How do I calculate my macros step by step?

Estimate maintenance calories, apply your goal adjustment, set protein at 1.6–2.2 g per kg, set a fat floor near 0.8 g per kg, then fill the remaining calories with carbohydrate.

How often should I recalculate?

Every four to six weeks, or after a body weight change of about 5%.

Are online macro calculators accurate?

They give a reasonable starting estimate. Real accuracy comes from adjusting based on two to three weeks of actual weight data.

← Notes

Fundamentals·7 min read·May 18, 2025·By The Procaaf Team

How to Calculate Your Custom Macro Targets

A step-by-step guide to finding your daily calorie floor and macro split — the numbers you need before you open a plate scratchpad.

A notebook with nutrition calculations next to a balanced meal.

Every macro tracker asks you the same first question: what are your targets? Most people guess, copy a template off Instagram, and then wonder why the numbers never feel right. The honest answer takes ten minutes of arithmetic — and once you have it, every plate you build afterwards has a purpose.

This is the same math a dietitian would walk you through on a first visit. It uses body weight, activity level, and one goal (maintain, lose, or gain) to produce a calorie floor and a protein / carb / fat split you can actually eat.

Step 1: estimate your maintenance calories

Start with a rough basal metabolic rate: bodyweight in kg × 22 for women, × 24 for men. That is what you would burn lying in bed all day. Multiply by an activity factor — 1.3 sedentary, 1.5 lightly active, 1.7 active, 1.9 very active. The result is your maintenance calorie level.

A 70 kg lightly active adult male: 70 × 24 × 1.5 ≈ 2520 kcal/day. That is the number of calories that keeps weight stable.

Step 2: adjust for your goal

To lose fat, subtract 15–20% (a 400–500 kcal deficit). To gain lean mass, add 10–15% (a 250–350 kcal surplus). Anything more aggressive is a diet you will quit by week three.

That adjusted number — your calorie target — is the first of two numbers you actually need. Everything else is a split.

Step 3: set protein first

Protein is set by bodyweight, not calories. Use 1.6 g/kg to maintain, 2.0 g/kg while dieting (protein preserves muscle in a deficit), 1.8 g/kg while gaining. Multiply grams by 4 to get calories from protein.

For our 70 kg example at maintenance: 70 × 1.6 = 112 g protein, which is 448 kcal.

Step 4: split the remaining calories between fat and carbs

Subtract protein calories from your calorie target. Give fat a floor of roughly 0.8 g/kg body weight (multiply grams by 9 for calories). Everything left over is carbs (grams by 4).

Example: 2520 − 448 = 2072 kcal for fat + carbs. Fat floor: 70 × 0.8 = 56 g fat = 504 kcal. Carbs: (2072 − 504) / 4 = 392 g. Final targets: 2520 kcal · 112 P · 392 C · 56 F.

Step 5: plug the targets into a plate composer

Numbers on paper do nothing until they hit a plate. Open the Procaaf scratchpad, add the ingredients you actually eat, and adjust grams until each meal lands at roughly one third of your daily targets. Within a week you will know by eye what a 700 kcal / 30 g protein meal looks like — and the tracker becomes optional.

Frequently asked questions

How do I calculate my macros step by step?: Estimate maintenance calories, apply your goal adjustment, set protein at 1.6–2.2 g per kg, set a fat floor near 0.8 g per kg, then fill the remaining calories with carbohydrate.
How often should I recalculate?: Every four to six weeks, or after a body weight change of about 5%.
Are online macro calculators accurate?: They give a reasonable starting estimate. Real accuracy comes from adjusting based on two to three weeks of actual weight data.

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