TDEE, BMR & macro calculator
Your total daily energy expenditure is what you burn across a whole day, training included. Give it a body-fat percentage and it switches to Katch-McArdle, which works from lean mass and is the more accurate of the two.
TDEE Calculator
Total daily energy expenditure (TDEE) is the number of calories you burn across a full day, training included. It is your basal metabolic rate multiplied by an activity factor between 1.2 and 1.9. Most adults land between 1,800 and 3,200 kcal. Eat below your TDEE to lose fat and above it to gain weight.
Optional. Supplying it switches the BMR to Katch-McArdle.
Maintenance is 2 908 kcal
Method notes (3)
- Using Katch-McArdle (lean mass 69.7 kg) — preferred when body fat is known
- Activity multiplier 1.55 (moderate)
- Goal delta -20% from TDEE
Metric or imperial · runs the same code as the app · nothing is sent anywhere
How it works
BMR comes from Mifflin-St Jeor: 10 × kg + 6.25 × cm − 5 × age + 5 for men, and − 161 instead of + 5 for women. When you supply a body-fat percentage it switches to Katch-McArdle, 370 + 21.6 × lean kg, which is more accurate because it works from lean mass rather than total weight.
TDEE is that figure times an activity multiplier: 1.2 sedentary, 1.375 light, 1.55 moderate, 1.725 very active, 1.9 extreme. The goal then shifts it — a cut takes 20% off, a recomp 5%, a lean bulk adds 10%.
Macros split the target by rule rather than by percentage. Protein is set per kilo of lean mass (2.4 g cutting, 2.2 g maintaining, 1.8 g lean bulking), fat at 0.9 g per kilo of bodyweight, carbohydrate fills whatever calories are left, and fibre follows the Institute of Medicine's 14 g per 1000 kcal with a 14 g floor.
Common questions
Should I use Mifflin-St Jeor or Katch-McArdle?
Katch-McArdle, if you know your body-fat percentage with any confidence, because it works from lean mass and so handles very lean or very heavy people better. Without a body-fat figure it can't be used at all, which is why Mifflin-St Jeor is the fallback.
Why is my protein target so high?
It is set per kilo of lean mass, not bodyweight, and it goes up on a cut because protein requirements rise in a calorie deficit to protect muscle. If you have not entered a body-fat percentage it falls back to total bodyweight, which will read slightly higher.
What is the difference between BMR and TDEE?
BMR is what you burn lying still all day. TDEE adds everything else: walking, training, digesting food. TDEE is BMR times an activity multiplier between 1.2 and 1.9, and it is your maintenance calories, the intake that keeps your weight steady.
How much protein should I eat a day?
About 1.6 to 2.2 g per kg of bodyweight if you train, and slightly more during a cut. This calculator sets it per kilo of lean mass when you give a body-fat percentage: 2.4 g cutting, 2.2 g maintaining, 1.8 g on a lean bulk. Spread it over three to five meals.
Why grams per kilo instead of a 40/30/30 macro split?
Because protein need follows your body, not your calories. A fixed percentage gives a small person on a bulk more protein than a large person on a cut, which is backwards. Setting protein and fat from bodyweight and letting carbs fill the rest keeps each sensible at any calorie level.
How accurate is a TDEE estimate?
Treat it as a starting point. Prediction equations carry roughly a 10% error for any individual, and activity multipliers are coarse. Eat at the number for two weeks, track your weight trend, and adjust from what actually happens.
The other calculators
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These numbers are more useful when something tracks them.
The app runs this same maths against your logged weigh-ins, meals and sessions, so the figure updates itself instead of being a one-off.
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