Guide
TDEE vs BMR: What's the Difference?
BMR and TDEE get mixed up all the time, and the mix-up can lead people to eat far too little. Here's what each one means and which number to plan your meals around.
BMR: the calories you burn doing nothing
BMR stands for basal metabolic rate. It's the energy your body uses just to stay alive if you lay in bed all day: breathing, pumping blood, keeping warm, running your brain and repairing cells. For most adults it's somewhere between 1,200 and 2,000 calories.
It mostly depends on your size, how much muscle you carry, your age and your sex. It doesn't include any movement at all.
TDEE: the calories you burn in a real day
TDEE means total daily energy expenditure. It adds everything on top of your BMR:
- Everyday movement like walking, cooking, standing and fidgeting
- Exercise such as gym sessions, sport or a run
- Digesting food, which uses about 10% of what you eat
Your TDEE is always higher than your BMR, usually by 20 to 70% depending on how active you are.
A quick example
| Person | BMR | Activity | TDEE |
|---|---|---|---|
| Woman, 30, 165 cm, 65 kg | ≈ 1,370 | Desk job, few steps | ≈ 1,640 |
| Same woman | ≈ 1,370 | Exercise 4 days a week | ≈ 2,120 |
| Man, 30, 178 cm, 80 kg | ≈ 1,770 | Desk job, few steps | ≈ 2,120 |
| Same man | ≈ 1,770 | Exercise 4 days a week | ≈ 2,740 |
BMR calculated with the Mifflin–St Jeor equation, multiplied by standard activity factors of 1.2 and 1.55.
Which number should you use?
Plan your eating around your TDEE. To maintain your weight, eat about your TDEE. To lose weight, eat a bit less than it, usually 300 to 500 calories less.
A common mistake is to eat at your BMR or below it to lose weight faster. For an active person that can mean a deficit of 700 to 1,000 calories a day, which often leads to hunger, low energy, lost muscle and, eventually, giving up.
How BMR is calculated
There are a few well-known formulas:
- Mifflin–St Jeor, the most widely used today and the default on this site
- Harris–Benedict, older and usually a little higher
- Katch–McArdle, which uses your lean body mass and needs your body fat percentage
You can compare all three side by side in the TDEE calculator. If you know your body fat, the lean body mass calculator uses Katch–McArdle and sets your protein from your lean mass.
Can you raise your BMR?
A little. Building muscle through strength training nudges it up, and staying active as you age slows the natural drop. But the biggest, fastest lever is your TDEE: walking more and moving more through the day can add hundreds of calories, far more than any change in BMR.
This article is general information, not medical advice. If you have a health condition, are pregnant or take regular medication, check with your doctor before changing how you eat.