🔥 Free Nutrition Tool
Macro
Calculator
Get your exact daily protein, carb, and fat targets based on your body stats, activity level, and goal. Built for lifters. Free, no signup needed.
Daily Macro Calculator
Enter your stats and goal — your macros calculate instantly.
| Meals / Day | Protein | Carbs | Fat | Calories |
|---|
How To Use The Macro Calculator
Four inputs. One click. Your daily protein, carb, and fat targets in seconds.
Input your age, sex, height, and current bodyweight. Switch between lbs and kg — both are fully supported.
Choose how active you are — from sedentary to twice-daily athlete. This determines your TDEE multiplier and is the biggest variable in your calorie target.
Select cut, maintain, lean bulk, or bulk. Each applies a different calorie adjustment and macro split optimized for that goal.
Get your daily protein, carb, and fat targets in grams — plus a per-meal breakdown for 3, 4, and 5 meals a day.
Hit protein first, then fill the rest. If you're new to tracking macros, nail your protein target daily and let carbs and fat flex. Getting within 10g of each macro is more than precise enough for consistent body composition results.
Macro Splits by Goal
How protein, carbohydrates, and fat are distributed changes based on your objective. These are the splits this calculator uses.
| Goal | Calorie Adjustment | Protein | Carbs | Fat | Who it's for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cut | −500 kcal | 40% | 30% | 30% | Fat loss, muscle preservation |
| Maintain | TDEE | 30% | 40% | 30% | Body recomp, performance |
| Lean Bulk | +250 kcal | 30% | 45% | 25% | Slow muscle gain, minimal fat |
| Bulk | +500 kcal | 25% | 50% | 25% | Aggressive mass, strength gains |
| Keto | Varies | 30% | 5% | 65% | Ketosis, metabolic flexibility |
These splits are starting points, not rigid rules. Total calories matter most for body composition — macro ratio matters most for performance and satiety. Adjust carbs and fat based on how you feel training, keeping protein constant.
Macros for Specific Goals
Key numbers and strategy for the most common fitness goals.
How This Calculator Works
The Mifflin-St Jeor equation, activity multipliers, and macro allocation — explained.
Mifflin-St Jeor Equation
Women: (10 × kg) + (6.25 × cm) − (5 × age) − 161
Basal Metabolic Rate is the calories your body burns at complete rest. Mifflin-St Jeor is consistently the most accurate formula in clinical research — better than Harris-Benedict for modern populations.
Activity Multiplier
Sedentary: ×1.2 → Athlete: ×1.9
Total Daily Energy Expenditure adds the calories burned through activity. Activity level is the single biggest variable — an athlete can burn 60% more than a sedentary person of identical size.
Goal Adjustment
Lean Bulk: TDEE + 250
Bulk: TDEE + 500
A 500 kcal deficit produces approximately 1 lb of fat loss per week. A 500 kcal surplus supports aggressive muscle gain. Smaller adjustments (±250) minimize fat gain or muscle loss during recomposition phases.
Macro Allocation
Carbs: calories × % ÷ 4
Fat: calories × % ÷ 9
Percentages are applied from the goal-specific split. The gram values are derived using caloric density: protein and carbohydrates deliver 4 kcal/g, fat delivers 9 kcal/g.
If you enter your body fat percentage, the calculator uses the Katch-McArdle formula (BMR = 370 + 21.6 × lean mass in kg) instead of Mifflin-St Jeor. This is more accurate for lean athletes and those with high or low body fat, since it's based on lean mass rather than total bodyweight.
What Are Macronutrients?
Protein (4 kcal/g)
Protein is the primary structural macronutrient — it provides the amino acids used to build and repair muscle tissue. For strength athletes, adequate protein intake is non-negotiable: research consistently shows that 1.6–2.2g of protein per kilogram of bodyweight (0.7–1g/lb) maximizes muscle protein synthesis. Protein also has the highest thermic effect of any macronutrient (20–30% of its calories are burned during digestion) and is the most satiating, making it particularly important during a calorie deficit.
Carbohydrates (4 kcal/g)
Carbohydrates are the body's preferred fuel source for high-intensity exercise. Glucose from dietary carbs is stored as muscle glycogen, which powers anaerobic effort during lifting. Low carbohydrate availability impairs training performance, reduces workout volume, and slows recovery. For strength athletes and bodybuilders, carbohydrates should make up the largest portion of calories outside of a dedicated cut — particularly around training sessions.
Fat (9 kcal/g)
Dietary fat is essential for hormone production, fat-soluble vitamin absorption (A, D, E, K), and joint health. Testosterone and other anabolic hormones require dietary fat as a precursor — dropping fat intake below 20% of total calories has been shown to suppress testosterone in male athletes. Fat has more than double the caloric density of protein or carbs (9 kcal/g), which means small changes in fat intake have an outsized effect on total calories.
Why track all three?
Tracking only calories tells you whether you're in a surplus or deficit. Tracking macros tells you how that surplus or deficit is affecting your body composition. Two people eating 2,500 calories per day will see very different results depending on whether their protein is 80g or 200g. For anyone serious about body composition — whether cutting, bulking, or recomping — tracking macros provides the precision that calorie-only approaches can't.
How to Hit Your Macros
Knowing your targets is step one. Here's how to actually hit them consistently.
Protein sources
Chicken breast, eggs, Greek yogurt, cottage cheese, lean beef, whey protein. Aim to include a protein source at every meal — it's the hardest macro to hit and the most important to nail.
Carb sources
Rice, oats, potatoes, fruit, bread, pasta. Prioritize carbs around training — pre-workout for fuel, post-workout for glycogen replenishment. Quality matters less than timing and totals.
Fat sources
Olive oil, nuts, avocado, fatty fish, egg yolks. Fat hides in cooking oils and sauces — weigh ingredients to avoid underestimating. A single tablespoon of oil is ~120 calories.
Tracking apps
MyFitnessPal and Cronometer are the most widely used. Scan barcodes for packaged food. Weigh ingredients raw — cooked weights vary significantly with moisture. Aim within ±10g of each macro target.
Weigh, don't eyeball
Studies show people underestimate food intake by 30–50% when estimating portions visually. A kitchen scale removes this error. Weigh everything for the first 2–4 weeks until you can estimate accurately.
Recalculate regularly
Recalculate your macros every 4–6 weeks or when your weight changes by more than 5 lbs. Your TDEE changes as your bodyweight changes, so the targets need to be updated to stay accurate.
How Much Protein Do You Actually Need?
Protein needs vary by goal, training age, and body composition. Here's the evidence-based range.
| Population | g per lb of bodyweight | g per kg of bodyweight | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sedentary adults | 0.36g/lb | 0.8g/kg | Minimum to prevent muscle loss |
| General fitness | 0.5–0.7g/lb | 1.1–1.5g/kg | Light training, health focus |
| Strength athletes | 0.7–1.0g/lb | 1.6–2.2g/kg | Research-backed optimal range |
| Cutting (deficit) | 0.9–1.2g/lb | 2.0–2.6g/kg | Higher protein preserves muscle |
| Natural upper limit | ~1.2g/lb | ~2.6g/kg | Studies show minimal benefit beyond this |
Frequently Asked Questions
The most common questions about calculating and tracking macros.