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Free Macro Calculator for Cutting, Maintaining, or Bulking

Pick a goal and this calculator splits your daily calories into protein, carbs, and fat, in grams you can actually shop and cook against. The split logic is shown below the tool, because a macro target you understand is one you can adjust when real life edits your week.

1,930

calories · split for your goal

Protein
145 g
set first, per pound of body weight
Fat
55 g
a floor for hormones and satiety
Carbs
220 g
whatever calories remain, fueling training

Treat these numbers as starting points. If a medical condition or medication affects your weight or appetite, get your targets from your doctor or a registered dietitian.

What macros are, in one minute

Macronutrients are the three places calories come from. Protein and carbs carry 4 calories per gram, fat carries 9. Any calorie target can be hit with wildly different mixes of the three, and the mix is what decides whether a deficit costs you fat or muscle, and whether training feels strong or flat.

Total calories still rule the scale. Macros decide what the scale change is made of. That order matters, and it's why this tool sets your calories first and splits them second.

How the split is built

Protein is set first, at 0.8 grams per pound of body weight. That's the midpoint of the range a large meta-analysis found maximizes muscle retention and growth in training adults, and it's deliberately the same math the protein calculator walks through in depth.

Fat comes second, at a quarter of your calories. Fat is where the floor matters more than the ceiling; dropping it too low interferes with hormones and makes food joyless, which ends diets.

Carbs get everything that remains. They're the flexible macro and the one your training feels first, so harder training weeks deserve the bigger carb allowance the bulk setting produces.

One caveat worth saying plainly. These are starting ratios for healthy training adults, and the gram targets scale with body weight. They are not medical nutrition therapy, and a very light or very heavy body weight can push the percentages outside sensible bounds; that's a dietitian conversation, and the tool says so when it happens.

Hitting your macros in a real week

Cutting. Protein is the number you defend; the carb and fat targets can trade against each other by a meal without hurting anything. If you only track one macro on chaotic days, track protein and stay near your calories.

Bulking. The bulk setting adds a small surplus, about 5 to 10 percent, because muscle is built slowly and everything beyond slow is fat. Weigh in weekly; if the monthly gain is much past a pound or two, pull carbs back one notch.

Either way, cook like it's normal food. A palm of protein, a fist of carbs, a thumb of fat per meal lands most people surprisingly close without weighing anything. Save the food scale for the weeks when progress stalls and you need the truth.

Macros are a map. Someone still has to drive.

Plenty of people have perfect targets in an app and a freezer full of good intentions. What changes outcomes is having the plan adjusted when your week changes, by someone who saw last week's numbers. That's the job coaching does: custom programming, nutrition guidance, and weekly check-ins tailored to your schedule, your equipment, and your goals, with progress review, form feedback, and program adjustments every single week.

Common Questions

Macro calculator FAQ

No. Calories decide whether weight goes up or down; macros decide the composition and how training feels along the way. Get calories right first, then let the split do its quieter work.
High protein, moderate fat, and the rest in carbs, inside a calorie deficit. That's exactly what the Cut setting produces. The magic-ratio framing gets the causality backwards; the deficit does the losing.
The structure is the same and the sex input already adjusts your calorie engine. Gram targets scale with body weight, so a 140-pound woman gets meaningfully different numbers than a 200-pound man from the same rules. There's no separate female formula hiding somewhere.
The Bulk setting adds a 5 to 10 percent surplus and gives the extra calories mostly to carbs, which is where training capacity lives. Protein doesn't need to climb past the standard target just because calories did.
Looser than the apps imply. Within about 10 grams on protein and within your calorie target is plenty for steady progress. Hand portions get you close; a food scale is a diagnostic tool for stalls; it doesn't need to become a lifestyle.
If you're managing diabetes, kidney concerns, pregnancy, or a history of disordered eating, macro targets belong to your doctor or a registered dietitian. And if your targets have been right for months while nothing changes, the gap is execution, which is what coaching is for.

References

  1. 1. Mifflin MD, St Jeor ST, et al. A new predictive equation for resting energy expenditure in healthy individuals. Am J Clin Nutr. 1990. (PubMed 2305711)
  2. 2. Aragon AA, et al. International Society of Sports Nutrition position stand: diets and body composition. J Int Soc Sports Nutr. 2017. (PubMed 28630601)
  3. 3. Morton RW, et al. A systematic review, meta-analysis and meta-regression of the effect of protein supplementation on resistance training-induced gains. Br J Sports Med. 2018. (PubMed 28698222)
  4. 4. Helms ER, et al. Evidence-based recommendations for natural bodybuilding contest preparation. J Int Soc Sports Nutr. 2014. (PubMed 24864135)
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