If the maintenance number a calculator gives you looks higher than seems plausible, you're probably right to be suspicious — and the fix is almost always the activity level.
Every TDEE figure is a prediction built from population averages. Individual maintenance can sit 200–400 calories either side of the estimate because of genetics, non-exercise movement, and how accurately you actually track food. So a number that feels high may simply be the wrong end of that range for you.
The most common cause of an inflated TDEE is an activity level set too high. Dropping from "moderately active" to "lightly active" can cut several hundred calories off the estimate — and for most desk-based people, lightly active is the honest choice. See how to choose your activity level for the honest definitions.
The reliable way to settle it is to stop arguing with the calculator and measure. Eat at the estimated maintenance for two to three weeks, weigh yourself consistently, and watch the trend. If you're slowly gaining at "maintenance," your true TDEE is lower than the estimate; if you're losing, it's higher. The tracker does this maths for you — it back-calculates your real maintenance from the weight trend.
As you lose weight, your maintenance falls, so an estimate from last month is already a little stale. Recalculate every 10–15 lbs or when progress stalls.
Not usually — it's an estimate from averages, and individual maintenance varies 200–400 calories either way. The activity multiplier is the most common reason an estimate runs high.
Eat at the estimate for 2–3 weeks and track your weight trend, or use the tracker to back-calculate it from your logged weight.