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
Please keep questions on topic, write clearly, concisely, and don't post diet calculations.
Privacy policy.
Hi Andy! Great article! Quick question for those who are vegans. How do we make gains not eating meat for protein? I see all your recommended proteins are for meat eaters. As a hard training vegan I’m totally shredded but weighs only 145lb. I need to grow without added animal fat/protein.
Hi Ned, thank you. See here: How To Minimize Performance and Muscle Growth Compromises While Following A Vegan Diet
Is IF a must for losing weight and generally for training? Or i can have normal meals and yet progress like those who fast?
Hi Mehdi, not at all. It’s just a useful tool to make dieting easier. More on this here: A Nutrient Timing Guide To Maximize Fat Loss and Muscle Growth.
Would it be possible to extend the calculator so that you could select extra macro cycling and kcal cycling separately? At the moment you can either choose neither or both. But I would like to do only macro cycling. I’ll do some calculations myself but maybe in the future ?
Hi Rene,
It’s possible but I won’t. — Give people more options and people get decision paralysis.
I see you’ve done the math, which is what I’d suggest as it’s easy to do, but I can’t offer to check it so I deleted your follow up comment. (See comment rules.)
Is it really important that you eat more on training days than on non training days ? I have been using IF 16:8 for years … I strongly suspect that this is the same as ” Leangains system” ? I find it easier to get similar calories every day. The macros I adjust to more carbs on training days and backwards. Does that put me at a disadvantage in your experience? I want to be effective … I have wasted enough time.
Hi Rene, I’ve got it covered here: A Nutrient Timing Guide To Maximize Fat Loss and Muscle Growth
thx
How often should I change the macros?
When necessary to keep progressing. Take a look at the adjustments articles in the nutrition guides menu.
Thank you for this. How often should I weigh myself and recalculate my calories/macros? Thank you
Hi Samantha,
See the progress tracking and diet adjustment articles on the nutrition guides page.
Hi
First, my apologies for my bad English (from Belgium)
When I complete the calculator do I have to fill in the current weight or the goal weight?
When I’m losing weight (I hope so, need to lose 10kg) do I have to update this weight regularly?
Mother 46 years, weightlifting 90min 6 days /week in the morning at 7am.
Due to injuries unable to run or walk long distances anymore.
Any recommendations are welcome 😉
Hi Dana, thank you for the question.
> Current weight.
Any recommendations are welcome 😉
Keep reading. Education is your freedom from the bullshit the majority of my industry will try to sell you.
Your English is perfect. I would have not known you weren’t a native speaker. 🙂
Morning Andy, great article which has helped me understand things better.
Question… can you recommend any training schedules? I’m currently training Mon-Fri weights, 90 min 5 a side football Weds, rest Sat, 4mile run Sunday. 5 days a week trying to gain strength and working each muscle group, but ideally want to train my muscle groups twice per week.
40yrs / 180 / 5’8 / Office Job, although I do work around lots.
My goal is to loose my belly fat, and love handles. Ideally just to look lean, with muscle.
Your help and advice is much appreciated.
Hi Carl, I’d consider the novice or the intermediate bodybuilding programs.
This will help you decide: How to Choose the Right Training Program
Morning Andy,
I’m going to start with your “Intermediate BB Program” with the aim to strip my fat and gain my muscle. Once I have done that I was then going to reverse it and go into a surplus process, the aim to eventually keep everything the same when I get the physique and frame I’m happy with.
Do you think that is a good idea? Do your plans work to support my plan?
Do [these calculations] seem accurate?
[Deleted by Andy]
Thanks in advance. Your advice is much appreciated.
Carl
Hi Carl, thank you for the questions.
1. I’ve covered program choice here How to Choose the Right Training Program. You’ll see there is a section dedicated to advising on program selection when cutting.
2. Whether it’s right for you to cut first and then bulk, or the reverse, I’ve covered here: Should I Bulk vs Cut? The Definitive Guide
3. I deleted your calculations (see the comment rules). You’ll find the way I have the macros set explained in more detail here: How To Set Your Macros for Fat Loss and Muscle Growth. As you asked about macro percentages, I think that’s the wrong way to think about calculations. I have addressed it specifically here: Why The ‘Best Macro Ratio’ Doesn’t Exist
I’m going to start your Novice BB program, then just see how things progress in the next couple of months. I will leave you alone for now ha ha you have been fantastic with your advice, it is very much appreciated. Take Care Andy
Most welcome, Carl. 🙂
How many steps does one get for highly active? 🤛🤛🤛
I don’t know. I haven’t looked at the data estimating step counts and calories.
Mad respect for all the work you’ve put in over the year 👊.
My only question is I get 15k steps in everyday and train 6 days at the gym before COVID 19 what activity does that put me in? Again 🤛
Hi Michael, thank you. I’d try moderately active.
Hey Andy! Really enjoy your website and all your articles. I’m currently trying to lose around 5–7lbs and really lean out. I’m 6’4 and weight about 212 with only ~10% body fat. I’m a professional athlete and work out at least 6 days a week. I know you want to eat a surplus of your TDEE on days you train and a little less on off days but how do I take into account that I only have 1 off day? How do those ratios change compared to working out only 3-4 days? Thanks
Hi Jordan,
As you train 6 days a week and you’re a professional athlete, your energy demands are likely too high to make missing breakfast and eating within an 8-hour window feasible, and there’s no need to cycle your macros. Don’t worry about the ratios, just let the calculator take care of it.
You may also have more nuanced meal timing considerations. Check out the timing section of my nutrition setup guide.
Protein target is getting harder to hit, can I swap out those calories with,let’s say fat(I tend to run out of this macro)?
Hi Larry, thank you for the question. This requires a fairly nuanced answer.
Calorie balance is what determines whether weight is gained or lost. The macros help determine, to an extent, what the composition of that weight gain or loss is (muscle or fat). Each of the macronutrients plays an important role, but protein is arguably the most important as it helps with recovery and growth, is protective of muscle mass loss in a caloric deficit, and is the most satiating of the macronutrients.
So, if you take some protein away to give it to another macronutrient, you’ll lose these benefits. The dose makes the poison — the more you take, the larger the impact, as you’d imagine. But the benefits of protein intake aren’t linear, they look something like this:
You can see that dropping your protein down a little will have a small cost, dropping it a lot will have a much larger cost.
Given the order of importance (Calorie intake > Macros), if hitting your protein target threatens your ability to adhere to the calorie intake, you should drop the protein intake. It’s fine to drop protein intake a little if you find dietary adherence easier. But if you find that you need to drop protein intake a lot, you probably just need to learn how to get more protein in your diet.
If this struggle is about feeling too full, consider a protein shake. If the struggle is knowing what to eat, check out my guide to making meals from your macros.
Hi Andy, What’s the difference between this leangains macro calculator and the new calorie/macro calculator accessed from the menu bar on your homepage? Are there some assumptions based on the leangains method not used in your new calculator? The reason I ask is outputs for overall calories and macros using your new calculator are quite a bit lower than the leangains calculations above, namely target avg, target training day, target rest day, target carbs on training days, target fat on rest days. (Training day carbs above suggests ~400g vs. 256g in new calculator. Rest day target fat above is 100g vs. 34g in new calc.)
Hi Mike,
The new one is more customizable and I have also adjusted downward for in anticipation of some metabolic adaption. (You’ll see I have written about that in the notes.) I’ll come back to this page and update it at some point.
I’m sorry but I was surprised that the BMR calculator isn’t based at all on gender and age. Are they not relevant?
Hi Dave, thank you for asking.
Some calculations use age to help estimate BMR. This is because we tend to lose muscle mass as we age, and muscle takes a higher amount of calories to maintain than fat. However, if you have an estimate of your muscle mass, this isn’t necessary.
In the calculation currently on this page, I chose to use a BMR calculation that requires people to estimate their lean body mass. However, in an updated calculator I created here, I decided to use one that doesn’t. Why? Because the difference is small, the calculations are estimations anyway, and so it made sense to simplify this step for people.
I’ll update this page with that calculation in the future. Just haven’t had time yet.
Hi Andy,
I ran through the calculations in here and everything is high than what I’ve been doing. I’m afraid if I increase my macros or daily calories I’ll gain weight. For example I’ve been getting about 1300 cal with ~115g carbs, 51g fat, and 115g protein. I’m 5’6” 139lb. Body fat 26%. Your calculations are giving me 1922 cal in training days and 1282 on rest days.
What are the risks/outcomes with staying with what I currently do? What I’m wondering is if I’m not losing enough fat because I’m not eating enough?
Hi Alyssa,
See the notes in FAQ points 3 and 4.
I’m not sure if somebody will reply to this.
But, I’m 21 years old.
Weight: 160Lbs
Body Fat: 19%
Body type: Skinny Fat
Not sure if i should go for a bulk and then cut down the fat i gain while gaining muscle or do a recomposition..
Hi Gurwinder, thanks for the question. As you can see from the comments, I reply to everything.
Probably a recomp, but have a read of this article as it should help: Should I Cut or Bulk? The Definitive Guide
How do I calculate fat intake for Training and Rest days for the “Recomp” scenario? There are only options for cutting and bulking unless I am missing something.
Hi Ian, use this newer calculator I created instead.
I’m 5’5″, 120 lbs, and fat percentage around 15%. Should I re-comp, bulk, or cut? I started upper/lower split about 2 months ago, and I see immediate results. I gained a lot more muscle. Now, I can see there are muscle definitions in my biceps, triceps, and legs as well as feel (very hard to see even with good lighting) some definition in my abs. I used to be extremely skinny and weak (50 lbs sand bag used to be almost impossible for me to lift 2 month ago). My current calorie intake is around 1880-2200. I can’t decide which meal program to stick to since every sites give me a different numbers. So far your like your calculator the most since you give explanation to your numbers.
Hi Danny, this article will help: Should I Cut or Bulk? The Definitive Guide
Thank you for asking. I’ll add it to the article.
It seems like I should set my intake at maintenance level while continue with training and give it some time to decide whether I should cut or bulk.
Most welcome.
Using the calculator above, my TDEE with “little to no exercise” is ~2300. If instead, I indicate “training 6-7 days a week”. my TDEE is ~3300. I didn’t think that an average workout would be even close to 1000 calories. Am I misinterpreting?
Hi Samantha. You must have clicked ‘Extremely active’, not ‘Training 6-7 days per week’
The multiplier for the 6-7 days a week is 1.725. The multiplier for lightly active is 1.375. So, if the 2300 figure you’ve quoted is correct, your TDEE for 6-7 days per week will be 2877. [(2300/1.375)*1.725]
I double-checked that I was clicking the right choice. Here are my results…
BMR: 1920
Sedentary TDEE: 2304
Very Active (6-7 days) TDEE: 3312
I was particularly interested in the difference between Sedentary (2304) and Very Active (3312), which comes out to +1008 calories burned per day. If I’m understanding that correctly, it means that daily workout/exercise burns 1000 calories per day, but that seems like a lot, no?
Yes, I’d agree. If you are sedentary outside of your workouts, I’d use the multiplier below that.
Can you please help I filled in everything right but my carbs for my active days are way to high saying I need 706 g of carbs witch I know is way to high could u help?
Hi David. You know that’s wrong or this is an assumption that it is? Because if you know, adjust for what it should be.
Now, if you’re asking, “Hey, does this look right?” I don’t know, it could be for some people but I don’t know you. Equally, you could have screwed up the calculation though.
Try again to confirm what you get. Also, consider trying my new calculator to compare. Make sure you look at the notes there.