BMR & TDEE Calculator

Daily Energy Target

{{ formatNumber(target_kcal, 0) }} kcal

BMR {{ formatNumber(bmr, 0) }} Maintenance {{ formatNumber(tdee_tef, 0) }} {{ goalProfileLabel }} {{ paceCategory }} BMI {{ bmi }} · {{ bmiCategory }} Formula drift {{ formatNumber(formulaDriftKcal, 0) }} kcal

Age:

Whole years accepted from 0 to 120; example: 30.

Sex:

Options: Male or Female for the weight-and-height BMR equations.

Height:

Enter standing height with the matching unit: 175 cm or 69 in.

Weight:

Enter current body weight with the matching unit: 70 kg or 154 lb.

Activity level:

Sedentary 1.2 through extra active 1.9; choose the closest routine week.

Formula:

Start with Mifflin-St Jeor when body fat is unknown.

Body fat:

Use 1-69.9% for lean-mass math; leave blank to use fallback.

Goal profile:

Choose maintenance, fat loss, gain, or a custom percent.

Custom adjustment:

Accepted range: -60% to +60%; -15 means a 15% deficit.

TEF estimate:

Slider range: 0% to 15%; 10% is a common rough planning check.

{{ tef_percent }}%

Macro preset:

Balanced, higher protein, higher carb, lower carb, or custom.

Protein target:

Enter grams per kg, then choose Body weight or Lean body mass.

g/kg

Fat share:

Accepted range: 10% to 80%; example: 30.

Metric	Value	Copy
{{ row.label }}	{{ row.value }}

Bench type	Profile	Target	Daily delta	Weekly change	Pace	Notes	Copy
Goal profile	{{ row.label }} {{ row.adjustDisplay }}	{{ row.targetDisplay }}	{{ row.deltaDisplay }}	{{ row.weeklyDisplay }}	{{ row.pace }}	Current {{ row.note }}
Formula comparison	{{ row.label }}	{{ row.targetDisplay }}	{{ row.deltaDisplay }}	BMR {{ row.bmrDisplay }}	Maintenance {{ row.maintainDisplay }}	Selected {{ row.note }}

Macronutrient	Grams	Calories	Percent	Copy
{{ row.name }}	{{ row.gramsDisplay }}	{{ row.caloriesDisplay }}	{{ row.percentDisplay }}
Daily total	{{ macroTotalGramsDisplay }} g	{{ formatNumber(target_kcal, 0) }} kcal	100.0%

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Calorie planning gets confusing when resting needs, activity, weight goals, and macro targets are treated as separate guesses. Basal metabolic rate, usually shortened to BMR, is the estimate of energy used for basic body functions at rest. Total daily energy expenditure, or TDEE, starts with that resting estimate and adds the energy usually spent through movement, training, work, and digestion.

The useful number is not only the final calorie target. It is the chain of assumptions behind that target. Age, sex, height, weight, and lean mass influence resting energy needs. Activity level can move maintenance calories more than the equation choice does. A planned deficit or surplus then shifts maintenance into a goal intake, and that shift determines the expected weekly pace.

BMR equations are estimates built from population data, not lab measurements of a specific day in your life. Two people with the same height and weight can burn different amounts because of lean mass, daily steps, occupational movement, training volume, food logging accuracy, sleep, medication, illness, and adaptation during dieting. That is why a calorie target should be tested against body-weight averages and real intake records instead of treated as a fixed truth.

Common calorie-planning terms and their practical meaning
Term	Plain meaning	Common mistake
BMR	Estimated resting burn before ordinary activity is added.	Reading it as the amount to eat for weight maintenance.
TDEE	Estimated maintenance calories after activity and optional digestion energy.	Choosing an activity factor from a best training week instead of a normal week.
Goal delta	The calorie gap between maintenance and the target intake.	Assuming a larger deficit or surplus always gives a better plan.
Macros	Protein, fat, and carbohydrate grams that divide the calorie target.	Raising protein and fat so high that carbohydrate becomes unintentionally tiny.

Macro planning comes after the calorie target. Protein is usually anchored to body weight or lean body mass, fat is often reserved as a calorie share, and carbohydrate receives what remains. A macro split can look reasonable as percentages while still being hard to sustain if the calorie target is too low or the carbohydrate remainder does not match training demands.

Flow from BMR to activity, TEF, goal delta, and daily calorie target. — Energy planning is easier to audit when each assumption stays visible.

Health note: calorie estimates are informational planning aids. Pregnancy, adolescence, eating-disorder history, diabetes, kidney disease, medication changes, high-performance sport, and any prescribed nutrition plan can require guidance from a qualified clinician or dietitian.

How to Use This Tool:

Work from body measurements first, then choose the assumptions that turn resting energy into a goal target.

Enter Age, Sex, Height, and Weight with matching units. If the summary does not appear, check that height and weight are above zero.
Choose Activity level from an ordinary week. Sedentary through extra active changes the maintenance estimate before any goal adjustment is applied.
Select a Formula. Start with Mifflin-St Jeor when body fat is unknown; use Katch-McArdle or Cunningham only when the Body fat estimate is credible.
Add Body fat only if you want lean-mass equations or lean-mass protein targets. Values must be below 70 percent to be used for lean body mass.
Pick a Goal profile or choose a custom percent from -60 percent to +60 percent. Watch Daily Energy Target, Daily delta vs maintenance, and Pace classification together.
Open Advanced when you want to include a TEF estimate or change the macro preset. Custom macro settings let you set protein grams per kg, body-weight or lean-mass basis, and fat share.
Review Plan Metrics, Target Bench, Macro Targets, and the chart tabs. If warnings appear, adjust units, activity, formula, goal percentage, or macro settings before using the target.

For repeat checks, keep the formula and activity level fixed for two to four weeks, then compare the calorie target with your average scale trend.

Interpreting Results:

The headline Daily Energy Target is the estimated intake after resting energy, activity, optional TEF, and the selected goal adjustment are combined. Maintenance calories are the comparison point. A negative Daily delta vs maintenance means a deficit, while a positive value means a surplus.

Estimated weekly change turns the weekly calorie gap into kg or lb using the 7,700 kcal per kg rule of thumb. That number is useful for judging pace, not for predicting next Monday's scale weight. Water, glycogen, sodium, digestion, menstrual-cycle changes, hard training, and missed food entries can hide the underlying trend.

Pace classification flags whether the weekly change is near maintenance, gentle, steady, assertive, or aggressive as a percent of body weight.
Formula drift shows how far the formula comparison moves the target. A spread of 250 kcal/day or more deserves extra caution.
Plan warnings highlight low calorie targets, aggressive weekly pace, lean-mass fallback use, very low carbohydrate, unusual age ranges, or large formula disagreement.
Macro Targets should be checked in grams as well as percentages because carbohydrate is the remaining calorie space after protein and fat.

A tidy target does not prove the plan is right. Use weigh-in averages, hunger, training quality, recovery, and adherence to decide whether the calculated target needs a small adjustment.

Technical Details:

Predictive resting-energy equations estimate kcal/day from body size, age, sex constants, or lean body mass. Weight-and-height equations approximate lean mass indirectly through body dimensions and sex. Lean-mass equations use body-fat percentage when available, so their accuracy depends heavily on the quality of that estimate.

TDEE is built as an activity-adjusted maintenance estimate. The optional thermic effect of food, or TEF, is applied as a percentage of the activity-adjusted value. Goal planning then applies a deficit or surplus percentage to maintenance, and the weekly pace is calculated from the calorie difference between target and maintenance.

Formula Core:

Mifflin-St Jeor uses weight in kilograms, height in centimeters, age in years, and a sex constant:

BMR = 10 W + 6.25 H - 5 A + S

Here, W is body weight in kg, H is height in cm, A is age, and S is +5 for male and -161 for female. Revised Harris-Benedict uses separate male and female coefficients. Katch-McArdle uses 370 + 21.6 x lean mass, and Cunningham uses 500 + 22 x lean mass. When body fat is blank, lean-mass formulas fall back to an estimated lean mass of 80 percent of body weight.

Maintenance and goal targets use these equations:

maintenance = (BMR \times activity factor) \times (1 + \frac{TEF percent}{100})

target calories = maintenance \times (1 + \frac{goal percent}{100})

weekly kg change = \frac{(target - maintenance) \times 7}{7700}

Protein grams are the selected grams-per-kg value multiplied by body weight or lean body mass. Fat grams are calorie target times fat share divided by 9. Carbohydrate grams are the remaining calories after protein and fat, divided by 4 and floored at zero.

BMR formula inputs and calculation notes
Formula	Inputs used	Important note
Mifflin-St Jeor	Age, sex, height, weight	Default choice for many adults when body fat is unknown.
Revised Harris-Benedict	Age, sex, height, weight	Uses different coefficients from Mifflin-St Jeor, so it can shift BMR and target calories.
Katch-McArdle	Lean body mass	Uses body-fat-derived lean mass, or an 80 percent body-weight fallback when body fat is blank.
Cunningham	Lean body mass	Often gives a higher estimate than Katch-McArdle for the same lean mass.

Activity factor choices used for maintenance calorie estimates
Activity choice	Factor	Best reading
Sedentary	1.200	Little exercise and mostly seated days.
Lightly active	1.375	Light training or extra movement one to three days per week.
Moderately active	1.550	Regular training or active work in a typical week.
Very active	1.725	Hard training, active work, or both on most days.
Extra active	1.900	Demanding daily training plus a physical job or very high movement.

Weekly pace categories used by the calculator
Pace classification	Weekly change as percent of body weight	Interpretation
Near maintenance	< 0.10%	Small changes may be hidden by normal scale noise.
Gentle pace	0.10% to < 0.35%	Usually easier to sustain but slower to verify.
Steady pace	0.35% to < 0.75%	A middle pace for measured fat loss or cautious gaining.
Assertive pace	0.75% to < 1.00%	Requires closer checks on recovery, hunger, and performance.
Aggressive pace	≥ 1.00%	High enough to deserve caution, especially with low calories.

Displayed calories are rounded to whole kcal, BMI is shown to one decimal, macro percentages are shown to one decimal, and weekly change is shown to two decimals or as approximately zero when the selected unit change is under 0.02 per week.

Accuracy Notes:

The estimates are useful for planning, but they cannot measure individual metabolism, exact daily movement, food absorption, appetite, or medical needs.

Age values below 14 or above 90 trigger a warning because adult prediction equations are less reliable there.
Female targets below 1,200 kcal/day and male targets below 1,500 kcal/day trigger low-calorie warnings.
Expected weekly change above 1 percent of body weight triggers an aggressive-pace warning.
Carbohydrate below 50 g/day triggers a warning so an accidental very-low-carb setup is easier to catch.
BMI categories are screening categories, not body-composition diagnoses.

Worked Examples:

Steady fat-loss setup: a 30-year-old male at 175 cm and 75 kg using Mifflin-St Jeor has a BMR near 1,699 kcal/day. With a moderately active factor of 1.55 and TEF left at 0 percent, Maintenance calories are about 2,633 kcal/day. A -15 percent goal gives Target calories near 2,238 kcal/day, Estimated weekly change near -0.36 kg/wk, and a steady Pace classification.

Lean-mass formula comparison: the same 75 kg person at 18 percent body fat has 61.5 kg of lean body mass. Katch-McArdle gives about 1,698 kcal/day, while Cunningham gives about 1,853 kcal/day. The Target Bench makes that formula spread visible before one equation is treated as exact.

Low-calorie warning: a 28-year-old female at 160 cm and 55 kg, sedentary, with an aggressive -20 percent goal lands near 1,199 kcal/day with Mifflin-St Jeor. The weekly pace is not extreme, but Plan warnings still flag the target because it is below 1,200 kcal/day.

Macro troubleshooting: a custom macro setup with very high protein and an 80 percent fat share can leave Carbohydrate at 0 g in Macro Targets. Lower the fat share, lower the protein rate, or raise the calorie target if that low-carb outcome was not intentional.

FAQ:

Which formula should I start with?

Use Mifflin-St Jeor when you do not have a credible body-fat estimate. Use Katch-McArdle or Cunningham when the Body fat field reflects a reasonably current measurement and you want lean-mass-based comparison.

Should I turn on TEF?

Leave TEF at 0 percent when you want a common BMR times activity-factor estimate. Add a TEF percentage only when your planning convention includes digestion energy in maintenance calories.

Why did the lean-mass formula show a warning?

Katch-McArdle and Cunningham need lean body mass. If Body fat is blank or outside the usable range, the estimate falls back to 80 percent of body weight and warns that the result is less personal.

Why does my actual progress differ from the weekly change estimate?

The estimate uses a 7,700 kcal per kg conversion and cannot know real movement, food logging accuracy, water shifts, adaptation, or adherence. Compare the target against two to four weeks of weigh-in averages.

What should I fix when no result appears?

Check that Height and Weight are greater than zero and that the selected units match the numbers entered. The result summary appears only when the calorie target can be calculated from valid body measurements.

Glossary:

BMR: Basal metabolic rate, the estimated kcal/day used at rest before ordinary activity is added.
TDEE: Total daily energy expenditure, the estimated maintenance calories after activity and optional TEF.
TEF: Thermic effect of food, a planning estimate for energy used during digestion.
Lean body mass: Body weight minus estimated fat mass, used by Katch-McArdle, Cunningham, and lean-mass protein targets.
Formula drift: The spread between target calories produced by the available BMR formulas at the same settings.
Daily delta vs maintenance: The calorie difference between target calories and maintenance calories.
Pace classification: The weekly change category based on estimated weekly change as a percent of body weight.

References:

A new predictive equation for resting energy expenditure in healthy individuals, American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 1990.
The Harris Benedict equation reevaluated: resting energy requirements and the body cell mass, American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 1984.
A reanalysis of the factors influencing basal metabolic rate in normal adults, American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 1980.
Adult BMI Categories, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Heart-Healthy Living: Aim for a Healthy Weight, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.