This TDEE calculator for men estimates how many calories you burn in a typical day, based on your age, weight, height and activity level. It uses the Mifflin-St Jeor equation — the formula most commonly used by dietitians for adult men — and shows your result in both kilocalories (kcal) and kilojoules (kJ), because Australian food labels work in kJ.
Estimates only — this calculator uses a population formula and is not medical advice. Talk to your GP or an accredited dietitian before making significant changes to how you eat. See our Disclaimer page.
How This TDEE Calculator for Men Works
The calculator first estimates your basal metabolic rate (BMR) — the energy your body uses at complete rest — with the Mifflin-St Jeor equation for men: BMR = 10 × weight in kg + 6.25 × height in cm − 5 × age + 5. It then multiplies your BMR by an activity factor, from 1.2 for a sedentary week up to 1.9 for an athlete in heavy training, to give your total daily energy expenditure (TDEE). Eating around your TDEE is, on average, weight maintenance — this tool deliberately stops there and does not prescribe deficit or surplus targets.
Kilojoules are the unit on Australian nutrition panels, so both figures are shown. The conversion used is the standard one: 1 kcal = 4.184 kJ.
Choosing Your Activity Level Honestly
The activity multiplier is where most TDEE estimates go wrong, usually by being generous. A desk worker who trains hard three evenings a week is usually “lightly active” to “moderately active”, not “very active” — the multiplier covers your whole day, not just your workout hour. Tradies and men on their feet all day start from a higher base than office workers with the same training schedule. If you are between two levels, pick the lower one and compare the result against what a few weeks of consistent eating does to your weight; your own trend is a better guide than any formula.
What a TDEE Estimate Cannot Tell You
Mifflin-St Jeor is a population average. Two men with identical age, weight and height can differ meaningfully in real energy expenditure because of muscle mass, medical conditions, medications and plain individual variation. Treat the number as a starting estimate to test against reality, not as a measurement. If your weight is changing when you did not intend it to, or you are planning a significant change to how you eat, talk to your GP or an accredited dietitian — that conversation is exactly what this calculator is not a substitute for. For the food side of the picture, our chicken thigh nutrition guide shows how to read protein and energy figures on a real food, and our nutrition category collects the rest of our eating guides.
Related tool: Sleep Cycle Calculator — plan your bedtime and wake time around full 90-minute sleep cycles.