What is TDEE, and how can it help you lose weight?

It’s a tale (read: fact) as old as time: Consuming fewer calories than you burn is crucial for weight loss. Knowing exactly how many calories you’re expending, though, can be tricky. That’s where TDEE comes in. 

What is TDEE, you ask? TDEE, or total daily energy expenditure, describes the number of calories you burn on a daily basis. It’s essentially a measure of your metabolism, factoring in how many calories you burn when you’re active, resting, and even digesting. In other words, TDEE represents the total energy needed to support your daily functions and activities and maintain your current weight. So, understanding this measurement can help you plan your calorie intake—and activity level—to reach your weight loss goals. 

Ahead, we take a closer look at TDEE and explain how to calculate it and use it as a tool in your weight loss journey. We even discuss methods to increase it. 

Short for total daily energy expenditure, TDEE is a measure of how many calories (or energy) your body burns (or expends) over a 24-hour period. Various factors can affect your TDEE, including your:

• Age

• Sex

• Height

• Weight

• Activity level

• Diet

• Body composition (i.e. proportion of body fat vs. fat-free mass, such as muscle and bones)

Many of these factors can change over time, and so can your TDEE. For example, after about age 60, your TDEE generally declines by nearly 1% each year. Older people may have less muscle mass and tend to experience hormonal changes that can slow their metabolism (think: menopause and low testosterone—both of which often accompany aging). 

Speaking of muscle, it’s more metabolically active than fat. Meaning it can burn more calories at rest (i.e. when you're relaxing). So, people who have more muscle mass may have a higher TDEE. 

In general, people who are older, have more body fat than muscle, and maintain a sedentary lifestyle tend to have a lower TDEE. On the other hand, people who are younger, more muscular, and more active tend to have a higher TDEE.

Your TDEE represents the total number of calories your body burns daily. This includes calories burned when resting (aka your resting energy expenditure, or REE) and when active (aka non-resting energy expenditure, or NREE).

Let's take a closer look at these two types of energy expenditures.

Resting energy expenditure (REE) 

Your resting energy expenditure, or REE, describes how many calories your body burns over a 24-hour period when at rest. “Resting” doesn’t necessarily mean you’re lounging on the couch watching TV. Rather, it describes your body in a state of absolute mental, physical, and digestive rest. Essentially, this is the baseline number of calories your body burns to run the vital functions that keep you alive, such as breathing and circulating blood.

You may also see REE referred to as your resting metabolic rate (RMR) or basal metabolic rate (BMR). Technically, BMR is the more accurate measure of metabolism, primarily determined by your fat-free mass (e.g. muscle, bone). It's slightly lower than RMR, which can be influenced by external factors such as stress or illness. While your age, sex, and genetics also play a role in your REE, your body composition—especially your fat-free mass—makes the biggest difference. 

Whatever you call it—RMR, BMR, or REE—your resting energy expenditure makes up the majority of your TDEE, accounting for around 60% of the measurement.

Non-resting energy expenditure (NREE) 

Then you have your non-resting energy expenditure, or NREE, which is the number of calories your body burns when active. In other words, your NREE is everything else that’s not factored into your REE. This includes both when you’re actively exercising as well as when you’re going about your daily activities, such as eating, walking, or talking. 

The more active you are, the more energy your body burns. People who live an active lifestyle, have an active job, or work out frequently tend to have a higher NREE than those who don’t exercise as much and have a sedentary lifestyle or job.

There are three main components of NREE: 

1. Thermic effect of food (TEF)

2. Exercise activity thermogenesis (EAT)

3. Non-exercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT)

Thermic effect of food (TEF): Also called diet-induced thermogenesis (DIT), TEF describes the number of calories your body burns simply through digesting the food you eat. In total, TEF makes up about 8–15% of your TDEE. 

Your body expends different amounts of energy to break down different macronutrients, the most important of which are protein, carbohydrates, and fats. Protein uses the most energy, while fat uses the least. Your body may burn about 20–30% of the calories from protein to digest protein itself. Meanwhile, it only burns about 5–10% of carbohydrate calories and 0–3% of fat calories when digesting those macros.

Exercise activity thermogenesis (EAT): The second component of NREE, EAT describes the number of calories your body burns when you’re actively exercising (think: purposely trying to increase your heart rate). The portion of your TDEE that EAT represents can vary widely depending on how much you work out. For example:

• If you exercise on a regular basis, EAT can make up 15–30% of your TDEE. 

• If you work out a few hours a week, it may only represent 1–2% of your TDEE. 

Non-exercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT): This describes the number of calories your body burns at any time other than rest. Basically, NEAT represents the energy burned through the physical activity of daily life: standing up, reading a book, talking on the phone, or walking around. It’s any form of activity that is not specifically structured exercise. 

Like EAT, NEAT’s portion of TDEE can vary widely based on the level of sedentariness of your lifestyle. For example:

• If you are more sedentary (e.g. work a desk job, sit down during most of the day), NEAT may only represent 6–10% of your TDEE. 

• If you maintain a super active lifestyle, NEAT can represent 50% of your TDEE.

There are a few different ways you can calculate your TDEE. One of the easiest ways is to use a TDEE calculator, such as the one offered by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK). But if you want to calculate it yourself, you can do that, too. You’ll need the following information:

• Sex

• Age

• Weight

• Height

• Typical activity level

Calculating TDEE is essentially a three-step process:

Step one: determine your BMR. Researchers have developed different formulas to calculate BMR, including the Harris-Benedict equation and the Mifflin-St Jeor equation. Of these, the Mifflin-St Jeor is considered to be the most reliable and the one most typically used today. Here’s the formula:

• Females: (10 X weight [kg]) + (6.25 X height [cm]) – (5 X age [years]) – 161

• Males: (10 X weight [kg]) + (6.25 X height [cm]) – (5 X age [years]) + 5

Step two: factor in activity level. Once you’ve performed that fun calculation, you’ll use an activity multiplier to calculate your TDEE based on your activity level. The activity multipliers can vary depending on the specific TDEE calculator and equation used, but they generally fall into ranges similar to the following:

• Completely sedentary (chair- or bed-bound): 1.2 

• Lightly active (seated job, little to no strenuous physical activity outside of work): 1.4–1.5

• Moderately active (seated job with some movement, maybe some physical activity outside of work): 1.6–1.7

• Active (standing job, physical activity outside of work): 1.8–1.9

• Very active (strenuous work, highly active outside of work): 2.0–2.4

When choosing an activity multiplier, consider your physical activity level at work or school as well as at home. 

Step three: calculate TDEE. Multiply your BMR by your activity level multiplier. So, if your BMR is 1,500 and you’re moderately active, your equation should look like this:

• 1500 X 1.6 = 2400 calories

TDEE calculator for weight loss

To calculate your TDEE for weight loss, you can use the NIDDK calculator. Click on “Switch to Expert Mode” to enter different goals, such as reducing the amount of calories consumed daily or increasing physical activity. 

The most straightforward way to lose weight is to consume fewer calories than you burn. This is why it can be helpful to know your TDEE, which is the amount of energy your body expends on a daily basis. Put another way, it’s the number of calories you must eat daily to maintain your current weight. So, if you’re trying to lose weight, you’ll need to eat fewer calories than your TDEE. 

But calorie counting isn’t everything and may not be sustainable long-term. That’s where increasing your NEAT and EAT can come into play. 

First, a reminder:

• NEAT is the energy you burn when not actively exercising, including the calories you burn while eating and living your life.

• EAT is the energy you burn when actively working out.

The more you work out, the more calories you can burn. And research shows that combining diet and exercise is the best way to achieve long-term weight loss and maintenance. Plus, if you’re exercising, you may not need to cut calories as drastically, which can make it easier to get sufficient nutrients and stick to your weight loss goals. 

Increasing your NEAT can also have a profound effect on your TDEE since it’s the energy you burn just going about your day. For example, one study found that switching to a desk chair that promotes fidgeting (such as one with a leg bar) can boost TDEE by as much as 30%.

Once you know your TDEE, you can use the information to lose weight faster. By increasing the calories burned during exercise and non-exercise time—your NEAT and EAT—you can increase your TDEE and burn more calories overall. 

Increase the amount and level of exercise

When you increase your EAT, you can increase the amount of calories burned on a daily basis, which can lead to weight loss. 

So, how do you boost your EAT? One way is to spend more time exercising, be it by adding another workout to your weekly routine or lengthening the duration of your current sessions. Another tactic is to level up the intensity of your workouts, such as by swapping light- or moderate-intensity workouts for high-intensity ones that allow for even more of a calorie burn. If you typically walk for exercise, you might trade one (or more) of your usual strolls for a run, bike, or hike. 

It’s also a good idea to dedicate some exercise time to strength training. Resistance exercises such as weight lifting build muscle. This can help you avoid muscle loss that can occur during weight loss, while also adding muscle to your body composition so that you burn more calories when at rest.

Move more throughout the day

Increasing your EAT can help you lose weight. But increasing your NEAT can be even more powerful since it’s what you spend most of your time doing. Adding more movement to your day may be easier than you think and doesn’t require formal exercise (although that helps, too). Try these tips:

• When you drive somewhere, park further away so you have to walk more to get there.

• Walk or bike instead of driving.

• Take the stairs over the elevator.

• When you’re doing a sedentary activity, such as working at the computer or watching TV, take regular breaks to stand up, walk around, or stretch.

• Do more chores around the house. 

• Transition sitting activities to walking ones. For example, if you usually sit while talking on the phone, go for a walk instead.

• Take up a new active hobby, such as pickleball or gardening.

• Use a standing or walking desk or a fidget-friendly chair.

Follow a healthy diet 

Changing up your diet is another way to use TDEE to lose weight. Eating more protein, for example, can help boost TEF since your body uses more energy to digest protein. Protein can also help you build more muscle and increase your metabolism—two additional factors that can contribute to higher TDEE and support weight loss over time. 

Consuming more nutritious foods in general can also help improve TEF. Opt for whole foods packed with protein, fiber, whole grains, vitamins, and minerals. Limit your intake of processed foods, alcohol, soda, and sugary drinks.

Short for total daily energy expenditure, TDEE is a metric that represents the calories burned on a daily basis. It’s made up of your resting energy expenditure (REE) and non-resting energy expenditure (NREE). REE makes up the bulk of TDEE, followed by TEF, EAT, and NEAT—the three components of NREE. And while you’ve made it to this point in the article, you may very well be wondering, “what do these all stand for again?”—after all, there have been a lot of acronyms thrown around. So, one more time for the folks in the back (aka everyone): 

• TDEE (total daily energy expenditure): number of calories your body needs to function daily and maintain its current weight 

• REE (resting energy expenditure): number of is the calories burned when resting (i.e. performing basic bodily functions) 

• NREE (non-resting energy expenditure): number of calories burned when active (i.e. working out as well as going about daily activities). It’s composed of the following three components.

• TEF (thermic effect of food): number of calories burned while digesting food 

• EAT (exercise activity thermogenesis): number of calories burned when actively exercising (think: purposely trying to increase your heart rate) 

• NEAT (non-exercise thermogenesis): number of calories burned through the physical activity of daily life

Once you know your TDEE, you can adjust your energy balance with more movement (both from dedicated exercise and throughout the day) and dietary changes to help lose weight. This may involve taking the intensity and/or duration of your workouts up a notch, finding opportunities to move and stand more during the day, and/or maintaining a healthy, balanced diet. But while TDEE can be a helpful tool during a weight loss journey, other evidence-based strategies—e.g. balanced nutrition, regular physical activity, getting ample sleep, etc.—are equally important for sustainable results. 

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Current version

November 13, 2024

Written by

Amelia Willson

Fact checked by

Raagini Yedidi, MD

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About the medical reviewer

Raagini Yedidi, MD

Raagini Yedidi, MD, is an internal medicine resident and medical reviewer for Ro.