the Mifflin-St Jeor equation, the most accurate published formula for most adults:
Male: BMR = 10 × kg + 6.25 × cm − 5 × age + 5
Female: BMR = 10 × kg + 6.25 × cm − 5 × age − 161
Then BMR is multiplied by an activity factor to estimate Total Daily Energy Expenditure — total calories burned in a normal day including movement, exercise, and digestion.
Goal deficits and safety floor
1 pound of body fat is roughly 3,500 kcal, so a 500 kcal/day deficit yields ~1 lb/week loss, and a 250 kcal deficit yields ~0.5 lb/week — the two most-cited “safe” rates. Very-low-calorie diets can produce faster loss but carry risks (muscle loss, nutrient deficiencies, gallstones, metabolic adaptation) and shouldn't be done without medical supervision.
This calculator floors the calorie target at 1,200 (women) / 1,500 (men). If your goal preset would land below these, the tool shows the floor with a note instead of the lower number. This isn't a hard medical threshold, but going lower without a doctor's guidance is not something a general-purpose calculator should silently recommend.
TDEE numbers are estimates
Individual metabolism can differ from the Mifflin-St Jeor prediction by ±10-15%. Activity multipliers are rough categories. The best way to find your actual TDEE is to eat at your calculated maintenance for 2-3 weeks with consistent daily weigh-ins, then adjust based on the trend. Everyone's number is a starting hypothesis to test, not a fixed truth.