TDEE by Activity Calculator
Calculate your Total Daily Energy Expenditure separately for rest days and training days, in metric or imperial.
Tailored calorie targets for each.
TDEE stands for Total Daily Energy Expenditure — the calories your body burns in a full day, including rest, movement, and digestion. Most calorie calculators give you a single TDEE number assuming the same activity every day. This one is different: it computes TDEE separately for rest days and training days, because your real-world calorie burn shifts dramatically depending on whether you trained that day.
This matters most for people who train hard 3-5 days a week. Eating the same calories every day means you’re either over-fed on rest days or under-fed on training days.
How It’s Calculated
Step 1 — BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate) using the Mifflin-St Jeor equation:
Men: BMR = (10 × weight kg) + (6.25 × height cm) − (5 × age) + 5 Women: BMR = (10 × weight kg) + (6.25 × height cm) − (5 × age) − 161
Step 2 — Apply two activity multipliers (also called PAL, Physical Activity Level), one for each day type:
- Rest day TDEE = BMR × rest-day multiplier
- Training day TDEE = BMR × training-day multiplier
Multipliers used:
| Day Type | Multiplier | What it represents |
|---|---|---|
| Sedentary rest | 1.2 | Desk work, no exercise that day |
| Light rest | 1.375 | Walking, errands, minor activity |
| Moderate training | 1.55 | Gym session, jogging, sports practice |
| Intense training | 1.725 | Heavy lifting, HIIT (High-Intensity Interval Training), tough conditioning |
| Very intense | 1.9 | Athlete-level training, two-a-day sessions |
Step 3 — Weekly average assumes a typical 4-rest-day, 3-training-day split:
Weekly average TDEE = (rest TDEE × 4 + training TDEE × 3) ÷ 7
Calorie Targets by Goal
The numbers from this calculator are your maintenance levels. Adjust based on your goal:
- Weight loss (sustainable): maintenance − 300 to 500 kcal/day on each day type
- Aggressive cut: maintenance − 500 to 1,000 — harder to sustain
- Maintenance: match the day type
- Lean muscle gain: maintenance + 200 to 300 on training days; maintenance on rest days
This last one is the calorie cycling strategy — eat slightly above maintenance on training days when your body can use the surplus to build muscle, eat at maintenance on rest days when extra calories tend to become fat.
Worked Example
35-year-old woman. 68 kg (150 lb). 165 cm (5'5"). Rest days: light (×1.375). Training days: intense (×1.725).
- BMR = (10 × 68) + (6.25 × 165) − (5 × 35) − 161 = 1,375 kcal/day
- Rest day TDEE: 1,375 × 1.375 = ~1,890 kcal
- Training day TDEE: 1,375 × 1.725 = ~2,372 kcal
- Weekly average (4 rest + 3 train): ~2,096 kcal/day
For a 0.5 kg/week loss, target ~1,400 kcal on rest days and ~1,870 on training days. The 470-kcal swing matches what your body is actually doing.
Honest Caveats
Calorie cycling is more nuanced than the 3-vs-4 split assumes. Your actual training day burn depends on session length and intensity (a 90-minute heavy lifting session burns far more than a 30-minute jog). Treat these numbers as a starting point. If your weight is moving faster or slower than expected after 2 to 3 weeks, adjust by 100 to 200 kcal.
Going below 1,200 kcal/day (women) or 1,500 (men) for sustained periods isn’t safe — you risk muscle loss, hormonal disruption, and metabolic adaptation.