Recommended Formulas for Total Energy Expenditure (TEE)

#1: NIH Body Weight Planner

Created by Dr. Kevin Hall, National Institute of Health (NIH)

The mathematical model underlying the NIH Body Weight Planner simulates how human energy expenditure and body composition dynamically change in response to diet and physical activity interventions. It has been developed using the best available science, peer-reviewed and published in one of the world’s leading medical journals The Lancet , and has been repeatedly validated to give accurate predictions using data that were not used to build the model. In a 2012 consensus statement from the American Society of Nutrition, it was recommended that practitioners adopt the NIH Body Weight Planner model and abandon the “3500 calorie per pound” rule of thumb that has been erroneously used to relate weight change and calories. The NIH Body Weight Planner has been widely adopted by investigators around the world and has been demonstrated to provide more accurate predicti o ns than competing tools such as the “Weight Loss Predictor” from Pennington Biomedical Research Center which aimed to stimulate long-term human weight-loss dynamics in response to calorie restriction.

Kevin D. Hall, PhD

References Dobbs R, Sawers C, Thompson F, Manyika J, Child P, McKenna S, Spatharou A. Overcoming obesity: An initial economic analysis. McKinsey Global Institute, 2014 Guo J, Brager DC, Hall KD. Simulating long-term human weight-loss dynamics in response to calorie restriction. Am J Clin Nutr. 2018 Apr 1;107(4):558-565. doi: 10.1093/ajcn/nqx080 Hall KD, Heymsfield SB, Kemnitz JW, Klein S, Schoeller DA, Speakman JR. Energy balance and its components: implications for body weight regulation. Am J Clin Nutr. 2012 Apr;95(4):989-94. doi: 10.3945/ajcn.112.036350

Total Energy Expenditure (TEE) is an estimate of an individual’s total energy expenditure, or the calories expended by one’s body in a twenty-four hour period. While there are multiple methods for calculating TEE, we recommend using the National Institute of Health (NIH) Body Weight Planner. Learn more about this innovative calculator below!