Body Comp TDEE Calculator: calories and protein from your lean mass
Type in two numbers from your DEXA, InBody, or Bod Pod report and how active you are. You get a resting burn, a daily burn, a calorie target, and a protein target, with the working shown.
Your numbers stay on your screen. Nothing is sent or saved.
What you need from your report
- Your weight
- Body fat % or lean mass
- A measured resting rate, if you have one
No scan yet? Pick "I don't have a scan yet" and use your height instead.
Your numbers from the report
Example: 172 lb, 128 lb lean mass, light exercise
- Lean mass from the report
- 128 lb
- Resting burn Katch-McArdle estimate
- cal a day
- Daily burn (TDEE) resting burn x 1.375
- cal a day
- Calorie target 335 under your daily burn, a 15% cut
- cal a day
- Protein target 1 g per lb of lean mass
- g a day
The cut stops at 500 calories, and the target never goes below your resting burn.
The working
Katch-McArdle: 370 + 21.6 x lean mass in kg
370 + 21.6 x 58.1 kg = 1,624
1,624 x 1.375 = 2,233. 2,233 - 335 = 1,898.
Inputs: weight 172 lb, lean mass 128 lb, light exercise 1 to 3 days a week.
Educational estimate. Talk to your doctor before a big change to how you eat or train.
A mark is an estimate until the rescan.
Where to find these numbers on your report
Labels change between machines and clinics. Match the words, not the position.
DEXA
- Weight
- Total Mass
- Lean mass
- Lean Mass, in the Total row
- Body fat %
- Total Body Fat % or Region % Fat
Some reports print grams: divide by 453.6 for pounds. A few providers add an estimated RMR; many DEXA reports have none, and the calculator does not need one.
InBody
- Weight
- Weight
- Lean mass
- Lean Body Mass
- Body fat %
- PBF (percent body fat)
Skeletal Muscle Mass (SMM) is a smaller number than lean mass, so do not enter it here. BMR is worked out from lean mass, not measured, so leave the resting rate box empty.
Bod Pod
- Weight
- Body Mass
- Lean mass
- Fat-Free Mass
- Body fat %
- % Fat
Estimated RMR is an estimate too, so leave the resting rate box empty.
A measured resting rate comes from a breath test in a mask or hood. If you never had one, leave that box empty. See each report drawn out
How the formulas work, and why lean mass
Muscle and organs burn most of what you use at rest; fat burns far less. So both formulas start from lean mass, not weight. Two people at 172 lb can sit about 200 calories a day apart at rest when one carries 20 more pounds of lean mass. A weight-only formula cannot see that.
Katch-McArdle is 370 + 21.6 x lean mass in kg. Cunningham is 500 + 22 x lean mass in kg, and comes out a little higher; it is often used for people who train hard.
Resting burn times your activity level gives your daily burn, or TDEE: 1.2 for mostly sitting, up to 1.725 for hard exercise six or seven days a week.
The calorie target takes 15% off that, never more than 500 calories, and never drops below resting burn. A small cut is slower and asks less of your muscle. Protein is 1 g per pound of lean mass, spread across the day.
Your report has more than three lines
- Reading your scanEvery main line of a DEXA, InBody, or Bod Pod report in plain words, and which changes are real.
- The Lean Mass CourseHow to eat and train with these numbers, from your first scan to the rescan. $149 once.