Protein
— g/day
Macronutrient calculator
Estimate daily and per-meal targets, maintenance calories, and weight change over the first four weeks.
Calculate your targetsHide inputsEdit inputs
Your result
Fat
— g/day
Carbohydrate
— g/day
Calories
— kcal/day
Energy and activity
Estimated maintenance
— kcal/day
NASEM 2023 · standard equation
Estimated 4-week change
—
—
Carbs at estimated maintenance
— g/day
Keeps your protein and fat targets fixed; carbs fill the remaining calories.
Performance carbohydrate reference
?
Use this on hard or long days when training quality and recovery matter—especially for endurance or repeated high-intensity work. It is a total daily range, not extra carbohydrate and not a minimum for every day. Aim nearer it on demanding days; easy or rest days can be lower. If you train at this workload every day, compare your everyday target with it. A lower target may support fat loss, but can trade off performance or recovery. These broad ranges are less precise for strength-only training and at higher body weights. Macro totals stay in grams; the body-weight factor is also shown in g/lb.
— g/day
Energy and short-term weight-change values are estimates, not measurements.
Meal distribution
Protein—g
Carbohydrate—g
Fat—g
Meal example
—
ProteinCarbsFat
Your average— g— g— g
This example— g— g— g
Other protein options
Approximate cooked portions; brands and preparation vary.
What this calculator can—and cannot—tell you.
Two grams of protein per kilogram is near the upper end of common sports-nutrition guidance for healthy exercising adults. It is not a universal requirement. Some athletes, including bodybuilders, choose higher intakes, but higher is not automatically better or necessary.
The even per-meal split is a planning aid. Daily protein is the main target, and protein above a particular amount is not simply wasted. Foods also overlap: salmon and tofu contribute fat; lentils and quinoa contribute carbohydrate as well as protein. Example meals are therefore approximations, not prescriptions.
If you provide a body-fat estimate, the calculator uses current fat mass and fat-free mass to refine estimated maintenance and the four-week weight projection. It does not change the goal-weight macronutrient targets. Body-fat measurements and energy equations both have meaningful individual error.
Eating pattern is not an allergy or micronutrient screen. Vegan users need a reliable source of vitamin B12, and fish choices during pregnancy or childhood need specific guidance.
Sources and model provenance
The U.S. guideline-informed preset is a calculator adaptation, not an official three-number ratio. It uses 1.4 g/kg goal weight—the midpoint of the current federal protein range—then keeps roughly the same starting energy as Igor's template, with fat and carbohydrate inside the legacy adult AMDR reference ranges. The use of goal weight and the exact fat and carbohydrate values are calculator choices.
- Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2025–2030Current federal protein serving goal of 1.2–1.6 g/kg body weight per day.
- National Academies. Acceptable Macronutrient Distribution Ranges (2024 review)The adult percentage ranges, plus the committee's warning that their derivation does not meet current evidence standards.
- National Academies. Dietary Reference Intakes for Energy (2023)Adult energy equations, activity categories, and model error.
- National Academies. Supplemental Appendix Q (2023)Adult fat-mass and fat-free-mass energy-equation coefficients.
- Hall and colleagues. Dynamic adult body-weight modelModel behind the first-four-week weight-change estimate.
- Systematic review of bioelectrical-impedance validityWhy an entered body-fat percentage remains an approximation.
- International Society of Sports Nutrition position stand (2017)Protein range for exercising adults.
- Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, Dietitians of Canada, and ACSM (2016)Performance-fueling carbohydrate ranges and their conditional use.
- UCI Sports Nutrition Project: Nutritional Periodization (2025)Why carbohydrate intake should change with the demands and goals of each training day.
- Systematic review of carbohydrate and resistance-training performance (2022)Why broad endurance-oriented carbohydrate ranges are less precise for ordinary strength training.
- Schoenfeld and Aragon (2018)Per-meal protein distribution and its limitations.
- USDA FoodData CentralSnapshot values behind the cooked-food examples.
Before you use it
It is for generally healthy adults age 19 and older. It is not a diagnosis, treatment plan, or individualized medical nutrition therapy. Do not use the default high-protein target during pregnancy or breastfeeding, with kidney disease, an active or recent eating disorder, medically prescribed diets, significant liver or heart disease, active cancer treatment, bariatric surgery, malabsorption, frailty, unexplained weight loss, or a goal BMI below 18.5. Work with a physician and registered dietitian instead.