Calculate TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure)
TDEE is the total number of calories your body burns in 24 hours. It's THE baseline for adjusting your diet, whether you want to lose, maintain, or gain weight.
You know your TDEE — now what?
FoodCraft uses your TDEE to automatically adapt every recipe to your needs. No more manual calculations.
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What exactly is TDEE?
TDEE is your daily calorie budget. Your body spends calories on three things: basal metabolic rate (breathing, digesting, heart beating — 60 to 75% of your expenditure), the thermic effect of food (digesting what you eat — about 10%), and physical activity (everything that moves — the only part you truly control).
Essentially, if you eat exactly your TDEE every day, your weight won't change. Eat below, you lose. Eat above, you gain. It's as simple as that.
The Mifflin-St Jeor formula
We use the Mifflin-St Jeor (1990) formula, recognized as the most reliable by recent studies.
Male: BMR = (10 × weight in kg) + (6.25 × height in cm) - (5 × age) + 5 Female: BMR = (10 × weight in kg) + (6.25 × height in cm) - (5 × age) - 161
Then, we multiply by an activity coefficient: sedentary (×1.2), lightly active (×1.375), moderately active (×1.55), active (×1.725), or very active (×1.9).
Example: a man weighing 80 kg, 180 cm tall, 30 years old, who trains 4 times a week → BMR ≈ 1,780 kcal → TDEE ≈ 2,759 kcal/day.
The 3 classic mistakes
Overestimating your activity. This is the #1 pitfall. Do you do 3 weightlifting sessions but sit for 10 hours a day? You are probably "lightly active," not "moderately active." When in doubt, choose the level below.
Treating TDEE as an exact number. It's an estimate with a margin of ±200 kcal. Use it as a starting point and adjust after 2-3 weeks based on your actual results (weight, energy, performance).
Forgetting to recalculate. Your TDEE changes when your weight, age, or activity changes. Lost 5 kg? Your TDEE has dropped. Recalculate every month.