Your basal metabolic rate is what you burn doing nothing at all. Multiply it by how much you move and you get the number every diet actually runs on.
Your calories appear here
Fill in the form and hit calculate.BMR (basal metabolic rate) is the energy your body burns at complete rest to keep your heart beating, lungs working and brain running. For most adults it accounts for 60–70% of daily energy use.
TDEE (total daily energy expenditure) is BMR multiplied by an activity factor — it includes your training, your walking, your fidgeting and the energy cost of digesting food. TDEE is the number you eat against.
Men: (10 × weight kg) + (6.25 × height cm) − (5 × age) + 5
Women: (10 × weight kg) + (6.25 × height cm) − (5 × age) − 161
Published in 1990, Mifflin-St Jeor replaced the older Harris-Benedict equation and has been the most accurate predictive formula for non-obese and obese adults in validation studies since. Expect it to land within about 10% of your true rate.
| Level | Multiplier | Who this is |
|---|---|---|
| Sedentary | × 1.2 | Desk job, no structured exercise |
| Lightly active | × 1.375 | 1–3 training sessions a week |
| Moderately active | × 1.55 | 3–5 sessions a week |
| Very active | × 1.725 | 6–7 sessions a week |
| Athlete | × 1.9 | Two sessions a day, or a physical job |
Most people overestimate here. Three gym sessions a week plus a desk job is lightly to moderately active, not very active.
Treat the output as a starting point, not a law. Track your weight for two weeks at the same intake. If it is not moving the way you expect, adjust by 100–150 kcal and hold again. Your body's response is better data than any equation.