The Ultimate Guide to Optimizing PDFs for the Web
Learn how to reduce PDF file sizes, improve loading times, and deliver a better experience for your website visitors — all without sacrificing quality.
Back to Blog
Health & Fitness
How to Calculate Your Macros for Fitness Goals
Macronutrients are the building blocks of nutrition. Learn how to calculate your daily protein, carbohydrate, and fat targets based on your body and goals.
Utilzy TeamMay 5, 20267 min read
What Are Macronutrients?
Macronutrients — protein, carbohydrates, and fats — are the three categories of nutrients that provide your body with energy. Each gram of protein contains 4 calories. Each gram of carbohydrate contains 4 calories. Each gram of fat contains 9 calories. Alcohol, while not a macronutrient essential for health, contains 7 calories per gram.
Understanding your macronutrient targets is more useful than simply counting calories because it ensures you are fueling your body appropriately for your specific goals. A 2000-calorie diet of pizza is very different from a 2000-calorie diet of chicken, rice, and vegetables.
Calculating Your Targets
Start by estimating your Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE) using a calorie calculator that factors in your age, weight, height, activity level, and gender. This gives you your maintenance calories — the amount you need to maintain your current weight.
For fat loss, subtract 300 to 500 calories from your TDEE. For muscle gain, add 200 to 400 calories. Then divide your target calories into macronutrients. A common starting point is 0.7 to 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight, 0.3 to 0.4 grams of fat per pound, and the remainder from carbohydrates.
Adjusting Over Time
No calculator is perfectly accurate for every individual. Track your weight and measurements for two to three weeks while following your calculated targets. If your weight is not moving in the desired direction, adjust your total calories by 100 to 200 and reassess.
Remember that consistency matters more than perfection. Hitting your macro targets within 10 percent on most days will produce far better results than being perfect one day and completely off the next.
Try These Tools for Free
Everything mentioned in this article is available on Utilzy — free, secure, and ready to use right now.
Explore All Tools