Your Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE) is the number of calories you burn in a day. We calculate it from your Mifflin-St Jeor BMR multiplied by an activity factor.
Sample input: Weight (kg): 70, Height (cm): 175, Age (years): 30, Sex (1 = male, 0 = female): 1, Activity factor (1.2 sedentary to 1.9 extra active): 1.55
Your TDEE: 2556 (Maintenance calories)
As a moderately active person, you burn about 2556 calories per day in total. Eat roughly this many to maintain your current weight.
TDEE stands for Total Daily Energy Expenditure: the total calories your body uses in a day, including rest, digestion, and activity. It equals your basal metabolic rate multiplied by an activity factor.
We compute basal metabolic rate with the Mifflin-St Jeor equation, then multiply by a standard activity factor (1.2 sedentary up to 1.9 extra active), the convention used in Harris-Benedict and Mifflin-based calculators.
Equation-based TDEE is an estimate, typically within about 10 percent for most people. Real expenditure varies with body composition, genetics, and non-exercise movement, so use it as a starting point and adjust based on real weight changes over 2 to 3 weeks.
Eat near your TDEE to maintain weight. To lose weight, the CDC suggests a moderate deficit of roughly 500 calories per day for about 0.45 kg (1 lb) of loss per week; to gain, add a modest surplus.