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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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.
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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 Ted,
I need some help. My name is Marc and I train in the gym 3 days a week compound heavy lifts. I also train BJJ martial art 4 to 5 times per week. I have used different macro calc and had various success. I tried increasing my macros and I did not gain any weight, according to the scale but I noticed I am getting less abb definition. A lot less. My weight is 145lbs I am 5’7 and my age is 36. My current macros are 145 protein, 53 fats and 391 to 400 carbs.
My question is, is it better to keep fats higher or carbs. I am really struggling with this, my goal is to stay lean and increase my weight by 5 lbs for competition reasons. Any ideas, I would really appreciate your help. Thanks
Hi Marc, Sorry for the delay as I was out of town. It’s a fine balance in being able to gain muscle mass while not gaining fat as well. You probably need to adjust your macros a bit if it seems like you are gaining fat instead of muscle. you may want to, increase your fat a tad and cut back on the carbs. Perhaps try this based on your stats. You may be borderline moderately active but I erred on the side of caution and went with lightly active. Keep us posted and good luck.
Hello Ted !
I’m a 15 year old male who has used the IIfym calculator for about 1 for a caloric deficiet but I’d like to maintain the body weight of 148lb & become lean. I weigh this in the morning however have not seen any results from the IIfym calculator.
I am also not sure which macros to use based off my height because for cm my macros are 65 f / 315 c / 122 p
However for inches its 62 f / 295 c / 122p
Also I weight train 4 days of the week & do cardio on Sunday + I do hands on work at a votech school so what would be my activity level ? & do these macros seem accurate?
Thanks -Jordan
Hi Jordan, Sorry for the delay as I was out of town. It looks like you made an error in converting inches to cms or vise versa. The macros will be the same for both. Secondly, at your age you really need to make sure you are eating enough to support your developing body. That being said you’ll probably reach your goals if you keep working out at the gym and eating at that calorie level. At some stage you may even need to switch to gain weight if you want to put on more muscle.
Hi Ted!
I’m a 26 year old female also new to this. I’m 134 pounds and 5 feet even. I just started getting back to the gym after having a deviated septum surgery which i procrastinated for about 5 years. I haven’t been active at all since I was an athlete in college (about 6-7 years ago). I have been muscle training/lifting about 4 times a week thus far and have been doing cardio on the other days. The only day I take off is Sunday (sometimes I’ll take a yoga class or something relaxing). I’m trying to cut fat and gain muscle. In your opinion, are my macros accurate? I feel like they should be a little lower if I want to lose fat, however, I am working out 5-6 days a week.
Carbs: 161grams
Protein: 134grams
Fat: 44 grams
1,576 cals a day
Hi Mer! Glad you’re getting your fitness back on track. Ok, so 3/4 of the comments here are from people wanting the same thing… Lose fat while gaining muscle. This is difficult to achieve and there is a fine line in regards to eating too much or not enough. I would go with what you have listed and then tweak as necessary if you aren’t meeting your goals. Good luck!
Hi Ted –
Quick backstory: I’m a former college athlete / army vet who allowed himself to become quite overweight. I’m 6’1, at my heaviest I topped out at 307. Through diet and exercise I have been, generally, around 240 for the last few years. Regardless of what I do, however, I can’t get out of this weight range. Against my better judgment I tried Weight Watchers, and was *very* strict with the program for over three months. I gained 1.2 pounds in this time. I’ve tried counting calories, etc. I work out five days a week, I try to give my body enough rest. I’m on an never ending quest to lose the last 20-30 pounds (I would like to be between 200-210). Since December I found my maintenance calories, subtracted 20% from it, and managed my macros: My daily intake is around 2,200 daily, carbs at 160 grams, protein at between 200-210 (depending on the activity level that day). Fat is generally 13-15% of my day, I try to keep the grams under 30. I own an OMRON body fat measuring device. My weight has stayed relatively the same since December (245.8 to 244 this morning), with my body fat percentage going from 23.8 to 22.6.
I am at a loss at this point on what to do in order to get these last pounds off. I’ve created a deficit, my workouts are varied and difficult (they range from “bootcamp” style workouts twice a week to strength training to running).
When I was ensuring I found my maintenance calories (this was in November), I stuck to those for a month to ensure I was at the correct level. According to your calculations, I should eat *more* than this, and increase my macros beyond where they are now. I’m struggling to wrap my head around how I won’t gain weight from doing this. It sounds silly, but I can’t get the scale to budge as it is now…I don’t want to do anything to make it move a pound, that’s a pound I won’t be able to get back off. My long winded question is this: Perhaps, knowing a little personal back ground, you could speak to why you believe those calculations would work, while everything else has failed me? Thank you for feedback, I appreciate it.
Hey Erick,
I can relate to this – You’re not alone.
Just based off what you’ve said I wouldn’t be surprised if you’ve experienced what’s known as Metabolic adaptation, which I’ve also experienced. – Where, through restricting calories over time, your metabolism becomes more efficient with keeping you alive (Maintaining) off fewer calories, as a survival tool. That means your metabolism, which is trying to keep you alive, starts to work against you – You and your metabolism have different goals. It wants to hold onto your body mass, because it thinks your starving. You want to lose weight, so you restrict further.
The simple answer, in short, is to increase calories slowly over time to a point where you’re in a healthy and expected range for your TDEE.
The long answer is too long for this comment thread ha. Feel free to email me if you have any other questions – [email protected]
Hi Ted! I’m new to this and judging by the comments below it seems relatively easy to enter things wrong on this calculator. I’m 18 yrs 69 inches tall and weigh 170. I’m trying to cut some body fat from about 16% to 13% and gain muscle. I got 2452 cal. with 319c 140p 68f I just wanna get your opinion on what I should take in so I can be more accurate and efficient in reaching my goals rather than trusting this calculator. Thanks in advance!
Hi Mike, I’ll first say that the calculator is pretty accurate but I’m happy to help. Can you describe your weekly workout routine for me?
Hi im new to this and am interested in trying it. I am 2 days into ashley horners becoming extraordinairey program so it involves alot of strength training and weight lifting and some circut training im 22 years old and weigh 162 pounds and am 165 cm tall and female i was just wondering if my macros seem accerate it says my calorie intake is 1856 per day i am looking to build muscle and lose weight and tone up. The program im in has 2 rest days a week (wed and sat) other than that i workout everyday, well im goingt to be. Thank you in advance:)
That looks right Amy. You may want to cut back to your sedentary amount during your two rest days, but theoretically your body should be building and repairing during those which require a bit more energy. Try the 1856 everyday first and if you aren’t quite hitting your goals cut back on your rest days. Good luck! 🙂
Hi Ted! I’m a 25 year old male, 167 lbs, 72 inches in height, I exercise about 5 to 6 times a week lifting weights and doing about 5 minutes of cardio at the end of my workout, and I’m a student and the campus I walk through is humungous (so I walk a lot – I have one class that is literally 20 minutes away from my other class). I set my activity level to moderately active. My goal is to gain. After adjusting my protein to high, my macros came out to be:
455 Carb
167 Protein
92 Fat
= 3315 calories
I’ve been using your calculator for about a week now and already I can tell I’m losing definition in my abs, which I know is to be expected if I want to build muscle. I’ve gained about 1.5 to 2 pounds. At what rate should I be gaining pounds? 1 pound per week, a month? Obviously building muscle while minimizing fat gain is the goal, but I’m just worried that I’ll get too much chunk.
Before I found your calculator I was consuming 3200 calories using 40% of my total body weight in fat, 1 g of protein/pound of body weight, and the rest in carbs, which at the time calculated out to be:
486 Carb
165 Protein
66 Fat
I felt that this was too low of fat and too high of carb mainly because I would have a difficult time reaching my carb and not going over in fat. However, there seemed to be more definition in my abs. Any suggestions?
Hi Ace. Great work so far! I think about a pound a week is a realistic goal and most bodybuilders do some cutting phases from time to time because it is hard to gain muscle without gaining some fat in the process.
I also would add that this isn’t an exact science and our calculator gives you an estimate of what your macros should be, but you may have to adjust if you aren’t hitting your desired goals. Perhaps in your case you may want to cut back a tad. All the best and keep us posted on your progress.
Thank you, Ted!
Ted! So glad I found your page. I am a 25 yr old female that weighs 215 lbs and is 74 inches tall. I have had some macro coaching previously but that coach started me around 1500 calories while also working out 6 days a week lots of lifting, minimal cardio. I increased carbs by 10g about every 2 weeks for 12 weeks.
Now my issue is… according to iifym.com and your calculator 1500 is WAY too low. In the past 7 weeks i have been in taking about 1800 cal with about 145P/190C/50F or around that and working out almost daily 60 to 90 minutes of weights with 15 to 30 min of cardio. I have seen body changes but I wanted to make sure I was doing it right. I know it is supposed to be slow loss wehn trying to keep muscle and lose fat… I was going to start with the program the coach had me on but with the calories around 1500 I don’t want to binge and lose 7 weeks of hard work.
Also to note I have lost 0 weight during the 7 weeks. The only thing I can tell by is clothes and pictures. my weight is actually higher than normal I am usually around 205 to 207 but the pounds are not coming off, this is the main reason I have questioned my current Marco calculations. Thanks in advance!!
Hi Afcrago, I’m glad you found us too! so, if you read through a lot of the comments many have the same problem and the one thing you all have in common is that you all are working out hard and consuming too few calories. The body is a complicated machine and I think at times it can conserve resources during times of stress. (some call this starvation mode) If you’re working out and burning 800 calories lifting and only eating 1500, it only gives your body 700 calories to function on, which is way too low. Adding 300 more calories certainly isn’t binging by any standard so don’t worry about that. I really think that in your case you’ll have to start eating more if you want to lose. Here’s what I get when I enter your states into our calculator and it seems more appropriate given your weight training. Perhaps only on your rest days cut back to your sedentary TDEE which is just under 1800.
Hey Ted! I’m 18 this year and I weigh 168.2 and 174cm tall. I’ve been having trouble with calculating my macros but your article certainly helped a lot! I’m trying to go on a high protein and lean bulking phase and I’d like to cut down around 500 calories. Are my calculations right with being at 168P/47F/148C? Thanks in advance!
Hi Syazril,
I’m so glad we were able to help.
Your calculations don’t seem right since you haven’t factored in your exercise. I assume you are doing some intense weight training and cardio during this process? you really should select moderately active at least and go from there. Otherwise your body won’t have the raw materials necessary for growth. Muscle growth while losing fat is difficult to achieve and it’s a fine line between eating too much and not enough. Remember that the calculator is already creating the deficit for you.
Hi Ted, I am 29 and weighing 115 at 5″3, I am interested in this but know very little about it. I am looking to lean out and build muscle. According to your calculator, I should be eating 1318 cal, is that already with the deficit?
Hi May, Thanks for visiting and good luck! If you clicked “lose” then yes it is. Just note that at that calorie level it may be difficult to build muscle.
Hey Guys !! I’m a 18 years old girl.. Currently on a deficit of calories of 1450 with 181C/32F/109P and I weight 132 pounds. I’ve doing this amount of deficit by almost 2 months and don’t loose anything else. I’m doing now Insanity Max 30 which is the new version of the old Insanity and start to do a leg workout at home every Saturday. This calculator shows me to eat like 1600 calories.. What do you guys recommend me. My goal weight is between 120-125??? Help!!!
Hi Rosanna, I would say give it a try. If you’ve been doing something for a couple months and aren’t seeing results then it pays to switch things up. The body is complicated and sometimes you actually have to eat more to start losing.
Hey Ted.. I’m giving a try let’s see how it goes.. Thank you for answered me !! God bless
Hello! I’m new to this whole macros business, I’d like to loose weight, and according to the calculator it says I should eat about 3010 cals a day (of course I understand not just carbs but the different categories 🙂 ) and even suggests to – 500 but even then that’s nearly double what I’m eating now… I’m just scared I’ll gain weight ? I am slowly increasing my work outs and aiming for 3x a week to start… Just wondering if I’m gonna be doing the right thing .. 🙂
Hi De, I’d love to give you some insight. Your calorie level seems pretty high. Are you sure you entered things correctly?
Hello Ted! Thank you for the reply! Yes I certainly did put them in wrong haha.. Okay so I now got 1532 calories a Day.. Good thing I asked haha 🙂 so I should minus about 200 calories ? To help lose weight ? Thanks for your help I really appreciate it!
you’re welcome! the calculator already creates a calorie deficit if you selected “lose”. Good luck 🙂