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.
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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.
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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
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I have been using the IIFYM for about 2wks now but just
started hitting my macros on point about a week ago. I wonder if I am not doing
something wrong because no change the first wk and I gained 2lbs in this last
week . My info is: I’m 34, weight 155, 5ft.6in and I work out 5-6x wk mix of strength
and HIIT cardio. I am trying to lose 10lbs. Because my calorie burn each day is
different usually 300-600 I went with the stationary setting and then just add
my cals burned to MFP. The calculator has me at Stationary: 1364cal, 128g carb,
128g pro, and 38g fat. a 37.5%, 37.5%, 25% . On MFP I have to set it at 40%, 40%,
20% and keep in mind the gram differents. Yesterday I burn 400 cals added it in
and MFP adjusted grams and % and it had me at 183gcarb, 183g pro, 35g fat and a
goal of 1,780cals (that’s a lot of protein
by the way) If I use your calculator and go with light activity (because I
burned 400cals) it puts me at 1563cals 165g carb, 128g pro, and 43g fat a 42.3%
32.7% 25% ratio for yesterday . There is a hug diffrents not sure what I need
to do can you give me some advice please.
Hi Cheryl, I usually advise people to give it a month. It can take your body a couple weeks to adjust to a new eating pattern. What was your diet like before? This can also have bearing.
Also weight can fluctuate 1 or 2 pounds on any given day for a number of reasons so don’t panic.
I was eating pretty healthy but only watching my cals usually 1400-1700 but not focusing on macros.
Know what do I do about the difference between MFP adjusting my cals and macros and your calculator. Is the adjusted macros through MFP really high?
I’m sorry, I’m not sure I fully understand your question.
So the other day I burn 400 cals when I added it in to MFP (which is set at stationary) it adjusted my grams and % goals for the day. After adding the cals burned to MFP it gave me a goal to consume at 183g carb, 183g pro, 35g fat and a
goal of 1,780 cals for that day (that’s a lot of protein
by the way). I was curious what your calculator would give me so I entered my info and changed my activity from Stationary to light activity (because I
burned 400 cals) it puts me at 1563 cals 165g carb, 128g pro, and 43g fat a 42.3%
32.7% 25% ratio for the same day . There is a hug differents between MFP at stationary adding 400 cals and selecting light activity on your calculator not sure what I need to do can you give me some advice please.
400 is the borderline between light and moderate so if you go with moderate it will be more in line with MFP.
MFP by default doesn’t use the same ratios as our calculator so you have to manually change them by following our tutorial http://healthyeater.com/iifym-myfitnesspal-tutorial
Also with MFP it keeps adding protein at the percent entered so you have to stop at your limit and add in the rest of you calories as carbs and/or fat. It’s a bit of a pain but overall a great tool to use.
Thanks that makes since.
Hi Ted,
Thanks for a such a great resource. I just have a couple of questions if that’s ok. I’m new to this.
I have noted that there seems to be a slight discrepancy with the percentages. The calculator shows the following:
Carbs – 134g – 31.4%
Protein – 187g – 43.6%
Fat – 48g – 25%
However, the percentages a manual calculation of the grams shown show that the percentages would actually be c: 36%, p: 51%, f: 13%.
Basically, my questions are:
1. What is it that I’m missing regarding the percentage breakdown?
2. Should I be focusing on the grams instead?
3. Do the grams represent actual carb, fat, protein – or food sources that are high in carbs, fat, protein?
Thanks! 🙂
Hi Jess, 1. The percentages are based off of your TDEE. In other words 25% of your calories come from fat.
2. Yes focus on the grams and not so much the percentages.
3. Yes the grams represents actual grams of carbs, protein etc. so you have to track how much of each a particular food is giving you.
All the best and be sure to check out all the other resources we have here to help you.
Thank you so much for the clarification and quick response. I will definitely be taking advantage of the resources on this site 🙂
you’re welcome and keep us posted on your progress.
I am just curious about how I can work out how much of carbs, fat and protein is in something i am going to eat?
Hi Zeljka, see my article on the subject here. http://healthyeater.com/macro-amounts-foods
Hi Ted,
I am new to this but excited to try it! My goal is to lose fat, but gain muscle. What is the best way to go about hitting those goals? Do I choose “lose” first on the calculator and cut down fat while working out? Or do I choose “gain” right off the bat? I wasn’t sure if the “gain” option helps you to lose fat while gaining muscle, or if it maintains fat levels while helping to build muscle. Please advise. Thanks!
Hi Brandon, Great! Losing fat and gaining muscle at the same time is a bit of a balancing act but I can tell you what has worked for me. You’ll have to select “lose” to create a calorie deficit as your body won’t break down fat tissue while in a surplus. Find your sedentary levels above with highest protein and plug this into MyFitnessPal and follow my instructions here on letting MFP track exercise. http://healthyeater.com/iifym-myfitnesspal-tutorial
Track your exercise and eat according to how much you do. On rest days eat at your sedentary macros. Also make sure you have a good weight training program in place. To check your progress you should see the scale change slightly but your body fat percentage should be dropping. Let us know how it goes.
Ted! Nice info about IIFYM. One doubt, when you calculate your macros and got
carbs 86g 49.7%
protein 44g 25.3%
fats 19g 25.0%
there is no difference between 86 carbs of a piece of cake or broccoli ?
(complex carbs vs simple carbs)
How is that??
Thanks in advance.
Hi Gabriel, Thanks, I hope it helped. I think I understand part of your question but I’m a bit confused about the part about calculating macros. Are those numbers per meal?
So the 86 grams of carbs in the cake and the 86 grams of carbs in the broccoli (would be a lot of broccoli!) energy-wise have the same effect on the body, but nutrition-wise they would be quite different. Broccoli would of course be nutrient dense and cake would not. but as far as calories are concerned they would both deliver 4 calories per gram of carbs. Does this make sense?
Yes it makes sense, but what i dont understand is…that macros are for each meal? (i calculated for 3 meals per day). So, if that is for a day, what i have to do is weight everything i eat knowing that at the end of the day i can have a few macros left to incorporate before i go to sleep…That is correct?
I think it’s easier just to look at your total macros for the whole day and not separate it by meals. Most people don’t eat three equal meals and also eat a couple snacks throughout the day.
Hi Ted!
Wanted to ask about the section on weighting your food to calculate the macros. Do you suggest weighing the food raw or cooked to get the correct macros?
Thanks in advance
Hi Adolphe, It depends on which nutritional reference for the product you are using. Some list the raw nutrition of a food while others refer to the prepared or cooked nutrition of the food. For chicken breast, both the raw nutrition and cooked nutrition can be found online or on MyFitnessPal, this is also true for most foods.
Hi Ted!
I used the calculator to set my macros, but wanted to be sure it’s right. Can you verify?
I’m 48, 155 pounds, 5’9 excercise 3-4times a week doing Crossfit. I want to lose 10 pounds and get leaner. I set the calculator to high protein, but it seems like a lot.
My macros came out as:
1735 calories
170g carbs
155g protein
48g fat
Any advice you can provide would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you!
Lesa
Hi Lesa, That’s correct, but you may want to cut back during non exercise days. Since you are only exercising 3-4 days a week I would either cut back to sedentary on rest days or use lightly active everyday. You are probably fine with the default protein setting given your level of activity. All the best!
Thanks, Ted! I appreciate your expertise and time.
I plan to start with light activity everyday and normal protein and see how it goes. I will adjust to sedentary if progress is slow.
Thanks again!
How do I go about this while breast feeding? I burn 500-700 calories a day while nursing. Should I adjust my activity level? Thanks 🙂
Hi Ashley, you would add 500 calories to your results and calculate macros the percentage ratios given.
Hi Ted thanks for all the great info!
I do High intensity interval training, which I do 1 hr workouts 5 times a week. Which settings should I be using?
You’re welcome Cailey! I would go with moderately active. Good luck!
Hello Ted hope you enjoyed exploring! I wanted to know if working out doing strength 3 times a week for 30 minutes to 1 hour depending on the day and cardio 1 or 2 times a week for 30 minutes considered as lightly active or moderately active?
Hi Cheryl, thanks Alaska is amazing! Hmm…. I think I would go with lightly active as it seems a bit borderline to me. Besides it looks like you have 2-3 rest days built in. How active are you the rest of the day, besides at the gym?
I have a desk job so no activity really up in the day. Thats why I was wondering if I fell between sedentary or light. I also do home workouts with free weights on my strength days no gym at the moment. Also what are your thoughts about intermittent fasting while doing flexible dieting?
Start with light activity and see how it goes. Some people have increased success by restricting their eating to an 8 or 9 hour window, but I think you’ll get results either way.
Ok great advice! Thank you and will keep you updated. About how many weeks should I test it out before switching to sedentary if need be?
Try it for at least 2 weeks, but only switch to sedentary on days you do no extra exercise if need be.
I used to count my macros for about a month awhile ago and I lost weight and I loved it. But, chose to get off it as I had school and so much on my plate it was to much to calculate and prep. Now, I’m starting this again and after my second day of macro counting–I gained 2 pounds instead of loosing and I definitly did not cheat. What went wrong? 21YR, male, light activity (logistics) macros: Carbs 211g, protein 185g, fat 59g and 2110 caloric intake.
Yeah counting is a bitch man lol But make sure your carbs are lower on the days that you’re not training (lifting weights or cardio). I would say anywhere from 50-100g. Also look out for the hidden carbs. Any added sugar should be counted towards your carb counts and fiber should be subtracted. For instance if a label reads 10g carbs, 5g fibers, 3 sugar then your net carb here is 8g carbs (10-5+3). Hope this helps.
Hey, thanks! Appreciate the rule of thumb. I always thought it was set and go, haha. I’ll try this way. Appreciate your help.
Your weight can fluctuate 1-2 pounds on a given day so I wouldn’t panic. Stick with it for a couple weeks before you can truly evaluate how effective it is. Also how are you determining your activity level? You may be overestimating there if it’s just activity from your job.
Thanks for the reply! And I’m basing it off my logistics job. Consistently moving at a fast pace lifting heavy boxes and having about 29,000 steps at the end of my 8 hour shift.
ok that sounds pretty intense. do you have any idea how much you were eating previously?
Eating before I took a break from maintaining my macronutrients?–alot, ha. But, now, I’m getting my grains, veggies, some fruit, and the normal meats. Ive been staying on tract still and I do see a difference as of today so it may just have been water weight or too much sodium from a meal.
This is why I like to use body fat percentage as another measure because scale weight does fluctuate based on your level of hydration, emptiness of your digestive system etc. keep up the great work and hang in there.
Thank you so much! I can tell this new way of like has already changed my life so much and I cant believe it. I remember reading this years ago and thought it was too complicated and reading it now and doing it I must of just been out of my mind back then or reading too much of the unnessecary hype thats out there and obviously didn’t work. Now I know it works because usually if I splurge I would feel guilty and forget everything and binge at least 2 weeks without exercise. But not now! This morning I got up and exercised and back to Norma eating and feel great! Thanks so much you all are lifesavers! !
you are so welcome! Glad we could help. Please continue to keep us posted.