What Is Daily Energy Need?
Definition
Daily Energy Need: The energy needed in a day to keep body weight steady: the energy used at rest plus the energy used in daily activity, in kcal per day.
Daily energy need, or total daily energy expenditure (TDEE), is the energy you need in a day to keep your weight steady. It covers the energy used at rest, the basal metabolic rate, and the energy of daily activity. Calculators estimate it by multiplying BMR by an activity factor. This page is general information, not medical advice.
Where it appears in the formulas
daily energy need = BMR × activity factor. The calorie calculator uses the factors of the American Council on Exercise (ACE): sedentary 1.2, lightly active 1.375, moderately active 1.55, very active 1.725, extremely active 1.9. The BMR comes from the Mifflin–St Jeor equation.
Calories or kilocalories?
What food labels and everyday speech call a calorie is a kilocalorie (kcal). The daily energy need is given in kcal per day too.