Free tool
TDEE Calculator
Your Total Daily Energy Expenditure is how many calories you burn in a day. Enter your details to find it, then get calorie targets for cutting, maintaining or gaining.
Resting burn (BMR): – cal/day · Mifflin-St Jeor × your activity factor.
Stop recalculating this by hand
Coachero computes your TDEE from your real weight trend and logged activity, then tracks calories and macros against it every day, and adjusts as you change. Free to start, in your browser.
Get your live number in CoacheroWhat is TDEE?
TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure) is the total number of calories your body uses in a day. It has two parts: your BMR (the energy you'd burn lying in bed all day) plus everything you do on top of that: walking, training, fidgeting, digesting. Eat at your TDEE and your weight holds; eat below it and you lose; above it and you gain. It's the single most useful number for planning a cut or a bulk.
How this calculator works
It estimates BMR with the Mifflin-St Jeor equation, the formula shown to be most accurate for the general population:
Men: BMR = 10×weight(kg) + 6.25×height(cm) − 5×age + 5
Women: BMR = 10×weight(kg) + 6.25×height(cm) − 5×age − 161
Then it multiplies BMR by an activity factor (1.2 sedentary → 1.9 extra active) to get TDEE. The cut and gain figures apply a moderate ~20% deficit and a ~10% surplus.
If you know your body fat percentage, add it: the calculator switches to the Katch-McArdle formula, which works off your lean mass instead of total weight. Because fat burns far fewer calories than muscle, this is more accurate and usually gives a lower number, which is often why a plain calculator "feels high."
The other reason estimates run high is the activity factor: most people overestimate it. If you have a desk job and train a few times a week, "Light" (1.375) is often closer to the truth than "Moderate". Err on the lower side and adjust from real results.
How to use your number
Treat the result as a well-informed starting point, not a fixed truth: activity multipliers are broad brackets, and everyone's real expenditure differs. The honest way to dial it in: eat at the number for two to three weeks, track your weight trend, and adjust. That's exactly what Coachero automates: it back-solves your true maintenance from your logged intake and weight change, so the estimate becomes measured.
TDEE questions
What's the difference between BMR and TDEE?
BMR is what you burn at complete rest. TDEE is BMR plus all your daily movement and exercise; it's always higher, and it's the number you actually eat against.
How many calories should I eat to lose weight?
A deficit of about 20% below TDEE (roughly 500 calories) targets ~0.5 kg / 1 lb of fat per week: aggressive enough to progress, gentle enough to keep strength and muscle. The "Cut" figure above uses this.
Why does my tracker's number differ?
Formula-based TDEE is an estimate from population averages. Your real expenditure depends on muscle mass, NEAT and more. Measured TDEE, solved from your own intake and weight change over time, is more accurate, which is what the app moves you to.
Estimates for general fitness use, not medical or dietary advice. Talk to a professional about anything medical.