Macro Calculator
Calculate your ideal daily protein, carbohydrate and fat targets for any goal
Results & Details
// Custom Macro Split
// Macro Split Visualised
// Per Meal Breakdown
// Good Food Sources Per Macro
🥩 Protein
🌾 Carbs
🫒 Healthy Fats
What Are Macronutrients?
Macronutrients — protein, carbohydrates and fat — are the three main nutrient groups that provide energy. Each plays a distinct role in the body, and the optimal ratio depends on your goals, lifestyle and health status.
How Macros Are Calculated
Recommended Protein Intakes
For general health: 0.8 g/kg bodyweight (RDA). For active individuals: 1.4–2.0 g/kg. For muscle gain: 1.6–2.2 g/kg. For cutting with resistance training: up to 2.4–3.1 g/kg to preserve lean mass. Protein has 4 calories per gram and is the most satiating macronutrient.
Diet Preset Splits
Cut (40P/35C/25F): High protein preserves muscle in a deficit. Moderate carbs fuel training. Bulk (30P/45C/25F): Higher carbs support training intensity and glycogen replenishment. Keto (25P/5C/70F): Minimal carbs to induce ketosis. Low Carb (35P/25C/40F): Reduced carbs, higher fat — suits those with insulin sensitivity. High Protein (40P/35C/25F): Optimised for athletes and resistance trainers.
Macros: The Layer Beneath Calories
Built and verified by Andrius R. · Updated June 2026
Calories decide whether your weight goes up or down; macronutrients — protein, carbohydrate, fat — decide a lot of what that change is made of and how it feels. Here's how the targets are built, with the actual arithmetic.
The energy values everything is built on
Protein and carbohydrate each provide 4 kcal per gram; fat provides 9 kcal per gram (alcohol, the unofficial fourth macro, is 7). Every macro plan is just a way of carving a calorie target into these three buckets.
How a macro split is actually calculated
- Protein first, by body weight: 1.8 g/kg × 75 = 135 g = 540 kcal.
- Fat as a floor, ~25% of calories: 550 kcal ÷ 9 = ~61 g.
- Carbs get the remainder: 2,200 − 540 − 550 = 1,110 kcal ÷ 4 = ~278 g.
Result: roughly 25% protein / 25% fat / 50% carbs. Note the order: protein is set in grams per kilogram (because its jobs scale with your body), fat gets a minimum (hormone production needs it), and carbs flex to fill the budget.
Why protein gets priority
Research on body composition consistently lands on ~1.6–2.2 g per kg of body weight for people training and trying to lose fat or build muscle — roughly double the basic RDA of 0.8 g/kg, which is a floor for avoiding deficiency, not an optimum for changing your body. Protein's three practical advantages: it protects muscle in a calorie deficit, it's the most satiating macro per calorie, and it has the highest thermic effect (20–30% of its calories are burned digesting it, vs ~5–10% for carbs and ~0–3% for fat). When people say "macros matter," most of the measurable effect is really "protein matters."
Common splits, compared honestly
| Approach | Typical split (P/F/C) | What the evidence says |
|---|---|---|
| Balanced | 25–30 / 25–30 / 40–50 | Works for most goals; easiest to sustain |
| Low-carb / keto | 20–25 / 60–75 / 5–10 | Effective for some, mainly via appetite control — not metabolic magic |
| High-carb endurance | 15–20 / 20–25 / 55–65 | Sensible for high training volumes that drain glycogen |
Controlled studies comparing diets matched for calories and protein find little fat-loss difference between high-carb and low-carb. Pick the split you can live with; adherence beats optimization.
Tracking without losing your mind
Weigh foods rather than trusting volume measures for the first few weeks — a "tablespoon" of peanut butter is rarely 16 g. Hit protein within ±10 g daily and treat carbs and fat as a combined budget; obsessing over a 5-gram carb miss has no physiological payoff. And remember macros sit on top of calories, not instead of them: get your target from the calorie calculator first, then split it here. If weight isn't moving after 2–3 weeks, the calorie number is what needs adjusting, not the ratios.
From the Blog
// Protein First
Hit your protein target every day — it's the hardest macro to get wrong and the most important for body composition.
// Track for 2 Weeks
Track your food accurately for 2 weeks before adjusting targets. Most people significantly underestimate portions.
// Fat Is Essential
Don't drop fat below ~20% of calories. Fat is essential for hormone production, vitamin absorption and cell function.
// Carbs and Training
Time your largest carbohydrate meals around training — pre-workout for energy, post-workout for glycogen replenishment.