Free Macro Calculator

Macronutrients are the three nutrient groups your body needs in large quantities: proteins, carbohydrates, and fats. Each serves a different function: proteins repair and build muscle tissue, carbohydrates are your primary energy source, and fats regulate your hormones and protect your organs.

Knowing how many grams of each macronutrient you need per day is the foundation of any serious nutrition plan. It's not just about counting calories — macro distribution determines whether you lose fat, maintain muscle, or gain mass efficiently.

TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure) is the total number of calories your body burns each day, combining your basal metabolic rate (BMR) with your physical activity level. Our calculator uses the Mifflin-St Jeor formula, considered the gold standard by the American Dietetic Association, to estimate your BMR from your sex, age, weight, and height.

Once BMR is calculated, it's multiplied by an activity factor to get your TDEE. Then, based on your goal (lose fat, maintain weight, or build muscle), a caloric deficit or surplus is applied. Macronutrients are distributed prioritizing protein to preserve muscle mass.

Counting only calories is an incomplete approach. Two 2,000 kcal diets can produce completely different results depending on how macronutrients are distributed. A high-protein diet preserves more muscle during a cutting phase, while a balanced carbohydrate distribution maintains your athletic performance.

The problem is that calculating macros manually is tedious: it requires apps, scales, and nutritional knowledge. Our free calculator does it in 60 seconds, and with Makroa you can go one step further: receive meals with your exact portions, without calculating, cooking, or weighing anything.

Your basal metabolic rate (BMR) is the amount of energy your body needs to function if you stayed in bed all day without moving. We're talking about what your organs, brain, heart, and digestive system burn just to keep you alive. This accounts for 60% to 75% of all the calories you burn in a day. Yes, most of your calorie expenditure doesn't come from the gym. It comes from simply existing.

The most widely used formula for calculating BMR is the Mifflin-St Jeor equation. For men: (10 x weight in kg) + (6.25 x height in cm) - (5 x age in years) + 5. For women: the same formula but subtracting 161 instead of adding 5. For example, an 80 kg man who is 175 cm tall and 30 years old would have a BMR of roughly 1,755 kcal. That means his body burns almost 1,800 calories a day doing absolutely nothing.

Why do we use Mifflin-St Jeor instead of the Harris-Benedict formula you might see on other sites? Because Harris-Benedict was created in 1919 using data from a very different population. The Mifflin-St Jeor equation was developed in 1990 and has been validated by the American Dietetic Association as the most accurate method for estimating resting energy expenditure in healthy adults. Our calculator uses this formula by default.

There's no universal macronutrient split. What you need depends entirely on your goal. Here are the ranges that work best as a starting point. For cutting (losing fat while keeping muscle): 40% protein, 30% carbs, 30% fat. High protein is critical when you're in a caloric deficit because it protects your muscle mass while you lose fat. For maintenance: 30% protein, 40% carbs, 30% fat. A balanced split that works for most active people. For bulking: 25% protein, 50% carbs, 25% fat. Carbs are your primary fuel for training hard and recovering properly. For body recomposition: 35% protein, 35% carbs, 30% fat.

Let's run through a practical example so these percentages make sense. A 75 kg man in a cutting phase with an adjusted TDEE of 2,000 kcal per day would get: 200 g of protein (40% of 2,000 = 800 kcal, divided by 4 kcal per gram), 150 g of carbs (30% = 600 kcal / 4), and 67 g of fat (30% = 600 kcal / 9). That's 200 g of protein per day, which is substantial, but necessary when your goal is losing fat without sacrificing the muscle you worked hard to build.

The activity multiplier is where most people get their macro calculations wrong. Your BMR gets multiplied by a factor that reflects how much you move in total (not just at the gym). The five standard levels are: Sedentary (x1.2), for desk jobs with no regular exercise. Lightly active (x1.375), for light exercise 1 to 3 days per week. Moderately active (x1.55), with moderate exercise 3 to 5 days. Very active (x1.725), for intense training 6 or 7 days per week. Extra active (x1.9), reserved for people with physically demanding jobs who also train hard.

The most common mistake is overestimating your level. If you sit at a desk for 8 hours, drive to the gym, train for an hour, and go back to sitting, you're not "moderately active" even if you hit the gym 4 days a week. The reality is you spend 23 hours a day barely moving. Most people with office jobs who train 3-4 times per week fall under "lightly active." It sounds underwhelming, but that's what the data shows.

First mistake: overestimating your physical activity. We've covered this, but it deserves repeating because it's the number one error. The difference between "lightly active" and "moderately active" can be 200-300 kcal per day. That's 2,100 extra kcal per month that could be stalling your progress without you knowing it. Second mistake: not recalculating when your weight changes. Your TDEE depends on your current weight. For every 3 to 5 kg you lose or gain, your calorie expenditure shifts. If you started at 90 kg and now weigh 80, your macros from 90 kg no longer apply. Recalculate every 4-6 weeks or whenever you hit a plateau.

Third mistake: cutting protein when you're in a caloric deficit. This is the exact opposite of what you should do. In a deficit, your body looks for energy wherever it can find it, and if you don't give it enough protein, it'll pull from your muscles. Protein should go up (proportionally) when you eat fewer total calories, not down. Aim for 1.8-2.4 g per kg of body weight during a cutting phase.

The short answer: both matter, but for different things. Calories determine whether you gain or lose weight. This is pure thermodynamics and there's no way around it. If you eat more than you burn, you gain weight. If you eat less, you lose it. Macronutrients, on the other hand, determine what you gain or lose (muscle or fat) and how you feel throughout the process.

Think of it this way: 2,000 kcal from pizza and 2,000 kcal from a balanced diet with enough protein, complex carbs, and healthy fats will produce a similar change in weight. But the body composition outcomes will be very different. With the balanced approach, you'll retain more muscle, have steadier energy throughout the day, better digestion, better sleep, and fewer cravings. With the pizza, your weight might be the same but your reflection and how you feel will tell a different story.