This is my guide to calculating macros based on Martin Berkhan’s Leangains system.
I have been using this with clients since 2011 years. You can see the results that this system produces on my online coaching results page. If you’re looking for an overview of Leangains, see my Leangains Guide.
As with any serious nutrition strategy, these initial calculations are just the start point. The key to your success will be fine-tuning your macros so that you keep progressing. These will come in later guides on the site. For now, I’ve worked to make this guide as simple as possible, without compromising on the efficacy. I’ve given the bare-minimum theory because most people don’t want it when they are first starting.
Below the calculator, I’ll teach you briefly about each of the steps.
^ If the calculator doesn’t load above the first time, please refresh the page. Sorry for the inconvenience.
How To Calculate Your Leangains Macros
Step 1. Calculate your BMR
Think of your basal metabolic rate (BMR) as your ‘coma calories’ — the energy intake you need, should you fall into a coma, to maintain your body weight. There are a variety of formulas, all of which produce a guess at best, so don’t worry about trying to calculate things perfectly because we’ll adjust our intake based on how we progress.
I like the Harris-Benedict formula because it’s just as effective, yet simpler to do.
- Men: BMR = 66 + (6.2 x weight in lbs) + (12.7 x height in inches) – (6.8 x age)
- Women: BMR = 655 + (4.4 x weight in lbs) + (4.6 x height in inches) – (4.7 x age)
For those who use kilograms and centimeters:
- Men: BMR = 66 + (13.7 x weight in kg) + (5 x height in cm) – (6.8 x age)
- Women: BMR = 655 + (9.6 x weight in kg) + (1.8 x height in cm) – (4.7 x age)
Step 2. Find Your TDEE By Adjusting For Activity
You need to add an ‘activity multiplier’ to your BMR depending on your lifestyle/training. This will calculate your total daily energy expenditure (TDEE).
- Sedentary (little or no exercise) [BMR x 1.15]
- Mostly sedentary (office work), plus 3–6 days of weight lifting [BMR x 1.35]
- Lightly active, plus 3–6 days of weight lifting [BMR x 1.55]
- Highly active, plus 3–6 days of weight lifting [BMR x 1.75]
Step 3. Adjust Calorie Intake Based On Your Goal
It’s important to choose a goal – fat loss or muscle gain. Yes, I know you want both, and you might be able to achieve that to a degree, but for now, I need you to look at yourself in the mirror and choose what you think is most important right now.
(If you need help with this, have a read of my article: Bulking vs Cutting – The Definitive Guide)
How To Adjust Your Calorie Intake For Fat Loss
I recommend a weight loss rate between 0.5–0.75% of body weight per week.
For busy individuals who can’t afford the lethargy and brain fog, 0.5% seems to be the sweet spot. (I’m basing this on my years of client work.)
As it requires an approximate 3500 kcal deficit to burn 1 lb of fat (7700 kcal per kg), to lose 1 lb of fat per week, you need a 500 kcal daily deficit (1100 kcal for 1 kg).
The calculation to adjust your calorie intake for a fat loss goal is as follows:
Target daily calorie intake (TDCI) = TDEE – (Bodyweight x target weekly fat loss rate x 500*)
*1100 if you use kg
However, our metabolisms adapt to fight a caloric deficit, which means that if we use the calculation above, it will not likely lead to the 0.5% of body weight loss per week we are hoping for. Therefore, I have set the calculator below to use 0.75%.
HOW TO ADJUST YOUR CALORIE INTAKE FOR MUSCLE GAIN
The newer you are to training, the faster the rate you can gain muscle; the more advanced you get, the slower this will happen. Therefore, it is best to set weight gain targets based on your level of training experience. If you ignore this, you’ll either gain too much fat or make slower progress than you could have.
Categorizing training advancement is tricky, but here is my preferred method along with the monthly rates of weight gain I recommend:
- Beginner: 2% (Totally new to training.)
- Novice: 1.5% (Still able to progress most training loads in the gym on a week to week basis.)
- Intermediate: 1% (Able to progress most training loads in the gym on a month to month basis.)
- Advanced: 0.5% (Progress is evident only when viewed over multiple months or a year.)
It takes roughly ~2500 kcal to build 1 lb of muscle and ~3500 kcal to burn or store 1 lb of fat.
As people typically gain fat and muscle in a 1:1 ratio in a bulk phase, and if we assume a 30 day month, this means we need a 100 kcal daily caloric surplus to gain 1 lb of weight per month (~220 kcal for 1 kg).
However, like the additional downward adjustment I made for metabolic adaptation when cutting, I believe we should make an additional upward adjustment when bulking. This is because as we raise calories, some of that calorie increase will be eaten up by NEAT and not result in a caloric surplus. So I’ve set the calculator to add 50% to these numbers.
The calculation to adjust your calorie intake for a weight gain goal is as follows:
Target daily calorie intake (TDCI) = TDEE + (Bodyweight x target monthly gain rate x 150*)
*330 if you use kg
Now that we have our daily calorie intake target, we can calculate our macros.
How To Set Protein Intake
Protein is good. You’ve heard this even if you can’t remember why. Here’s why: It forms the building blocks for muscle, it has a protective effect on muscle tissue when dieting, and it keeps hunger at bay when dieting.
Taking all the research into account, we can come up with the following guidelines for protein intake:
| CUTTING | MAINTENANCE OR BULKING | |
| Protein | 1.0–1.2 g/lb (2.2–2.6 g/kg) of body weight | 0.7–1.0 g/lb (1.6–2.2 g/kg) of body weight |
You’ll notice that the common number between each of these is 1 gram per pound of body weight and for simplicity, this is where I would suggest you set your protein intake regardless of whether you are cutting or bulking.
If you have a lot of fat to lose, the “1 g per pound rule” will set protein intake too high for overweight or obese people. If this is you, I’d suggest you set your protein intake as per your height in the chart below.
You’ll need to adjust the number the calculator spits out at the end. Just swap the protein for carbs.
So, if the calculator gives you 200 g of protein (because you are 200 lbs) but you are 5’6, reduce your protein intake down to 145 g and add 55 g to your carb intake number.
How To Set Fat Intake
I recommend that 20–30% of your calories come from fat when bulking, and 15–25% when cutting. The reason for the lower range when cutting is because of the relatively higher importance of keeping up carbohydrate intake for performance.
The minimum fat intake I recommend is 0.25 g/lb (0.5 g/kg) per day.
How To Set Carb Intake
Carbs should make up the remainder of your calorie budget.
The minimum carb intake I recommend is 0.5 g/lb (1 g/kg) per day.
These bottom-line recommendations aren’t likely to be relevant when you do your initial dietary calculation, but after a few months of dieting when you are considering where to make cuts to your calorie intake, you need to consider them.
Adding Leangains Calorie and Macro Cycling
As mentioned at the start of the article, your training days will have a higher carb and lower fat intake, with a higher calorie intake overall. Your rest days will have a higher fat but lower carb intake, with a lower calorie intake overall. This looks something like as follows:
I have set the calculator to calculate the rest day fat intake 20% higher than the training days. As carbs balance the calorie budget, this means the training days have more carbs than the rest days.
The Leangains Macro Calculator FAQ
Your macro percentage (or macro ratios) will change as you progress with a diet and bulk phase. This is because our energy needs change over time, but protein needs do not. So, if you target specific macro ratios when cutting, you’ll end up under-eating protein, which can cost you muscle mass. This calculator and guide will help you avoid that.
You can eat the same macros on your rest days, but people who follow Leangains have a lower calorie and carb intake on their rest days, with slightly higher fat intake. Select the “calorie and macro cycling” option in the calculator to have this calculated for you.
A lean bulk aims to maximize levels of leanness, while still adding muscle mass. It takes roughly ~2500 kcal to build 1 lb of muscle. So you need an approximate 100 kcal surplus to gain 1 lb of muscle per month. However, your metabolism will adapt, so this number may be higher. I like to use a 150 kcal figure.
How much muscle you can gain each month depends on multiple factors, largely your genetics and how much training experience you have. Here is a rough breakdown of the rate of muscle growth the average person can expect if they do everything right:
• Beginner: 1–1.5% of body weight per month.
• Novice: 0.75–1.25% of body weight per month.
• Intermediate: 0.5–0.75% of body weight per month.
• Advanced: Less than 0.5% of body weight per month.
I’ve written more about this in my guide: How To Bulk Without Getting Fat
It is impossible for me, or anyone else, to tell you if your macros are right. You won’t know until you try them out. This is because your initial calculations are an estimation, a start point from which to adjust based on how you progress, nothing more.
Your actual energy expenditure will vary somewhere between plus or minus ~20% of what you calculate due to genetic differences.
Your metabolism adapts when you are in a calorie surplus or deficit; your calorie target is a moving target, not a static one.
You need to make sure you know how to track your progress in detail so that you have data from which to base fine-tune adjustments to your calculations off of. You then, of course, need to know how to make the adjustments.
Not necessarily, for the reasons mentioned in the previous answer. You are better off tracking how your current set up is doing and then adjusting it if necessary.
Good luck. Thanks for reading. Questions are welcomed in the comments. – Andy
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Hi Andy, I am a 190lb 5’9 female, looking to both lose fat and build muscle (of course lol)… my goal weight is 175 lbs. I currently lift weights 4 days a week/1OK steps 5 days a week and I eat 1650 cals/170 protein a day…After two months, I am seeing little to no change in weight loss or muscle definition.
Using your body recom calculator, it’s telling me to eat about 2400+ cal/day 185 protein … I’m struggling with understanding how eating even more cals will help with my weight/fat loss when only eating 1650 cals currently is resulting in no loss.
Please help! I’m stuck and I don’t understand what am I doing wrong??
Hi Justine, thanks for the question.
The calculator is an estimation, but if you have data, use your data and adjust from there.
See the two links in the “Do these macros look right?” section and follow the guidance there.
I started using the height chart to set my protein as I was overweight (5’5”, 182lb in December 2024) and am now 167. I had been using the lowest activity factor, so I’m a bit ahead of where I need to be and have upped to 1.375 or “lightly active” as workouts were starting to suck.
My question is though, how do you know when to switch from the height chart to a specific g/lb for protein intake? Should I be basing it off of whether I’m “overweight” BMI-wise, or keep running my 135g (since I’m 5’5”) until strength starts to stall?
Hi Tim, thanks for the question.
Keep using the height chart until your weight dips below that. You can then adjust it down if you wish.
I am Male 20-years old, 185cm/65kg, should i do body recomp or lean bulk because i have no muscle currently and im literally first time stepping in the gym so im beginner. Thanks for the answer in advance :).
Hi Rafael,
Yes, I’d bulk.
I wish I had a resource like this when I was 20. But even if I did, I’d probably have been too dumb to take it seriously, as I was in my “believing in shortcuts” phase. Exciting times ahead! Best of luck!
Thanks for the advice
Hi Andy! Firstly, thank you for creating such an excellent resource! Secondly, does cardio count as a training day? I am currently doing 3 days a week cardio and 3 days of lifting. Should I cycle my calories and macros or just treat cardio days as training days and aim for those numbers? Thanks in advance!
Hi Abdul,
In this sense, no, it doesn’t count as a training day. Thank you for asking.
Hey Andy,
On my training days I’m training fasted in the morning, do the 2 protein shakes (60g total) count towards my protein macro for the day or should I count it separately?
Thanks
Hi Miggy,
Yes, they count.
Hi Andy, your website really solved many of my doubts and I am one of those people that are looking for many ways to lose weight and can’t. I do exercise and weight training 4x a week and still can not figure out my diet well… I have spent money with protein shakes, nutritionists and It comes down the problem is me. When you talked about fasting which it seems the best option for me it made me feel at home…if I eat in the morning and follow my nutrition plan I feel more hungry.
Thanks a lot for all your dedication to helping us along this hard path. I will follow your guidelines.
Most welcome, Ana. Best of luck!
Hi Andy, I have been following the calorie calculation and macros ( especially protein) lifting 3 times a week, trying have min 10,000 steps everyday, It’s been 3 weeks and I only managed to lose 1.3kg, my waist shrunk 3cm, I feel comparing the effort I put, the loss is not enough, what do I need to do ?
Hi Barbarossa,
Three weeks is a little early to assess the rate of weight loss as there can be fluctuations that muddy the data. However, if we take it at face value, losing 1.3kg in 3 weeks is ~0.5% of your body weight per week if you weigh 85 kg (~190 lbs). You’ll see this is in the range of what I recommend. So, you might want to reset your expectations.
That said, here’s my guide to fat loss troubleshooting for when you need it. This is the last link I shared in the “Do the macros look right?” Q&A section.
1 hi Andy, I would like to ask for your opinion, I am a woman 48 kg, 150 cm, following a vegan diet, I would like to do a bit of body recomposition, currently I am about 25% of Body fat and probably about 20% of muscle, I do weight training four times per week 30 minutes, and two short sessions of cardio per week. I would like to drop to 20% of fat and gain more muscle, I am not really thinking about weight. Since I am a vegan, I am aiming for 2 g of protein per day, would you really recommend a woman in my position who is in perimenopause, to follow body, composition macro nutrients recommendations from your website or more the recommendations for cutting. Thanks!
Hi Paulina, here’s my article on this: Should I Bulk vs Cut (or Recomp)? The Definitive Guide
Hi Andy
I have been following your website as well as your newsletters for a long time.
I was wondering if you can help me with a question.
I went through a weight loss journey for some months where I lost about 35 KG by following a keto diet.
After I was done, I started working out switching my goal to building muscle and got back to carbs. Now the problem is that because I got used to such low carb intake I find it very hard to eat enough. I can meet my protein goal without issues, but I find it hard to eat the carbs recommended by your calculator. I would rather eat 70-100 instead of 230+ carbs and just fill the rest of calories with healthy fats. Do you find it ok?
Hi Claudiu, thank you for the question and for giving me the honor of being subscribed for so long.
Given the importance of carbohydrates for fueling training and the ease that dietary fat intake is stored as body fat, over the course of a bulking period, more of the weight gain is likely to be muscle if you have a higher carb intake. That said, adherence is king, and if you struggle to do that, then you shouldn’t worry about it. Especially so if you find you perform and feel better on a lower carb intake.
It’s worth pointing out, though, that it’s very common for people to feel full after finishing a dieting phase. Your stomach probably just needs a little time to get used to it.
Hey Andy, I have a question about attaining the fat levels the macro calculator is requiring. I typically eat pretty clean, so there’s not a ton of fat in my diet, and the calculator is listing 60g of fat. I’m going to start bulking so the breakdown is 2,164 calories, 147g P, 60g F , 259g C. If I get 540 calories from fats, I find that I will struggle meeting the protein and carb macros, and still hit those calorie numbers without going way over. If I’m eating 16 oz of chicken, it only has 14.4g of fat. So, I’m having some trouble getting the fat macros and the carbs/protein macros to lineup. Should I take something like an MCT to supplement my fat intake? Does the fat matter that much?
Hi Alex,
If you keep your fat intake low, as long as you’re getting in enough Omega-3s (DHA/EPA) then you’re fine. But your diet will be exceptionally bland and hard to sustain.
I would consider having some fattier foods in your diet. I don’t particularly recommend MCT oil.
It’s not my place to tell you what specific foods, but try to keep total saturated fat intake at or under 10% of total calorie intake to mitigate CVD & CHD risk.
Hey Andy thanks for the response. I don’t mind bland food, drives my wife nuts, she gets mad at my willpower? to not care about having the tastiest food on my plate. I eat veggies raw with no dip, rice with just a little salt, plain fried up egg whites, those types of things. However based on your reply, and for health reasons I’ll start taking the omega 3’s and work to add some fattier foods. I appreciate the work you do, thanks,
Most welcome, Alex.
I have been training for 2 -3 years Can I do body recomposition?
Hi Prashant,
Check out this article: Should I Bulk vs Cut (or Recomp)? The Definitive Guide
I tend to weightlift four times a week and run two times a week, I work fast food but follow my macros religiously not eating the burgers and items they serve. I was wondering if I average 14,000 steps daily, what activity level that would be. I’ve searched forums and the sorts for an answer but have had absolutely no luck finding an answer.
Hi Jacob, thank you for the question. Here’s how I’d think about this:
You can see we have “mostly sedentary,” “lightly active,” and “highly active” as activity options.
Let’s say that those in the “mostly sedentary” category walk, on average, 6k steps per day. To choose the right activity level, we need to ask two questions.
1. How many calories do the higher activity levels add?
If I put you as 40 years old, 200 lbs, and 6 ft tall, the difference between the levels is roughly 400 kcal.
2. How many more calories does walking those additional 9000 steps burn each day?
There are ~1400 steps in a kilometer.
“A good heuristic for calories burned walking is 1 calorie per kilogram per kilometer.” [Source]
1 kg is 2.2 lbs.
Therefore, the additional calories burned from these 9000 steps are 200/2.2 * 9000/1400 = 584
You’ll notice that this is inconveniently right between the “lightly active” and “highly active” levels. However, there may be some energy compensation (conservation) kicked off by this exercise that you’re doing, so I’d go with the lower of the two levels.
(You could always add the calorie difference to your totals once calculated if you wish.)
So, if you calculate your calorie needs with “lightly active” selected, which comes out to be 2400, you could add 184 kcal. That’s roughly an addition of 25 g of carbs and 10 g of fat (190 kcal).
However, these calculations can give a false sense of accuracy. Our selections are estimations, and the equations are built on group averages. Your needs may be significantly higher or lower than this. The only way you can find out is to adhere for a few weeks, track your progress, and adjust as necessary.
Hi there. Since I work 5 days a week and I am a worker in a factory, I don’t have static work. Usually in 8 h of work I do approximately 16.000 steps so I end up at 20.000-22.000 steps 5 days in a week. ( I kept my watch in my pocket to test it l I’m not allowed to use it during work ). What activity level should I choose? The days I don’t work I end up making much less movement, except training days. Thank you.
Do you think the average is lightly active or highly active? Choose. Stick with it. Track, then adjust if necessary. Don’t sweat the decision. You’re after a starting point from which you will need to adjust.
Your next question may be whether you should keep the traditional high-calorie training days and low-calorie rest days pattern or adjust things further based on your work/non-work days. I’d say this will complicate things more than necessary. I would recommend either:
1. Splitting by training/non-training days.
2. Splitting by work/non-work days.
3. Not cycling calorie intake at all.
I don’t anticipate any difference in the outcome. So, if in doubt, choose the latter.
Thank you!!!!!
Hi Andy, I’m a 39 year old female, 161cm, between 53kg and 54kg. My body fat is 23%. My goal is to have a well defined ab and triceps. I want my tricpes at a level where I can’t flab em’ around or grab anything when I’m not flexing. As for my abs, I’d like it if I can’t grab any fat when I’m sitting down. I do a full body weight training workout three times a week and the remaining days, I go boxing to get some cardio and strength training in.
When you mention “rest days,” would the days I go boxing count as a rest day since, it’s not “weight training?”
Additionally, if my goal is to have a more well defined body composition, should I select “cutting phase” or “recomp?”
Hi Steph, thank you for the question.
1. “Rest days” refers to the days you don’t strength train. So, your boxing days are rest days.
2. This article will help: Should I Bulk vs Cut (or Recomp)? The Definitive Guide
Thanks for your reply. I’m trying to use your macro calculator and although, I’m an office worker, as I mentioned I box on my resting days and it’s an intensive one hr. workout. Would this be considered lightly active +weight training?
It’s probably somewhere between the two. I’d calculate for both and take the average.
OK will do! Another question I had was on the weekends, my friends and I go out and eat and I tend to pig out and sort of forget about my macros. Let’s say the following day is training day, should my macros be of training day and go low on carbs since I pigged out the day before or go according to the metrics provided for training day?
It’s easy to overeat on the weekends and undo a week’s worth of progress. This is common. But I think you’re asking the wrong question.
Trying to “fix” what you did on the weekend by lowering calorie intake on a subsequent day(s) might just lead to binge-starve behavior patterns.
If you are finding that the restriction during the week is driving you to do this, you might consider raising your calorie intake a little overall so that you are driven to “pig out” less.
If it’s the company you keep that drives this behavior, you need to have a difficult conversation or remove yourself from the situation.
Hi Andy, this may sound like a dumb question but when you refer to rest days, is this a rest from weight lifting whilst still getting steps in or a complete rest day. I’m assuming the first but want to double check.
Hi Jess, a "rest day," in the sense I use it in the article, is a day we don't lift.
Hi Andy. I am a 45-year-old man, 5’10” 166 lbs. I have begun strength training 5 days per week (focusing on specific muscle groups daily) with no cardio during the week. My body fat percentage is roughly 23%. Saturday or Sunday I do a 12-mile bike ride on a single-speed BMX bike to make it more difficult. My goal is body recomposition (my ideal physique would be 165 lbs with a body fat of 12-18%). Question: What should my macros be to accomplish this goal from your professional opinion? I would be grateful for your insight and thank you in advance. David-
Hi David, thank you for the question.
Set the calculator to "mostly sedentary" and don't implement calorie cycling.
The 12-mile bike ride is good for your heart health but won't burn enough calories to justify choosing a higher activity level.
I'm struggling to figure out my activity level. I do a crossfit style workout 4 times a week (usually burn around 400-500cal a session). My day to day tasks change a lot. My job sometimes requires me to stand a lot, but often I am sitting at a desk. I also have property, so in the summer for example, I might spend an additional 6-10 hours doing gardening, wheelbarrowing, lifting heavy things. In the winter, though I maybe spend an extra 2-3 hours a week going for walks or not being sedentary in some regard.
Right now, what best describes you *on average*? Sounds like lightly active to me. I'd go with that.
Hi Andy! What’s the most accurate method/device to measure body fat/ lean mass? Also, the calculator said my intake should be 1,700. Should that be net? For example, I worked out and burned 400 active kcals, that means that should be accounted for right? Or should my calorie intake be 1,700 regardless of activity?
Hi Nathaniel,
1. There isn't one. They all have accuracy and consistency issues. Track your progress like this instead: https://rippedbody.com/diet-progress-tracking/
2. Ignore what your activity tracker said. They all have accuracy issues. Your activity level is factored into the calculation.
Hi Andy,
One question I have is how you define "obese" for your protein intake calculation. Is that based off of BMI? Thanks!
Hi Jim, I purposefully haven't tried to define it as there is no easy-to-define cut-off point.
If you have a lot of weight to lose, it's better to set protein at your height or target body weight.
Hi Andy,
Do you have any before and after photos of women?
Sorry, these are client photos, and we only work with men.