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Sedentary workday · Free

Desk Job TDEE Calculator

Eight hours in a chair is not “lightly active” just because you go to the gym twice. This page defaults to a sedentary-friendly setup and focuses on NEAT — the lever desk workers actually control.

Sedentary
default activity tier
NEAT
biggest controllable lever
+2k steps
~100 kcal ballpark
Gym ≠ active job
do not double-count

Your stats

Standard inputs first — the age adjustment is applied below.

Biological sex
yrs
lb
Height
ft
in
%

Desk-day movement

Tell us how much you actually move outside the chair.

No change
Outside the desk

No extra adjustment — sedentary base with decent steps.

Estimates are typically within ±10%. Track your weight for two weeks and adjust by 100–200 kcal.

The context

Desk job TDEE is mostly NEAT math

Your job sets a low movement floor. Gym hours matter, but they do not turn a sedentary job into a physically active occupation in the calculator dropdown.

If fat loss stalls, raise steps or tighten tracking before assuming you need a crash deficit.

Why the formula drifts

Office-specific levers

Small daily changes compound.

01

Step target

A fixed floor (e.g. 7k) beats random weekend hero walks.

02

Sitting blocks

Long unbroken sits correlate with lower spontaneous movement later.

03

Desk snacks

Unlogged nibbles are classic office surplus.

04

Lift 2–3×

Protects muscle when calories are controlled.

05

Activity label honesty

Sedentary + gym is common and valid.

06

Screen-late nights

Sleep loss can reduce next-day NEAT.

Method

How this calculator gets to your number

Same Mifflin-St Jeor (or Katch-McArdle) engine as the homepage — with one extra step for this use case.

Run it with my numbers
  1. 1

    Resting burn (BMR)

    Mifflin-St Jeor from age, sex, height and weight. Enter body fat and we switch to Katch-McArdle for leaner or muscular bodies.

  2. 2

    Activity multiplier

    Match the whole week — not your hardest training day. A one-tier mistake usually adds or subtracts 200–400 kcal.

  3. 3

    Desk-day movement

    A small, transparent adjustment for this page’s audience. We keep factors conservative so you can verify with a two-week weight average.

Pick a direction

Goals on a desk schedule

Work with the calendar you have.

−400 kcal + step floor

Fat loss

— —kcal / day

Deficit plus NEAT beats deficit alone for desk workers.

Get my number
Eat at TDEE

Maintain

— —kcal / day

Hold weight while building a walking habit.

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TDEE + lifting

Recomp

— —kcal / day

Possible if you are newer to strength training.

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Highest return first

Desk-worker playbook

Attach habits to the workday.

  1. #1

    Walk meetings when possible

    Easy NEAT without another gym block.

  2. #2

    Protein-led lunch

    Reduces afternoon snack drift.

  3. #3

    Stand/move hourly

    Sixty seconds beats nothing.

  4. #4

    Commute steps count

    Park further / get off one stop early.

FAQ

Questions about TDEE desk job

Short, direct answers. If yours is missing, ask and we will add it.

Ask a question

Usually sedentary or lightly active if you train a few days and walk some. It is rarely “very active”.

Keep going

Related calculators & guides

Back to the main TDEE calculator

Main TDEE calculator

Homepage tool — Mifflin-St Jeor with optional body fat.

Physical job TDEE

On-your-feet workdays.

Main TDEE calculator

Homepage calculator.

Two minutes

Get your age-adjusted number now.

Calculate adjusted TDEE