Macro Calculator
This free, easy-to-use macro calculator gives you your optimal macronutrients and calories. It serves as a weight loss or muscle gain calculator for both women and men.
Combine with macro counting, flexible dieting, or IIFYM to reach your goals faster.
How to calculate your macros for fat loss
The foods we eat are made up of three macros (macronutrients). These are carbohydrates (carbs), protein, and fat.
Chicken is high in protein but has no carbs; rice is high in carbs but has very little fat or protein.
The three macronutrients provide the body with energy and raw materials for growth and repair.
By calculating the appropriate daily calorie amount for you, we can then break this down into the best macronutrient ratios to achieve weight loss.
The calculator is based on sound science, combined with data from years of coaching hundreds of successful clients.
What is a good macro ratio for fat loss or muscle gain?
Your macros should be based on your Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE) and your goals.
The calculator defaults at the best macro ratio proven to work for most people.
This ratio is:
- 30% fat
- Protein is 0.65 grams per pound of body weight,
- The remainder is carbs.
Depending on your goal, this will be either a calorie deficit or a surplus.
You can go further and make more adjustments: Perhaps you’re an extreme endomorph and do better with fewer carbs. Or perhaps you have one kidney and need to eat less protein.
You can fine-tune your results for you with a bit of math. See how to change your macros here.
MACRO COUNTING
- 140 page step-by-step guide.
- Achieve fat loss without starvation.
- Individually tailored to your body composition.
What is a good protein ratio?
Rather than a percentage, proteins are based on your body weight.
Our calculator has three settings:
- Moderate adjusts the ratio to 0.65 grams per pound of body weight.
This is appropriate for sedentary individuals or people with higher body fat percentages. - High is for active people with moderate strength training and an average body fat percentage.
- Maximum will set the ratio to 1 gram per pound.
This amount is good for bodybuilding and gaining muscle mass. You must be doing intense training.
Find out how to fine-tune your protein ratios when counting macros
Fat macro ratio
Set fat at 30% of daily energy expenditure.
Most people do very well with this amount of fat. See more about choosing the best macro fats. Because of high-fat diets like keto, many people are now eating more fat than they need to.
Carbohydrate macro ratio
Once you’ve calculated protein and fat, the remainder of your daily calories should be from carbohydrates.
Carbs fuel your body and workouts and are the body’s preferred energy source.
If you are coming from a low-carb background, this may seem high. However, according to respected nutritional research, this is a moderate amount of carbs.
If you are eating according to your TDEE, the notion that carbs cause weight gain or stop fat loss is incorrect.
Using as a Calorie Deficit Calculator
As a weight loss calculator, this tool establishes a safe calorie deficit only.
The Lose option puts you in a 20% calorie deficit, promoting safe, steady weight loss.
The best macro ratio for body recomposition
If you want to recompose your body (lose fat and gain muscle simultaneously), then use the body recomposition calculator.
Macro ratio for maintenance
The Maintain button shows you the macro levels to maintain your current weight.
This is great if you have lost weight and don’t want to gain it back.
Macro ratio for muscle gain
The Gain button puts you in a 20% calorie surplus.
The macro breakdown is designed to build muscle fast in conjunction and must be combined with a comprehensive weight training program.
It can also be used by people who are underweight.
TIP: Try starting with the maintenance goal and then gradually increase calories from there if you want lean muscle gains.
Calculating macros using your body fat percentage
The calculator uses your body weight to determine calories and macros.
However, you can obtain superior results by using your body fat percentage. The calculator allows you to choose which method; Normal for body weight, Lean Mass for fat percentage.
When to choose the Lean Mass Formula
If you are lean (have a low body fat percentage), choose the Lean Mass formula, and enter your body fat %.
If you are classified as obese and have a lot of weight to lose, the lean mass formula is superior. You can read more about macro counting and obesity.
Help? Calculate your ideal body weight or get an assessment of your body fat percentage.
Why the difference? Muscle cells burn more calories than fat cells, so the more accurately we measure this, the better your results will be.
How to calculate macros per meal
Once you’ve calculated your daily macros in the calculator, you can break this down into meals.
Choose from 2 to 6 meals per day to see the macro ratio you can track for each meal. For some people, this is easier, but for others, this is too much detail.
Do what works for you.
Meal Plans
See a 5-day macro-based meal plan. It includes three meals and two snacks per day.
Macro calculator activity level settings
A higher activity level means a higher daily calorie goal.
For example – if you maintain your weight at 2,000 calories per day, adding vigorous daily exercise means you need more calories to maintain your weight.
If you are sedentary and trying to lose weight, adding exercise will increase your daily calorie goal.
The idea seems counter-intuitive, but more energy is required to fuel your workouts. More workouts lead to increasing metabolism; therefore, more fat is burned!
Undereating is one of the leading causes of the weight loss plateau.
So many of our clients previously “hit the wall” with dieting. They would continually reduce calories, stop losing fat and gain weight when they eat a little more.
Macro counting defeats this by prescribing the right food and calorie levels.
Which activity level do I choose?
- Sedentary: Just regular everyday activity like a bit of walking, a couple of flights of stairs, eating, etc.
- Light: Any activity that burns an additional 200-400 calories (females) or 250-500 calories (males) over your sedentary amount.
- Moderate: Any activity that burns an additional 400-650 calories (females) or 500-800 calories (males) more than your sedentary amount.
- Extreme: Any activity that burns more than 650 calories (females) or more than 800 calories (males) in addition to your sedentary amount.
Other options for determining your calorie burn
- Use our calories burned calculator – it accurately assesses over 380 activities.
- Use a fitness tracker – like a Fitbit or Apple Watch (note that they can overestimate calorie burn).
- Use a suitable app – like MapMyFitness
Why should I eat more when I exercise more?
High physical activity not fueled with enough calories will lead to muscle catabolism (breakdown of muscle fiber).
This lack of nutrition could stall your weight loss, so eat up if you love to exercise!
I’ve got my macros – now what?
Once you’ve identified your target daily macros, you must determine the macros in all the foods you eat.
By tracking them daily, you can reach your recommended macro targets that encourage fat loss, muscle gain, or whatever your goal may be.
You can learn more about the macro counting system and the flexible dieting philosophy. Many people use an app like Myfitnesspal to track macros.
For more specifics on what to eat – see a sample macro meal plan or a list of macros for familiar foods.
I've helped 14,000+ people lose thousands of pounds by tracking their macros.
Choose either my self-guided program or let me coach you.
Learn how to count macros in under 60 minutes
- Instant download.
- 140+ page ebook + extensive bonuses
- Uncover the techniques my most successful clients use.
References
- Mifflin, M. D., St Jeor, S. T., Hill, L. A., Scott, B. J., Daugherty, S. A., & Koh, Y. O. (1990). A new predictive equation for resting energy expenditure in healthy individuals. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 51 (2), 241-247. Link
- McArdle, W. D., Katch, F. I., & Katch, V. L. (2010). Exercise physiology: nutrition, energy, and human performance. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. Link
- Jequier, E. (1994). Carbohydrates as a source of energy. The American journal of clinical nutrition, 59(3), 682S-685S.
- Lemon, P. W., Tarnopolsky, M. A., MacDougall, J. D., & Atkinson, S. A. (1992). Protein requirements and muscle mass/strength changes during intensive training in novice bodybuilders. Journal of Applied Physiology, 73(2), 767-775. study abstract link
- Grundy, S. M. (1999). The optimal ratio of fat-to-carbohydrate in the diet. Annual review of nutrition, 19(1), 325-341. abstract
- Conlin, L.A., Aguilar, D.T., Rogers, G.E. et al. Flexible vs. rigid dieting in resistance-trained individuals seeking to optimize their physiques: A randomized controlled trial. J Int Soc Sports Nutr 18, 52 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12970-021-00452-2
2,067 Comments
Calorie Deficit Calculator
Body Recomposition Calculator
Macro Calculator
Calories Burned Calculator
Keto Macro Calculator
Hi. Ted. I am a 52 year old who works a cardio/strength mix for around an hour 3 days a week. I am a full time nurse and regularly attain around 1500 steps 3 days a week at work and look after my 3 year old granddaughter a couple of days a week. I am just under 5 ft 3 and weigh 148lbs. I have lost 16lbs since I started my 1200 calorie and exercise programme in April but anything I lose now I seem to put back on. Plus I’ve lost inches from my bust, Hips and thighs but nothing from my stomach which is quite flabby. I’m eating mostly healthy foods. Help
Hi Mary,
You have plateaued because 1200 calories isn’t enough food to support your metabolism and exercise. Read this article: https://healthyeater.com/eat-to-lose-weight
Hello Ted! I have a doubt and wanted to check it with you. I`m 160cm and 62 kilos, I do spinning 5 days a week (50 min very intense sessions) and do 3 half an hour bodyweight sessions a week also. So, am I in light activity or in moderate? Do you think with this excercise regime and macro counting it`s possible for me to loose the las 10 kilos for november? I was more overweight and have been loosing all year through excercise and eating well, but want to shed the last pounds. Thanks for your help!! 🙂
Hi Andrea, This sounds like moderately active to me. .5 to 1 kg a week is possible with flexible dieting so seems highly possible to me with 3 months to go. All the best!
Hello! This is a fantastic calculator, I visit this page often to adjust my numbers. I have a question though. I’m 5’4, 110 pounds, but I have that dreaded jiggly mom belly after 3 kids. I’ve started weight training and my goal is to lose fat but gain weight in muscle. Should I be using Lose 10% (like I have been) or Gain to reach my body building goals? Any help would be wonderful, thank you!
I should add that I used an online calculator for figure out my body fat percentage, and I’m around 24%
Hi Nicole, thanks and we’re glad it’s been useful. lose 10 is a good place to start otherwise you won’t lean out with the gain setting.
Thank you for the speedy response!
Hi, I am 37 years old, weight 120 lbs. and my height is 5’2, I want to lose fat, about 12 lbs. mostly on my legs, and transform them from flabby to fit. (not sure why most of the fat accumulates in my tights and butt) will this approach work for me.
Hi Xiomara, It will but I would also recommend some strength training that targets the legs. “flabby” isn’t always just the result of fat but also muscle that isn’t tight.
Hi Ted,
Info: 37 y/o, 206lbs, 73 in. tall.
Goal: “lose 10%”, more specifically get to 185lbs, cut fat & add lean muscle.
Follow-up question based on your response to Becki’s questions. I go to Orange Theory Fitness 4 days a week…combination of HIIT and Strength/Power training on weight floor. I typically burn 800-1000 calories each of those days. That would classify as “Very Active” those days, correct? If so then calculator says C388, P170, F83
On the non-exercise days (although I spend a fair amount of time on my feet for at least 4 hours each of those days…having 3 kids under 5 and all) choosing Sedentary says C218, P170, F57. Would it make sense to:
keep sedentary but adjust protein to high for ‘off’ days?
would the higher protein on off days better aide in repair and rebuilding from previous days work?
change sedentary to light activity and go with C274, P170, F66?
Additionally the C388 to C218 seems rather significant….I understand every body responds differently but my concern is that a drop from C388 to C218 (as opposed to C274) might have me feeling lethargic on those off days?
Your thoughts and comments are very much appreciated.
Hi Nick, a couple of suggestions. You really want to start out at lose 20 % because you have more than 10 pounds to shed. You can adjust this back when you reach that threshold. Otherwise, it will take a long time. Building muscle will be slower but you can focus more on that down the road. You can also start out at light activity on your nonlifting days and then adjust down if necessary. You may want to set protein to high across the board. All the best getting started!
Hi Ted! I’ve just started with flexible dieting this week and I’m really excited to add this to the weight training regimen I adopted two years ago. On rest days when I’m not lifting, should I use macros at the sedentary level? Or should I use the same macros every day regardless if it’s a gym day or not?
Hi Becki, I like to eat according to what my body needs on a given day, so therefore eating at sedentary levels on non-exercise days makes sense. If you’re weight training there is some repair and rebuilding happening on rest days so keep your protein levels consistent on those days.
Hello Ted,
I have been counting my macros for the past 2 years and have kept the same macros for those 2 years (40F 123C 123P) currently at 114lbs 5’4. The past 6 months I have been slowly gaining weight with body fat increasing without changing my diet or workout routine. Workouts consisted of 6 days a week with HIIT majority of those days with some weight training here and there. I’ve decided to make a change to my routine and diet because of the slow weight gain that I’m not sure what it is coming from? I’ve calculated my macros with your calculator: 41F 173C 114P. I plan on dialing back the HIIT to two days a week and the remaining days heavy lifting. Do these macros seem accurate for the change I plan on making? And do you think I would be able to move to these new macros without reverse dieting?
Hi Sarah, It looks like you weren’t eating enough to fuel both your metabolism and your workouts. This, in turn, has slowed you metabolism, which is causing the weight gain. You really need to start eating more in order to try to get things going again. Your TDEE varies depending on how much exercise you do, rest days, etc. It’s not a good idea to eat at the same levels day in and day out. You can gradually add in the additional calories and see how your body responds. Don’t expect change overnight though, it will take some time to reverse the damage.
Sorry and is it the same for protein?
134g of meat doesn’t seam like a lot, but 134g of protein seems more reasonable.
Hi just a question in relation to carbs.
is the gams of carbs based on the weight of the carbohydrate containing food OR the grams of carbs within that food.
for example. 2x slices of grainy bread weigh about 70g but only contain 28g of carbs. So I want to know if I go of the weight of the food OR grams of carbs within that food! Just want to make sure I am calculating this right.
Thank you!
Grams of carbs 🙂 so if you have 134g of chicken that could be for example 20g of protein so you use the protein weight
Hi Aimee, it’s the grams of carbs in the said food or grams or protein in the said food.
Hi, I’ve had a bit of a break from macro tracking for a few months now and want to get back into it after coming back off my holidays! Just wanted to ask though would my activity level be more moderate or very? Mon – fri I generally burn 800-1000 more calories than my sedentary amount but at the weekend I burn about 500!
Thanks, Lauren
Hi Lauren, You should really use two sets of macros since there’s a big difference between the two.
Hi,
this is a great article and i learned a lot from it. i was wondering if i got my calculations right; my stats are 21yrs old, 169lbs, 77kg, and 64in in height. This gave me these daily macro intakes; 169g of Protein, 143g of fat, and 794g of carbs. i dont know if i did it right. it would be great if you can let me know. I would honestly appreciate it a lot. I am new to this method of weight loss.
Hi Carlos, Glad we could help. It doesn’t look like your calculations are correct. Make sure you use 169 POUNDS not KG’s . If you need additional help figuring it all out, check out our books.
Hello,
Thank you for publishing a great resource to promote healthy living. Should I be keeping track of total carbs or net carbs?
Hi Nelope, you’re welcome. While tracking net carbs is a bit more accurate as far as tracking the actual energy the food is providing, it can be harder to track. Most flexible dieters just use total carbs for this reason.