Daily Calorie Calculator

TDEE stands for Total Daily Energy Expenditure. It is the total number of calories you burn in a given day. Your TDEE is determined by four key factors:

1. Basal Metabolic Rate
2. Thermic Effect of Food
3. Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis
4. Thermic Effect of Activity (Exercise)

BMR stands for Basal Metabolic Rate, which is the number of calories your body burns each day to keep you alive. BMR does not include physical activity, the process of digestion (Thermic Effect of Food), or things like walking from one room to another(Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis). Basically, BMR is the number of calories your body would expend in a 24 hour period if all you did was lay in bed all day long. This is the absolute bare minimum of calories it takes to ensure your survival.

Source: Rob Kaufman on SteelFit®.
Read the full article.

Figuring out your total daily energy expenditure begins with calculating your BMR as it contributes the biggest portion of your TDEE.

Calculating Basal Metabolic Rate

The most popular way to calculate it is using the Harris-Benedict Equation, which takes into account age, height, and weight.

Here’s a step-by-step guide to calculate your BMR using the Harris-Benedict Equation:

• Women BMR = 655 + (9.6 X weight in kg) + (1.8 x height in cm) – (4.7 x age in yrs)
• Men BMR = 66 + (13.7 X weigh t in kg) + (5 x height in cm) – (6.8 x age in yrs)

To assist in figuring out the TDEE, researchers have determined a set of "activity multipliers", known as the Katch-McArdle multipliers.

To calculate your approximate TDEE, simply multiply these activity factors by your BMR:

• Sedentary (little to no exercise + work a desk job) = 1.2
• Lightly Active (light exercise 1-3 days / week) = 1.375
• Moderately Active (moderate exercise 3-5 days / week) = 1.55
• Very Active (heavy exercise 6-7 days / week) = 1.725
• Extremely Active (very heavy exercise, hard labor job, training 2x / day) = 1.9

It’s important to stress that these equations and activity multipliers provide AN ESTIMATE for your daily calorie requirements. That is, your actual TDEE could be a little higher or lower than the number you calculate when you use the formula. But, it should be fairly close, and at the very least, it gives you a rough idea of where to start when figuring out a meal plan and setting your goals.

Source: Rob Kaufman on SteelFit®.
Read the full article.

If you want to lose fat, you need to eat fewer calories than your TDEE. Doing so forces your body to use its fat stores to compensate for the calories you’re not consuming each day.

If you want to gain muscle mass, you must be in a caloric surplus. Coupled with a rigorous training program, those extra calories will be put to building new muscle.

For Fat Loss

To lose fat, it is recommend using a caloric deficit of 20%.

At a 600 daily calorie deficit, You would lose a little over half kilo per week, as half kilo of fat equals approximately 3500 calories.

Muscle Gain

Gaining muscle, requires consuming more calories than your body expends on a daily basis. When combined with a training program, a caloric surplus provides the nutrients needed to build muscle.

To build muscle and limit fat gain, you need to consume roughly 200-300 calories above your TDEE.

So, for example if your TDEE was 2990 you would need to consume between 3190-3290 calories per day to gain muscle.

Source: Rob Kaufman on SteelFit®.
Read the full article.

This website was created for educational purposes only, as the Milestone Project 2 for the Code Institute Bootcamp.

It is a Daily TDEE Calculator built using Javascript with jQuery HTML, and CSS with Bootstrap.

You can find more information about this project on the project Readme page.