Energy & TDEE
2,640
Maintenance calories
Personalized estimate
Personalized from your weight changes and food logs.
Your estimated maintenance energy breakdown on an average day.
1,690 cals
120 cals
350 cals
480 cals
BMR and TDEE describe different levels of energy use. BMR is a resting baseline. TDEE is the total across the day.
BMR
Basal metabolic rate is an estimate of the energy needed for basic functions at rest, such as breathing, circulation, and temperature regulation. In everyday tools, it is usually estimated from profile information such as age, height, and weight.
BMR is not a calorie target. Eating and daily life do not happen under basal laboratory conditions.
TDEE
Total daily energy expenditure includes the resting baseline plus movement, exercise, digestion, and other day-to-day energy use. It is the more relevant concept when deciding whether intake is around maintenance, below it, or above it.
TDEE is not fixed. It can differ between people with similar profiles and can change as bodyweight, routine, training, and other circumstances change.
Which number Zolt uses for your plan
Zolt sets calorie targets relative to its current TDEE estimate and your chosen goal. The BMR value can provide context in the details view, but it is not used as a stand-alone eating target.
Consistent nutrition and bodyweight history help Zolt make the estimate more personal than a profile-only calculator.
Read What is Adaptive TDEE? for the user-visible behavior and What makes a TDEE estimate reliable for the data-quality requirements.
When the number is new
A new account has less personal history. Treat the initial estimate as a starting point and focus on complete logging and regular weigh-ins. As Zolt has more usable history, the displayed estimate can update.
Do not manually force the number to match a wearable calorie estimate or a previous calculator without understanding the difference in method and data.
If BMR and TDEE look implausible
- Check age, height, weight, and unit settings.
- Confirm that recent weigh-ins belong to you and use the correct unit.
- Check nutrition completeness and skipped days.
- Review the date of the last TDEE update.
- Contact support if the profile and history are correct but the display is not.