Calculate your Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE) and get calorie targets for cutting, maintaining, or bulking.
Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE) is the total number of calories your body burns in a day, including everything from breathing and digestion to walking and training. It is the single most important number for anyone trying to lose fat, gain muscle, or maintain their current physique.
Our calculator first estimates your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) using the trusted Mifflin-St Jeor equation, then multiplies it by an activity factor to arrive at your TDEE.
Once you know your TDEE, adjusting your goals is straightforward. To lose fat, eat below your TDEE (a 300–500 calorie deficit is sustainable). To build muscle, eat slightly above it (a 200–400 calorie surplus limits fat gain). To maintain, eat right at your TDEE.
Calories decide whether you gain or lose weight, but protein decides how much of that change is muscle versus fat. After finding your calorie target here, head to our Protein Calculator to set your daily protein goal, then use the 1RM Calculator to program your lifts.