Glossary
Total Daily Energy Expenditure
Updated March 4, 2026
Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE) is the sum of calories you burn each day.
Components
| Component | What it is | Typical share |
|---|---|---|
| RMR/BMR | Resting energy | 60-75% |
| TEF | Energy to digest food | ~10% |
| EAT | Planned exercise | 0-20% |
| NEAT | All other movement | 10-30% |
Treat RMR/BMR as the base, then add behavior-driven components:
| Variable | What changes it | Typical source |
|---|---|---|
| NEAT | work style, standing time, fidget patterns | usually biggest day-to-day source of drift |
| EAT | training volume and intensity | can jump in short cycles |
| TEF | protein density and meal frequency | lower meal volume may reduce this share |
| External load | stress, weather, travel, heat | often hidden in user reports |
Example
TDEE ≈ RMR + TEF + EAT + NEAT. If RMR is 1,600, TEF 160, EAT 300, NEAT 400, TDEE ≈ 2,460 kcal/day.
In practice, treat resting metabolic rate (RMR) as the stable base and NEAT as the most variable component, with exercise captured as active calories.
Troubleshooting conflicting signals
| Symptom | Likely driver | Correction method |
|---|---|---|
| Weight stable but performance falling | NEAT undercount or sleep debt | tighten sleep and non-exercise activity first |
| Weight trend down while calorie logs flat | tracking drift and activity overestimation | audit logging cadence and device assumptions |
| Fat loss stalls but recovery feels worse | deficit too tight or missing fat intake | raise maintenance estimate by 5-10% and monitor |
| TDEE estimate jumps quickly without behavior change | stress, illness, or reduced training quality | hold target, collect 7 to 10 day average |
Recalculation rules
Rebuild your estimate when you see persistent mismatch for 2 to 3 weeks:
- body weight trend and waist trend conflict with assumed training output
- sleep and stress signals remain poor despite good adherence
- step or session counts increase but TDEE model does not move
When recalculating, update one component at a time and keep the rest fixed for the first cycle.