LogmaTDEE stands for total daily energy expenditure. It is the number of calories your body burns in a day, including everything from your resting metabolism to the walk to your car to your workout.
Once you know your TDEE, weight loss and weight gain stop being guesswork. You eat below it to lose fat, at it to maintain, or above it to build muscle.
This post walks through what TDEE actually includes, how to calculate it step by step, and how to use the number without overthinking it.
What TDEE actually includes
TDEE is not just “calories burned during exercise.” It is four things added together.
- BMR (basal metabolic rate): the energy your body uses at rest, just to keep your heart beating, your lungs breathing, and your cells running.
- NEAT (non exercise activity thermogenesis): fidgeting, walking around the house, standing at your desk, all the movement that is not a workout.
- TEF (thermic effect of food): the energy your body spends digesting what you eat, usually about 10 percent of intake.
- Exercise activity: structured workouts, runs, lifting sessions, sports.
For most people, BMR is the biggest single piece, often 60 to 75 percent of TDEE. That is why the calculation starts there.
Two people can have very different TDEEs even at the same weight. A tall, muscular, active 25 year old and a shorter, sedentary 55 year old at the same body weight can differ by 600 to 800 kcal a day. That gap is exactly why a generic “eat 2000 calories” rule of thumb fails so many people, and why calculating your own number is worth the five minutes it takes.
How to calculate your TDEE
The standard method has two steps: find your BMR, then multiply it by an activity factor.
Step 1: calculate BMR with the Mifflin St Jeor equation
This is the most widely used formula and it holds up well across body types.
Men: BMR = 10 x weight(kg) + 6.25 x height(cm) minus 5 x age(years), plus 5. Women: BMR = 10 x weight(kg) + 6.25 x height(cm) minus 5 x age(years), minus 161.
Plug in your numbers in kilograms and centimeters, not pounds and inches, or the result will be off.
Step 2: multiply by your activity multiplier
Your BMR is what you would burn if you stayed in bed all day. The activity multiplier scales it up to reflect how much you actually move.
| Activity level | Description | Multiplier |
|---|---|---|
| Sedentary | Desk job, little to no exercise | 1.2 |
| Light | Light exercise 1 to 3 days a week | 1.375 |
| Moderate | Moderate exercise 3 to 5 days a week | 1.55 |
| Very active | Hard exercise 6 to 7 days a week | 1.725 |
| Extra active | Very hard training or a physical job | 1.9 |
TDEE equals BMR multiplied by your activity multiplier.
So a 30 year old woman who weighs 65 kg, is 165 cm tall, and does light exercise a few times a week would calculate a BMR around 1370 kcal, then multiply by 1.375 for a TDEE close to 1884 kcal. That is her rough maintenance number before any adjustment for a goal.
If doing this by hand feels like a chore, use the free calorie calculator. It runs the same math and gives you a daily target in seconds.
Picking the right activity multiplier
This is where most people get their TDEE wrong. Not the equation, the multiplier.
Be honest about your actual week, not your best week. If you exercise three times but sit at a desk the other four days, you are light to moderate, not very active. Most people who guess pick a multiplier that is too high.
If you are unsure, start one level lower than you think you are. You can always adjust after two weeks of tracking real results against the number.
What to do with your TDEE number
Your TDEE is a maintenance number. From there, the plan depends on your goal.
- To lose fat: eat 15 to 25 percent below TDEE, which usually lands around a 500 kcal daily deficit. That is roughly 0.5 kg of fat loss a week, since a kilogram of body fat is about 7700 kcal. For the full math on sizing a deficit, see our post on calorie deficit explained.
- To maintain weight: eat at your TDEE.
- To build muscle: eat 5 to 15 percent above TDEE, paired with resistance training and enough protein. If you want the protein math, our protein per kg guide covers RDA versus muscle building targets.
Whatever the goal, TDEE is an estimate, not a guarantee. Treat it as a starting point and adjust based on what the scale actually does over two to three weeks.
Why your real TDEE drifts from the formula
Mifflin St Jeor gets you close, usually within about 10 percent for most people. But it cannot see your actual daily movement, your muscle mass, or how your metabolism responds to sustained dieting.
This is also why accurate logging matters more than a perfect formula. If you calculate a TDEE of 2200 but you are actually eating 2600 without realizing it, the number on the label was never wrong, your tracking was. Studies consistently show people underestimate how much they eat when they self report, often by a wide margin.
That is the real reason a fast logging method matters. If logging is annoying, you either skip meals or you eyeball portions, and both push your real intake away from what you think you are eating. Voice logging in Logma takes about 3 seconds per meal: you say what you ate, it estimates the calories and macros, and you move on. It will not fix a bad TDEE estimate, but it makes sure the intake side of the equation is actually the number you think it is.
Recalculating as things change
Your TDEE is not fixed. It changes as your weight changes, since a lighter body needs fewer calories to maintain itself. It also shifts with age, activity level, and how long you have been in a deficit.
Recalculate every 5 to 7 kg of weight change, or if your activity level shifts for more than a couple of weeks, like starting a new job or a new training block. If you have been dieting for a while and progress has stalled even though you are eating consistently, that is often your cue to redo the numbers rather than cut calories further right away.
FAQ
Is TDEE the same as maintenance calories?
Yes. TDEE and maintenance calories mean the same thing: the number of calories that keeps your weight stable over time.
Why does my TDEE feel too high or too low?
The Mifflin St Jeor equation is an estimate based on averages. Individual metabolism varies, so use the number as a starting point and adjust based on two to three weeks of real weight trend data.
Do I need to recalculate TDEE every week?
No. Weekly fluctuations are mostly water weight. Recalculate after a meaningful weight change, around 5 kg, or a real shift in activity level.
Does muscle mass change TDEE?
Yes. Muscle tissue burns more energy at rest than fat tissue, so two people at the same weight can have different BMRs depending on body composition.