Macro calculator

Macros, short for macronutrients, are the three main nutrients that provide your body with energy — protein, carbs, and fat. Protein and carbs have about 4 calories per gram, while fat has about 9. Your daily macros are simply how many grams of each you aim to eat in a day.

Start with your maintenance calories, which is the amount of energy you burn in a typical day. The calculator estimates this based on your age, height, weight, and activity level. From there, you can adjust for your goal, whether that's eating in a deficit to lose fat or a surplus for muscle growth.

At a 20% calorie deficit, most people lose about 0.5% of their body weight per week. A 10% deficit is slower, but often easier to stick with. The calculator shows your own estimate. Since daily weight fluctuates, it's best to weigh yourself daily and look at your weekly average. If your trend over 2 to 3 weeks is moving faster or slower than planned, adjust your intake by 100 to 150 calories a day.

The calculator sets your protein at about 0.8 grams per pound of body weight to maintain or gain muscle, and bumps it to about 1 gram per pound when you're cutting. Extra protein helps preserve muscle mass while you're eating in a calorie deficit.

If you have a significant amount of weight to lose, calculating protein based on your current weight can result in an uncomfortably high target. In these cases, the calculator uses your goal weight (or the top of the healthy BMI range for your height) to give you a more realistic number to hit.

Think about your entire day, not just your workouts. For example, a desk job paired with 2 to 4 workouts a week is usually considered "Lightly active." If you're between two levels, pick the lower one. You can always adjust after a few weeks based on your results.

Counting calories sets how much you eat, while counting macros sets what those calories are made of. If you have two days with the exact same calorie count, the day with more protein will help you retain muscle and stay full longer.

Enter your sex, age, height, weight, activity level, and goal. It estimates your resting burn with the Mifflin–St Jeor equation, multiplies that by your activity level to find your maintenance calories, adjusts for your goal, then sets protein and fat first and uses carbs to fill the remaining calories.

Yes. Open "Adjust protein and fat" and move the sliders. Your carbs automatically adjust to fill whatever calories are left over. Tap "Reset to recommended" to return to your starting numbers.

It's a highly educated estimate. The Mifflin–St Jeor equation is one of the most reliable formulas available, but individual metabolisms can vary by a few hundred calories. Treat the calculator as your starting point, and let your weekly weight trend over the next 2 to 3 weeks guide your adjustments.