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
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- Achieve fat loss without starvation.
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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.
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.
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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
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Hi, thank you for this article! Helped me a bunch. I’ve been trying to do my research and it seems that everywhere I look it says to take in 110 to 150 grams of carbs when trying to lose weight. I’m 5 foot 8 in, weigh 170, I work out intensely 4 to 5 days a week now, and your calculator said I should take in 187 carbs if I were doing a 40/30/30 percentage. Seems high, I’m tempted to eat less carbs, but wanted to get your thoughts. Am I really going to see weight loss if I stick with these numbers? Hahaha, in the golden question, right?
Hi Rachael, Glad you found the article useful. The notion that carbs in themselves make you gain weight or keep you from losing weight is a myth. This has been tested and proven false time after time. If you maintain a safe and consistent calorie deficit you will lose weight even at 187 g carbs. I suggest you also read this article which talks about the flexible diet. What is Flexible Dieting? Here’s How to Get Started All the best with your goals!
Explain to me how a woman in her 50’s could possibly eat 215 grams of protein a day? I can’t barely eat 70 a day, and I’ve got to drink a protein shake, with 27 grams of protein, just to get over 45 grams.
Hi Andi, You can’t. You have to adjust the settings. Since it seems like you have a fair amount of fat tissue, you should set the protein to “moderate”.
Hi there
I am struggling on my activity level. I have started working out 4 x week doing HIIT X 2 which I run and circuit training x 2 which includes weights. The problem with this is my apple watch only shows I burn around 250 cals, so does this mean I am light activity. I have a desk job so have to go careful. I am 149 pounds and would like to loose maybe about 10 pounds.
Many thanks
Emily
( I forgot to mention) I am 40 years old. My activity level is not sedentary as I was walking to work and back two hours a day, but not working with weight loss anymore so have had to increase intensity of exercise.
Hi Emily, It sounds like light activity to me.
Hi, I’m 50 years old my weigh is 107 pounds, I calculated the macros and I got 1,029. My question is how I know I eat exactly what I suppose to? Pls help is any way to have a calculator, formula, etc?
Hi Elisa, We have all kinds of resources to help you with that. The best resource is our Book “The Macro Solution” because it takes you through the process step by step. We also have a lot of articles to help you. Here’s a good one to start with: How To Find Macro Amounts in Foods
Hi, I’m finding that in order to achieve my carb macro goal, I end up with a lot of sugar—most is natural from fruit, but is this okay?
Hi Katy, Eating natural sugars found in fruits and vegetables is fine. It’s the added sugars that you should limit. Fruits and vegetables are providing sugar but they also have the fiber and micronutrients that your body needs.
Can you count macros being vegan?…i weigh 150lbs 5’0in…50 years old female… can’t lose weight last three years
Absolutely! We wrote an entire vegan edition of the Macro Solution.
Please see https://healthyeater.com/flexible-dieting-vegan-vegetarian
Hi… I’m planning to gain weight my body every day doing Gym properly but as of now, I got shape only at present one more thing I need to inform to you my body is totally different if I eat more food also there is no difference. And here provided my measurements also weight 62kg and height 5feet 6 inches, age 27. kindly advise how much need to take everyday carbohydrate and protein and fat. which way to i can increase my body.
Hi Anilvarma, If you’re going to the gym, us the calculator and set it to gain. This will give you the breakdown of how many macros to eat. If this causes you to gain fat as well as muscle then, start cutting back. Gain increases your energy consumption by 20%.
I’m 47 weigh 92 and I’m 5”1 how can I gain weight quickly but still keep my six pack abs I need to fill my jeans and tops the most
Hi Kristy, You need to gradually increase your calories. I’ve written more on this topic here: Macros for Gaining Muscle and Cutting Fat
How much weight is expected to be lost per week with with the loose option?
Hi Erika. At a 20% calorie deficit, you should lose 1-2 pounds per week.
thank you!
Hi Ted,
Not sure if you got a chance to look at my message from few days ago. Here is what i had posted earlier
So after losing 10lbs, i’m not seeing any further drop in my weight (current weight 134lbs). I have made sure to revise my macros but haven’t seen any success so far. Do you know what could be possibly wrong? It appears my body isn’t reacting to macros anymore. LOL!
Hi Nania, No, sorry. I missed that one. There can be several reasons for a plateau but generally, it has to do with not having your TDEE calculated correctly. Macro ratios would have little to do with it. I could have a look at everything but this would have to be under my coaching services. Otherwise, it isn’t fair to those that are paying for me to help them with their customized macros/ and achieving their goals.
Got it! Thank you
Is this net carbs?
Hi Jo, It’s technically showing only the carbs that provide energy or net carbs, but for simplicity of tracking most people track total carbs.
I am 23 5’1 female , I workout 5 days a week for an hour or less . I do strength training, But I’m also a part time waitress . Are my macros correct? they’re 1440 cals or should they be higher?
Hi Joselyn, Unfortunately, I can’t evaluate or calculate macros for you outside of signing up for one of my coaching options but it sounds like your exercise level would be moderate on days you waitress and workout.
Hi Ted, I have lots of questions. The most pressing are these: I’m 56, female, fighting systemic lupus, inflammation, bloating. I’ve been eating/living Primal Blueprint/Keto for several years, to try to reduce fat and inflammation. I’ve been at a stand still for many months/years. My goals are simple, but my body is complicated. I don’t have any issues with living/eating this way, i.e., I love the foods/meals I eat, my exercise habits, it is sustainable. What I struggle with is results. My goals are to reduce fat, inflammation, bloating and to increase muscle, stamina, energy, strength. I don’t care much what the scales say, but I’m about 30 lb over what I think I should be and have about 30% body fat (guess). I need to find something that will work. Do you have experience with anything like this? Would this program be helpful for my goals, specifically reducing inflammation, bloating? I have figured my macros from your calculator, but am also interested in what you might advise (coaching). I don’t want to invest in yet another dead end. Having eaten low carb/high fat for years, the carb macros I’ve figure out alarm me. Protein: 165 grams x 4 = 660 calories — Fat: 81 grams x 9 = 729 calories — Carbs: 260.75 grams 1043 calories.
Do you have any advice, or think you can help? Like I said, I’m complicated. Thanks.
Hi Loraine,
When it comes to weight loss, the most important factor is maintaining a safe calorie deficit. Even eating “keto” a calorie deficit must be maintained for weight loss to occur. If you like eating the keto way, that is fine and it may be beneficial inflammation-wise as long as you keep your triglycerides in balance. What you calculated above (2432 calories) would not be putting you in a calorie deficit so therefore would not promote fat loss. Try or Keto calculator and select “lose”.
Thanks for your quick reply. Those numbers were calculated using the formula on your website. Perhaps I didn’t understand how to do it? I don’t necessarily need to keep eating Keto. I’m not positive it’s helping with much of anything, to be honest. When I said low carb, using the Primal formula, that’s anywhere from 150 grams or less per day. Again, do you have experience helping someone with an inflammatory auto immune like I have? I’m starting counting macros today, using your formulas, but am wondering if signing up for coaching is a better option for me with the complications I have. I don’t want just fat loss, also looking to reduce inflammation, bloating and gain muscle strength. If you think you could help me reach my goals more specifically, I would like to sign up for coaching. I’m a self-starter and don’t need motivation. Just guidance and to be informed. I do like to do things right from the beginning.
Hi Loraine, I can coach you on losing fat and general nutrition but since I’m not a medical professional, my certification doesn’t permit me to give advice about or treat a medical condition. Perhaps just having me calculate optimal macros for you would suffice? Then you can put the numbers into action on your own.