How to Find Your TDEE

The single biggest factor that determines weight loss is your calorie balance. Weight loss occurs when you burn more calories than you consume.

But how do you know how many calories you need on a daily basis? This question is a little harder to answer as many factors will affect your calorie needs. The simplest way to get an accurate number is to calculate your Total Daily Energy Expenditure.

Keep in mind that your TDEE is not a hard and fast law to abide by. Your TDEE will be an estimate, but it gives you a fantastic starting point for losing weight.

What’s Your TDEE & Why Does It Matter?

Let’s start by first defining some terms.

TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure): Your TDEE is the number of calories you consume on a daily basis. The number starts with your basal metabolic rate and adds your activity level to get a good estimate for how many calories you burn daily. I personally like this TDEE calculator.

Basal metabolic rate: This is the number of calories your body needs in order to perform simple, life-sustaining tasks. Without calories, your body wouldn’t be able to break down nutrients, produce cells, breathe, or circulate blood. Not a place you want to be.

Once you know your TDEE, you then know what you need to do to accomplish your fitness goals.

Ways To Calculate TDEE

There are several ways to get your TDEE. If you don’t like using online calculators or need a way to calculate TDEE on the go, you can use a formula.

If you have a little bit of extra money and want precise information, you can pay a lab to calculate your TDEE.

MIFFLIN ST. JEOR EQUATION
Men: 10 x weight (kg) + 6.25 x height (cm) - 5 x age (y) + 5
Women: 10 x weight (kg) + 6.25 x height (cm) - 5 x age (y) - 161

(Note: this number is your BMR, multiply by your activity level to get TDEE)

• Sedentary (little to no exercise) BMR x 1.2
• Lightly Active (light exercise/sports 1-3 days/week) BMR x 1.375
• Moderately Active (moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days/week) BMR x 1.55
• Very Active (hard exercise/sports 6-7 days a week) BMR x 1.725
• Extremely Active (very heavy exercise/ physical job/ training twice a day) BMR x 1.9

If all of this seems like too much work, you can use an online calculator to get a rough estimate of your TDEE.

Next Steps

Once you know your TDEE you need to determine your fitness goals.

The amount of calories you consume depends upon your goals. Do you want to lose weight, gain muscle, or maintain your current figure?

In order to gain weight, you must take in more calories than you burn. In order to lose weight, you must burn more calories than you take in.

Next, we are going to talk about how to actually go about gaining and losing weight.

SOURCES
B. (2017, December 15). Calculate Your Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE)! Retrieved from https://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/calculate-your-total-daily-energy-expenditure-tdee.html

Frey, M. (n.d.). How to Change Your Basal Metabolic Rate for Weight Loss. Retrieved from https://www.verywellfit.com/what-is-bmr-or-basal-metabolic-rate-3495380

Writers, T. (2018, August 30). TDEE Calculator - How Many Calories Do You Burn Per Day? Retrieved from https://www.tigerfitness.com/articles/post/tdee-calculator-total-daily-energy-expenditure/