Quarantine Activity Calculator - Lockdown TDEE and MET Calories

The quarantine activity calculator compares the calories you used to burn before lockdown with the calories you burn under your current stay-at-home routine, then shows how that change shifts your total daily energy expenditure. It uses age, sex, height, and weight for a Mifflin-St Jeor BMR, a FAO/WHO/UNU physical activity level, and a MET-based activity change.

• • Work-from-home adults: See how losing a daily walking or cycling commute changes your TDEE and maintenance calories.
• • Reopened gym members: Check whether a short home workout fully replaces a longer gym session in daily calories.
• • Parents and caregivers: Estimate the calorie effect of more household chores and less commuting on the same person.

Lockdowns and remote work change daily movement in ways that are easy to underestimate. A walking commute, a few stair flights, and a 45-minute gym session can disappear overnight while food on the plate often stays the same.

For a deeper look at how the baseline TDEE is built, TDEE calculator covers the BMR x PAL math in more detail with extra PAL and BMR formula choices.

The calculation has two parts. First, a clinical BMR formula gives the calories burned at rest and a PAL multiplier turns that into a baseline TDEE. Second, MET-based activity math shows how the pre-lockdown and at-home activities change that baseline.

• BMR: Mifflin-St Jeor resting energy expenditure from sex, age, height, and weight in kg.
• PAL: Physical activity level multiplier from 1.20 (sedentary) to 2.40 (very vigorous) per FAO/WHO/UNU.
• MET: Metabolic Equivalent for the selected activity, from the 2024 Adult Compendium.
• Body weight (kg): Entered body weight converted to kilograms for both BMR and MET math.
• Minutes: Average daily minutes spent on the pre-lockdown and at-home activities.

The Mifflin-St Jeor equation is the BMR formula recommended by the US Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and is widely used in clinical and research settings. Combined with the FAO/WHO/UNU PAL bands, it produces the same baseline energy number used in many national dietary guidelines.

According to Mifflin et al. (1990) - American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Mifflin-St Jeor predicts resting energy expenditure as 10 x weight in kg + 6.25 x height in cm - 5 x age in years + 5 (men) or - 161 (women).

According to FAO/WHO/UNU Expert Consultation on Human Energy Requirements (2004), Typical adult PAL ranges from 1.20 for a sedentary lifestyle up to 2.40 for very vigorous activity.

If you want to see how the resting half of the formula behaves with Mifflin-St Jeor, Harris-Benedict, and Katch-McArdle, BMR calculator runs the same BMR input through several equations side by side.

Four ideas drive every number on the page. Skim these once and the results become easier to interpret when you change the inputs.

These concepts are the same variables used in clinical dietetics, sports science, and national dietary guidelines, which is why the calculator pairs with broader calorie or weight-loss planning tools without changing the math.

When the maintenance target is set and a small weight change is the goal, calorie deficit calculator turns the maintenance number into a deficit plan with a target weekly loss.

The form takes about 30 seconds to fill in. Match each input to a real part of your day so the output reflects your routine rather than a theoretical one.

1. 1 Enter your personal details: Choose sex, then add age, height, and weight. These four values feed the Mifflin-St Jeor BMR, which is the foundation of every other result.
2. 2 Pick the current activity level: Use the PAL dropdown to describe what most days look like under lockdown. Sedentary means sitting for most of the day; moderately active means a few real activity blocks spread across the week.
3. 3 Add the pre-lockdown activity you lost: Pick the activity you used to do almost every day before the pandemic, then enter the average minutes per day. A walking commute, a gym session, or a regular run are common examples.
4. 4 Add the new at-home activity: Pick the activity that has joined your routine, even if it is a stretch break, a chore block, or a short bodyweight session. Enter the average minutes per day.
5. 5 Read the result in the panel on the right: The current TDEE and maintenance calories update on every change. The net daily change row tells you how many more or fewer calories your new routine burns compared with the old one.
6. 6 Adjust intake or activity to match your goal: For weight maintenance, eat close to the maintenance number. For weight loss, pair a small calorie cut with a small activity increase instead of dropping intake to an unsafe level.

A 45-year-old male, 180 cm, 80 kg, PAL 1.55, used to run for 30 minutes (9.8 MET) three times a week. He now does a 25-minute moderate home workout (5.0 MET) three times a week. The net daily change is about -157 kcal per day, small each day but noticeable over a month.

For a longer activity block or a custom MET value, calories burned calculator gives a per-activity calorie burn breakdown that pairs well with the activity dropdowns here.

The value is in turning a vague sense of moving less into a specific calorie number that you can act on.

• • Quantifies the lockdown effect: Shows the daily calorie change between pre-lockdown and at-home routines instead of leaving you to guess whether activity has dropped.
• • Anchors on a clinical baseline: Uses the Mifflin-St Jeor BMR and the FAO/WHO/UNU PAL bands, the same building blocks used in many clinical assessments.
• • Picks a maintenance calorie target: Returns a maintenance calorie number for the current routine, so weight can stay stable without tracking every food item.
• • Works with the rest of the calorie cluster: Outputs are compatible with the BMR, TDEE, and calorie-deficit workflows, so the result slots into broader weight or training plans.
• • Encourages a small activity swap: Shows how a 20-minute home walk or a 10-minute bodyweight block closes most of the gap left by a lost commute.

If the lockdown routine changes, swap the activity dropdowns and rerun. The BMR stays the same, but the activity dose, the TDEE, and the maintenance number update immediately.

If the lockdown routine is stable and the main goal is keeping weight stable, maintenance calorie calculator cross-checks the maintenance number with a more detailed macro and calorie breakdown.

The calculator is a planning tool, so a handful of real-world variables can shift the final number by 5 to 15 percent.

• • The MET value for each activity is a population average. Personal calorie burn can sit 10 to 20 percent above or below the calculator's number depending on fitness level, body composition, and how the movement is performed.
• • Maintenance calories below 1200 kcal per day are flagged with a safety note. Dropping intake to that level without medical supervision can affect muscle mass, energy, and immune function during a period when health matters more than usual.

If you want a more accurate personal number, track body weight for two to four weeks at the maintenance calorie target. A stable weekly average is the strongest real-world check that the calculator's estimate is close to your true energy use.

According to CDC Physical Activity Basics - Measuring Physical Activity Intensity, CDC reports kcal per minute = MET x 3.5 x body weight in kg / 200.

Because body weight is the input that most affects the result, BMI calculator gives a quick read on whether the weight used in the formula is in a healthy range for the height used.