TDEE Calculator
Work out how many calories you burn in a day, and what to eat to cut, hold or gain. No account needed.
Your numbers
Unlocks Katch-McArdle and Cunningham, which work from lean mass.
Enter your details to see your daily burn
Forte knows what you actually did
A calculator has to guess how hard you train. Forte logs every set, so the training half of your daily burn is measured, not estimated.
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How it works
TDEE — total daily energy expenditure — is what you burn in a whole day: your BMR (what your body spends keeping you alive at rest) multiplied by how active the rest of your day is. Every calculator on the internet does the same two steps; the difference is which BMR formula it uses, so this one shows all five and lets you pick.
Mifflin-St Jeor (Mifflin & St Jeor, 1990) is the default and the one most dietitians reach for — it was fitted on modern bodies and is usually within about 10 % for people who are not very lean or very heavy. Harris-Benedict (Harris & Benedict 1919, revised by Roza & Shizgal, 1984) is the older standard, revised coefficients and all; it tends to read a little higher. Schofield (1985) is the WHO/FAO/UNU table — weight and an age band only, no height. Katch-McArdle (1996) and Cunningham (1980) work from lean body mass rather than total weight, which is why they only appear once you enter a body-fat percentage; for a lean, muscular lifter they are usually the closest of the five.
Activity multipliers. Sedentary ×1.2 (desk job, little exercise) · Light ×1.375 (1–3 days a week) · Moderate ×1.55 (3–5 days a week) · Active ×1.725 (6–7 days a week) · Very active ×1.9 (hard daily training or a physical job). Pick the one that describes your whole week, not your best week — most people over-rate this, which is the single biggest reason a TDEE estimate comes out too high.
Macros.Cut takes 20 % off the selected formula’s TDEE and bulk adds 10 %. Protein starts at 1.8 g per kg of bodyweight — the middle of the 1.6–2.2 g/kg range the evidence supports for people training hard — and you can move it. Fat is set at 25 % of the target’s calories, and carbohydrate is whatever is left. If protein and fat already spend the whole target, carbs show 0 g and the card says so; that is a sign the target is too aggressive for that much protein, not a plan to follow.
These are estimates, not medical advice. Every formula here is a population average, and real people sit either side of it — thyroid function, medication, sleep, NEAT and how much you fidget all move the number. Treat it as a starting point, track your weight for two or three weeks, and adjust from what actually happens. If you are managing a medical condition, are pregnant, or are eating below about 1,200 kcal a day, talk to a doctor or a registered dietitian first. See our disclaimer.