macro calculator
Split a calorie target into protein, fat, and carbohydrate the way the platform does: protein per kilogram first, fat as a share of calories, carbs the remainder. Energy is priced at 4/4/9 and always derived, never stored.
No target yet? Estimate one with the TDEE calculator first.
The default: the middle of the 1.6 to 2.2 evidence range, right for most recomposition work.
On the platform a day's calories are never a stored fourth number: energy is always derived from the macros at 4/4/9, so it can never drift from them. The same rule holds here. The grams are the truth; the calorie line is arithmetic.
every gram has a price, and the total is never typed in.
The Atwater factors price the three macros: 4 kilocalories per gram of protein and carbohydrate, 9 per gram of fat. That asymmetry is why fat can be a third of the calories on a quarter of the grams, and why the honest way to build a day is grams first, energy derived.
The platform prices its 1,300+ food database the same way. See how on the nutrition page.
protein first, fat second, carbs are the remainder.
The split is not three sliders fighting over one total. Protein is anchored to your bodyweight because that is what it maintains. Fat takes a fixed share of the energy, 25 to 30 percent, enough for hormones and adherence. Carbohydrate is simply whatever the target has left, which is why it, and only it, flexes when the calories change.
No calorie target yet? Start at the TDEE calculator, subtract a deficit if you are cutting with the calorie deficit calculator, and bring the number back here.
the honest answers.
Why is protein set per kilogram instead of as a percentage?
Because your muscle does not know what your calorie target is. Protein need scales with the body being maintained, so it is anchored to bodyweight first; fat and carbohydrate then divide whatever energy remains. A percentage-first split quietly starves protein on a cut, exactly when it matters most.
Why can I not just enter the calories for each macro?
Because a stored calorie is a number waiting to lie. Edit the protein and forget the total, and the day claims an energy it no longer has. Here, and on the platform, the grams are the source of truth and energy is derived from them at 4, 4, and 9 kilocalories per gram, every time it is read.
What if the split says my carbs would be negative?
Then the calorie target cannot hold that much protein and fat, and the calculator says so instead of printing a negative gram figure. Raise the target, or lower the protein setting; a plan that only works on paper is not a plan.
more free tools
- one-rep max calculatorYour estimated 1RM from any set, with the three formulas the platform uses.
- tdee calculatorMaintenance calories from Mifflin-St Jeor and an honest activity multiplier.
- protein calculatorA daily protein range by goal, never a false-precision decimal.
- body fat calculatorThe US Navy tape-measure estimate, marked as the rough proxy it is.
- calorie deficit calculatorAn intake target and an honest weekly rate; below-BMR plans are refused.
a calculator estimates once. the platform watches what actually happens.
Every number this page gives you is a starting point. Trainbase is where a coach and a client watch the real ones move: every set logged against a program, every reading on one honest scale, every estimate marked as an estimate. When the trend disagrees with the calculator, the trend wins.