What is TDEE?
Your Total Daily Energy Expenditure or TDEE is an estimate of how many calories you burn per day after taking into account three major contributing factors: your basal metabolic rate (BMR), activity level, and the thermic effect of food metabolism.
In simple words, TDEE is the total energy that a person uses in a day.
Factors Affecting TDEE
The number of calories you burn each day is as individual as you are. For instance, my TDEE can still look different from someone my age with the same weight.
Factors that affect your TDEE include:
- Basal Metabolic Rate.
- Thermic Effect of Food.
- Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis
- Thermic Effect of Activity (Exercise)
Basal Metabolic Rate
The number of calories you burn as your body performs basic life-sustaining functions such as breathing, circulation, and digestion is known as your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR). This comprises the largest portion of most people’s TDEE.
Thermic Effect of Food
The amount of energy required by your body to digest, absorb, and metabolize the food you eat is referred to as the TEF or thermic effect of food. TEF contributes to your daily calorie expenditure and accounts for about 10% of the caloric intake of healthy adults eating a varied and balanced diet.
Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis
The energy expended for everything we do that is not sleeping, eating, or exercising is referred to as non-exercise activity thermogenesis or NEAT. It includes the energy you spend while walking to work, typing, doing yard work, doing household chores, fidgeting, and taking the stairs.
Exercise Activity Thermogenesis
This refers to the number of calories you burn when you’re purposely trying to break a sweat. EAT typically accounts for 5% to 10% of a person’s metabolism.
How TDEE Affects Weight Loss
Your TDEE is simply the number of calories required to complete your basic daily activities multiplied by your BMR. You will maintain your current weight if your calorie intake equals your TDEE. If you consume fewer calories than your TDEE, you will lose weight and reveal more lean body mass.
What is my TDEE? (Calculating TDEE)
You can’t expect to find an accurate result that actually matches your qualities just by typing “what is my TDEE” on the search bar. But don’t worry, there is an easy formula you can try.
Calculations for the thermic effect of food as well as the non-exercise and exercise factors can be extremely tedious, and the equations to model the caloric expenditure each requires aren’t the most reliable.
Fortunately, you don’t have to spend hours solving hard calculations. A set of activity multipliers, known as the Katch-McArdle multipliers, can help you solve your TDEE in the most simple yet accurate way.
Assess how active you are when it comes to physical exercises and refer to your respective activity multiplier (a number that represents different levels of activity):
Sedentary (If you rarely exercise)
BMR x 1.2
Light (If you exercise one to three days per week )
BMR x 1.3
Moderate (If you exercise 3 to 5 days per week)
BMR x 1.55
Heavy (If you exercise 6 to 7 days per week)
BMR x 1.725
Extra active (If you have a highly physical job, exercise 2 or more times per day, or train for a marathon, or triathlon)
BMR x 1.9
Tips for Boosting TDEE
Since the result of your BMR (one of the most important TDEE factors) is usually out of your control because it takes into account your age and height, changing your physical activity level is the simplest way to change your TDEE. Try to engage in more physical activities every day to increase your daily energy expenditure.
