Free Macro Calculator
A free macro calculator for Australia. Enter your details and get daily protein, fat and carbohydrate targets in grams, worked out from your own body and how much you move, in kilojoules and in calories.
Free, instant, no email address, and nothing you enter is stored.
Everything is worked out in your browser. Nothing is sent anywhere.
Your daily energy target
0 kJ
0 calories
Protein
0g
Fat
0g
Carbohydrate
0g
Spread across the day
How to Calculate Macros
Macros is short for macronutrients: protein, fat and carbohydrate, the three nutrients your body needs in large amounts and the three that carry all the energy in your food. To calculate macros you work out how much energy you need in a day and then divide that energy between the three. Four steps, and this free macro calculator does all of them from the details you entered.
Resting requirement
Your basal metabolic rate, or BMR, is your energy cost at rest. It comes from the Schofield equations, the set behind Australia's own NHMRC energy requirements, using your sex, age and weight.
Add your movement
Multiply that BMR by an activity factor, from 1.2 for a desk job to 1.9 for hard training plus physical work. The result is your total daily energy expenditure, or TDEE: what you burn in a normal day.
Adjust for your goal
Staying the same weight uses that figure as it is. Losing takes a gradual amount off it, gaining adds a small amount on, and neither is allowed below your resting requirement.
Split into grams
Protein is set per kilogram of body weight rather than as a flat percentage, fat takes a share of the energy with a floor under it, and carbohydrate takes what is left.
Two abbreviations do a lot of work above. BMR is what you would burn lying still all day, and TDEE is that figure with your movement added, which makes TDEE your maintenance level. This macro calculator uses both as the road to a gram target and then leaves them there. If the energy number itself is what you came for, with a deficit, a goal weight and a date attached, the weight loss calculator is the page that does that properly, and it runs the same equations so the two agree.
Protein set by body weight is the part most macro calculators get lazy about, and it is the part that changes what you actually eat.
Why this macronutrient calculator does not use a fixed percentage for proteinWhat Each Macro Does
Each of the three macronutrients earns its place for a different reason, and knowing which is which is what turns a set of numbers into a decision about dinner.
Protein
Protein supplies the building blocks for muscle tissue, enzymes, antibodies and the neurotransmitters that carry signals around your brain. Your body is not able to store a surplus of it the way it stores fat and carbohydrate, which is why a steady daily intake matters more for protein than for anything else on this page.
It is also the most filling of the three. In a deficit it does a second job, helping hold on to lean tissue while body fat comes down, and that is why the target this calculator sets rises when you choose to lose weight rather than staying flat.
Fat
Fat is structural. Every cell membrane in your body is built from it, and the steroid hormones, including oestrogen, progesterone and testosterone, are made from cholesterol. Very low fat intakes are not a neutral choice, which is why this calculator puts a floor under the figure rather than letting a percentage push it anywhere.
Type matters as much as amount. Monounsaturated and polyunsaturated sources, the olive oil, oily fish, nuts and seeds end of the range, are the ones Australian dietary guidelines lean toward, and omega-3 in particular is a common gap in a Western diet.
Carbohydrate
Carbohydrate is the fuel your brain and your working muscles reach for first, and the harder or the more often you train, the more of it the numbers above will hand you. It is the macro this calculator gives whatever energy is left after protein and fat, which is exactly how it behaves in practice.
The source is where most of the difference sits. Wholegrains, legumes, fruit and vegetables carry fibre, and fibre is the part that feeds your gut bacteria and slows the rise in blood glucose. Two meals can have identical carbohydrate grams and behave nothing alike.
Macro Splits People Ask About
Fixed percentage splits circulate widely, and the free macro calculator above will show you any of them applied to your own energy target in calories and kilojoules. Here is what they are and where each one came from.
| Split | Protein / fat / carbs | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| Worked out for you | Varies | Protein set per kilogram of your body weight and scaled to your activity and goal, fat given a share of energy with a floor under it, carbohydrate taking the rest. The share changes with the person, which is the point. |
| 30 / 30 / 40 | 30% protein, 30% fat, 40% carbs | A moderately higher-protein general split. Note that the widely quoted 40 / 30 / 30, the Zone diet ratio from the 1990s, is this same split written carbohydrate first, so the two produce identical grams and only one button is needed for both. |
| Higher protein | 35% protein, 30% fat, 35% carbs | Protein pushed above the Australian acceptable range for a maintenance diet. Common in body composition work and in a deficit, where the point is holding on to lean tissue, and less useful as a permanent way of eating. |
| Lower carb | 30% protein, 40% fat, 30% carbs | A moderate reduced-carbohydrate pattern, not a ketogenic one. Ketogenic eating sits far lower again, is a clinical approach rather than a general one, and is not something a calculator should hand out. |
The reason this page does not simply pick one for you is that a percentage does not know how much you weigh. Take a 78 kilogram woman eating 8,510 kilojoules a day. Worked out from her body weight her protein target is 78 grams. Set at a flat 30 per cent of her energy it is 150 grams, near enough to double, and nothing about her changed in between. Percentages are a useful way to describe a diet after the fact. They are a poor way to choose one.
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Frequently Asked Questions
How do I properly calculate my macros?
Start with your resting energy requirement, multiply it by an activity factor to get what you use in a normal day, then adjust that figure for whether you want to stay the same, lose or gain. Set protein first, in grams per kilogram of body weight rather than as a percentage, give fat a share of the energy with a sensible floor under it, and let carbohydrate take whatever is left. The calculator on this page does all four steps from your own height, weight, age, sex and activity level.
Is this macro calculator free?
Yes. It is completely free, it does not ask for an email address, and there is nothing to sign up for. Everything is worked out in your own browser, so nothing you type is transmitted or stored anywhere.
What is the 30/30/40 rule for macros?
It means taking 30 per cent of your daily energy from protein, 30 per cent from fat and 40 per cent from carbohydrate. It is a general higher-protein split rather than a rule, and you can apply it to your own numbers using the split buttons above the results. Bear in mind that a percentage does not know your body weight, so the same 30 per cent can be a sensible protein target for one person and well short for another.
What is the best macro split for weight loss?
The energy target does the work in weight loss, not the split. What the split changes is how comfortable the target is to stick to, and the one thing worth protecting is protein, because a higher protein intake helps hold on to lean tissue while body fat comes down and it is the most filling of the three. Setting your goal to losing weight on this page raises the protein target for that reason. If you want the deficit, the rate and a goal date worked out as well, use the weight loss calculator.
Does this macro calculator work in kilojoules?
Yes, and kilojoules are shown first because they are the unit on Australian food labels. Every figure is given in both, since most tracking apps still work in calories. If you only need to move between the two units, the kilojoule to calorie converter does that on its own.
Is there a macro calculator for kids?
Not here, deliberately. This calculator is for adults aged 18 and over. Children and teenagers are still growing, their energy and protein requirements move with growth rather than with body weight alone, and handing a child a set of daily gram targets is not something a general calculator should do. If you have a concern about a child's eating, that is a conversation for your GP, a paediatric dietitian or a maternal and child health nurse.
What macros should a woman eat?
The same method applies, and the numbers land differently because the resting energy equations already account for sex, and because protein is set per kilogram of body weight. There is no separate female formula worth applying on top of that. What does change the picture is life stage: pregnancy, breastfeeding and the years around menopause all shift requirements in ways a general calculator does not model, and none of those are covered here.
How accurate is a macro calculator?
No calculator measures your metabolism. Every one of them, this included, applies a population equation to your height, weight, age and sex, and those equations land within roughly 10 per cent for most people and further out for some. Treat the output as a starting figure, hold it for three or four weeks, and let your own weight, energy and hunger correct it. Measured resting metabolic rate testing is the accurate version and it needs equipment.
Do I need to hit my macros exactly?
No. Landing within roughly 10 grams of protein and fat and 20 grams of carbohydrate on most days is far more useful than hitting the numbers precisely on some days and abandoning them on others. The targets are a direction, not a test, and if tracking them starts to feel compulsive that is a good reason to stop and talk to someone rather than to try harder.
Knowing the numbers is the easy half
If you are eating to targets like these and still feel flat, bloated or foggy, the number was probably never the problem. Fifteen minutes with our clinical nutritionist, and you will know whether there is something underneath it worth looking at, and whether a tailored meal plan built around these macros is the sensible next step or the wrong one.
I credit her for my better food choices and the healthier lifestyle I now lead. She is very knowledgeable, caring and most of all passionate about improving her clients health.
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This calculator gives a general estimate from standard population equations. It is educational information, not personal dietary advice, and it is not a diagnosis or a treatment. It is not suitable during pregnancy or breastfeeding, for anyone under 18, or for anyone with a current or past eating disorder. Talk to your GP or a qualified practitioner before making a significant change to what you eat, particularly if you take medication or have a diagnosed condition.
Equations: Schofield WN, Human Nutrition and Clinical Nutrition, 1985, the basal metabolic rate equations underpinning the NHMRC and FAO energy requirement estimates for Australia. Activity factors follow the conventional 1.2 to 1.9 range. Acceptable Macronutrient Distribution Ranges are the NHMRC and New Zealand Ministry of Health Nutrient Reference Values, expressed as a percentage of total energy: protein 15 to 25 per cent, fat 20 to 35 per cent, carbohydrate 45 to 65 per cent. Energy conversions use 17 kilojoules per gram of protein and of carbohydrate and 37 kilojoules per gram of fat, the Australian food-labelling factors, and 1 calorie equals 4.184 kilojoules. Where body mass index is 30 or above, protein is set on an adjusted body weight, the standard clinical adjustment, rather than on scale weight. The NHMRC does not endorse this tool. Nothing entered into this page is transmitted or stored.