TDEE & Calorie Calculator

Sophia, your metrIQ coach

Sophia · your coach

This finds the calories your body actually burns in a day — your starting line to lose fat, hold steady, or build muscle. Give me a few numbers and I'll set your target.

yrs
kg
cm
/wk
min

Rest days

1,829kcal

A gentle deficit for steady fat loss. Training adds about 315 kcal on the days you do it — so the two numbers differ, as they should.

Training days2,144kcal
Maintenance2,360kcal
BMR1,780kcal

What your TDEE actually tells you

TDEE — total daily energy expenditure — is how many calories your body burns in a day once you add everyday movement and training on top of what it burns at rest (your BMR). It's the anchor for every nutrition goal: eat below it to lose fat, around it to maintain, a little above it to build.

This calculator estimates your BMR with the Mifflin–St Jeor equation, scales it for your everyday movement, and then adds your training separately — which is why it asks about the two apart. The daily target applies a sensible deficit or surplus for your goal, never an extreme one.

That separation is why you get two numbers instead of one. Most calculators fold training into a single multiplier and hand you an average, so the day you train and the day you don't come out identical. They aren't. Your rest-day number is the one you'll use most; the training-day number is what those sessions actually earn you.

Frequently asked questions

How is TDEE calculated?

We estimate your resting burn (BMR) from your age, height, weight and sex with the Mifflin–St Jeor equation, scale it for your everyday movement, then add the calories your training actually burns on top. Everyday movement and training are counted separately so neither gets double-counted.

How accurate is a TDEE calculator?

It's a strong starting estimate, but metabolisms differ — real needs can vary by 10% or more. Treat the number as a hypothesis to test, not a verdict. That's exactly what Sophia does: she adjusts your target from how your weight actually trends.

Should I eat my TDEE to lose weight?

No — to lose fat you eat below it. The "lose fat" target here applies a moderate deficit: aggressive enough to see progress, gentle enough to protect your muscle and energy.

Which activity level should I pick?

Judge it on your day away from the gym — your job, your commute, how much you're on your feet — and leave workouts out of it, because you enter those separately just below. When unsure, pick lower; it's easier to add calories later than to claw them back.

Why do I get two numbers?

Because a training day and a rest day genuinely aren't the same, and averaging them hides that — you end up slightly under-fuelled when you train and slightly over-fed when you don't. We also count only the calories your session burns above resting, since the resting share is already in your baseline. That's the double-count that makes exercise calories notoriously generous elsewhere.

More free calculators

Want the why? Read: How many calories should you eat to lose fat