Understand your result
What is Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE)?
TDEE is your full daily calorie burn from baseline metabolism, movement and digestion. It provides the maintenance-calorie estimate calculated by the tool above. [Source]
What TDEE includes
- BMR (basal metabolic rate): calories used at complete rest.
- Physical activity: NEAT from everyday movement and EAT from structured exercise.
- TEF (thermic effect of food): calories used to digest and store food.
Physical activity often varies the most from day to day, while TEF changes mainly with total intake and macros. [Source 1][Source 2][Source 3]
TDEE calculation example
Add BMR, physical activity calories and TEF:
- BMR: 1,600 kcal/day
- Physical activity: 600 kcal/day
- TEF: 240 kcal/day
TDEE = 1,600 + 600 + 240 = 2,440 kcal/day [Source]
How this TDEE estimate works
The calculator starts with your BMR. With an activity-level multiplier, movement and average digestion are represented inside the population estimate. With manual activity calories, the calculator adds your activity and models TEF separately. [Source 1][Source 2]
The result also shows a net calorie goal: TDEE minus activity calories. This can be useful in tracking apps that add logged exercise calories to the daily target. [Source]
Interpreting maintenance calories
- Your TDEE is an estimate of daily calorie needs, not a fixed personal constant.
- Use maintenance calories as a starting point and adjust from real weight trends.
- For weight loss or gain, start with a modest change and review the weekly trend. [Source 1][Source 2]
- Update your inputs after meaningful changes in weight, activity or body fat.
Tracking intake and body weight over 2–4 weeks is the practical way to calibrate an estimate. [Source]
Tips for a more useful estimate
- Keep your activity method consistent before comparing results over time.
- Use manual activity calories when you have reliable wearable or workout data.
- Match the TEF method to the quality of your diet and macro data.
Sources & assumptions
References used on this page
These references support the formulas, assumptions, and health-related estimates shown on this page.
BMR formulas used in the calculator
The app defaults to Mifflin-St Jeor for general use and switches to the lean-mass-based Katch-McArdle equation when body fat is provided.
- A new predictive equation for resting energy expenditure in healthy individuals - Mifflin, St Jeor, Hill, Scott, Daugherty, Koh (1990)
- Comparison of predictive equations for resting metabolic rate in healthy nonobese and obese adults: a systematic review - Frankenfield, Roth-Yousey, Compher (2005)
- Accuracy of the Resting Energy Expenditure Estimation Equations for Healthy Women - Molina-Luque et al. (2021)
- Reexamination of the relationship of resting metabolic rate to fat-free mass and to the metabolically active components of fat-free mass in humans - Cunningham (1992)
TDEE, physical activity, and PAL assumptions
The exact PAL labels and step-count examples used in this app are practical product assumptions built on the PAL and physical-activity concepts in these sources.
- Factors Affecting Energy Expenditure and Requirements - National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (2023)
- Human energy requirements - FAO/WHO/UNU Expert Consultation (2001)
- Non-exercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT): a component of total daily energy expenditure - Villablanca, Alegria, Mirochnik, Castro (2018)
- 2024 Adult Compendium of Physical Activities - Ainsworth et al. (2024)
TEF assumptions and macro-weighted estimates
TEF values in the app are estimates and may vary with total intake, meal composition, and individual physiology.
- The Thermic Effect of Food: A Review - Calcagno et al. (2019)
- Diet induced thermogenesis - Westerterp (2004)
- Effects of Varying Protein Amounts and Types on Diet-Induced Thermogenesis - Guarneiri et al. (2024)
Weight-change scenario heuristics
The 7,700 kcal/kg scenario math (with pounds converted from kilograms) is presented as a rule of thumb, not as a precise physiological prediction.
- Why is the 3500 kcal per pound weight loss rule wrong? - Hall (2013)
- Body Weight Planner - National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (2026)