Calorie & macro calculator

Nutrition · Free tool · 5 min read

Every online calculator will hand you one precise-looking number, like you need exactly 2,143 calories a day. That precision is fake. Your real number depends on things a form cannot measure, like how accurately you report your activity, how your body responds on the week, and how consistent you actually are. What we can give you is a sensible, evidence-based range to start from, which is far more useful than a single number you will hit once and then quietly ignore.

How we work this out

The calculator uses the Mifflin-St Jeor equation, the version most widely used by dietitians, to estimate your resting metabolic rate from your age, sex, height and weight. That is multiplied by an activity factor to get your maintenance calories, known as TDEE (total daily energy expenditure). From there, your goal shifts that number up or down by a sensible, evidence-based percentage rather than a guessed figure.

Calorie balance and your goal

The honest version, with no product to sell you: fat loss needs a calorie deficit, muscle gain needs a small calorie surplus, and both need enough protein and consistent training to actually work. As a rough guide:

• Losing fat: a deficit of around 15 to 25% below maintenance. Bigger deficits lose weight faster but cost you more muscle and energy along the way. Slower is genuinely more sustainable.
• Maintaining: within about 5% either side of maintenance, which is really a range rather than one exact number.
• Building muscle: a surplus of around 5 to 15% above maintenance. Bigger surpluses mostly add fat, not muscle, so there is little upside to going higher.
• Endurance training: close to maintenance, with a small surplus on your heaviest training weeks. The priority shifts from a calorie target to making sure you have enough carbs on board to actually fuel the sessions.

Protein, fat and carbs, in plain English

• Protein builds and protects muscle and keeps you fuller for longer. Aim for roughly 1.6 to 2.2 grams per kilogram of bodyweight a day, towards the higher end if you are in a calorie deficit. We cover this properly in our full protein guide.
• Fat supports hormone health and helps you absorb some vitamins. Around 25 to 35% of your calories is a sensible range for most people, and going much lower than that for long periods is not something we would recommend.
• Carbs fuel your training and your brain. Once protein and fat are set, the rest of your calories go here. Active people, and especially anyone training hard for cricket, in the gym, or for endurance events, generally do better with more carbs, not fewer. If you are training for endurance specifically, protein needs are a touch lower (around 1.4 to 1.7g per kilogram), which frees up more room for the carbs that actually fuel long sessions.

Nobody has ever failed a diet because their macros were 3 grams out. They failed because the plan did not fit their life. Get the range right, then build habits you can actually stick to.

Want it dialled in properly?

A calculator can get you a sensible starting range. It cannot watch how your body actually responds, adjust things when life gets in the way, or talk you through the weeks that do not go to plan. That is what coaching is for. If you want targets built around your real goals, your training and your schedule, that is exactly what we do.