What Is TDEE?
Total Daily Energy Expenditure is everything your body burns in 24 hours — the master number for any nutrition plan. It has four components:
| Component | Share of TDEE | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| BMR | ~60–70% | Baseline organ/tissue function at rest |
| NEAT | ~10–20% | Non-exercise movement: walking, fidgeting, chores |
| Exercise | ~5–15% | Deliberate training |
| TEF | ~8–12% | Digesting food (protein costs the most) |
Surprise most people miss: deliberate exercise is usually the smallest slice — daily movement (NEAT) typically outweighs the gym. That's why activity level selection matters more than any single workout.
How It's Calculated
BMR via Mifflin-St Jeor, then an activity multiplier:
TDEE = BMR × activity factor (1.2 – 1.9)
Worked example — man, 28, 180 cm, 82 kg, very active (1.725)
TDEE = 1,810 × 1.725 ≈ 3,122 kcal/day
His targets: cut ≈ 2,600, maintain ≈ 3,100, lean bulk ≈ 3,400–3,600.
From TDEE to Macros
Once calories are set, split them into macronutrients (values per gram: protein 4 kcal, carbs 4, fat 9):
- Protein first: 1.6–2.2 g/kg bodyweight (higher while cutting). Example: 82 kg × 2 = 164 g = 656 kcal.
- Fat floor: 0.6–1 g/kg for hormones. Example: 82 × 0.8 = 66 g = 590 kcal.
- Carbs fill the rest: (2,600 − 656 − 590) ÷ 4 ≈ 339 g on a cut.
The calculator's macro panel does this automatically for cutting, maintenance, and bulking presets — adjust protein per your preference.
Choosing an Honest Activity Level
The multiplier is where most TDEE estimates go wrong — nearly always upward. Calibration guide:
| Pick | Only if |
|---|---|
| Sedentary (1.2) | Desk work + under ~5k steps/day, no training |
| Light (1.375) | 1–3 easy sessions/week or ~7k steps |
| Moderate (1.55) | 3–5 real sessions/week or an active job |
| Very (1.725) | 6–7 hard sessions or physically demanding work |
| Extreme (1.9) | Manual labor + serious training (rare) |
When torn between two levels, pick the lower — then let two weeks of scale data arbitrate. Overestimating activity is the most common reason "eating at TDEE" causes gain.
Using TDEE for Each Goal
Cutting
TDEE −15–25% (moderate) preserves muscle better than crash deficits. Keep protein at the high end, lift, and expect TDEE itself to drop as you lose — recalc every ~5 kg.
Maintaining
Eat at TDEE ±100. Weight stable across a 2-week average confirms the number; drifting means adjust in 100–200 kcal steps.
Bulking
TDEE +5–15%. Larger surpluses build fat faster than muscle for all but new lifters — 0.25–0.5% bodyweight gain per week is the evidence-based lane.
Related tools: rest-only burn at the BMR Calculator, goal-calorie planning at the Calorie Calculator, composition tracking at the Body Fat Calculator.
The Bottom Line
TDEE is the budget every diet negotiates with, and the formula gets you ~90% of the way — honest activity selection plus two weeks of scale data closes the rest. Compute yours above, pick the goal preset, hit the protein number daily, and re-run whenever your weight changes by more than a few kilos. Everything else in nutrition is commentary.