Maintenance Calories & TDEE

Your **Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR)** represents the minimum caloric count your body requires to maintain homeostatic cellular operations (heart rate, respiration, tissue regeneration, cellular transport) while at rest in a temperate environment. This calculator uses the Mifflin-St Jeor formula, widely recognized in clinical nutrition as a highly accurate baseline.

**Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE)** accounts for BMR adjusted by your average physical activity multiplier, yielding the total number of calories you burn daily. This multiplier factors in the energy cost of general movement and formal exercise routines.

Caloric Strategy:

• To Lose Weight: Maintain a caloric deficit (consuming less than your TDEE). A deficit of 500 kcal per day translates mathematically to approximately 0.5 kg of fat loss weekly.
• To Gain Weight (Lean Bulk): Consume a slight caloric surplus (typically 250-500 kcal over TDEE) combined with hypertrophy-based resistance training to optimize skeletal muscle synthesis rather than fat accumulation.
• To Maintain Weight: Consume calories matching your TDEE while balancing daily macro splits.