- BananaCal
- Macro calculator
Macro calculator
Your calories decide how much you eat. Your macros decide what it's made of. Enter your details, pick a style and get your grams of protein, carbs and fat.
- Protein104 g30% of caloriesPer meal: 35 g
- Carbs138 g40% of caloriesPer meal: 46 g
- Fat46 g30% of caloriesPer meal: 15 g
- Calories
- 1,380 kcal
- Fiber
- 19 g
These numbers are estimates. Track what you eat for two or three weeks, watch how your weight changes and adjust by 100 to 200 kcal if needed.
What macros are
Macronutrients are the three nutrients that give you energy: protein and carbohydrates have about 4 kcal per gram, fat about 9 kcal per gram. Alcohol, which isn't a nutrient, has about 7.
Your total calories decide whether you lose, keep or gain weight. The split between the three macros changes how full you feel, how well you keep your muscle and how you perform when you train.
How this calculator works
First it estimates your daily calories with the Mifflin-St Jeor equation, your activity level and your goal, like our calorie calculator.
Then it sets protein from your body weight, fat as a share of your calories, and gives the remaining calories to carbohydrates. The lower-carb style fixes carbs at 26% of calories instead, the threshold commonly used to define a low-carbohydrate diet.
Which split is best for weight loss?
The one you can stick to. In the DIETFITS trial, over 600 adults followed either a healthy low-fat or a healthy low-carb diet for a year and lost about the same amount of weight.
What does matter is protein. Enough of it, around 1.6 g per kg of body weight, helps you keep your muscle while you eat less, and it keeps you full on fewer calories.
Don't forget fiber
Fiber isn't counted as a macro here, but it's a big part of eating well: about 14 g for every 1,000 kcal you eat is the usual recommendation. Vegetables, fruit, legumes and whole grains are the easiest way to get there.
Frequently asked questions
What are macros?
Macros, short for macronutrients, are protein, carbohydrates and fat: the three nutrients that provide calories. Protein and carbs have about 4 kcal per gram, fat about 9.
What is a good macro ratio for weight loss?
There's no single best ratio. Keep a calorie deficit, get about 1.6 g of protein per kg of body weight, and split the rest between carbs and fat in the way you find easiest to follow.
Do I need to hit my macros exactly?
No. Aim to be close over the week, especially for protein. Being 10 or 20 g off on carbs or fat on a single day makes no real difference.
How many carbs should I eat to lose weight?
It depends on your calories and preferences. A balanced plan usually lands between 40 and 50% of calories from carbs; a lower-carb plan uses about 26%. Both work if your total calories are in a deficit.
Sources
- Institute of Medicine. Dietary Reference Intakes for Energy, Carbohydrate, Fiber, Fat, Fatty Acids, Cholesterol, Protein, and Amino Acids. 2005
- Gardner CD et al. Effect of Low-Fat vs Low-Carbohydrate Diet on 12-Month Weight Loss in Overweight Adults. JAMA, 2018
- Morton RW et al. A systematic review, meta-analysis and meta-regression of the effect of protein supplementation on resistance training-induced gains in muscle mass and strength. Br J Sports Med, 2018
- Feinman RD et al. Dietary carbohydrate restriction as the first approach in diabetes management: critical review and evidence base. Nutrition, 2015
This article is general information, not medical advice. If you have a health condition, are pregnant or take medication, talk to your doctor or a registered dietitian before changing your diet.