Free TDEE calculator.
Find your maintenance calories with the Mifflin-St Jeor formula, then get a macro breakdown — protein, carbs and fat — tuned for cutting, maintaining or bulking.
A free TDEE, calorie and macro calculator that runs 100% in your browser. Your numbers never leave the page.
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What is TDEE?
TDEE — Total Daily Energy Expenditure — is the total number of calories your body burns in a day. It is the single most useful number in any fat-loss or muscle-gain plan, because it is your maintenance level: eat that many calories and your weight holds steady. Eat below it and you lose weight; eat above it and you gain.
TDEE is built in two steps. First, your BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate) — the calories you would burn lying in bed all day — is estimated from your sex, age, height and weight using the Mifflin-St Jeor equation. Then BMR is multiplied by an activity factor (1.2 if you barely move, up to 1.9 for athletes) to account for everything you do on top of resting: walking, working, training, even fidgeting.
That gives one honest number to plan around. From there, a calorie target is just your TDEE nudged up or down depending on whether you want to cut, maintain or bulk.
How it works
Get your numbers in four steps.
- 01 Enter your stats
Pick your sex and type in your age, height and weight. Switch height between cm and ft/in, and weight between kg and lbs — the calculator stores everything internally and does the conversion for you.
- 02 Set your activity level
Choose how much you move in a normal week, from sedentary (desk job) to athlete (training twice a day). This multiplier turns your resting burn into a real-world TDEE — your true maintenance calories.
- 03 Choose a goal
Cut (−20%), mild cut (−10%), maintain, lean bulk (+10%) or bulk (+20%). The tool adjusts your maintenance calories up or down to hit that goal.
- 04 Read your numbers
You get your BMR, TDEE, a daily calorie target and a macro breakdown — protein, carbs and fat in grams plus the percentage of calories each one is. Everything updates live, in your browser.
Using your numbers
Cut, maintain or bulk.
Once you know your TDEE, picking a goal is simple — you just shift away from maintenance by a percentage, which this calculator does for you.
Cutting means eating below maintenance to lose fat. A −10% mild cut is gentle and easy to sustain for months; a −20% cut drops fat faster but is harder to hold and can dent your gym performance. Either way, keep protein high — that is what protects the muscle you already have while the fat comes off.
Maintaining means eating right at your TDEE. It is the right call when you want to hold your current physique, recover from a long diet, or recomp slowly while training hard.
Bulking means eating above maintenance to build muscle. A +10% lean bulk adds size with minimal fat — best for anyone past their early newbie gains. A +20% bulk grows faster but you will gain more fat alongside the muscle. In both cases the surplus is the fuel and your training is what turns it into muscle rather than fat.
Macros that matter
Why protein comes first.
Of the three macros, protein is the one with a hard target — so this tool sets it first, at 2.0 g per kg of bodyweight, before splitting the rest of your calories. There are four reasons it earns top billing:
- It protects muscle in a deficit. When you cut, adequate protein is the difference between losing fat and losing hard-won muscle.
- It builds muscle in a surplus. Muscle is made of protein; without enough of it, a bulk just adds fat.
- It is the most filling macro. Gram for gram, protein keeps you fuller for longer, which makes any calorie target easier to hit.
- It costs the most to digest. Your body burns more energy processing protein than carbs or fat, giving a small metabolic edge.
After protein, fat is fixed at 25% of calories — enough for healthy hormones and satiety — and carbohydrate fills whatever is left to fuel your training. Hitting your protein and total-calorie targets matters far more than obsessing over the exact carb-to-fat ratio.
Read this before you trust the number
How accurate is this?
The honest answer: it is a very good estimate, not a measurement. This calculator uses the Mifflin-St Jeor equation, the most accurate general-population BMR formula in the research and the one most dietitians reach for. But no equation can see your exact muscle mass, genetics, hormones or how much you unconsciously move, so your real expenditure can land within roughly ±10% of the number it gives.
That is why the right way to use any TDEE calculator is as a starting point. Eat at your target for two to three weeks and watch the scale (weighed in the morning, averaged across the week to ignore daily water swings). If your weight is moving the way you want, the number was right. If not, adjust your calories by 100–200 per day and give it another couple of weeks.
Real-world results always beat the formula. The calculator gets you in the right ballpark on day one; your own data tunes it from there. And because your TDEE drops as you lose weight (and rises as you gain), re-run it whenever your bodyweight shifts by a few kilos or progress stalls.
TDEE & macro calculator — FAQ
What is TDEE? +
TDEE stands for Total Daily Energy Expenditure — the total number of calories your body burns in a day, including everything from breathing and digestion to walking and training. It is your maintenance level: eat that many calories and your weight stays the same. Eat fewer and you lose weight; eat more and you gain. TDEE is BMR (your at-rest burn) multiplied by an activity factor.
What are maintenance calories and how do I find them? +
Maintenance calories are the calories you can eat each day without gaining or losing weight — they equal your TDEE. This calculator finds them by computing your BMR with the Mifflin-St Jeor equation and multiplying by an activity factor (1.2 for sedentary up to 1.9 for athletes). The "Maintain" goal shows this number directly; cutting and bulking goals adjust from it.
How many calories should I cut to lose weight? +
A moderate deficit of 10–20% below maintenance is the sweet spot for most people. The "Mild cut" preset (−10%) is sustainable and protects muscle and energy; the "Cut" preset (−20%) loses fat faster but is harder to stick to and can cost performance. Roughly, a 500-calorie daily deficit is about 0.45 kg (1 lb) of fat per week. Bigger deficits rarely beat consistency — pick the one you can actually maintain.
How are my macros calculated? +
Protein is set at 2.0 g per kg of bodyweight — high enough to protect muscle while you diet or to build it while you bulk. Fat is set at 25% of your target calories (enough for hormones and satiety). Carbohydrate fills the rest, fuelling your training. The tool shows each macro in grams and as a percentage of your daily calories so the whole plate adds up.
Why does protein come first? +
Of the three macros, protein is the one with a hard floor: it preserves muscle in a deficit, drives muscle growth in a surplus, is the most filling per calorie, and costs the most energy to digest. So we set protein from your bodyweight first, give fat a sensible minimum, and let carbs flex with the calories left over. Hitting your protein target matters far more than the exact carb-to-fat split.
How accurate is the Mifflin-St Jeor formula? +
Mifflin-St Jeor is the most accurate general-population BMR equation in the research and is what most dietitians use. Even so, any formula is an estimate — your real expenditure can sit within about ±10% of the number, because metabolism, muscle mass, genetics and how much you fidget all vary. Treat the output as an excellent starting point, not a law. Track your weight for 2–3 weeks and adjust calories by 100–200 based on what actually happens.
Mifflin-St Jeor vs Harris-Benedict — which is better? +
Both estimate your resting metabolic rate. The Harris-Benedict equation dates to 1919 and tends to overestimate calories for modern populations. Mifflin-St Jeor, published in 1990, was validated against more people and is consistently more accurate, which is why this calculator uses it. For tracking body fat there is also the Katch-McArdle formula, but that needs an accurate body-fat percentage most people do not have.
Which activity level should I pick — and should I be honest? +
Be honest, and if anything, round down. The single biggest reason a calorie target is wrong is overstating activity. "Moderate" (×1.55) already assumes hard exercise 3–5 days a week; "Active" and "Athlete" are for genuinely demanding training or physical jobs. A few light gym sessions on top of a desk job is closer to "Light" (×1.375). When unsure, pick the lower option — it is easier to eat more later than to wonder why the scale will not move.
Do I need to recalculate as I lose or gain weight? +
Yes. Your BMR and TDEE scale with bodyweight, so as you get lighter your maintenance calories fall (and as you gain, they rise). Re-run the calculator every time your weight changes by about 3–5 kg (7–10 lbs), or whenever progress stalls for two to three weeks. Updating your numbers keeps your deficit or surplus honest instead of drifting toward maintenance without you noticing.
Is this calorie and macro calculator really free and private? +
Yes — completely free, no sign-up and no limits. Every calculation runs in JavaScript inside your browser; your age, height and weight never leave the page and are never uploaded or logged. Your inputs are saved only on your own device so the form remembers them next time. You can even go offline after the page loads and it still works.