Daily Calorie Needs: How to Calculate BMR and TDEE

How do you calculate your daily calorie needs? First, calculate your BMR—the energy your body needs at rest—then multiply it by your PAL activity factor: BMR × PAL = TDEE. For a 35-year-old woman who is 165 cm tall and weighs 70 kg, the result is about 2160 kcal with a PAL of 1.55. For a 35-year-old man who is 180 cm tall and weighs 85 kg, it’s about 2800 kcal.

The equations may look intimidating, but they’re just multiplication and addition. Below, we’ll walk through them step by step, with examples and a PAL table. If you’d rather get your result right away, enter your details in the daily calorie needs calculator.

What’s the difference between BMR and TDEE?

BMR (basal metabolic rate) is the energy your body needs at rest—for breathing and the functioning of your heart, brain, and other organs. It’s roughly how much you burn lying on the couch all day.

TDEE (total daily energy expenditure) is everything you burn in a day: energy at rest plus walking, work, workouts, and all other activity. The calculation is simple: TDEE = BMR × PAL.

Both results are estimates, not measurements. Different equations give slightly different numbers, and activity is hard to capture perfectly with a single factor. Treat the result as a starting point, then check it against your weight.

How do you calculate BMR using the Mifflin-St Jeor equation?

This is one of the most widely used equations today. You’ll need your body weight in kilograms, height in centimeters, and age in years:

• Women: BMR = 10 × body weight + 6.25 × height - 5 × age - 161.
• Men: BMR = 10 × body weight + 6.25 × height - 5 × age + 5.

Example for a 35-year-old woman who is 165 cm tall and weighs 70 kg: 10 × 70 + 6.25 × 165 - 5 × 35 - 161 = about 1395 kcal BMR.

Watch your units—enter your height in meters instead of centimeters, and the result is useless. If two calculators show different numbers, that doesn’t necessarily mean there’s an error: they may use different equations or round differently.

How do you calculate BMR using the Harris-Benedict equation?

Harris-Benedict is an older equation that you’ll still find in many calculators. Here’s the revised version (weight in kilograms, height in centimeters, age in years):

• Women: BMR = 447.593 + 9.247 × body weight + 3.098 × height - 4.330 × age.
• Men: BMR = 88.362 + 13.397 × body weight + 4.799 × height - 5.677 × age.

An older version with different coefficients is also still around. Don’t mix them in one calculation—choose one version and stick with it.

For the woman in our example, the revised Harris-Benedict equation gives about 1455 kcal BMR, slightly more than Mifflin-St Jeor. That doesn’t mean either equation is wrong—both provide estimates, and neither replaces a measurement.

How do you choose a PAL value?

PAL describes all your activity throughout the day, not just your workouts. The values below are approximate—think of them as ranges, not rigid categories:

Eight hours at a desk and three workouts a week is different from working as a courier with the same workout schedule. Look at your whole day, not just your time at the gym.

If you’re unsure, choose a lower value and see how things go. Don’t raise your PAL just because one workout wore you out—one workout doesn’t represent your whole week.

Examples: calculating TDEE for a woman and a man

The examples below use the Mifflin-St Jeor equation and a PAL of 1.55:

In the second example, the BMR calculation looks like this: 10 × 85 + 6.25 × 180 - 5 × 35 + 5 = 1805 kcal. Multiplying by a PAL of 1.55 gives about 2800 kcal TDEE. For the woman in the table, it’s 1395 × 1.55, or about 2160 kcal TDEE.

Using the same data, the Harris-Benedict equation would give the woman about 1455 kcal BMR and about 2255 kcal TDEE, and the man about 1892 kcal BMR and about 2930 kcal TDEE. The takeaway? Choose one equation and stick with it instead of switching every few days in search of the most tempting number.

What should you do with your TDEE result?

If you want to maintain your weight, your TDEE is your starting point. If you want to lose weight, you usually subtract 300-500 kcal from it. Read our guide to the calorie deficit to learn how to do that sensibly. And to go from TDEE to a specific goal for weight loss, muscle gain, or maintenance, see our article on setting a calorie goal.

BMR isn’t a magic boundary below which your body stops working, but you also shouldn’t drastically cut calories on your own. A meal plan below 1200 kcal should be supervised by a specialist.

How can you check whether the calculation is right for you?

Your weight is the best calculator—as long as you look at the trend. For several weeks, log your food and weigh yourself under similar conditions, such as in the morning before breakfast. Compare weekly averages, not individual days. Body weight fluctuates due to factors including water, salt, and the menstrual cycle, so one jump on the scale doesn’t mean you’ve gained fat.

If your weight stays the same and you’re logging your food fairly consistently, your average calorie intake is close to your actual TDEE. If the trend differs noticeably from your plan for a longer period, adjust your estimate by a small amount and keep monitoring it. Our guide on how to count calories can help you log your food—remember to include drinks, add-ons, and serving sizes.

You can keep a food diary on your own or use EatSee, where you can add a meal by taking a photo, using voice logging, or writing a single sentence, and the app will compare it with your calorie goal. The meal analysis result is an estimate, so you can adjust it if needed by changing the serving size or description.

If you have diabetes, insulin resistance, kidney, thyroid, or heart disease; are pregnant or breastfeeding; have an eating disorder; are a child; or take medication, set your calorie goal with a doctor or dietitian. In these situations, a simple equation may not account for important individual needs.

This article is for informational purposes only and does not replace advice from a doctor or dietitian. Written by the EatSee editorial team. Editorial policy.