How to calculate your macronutrients for beginners
This free and easy-to-use calorie and macro calculator is designed to calculate your daily calorie intake and macronutrients accurately.
Simply fill in the following to get your recommended calories, protein, carbs and fats split.
You should revisit this calculator and adjust your macros as you progress to your goal. The best way to determine if it’s time for a readjustment is when your progress plateaus. Because your body’s energy requirements will change as you progress, whether for weight loss or muscle growth.
Make sure to bookmark this page for your convenience!
Your Experience
Input the following information regarding your current experience with training, nutrition and tracking your macros.
This will give us a better understanding where you’re currently at on your health and wellness journey and the type of assistance you would like in later sections.
Calculating Your Macronutrient Ratio
Calculating your exact macronutrient ratio should be done on a person-to-person basis considering personal goals.
The following is considered the one of the most popular ratio:
- Carbohydrates: 50%
- Protein: 20%
- Fat: 30%
This ratio is typically used for the average person, meaning that if you have goals for improvements in muscle mass, performance or weight loss these numbers will be subject to change.
Our calorie and macro calculator considers these factors to give you an accurate reading.
Calculating Your Macronutrients
Once you have determined your daily calorie intake, you can break this figure into your macro ratios.
For example, if you calorie intake was 2,000 calories, your split your read:
- Carbohydrate (50%): 1000 cal (250 grams)
- Protein (20%): 600 cal (150 grams)
- Fat (30%): 400 cal (44 grams)
Our calorie and macro calculator process these numbers for you.
From here you can put your daily calorie limit and macros into a calorie tracking app.
This app will allow you to input your meals and help you track your calories and meals.
Calculating Calories and Macros Based on Your Goals
Different goals require small adjustment to your calorie intake, with the following changes:
Macro Calculator for Weight Loss (Calorie Deficit)
For weight loss, you will need to be in a calorie deficit. This can be in small increments of 10%-20%, which will ensure a slow, steady and sustainable weight loss.
This can be based on your BMR (basal metabolic rate), the amount of calories you burn at rest without factoring in your energy expenditure with exercise.
Maintenance
Calculating your weight loss for maintenance is a great way to keep the weight down once you have successfully reached your weight loss or muscle building goal.
This again is done through the Exercise with Style calorie calculator, which will consider your activity levels to give you the most accurate reading possible.
Macro Calculator to Build Muscle
Building muscle requires an increase in calorie not only for fuel but to increase lean muscle mass.
This requires roughly a 20% calorie surplus.
E.g. regular calorie intake 2,500 + 20% (500 cal) = 3,000 cal
Correct protein intake through protein-rich foods and supplements should be followed for effective muscle gain to ensure the best results.
Tracking Calories and Macros Per Meal
Once you have your calories and macronutrient figures, you break them down into meals.
This will allow you to plan your meal accordingly to meet these targets.
E.g. 3,000 cal divided six meals/day = 500 cal/meal
This can be done with your macros and broken down into different amounts to suit larger or smaller meals.
All this can be easily calculated and tracked with a nutrition app.
Calorie and Macro Calculator Activity Level Considerations
Our activity level plays a vital role when it comes to calculating your daily calorie and macro intake.
Below are insights into how different activity levels will influence our calorie intake.
Sedentary
This is a regular level of activity with no additional exercise. Your calorie expenditure will represent your basal metabolic rate.
Lightly Active
This represents a light amount of activity 1-2 times per week burning an additional 200-400 cal.
Moderately Active
A moderate level of activity where exercise is performed 3-5 times per week with sessions which will require a further 400-700 cal over sedentary.
Heavily Active
Heavily active is identified as exercising 6-7 times per week with a physical job or active life. This requires an additional 500-900 cal.
Athlete Active
Athletes and highly active individuals require 1000+ over the basal metabolic rate. However, this can vary depending on the sport.
Key Points
No macronutrient calculator is perfect, no matter which one you choose. They are only estimates and a great starting point. It’s a good idea to adjust your macros over a period of time as you progress. Because as your body composition changes, so do your macros.
Consulting with a registered dietitian can help ensure you meet your macronutrient needs while also getting adequate micronutrients and other essential nutrients.
In the last step of the macro calculator, you can chat with one of our registered dietitians if you wish to discuss macronutrient requirements, meal planning or dietary requirements.
