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MacroTrack is the same engine plus fast logging — barcode scanner, multi-source food database, and a dashboard with no ads and no guilt. Free tier stays free.
TDEE is estimated in two steps. First your BMR (basal metabolic rate — what you'd burn in a coma) from the Mifflin-St Jeor equation, the formula with the best accuracy record for the general population:
BMR = 10 × weight(kg) + 6.25 × height(cm) − 5 × age + (male: +5, female: −161)If you enter a body-fat %, the calculator switches to Katch-McArdle, which works from lean body mass instead — more accurate for lean or muscular people, whom population formulas underestimate:
BMR = 370 + 21.6 × LBM(kg) where LBM = weight × (1 − bodyfat%)Then BMR is multiplied by an activity factor to get TDEE:
| Level | Looks like | × |
|---|---|---|
| Sedentary | Desk job, little exercise | 1.2 |
| Light | Training 1–3 days/week | 1.375 |
| Moderate | Training 3–5 days/week | 1.55 |
| Active | Training 6–7 days/week | 1.725 |
| Very active | Physical job plus training | 1.9 |
Most people overestimate here. Lifting 4 days a week with a desk job is moderate, not very active — an hour in the gym burns less than the multiplier gap implies.
Most calculators subtract a flat 500 kcal for weight loss. That's too aggressive for a 130 lb woman and too timid for a 260 lb man. This calculator scales the deficit to your body weight — a moderate cut targets 0.75% of body weight per week (relaxed 0.5%, aggressive 1%), converted to a daily deficit via the ~7,700 kcal per kg of body fat approximation, then capped at 30% of TDEE so it never prescribes a crash diet. Bulking adds a fixed 200–500 kcal surplus, because muscle protein synthesis can't productively use more — bigger surpluses mostly add fat.
Protein is set from evidence-based ranges (2.3 g/kg on a cut to protect muscle, 1.8 at maintenance, 2.0 on a bulk — computed on lean mass when body-fat % is known), fat never drops below 0.7 g/kg for hormone health, and carbs fill the remainder. These are the same defaults the MacroTrack app uses.
Any formula is a starting estimate — real TDEEs vary maybe ±10% around it. The honest workflow: eat at the calculated number for 2–3 weeks, weigh daily, average weekly, and adjust by how your actual trend compares to the predicted one. A tracking app exists to close exactly that loop.
BMR is what your body burns at complete rest. TDEE adds everything else — moving, digesting, training, fidgeting. You should eat around TDEE to maintain, below it to lose, above it to gain. Never target your BMR as an intake goal.
If you have a credible body-fat estimate (DEXA, or an honest visual estimate), Katch-McArdle — it accounts for the fact that muscle burns more than fat. If your body-fat guess is a wild shrug, Mifflin-St Jeor is safer: a bad LBM input hurts Katch-McArdle more than population averaging hurts Mifflin.
No — that's what the activity multiplier already covers. Eating back watch-estimated workout burns double-counts them, and wrist estimates run high anyway. Pick the multiplier that matches your week and keep the target fixed.
Whenever your weight changes by roughly 5 lb / 2–3 kg, or your training volume genuinely changes. On a long cut your TDEE drifts downward as you get lighter — recalculating keeps the deficit honest.
Estimates for healthy adults, for informational purposes — not medical advice. Consult a professional before large calorie changes, especially with a history of disordered eating.