Thermic Effect of Food Calculator
Estimate how many calories your body burns just digesting, absorbing, and processing the food you eat each day.
What is the thermic effect of food?
The thermic effect of food (TEF), also called diet-induced thermogenesis, is the energy your body spends digesting, absorbing, and metabolizing the food you eat. It is one of the three main components of total daily energy expenditure, alongside basal metabolic rate and physical activity.
How this calculator works
Different macronutrients require different amounts of energy to process. Research generally puts protein’s thermic effect at roughly 20-30% of its own calorie content, carbohydrate at roughly 5-10%, and fat at roughly 0-3%, because protein digestion and amino acid processing are more energy-intensive than fat storage.
This calculator applies commonly cited midpoint values (25% for protein, 7.5% for carbohydrate, and 2% for fat) to the calories from each macronutrient you enter, then adds them together to estimate your total daily thermic effect of food and what share of your total intake it represents.
This is a general estimate for educational purposes. Actual thermic effect varies by individual metabolism, meal composition, and how food is prepared, and it typically represents only about 8-15% of total daily energy expenditure for most people.