TDEE and macro calculator
Estimate how many calories you burn in a day, then get a protein, carbohydrate and fat target for cutting, maintaining or building.
| BMR — at complete rest | — |
|---|---|
| TDEE — what you burn in a day | — |
| Target for your goal | — |
| Protein | — |
| Fat | — |
| Carbohydrate | — |
What TDEE actually means
Total daily energy expenditure is everything your body spends in 24 hours. It has four parts:
- BMR — what you would burn lying still all day. Usually 60–70% of the total.
- NEAT — walking, fidgeting, standing, chores. Varies enormously between people, sometimes by hundreds of calories a day.
- Exercise — deliberate training. Almost always a smaller share than people expect.
- Thermic effect of food — the energy used digesting. Roughly 10% of intake, higher for protein.
Palarid uses the Mifflin-St Jeor equation for BMR, which is the one that performs best in validation studies for the general population, then applies an activity multiplier.
Choosing your activity multiplier honestly
| Level | Multiplier | What it really means |
|---|---|---|
| Sedentary | 1.2 | Desk job, little walking, no training |
| Light | 1.375 | Light exercise 1–3 days a week |
| Moderate | 1.55 | Training 3–5 days, reasonably active otherwise |
| Active | 1.725 | Hard training 6–7 days, or a physical job |
| Very active | 1.9 | Physical job and hard daily training |
Most people overestimate here. Three gym sessions a week with a desk job and a car is "light", not "moderate". If in doubt, pick the lower option — you can always adjust upward once you have real data.
Setting a target
Fat loss
A deficit of roughly 15–20% below maintenance is a widely used range. That is typically 0.5–1% of bodyweight lost per week. Larger deficits lose more lean mass, are harder to stick to, and rarely produce a better outcome by the end.
Maintenance
Eat at the estimate and adjust until weekly average weight is flat over a month. This is genuinely useful after a diet, and most people skip it.
Muscle gain
A surplus of about 10% is usually enough. Gaining faster than roughly 0.25–0.5% of bodyweight per week mostly adds fat, especially for anyone past their first year or two of training.
Macros
- Protein — around 1.6 g per kg bodyweight for people doing resistance training, up to about 2.2 g/kg when in a deficit. Above that the evidence shows little added benefit.
- Fat — at least about 0.6 g/kg to support hormone production. Going very low on fat for long periods is unpleasant and unnecessary.
- Carbohydrate — whatever remains. Carbs are the lever you adjust; they fuel training and make the diet liveable.
Total calories decide whether weight goes up or down. Macros decide what the weight change is made of and how you feel while it happens.
Weight, height, age and targets are stored in your browser only. Palarid has no account system and no server-side record of your health figures.
Use it as a starting point, not a verdict
Every equation of this kind is a population average applied to an individual. Real TDEE varies by 10–15% or more from the estimate, largely because NEAT differs so much between people. The reliable method is:
- Eat at the estimate for two to three weeks.
- Weigh yourself under consistent conditions and use the weekly average.
- If the trend is not moving as intended, adjust by roughly 100–200 kcal and repeat.
After one cycle of that you know your actual maintenance, which is worth more than any calculator.
Common questions
Why did I gain 1.5 kg overnight?
Water, glycogen, salt and food still in transit. Fat gain of 1.5 kg would require an extra ~11,000 calories. Weekly averages exist precisely because daily readings are noise.
Should I eat back exercise calories?
If you selected an activity multiplier, exercise is already included — adding tracker calories on top double-counts, and wearable estimates for calorie burn are known to be unreliable.
Is this medical advice?
No. This is a general fitness estimate. If you are pregnant, under 18, have an eating disorder history, diabetes, kidney disease, or are on medication affected by diet, speak to a GP or registered dietitian before changing your intake. If food or weight is causing you distress, Beat runs free UK eating-disorder helplines — England 0808 801 0677, Scotland 0808 801 0432, Wales 0808 801 0433, Northern Ireland 0808 801 0434, open 3pm–8pm Monday to Friday. Beat is not a crisis service: for urgent help call 111, or 999 if someone is in immediate danger.
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