If this doesn't make the scale go up after a couple of weeks, you may need to add a few hundred more calories. Selecting 'gain weight' will put you 500 calories above maintenance, on a 40/30/30 macro split. Train hard, eat big, right? But once the fork hits the plate, plenty of people find they need to eat far more than they realized to see the scale move up. Gaining weight-especially as muscle-sounds easy enough. This is a popular 'sweet spot,' both calorically and in terms of macronutrients, for healthy, sustainable weight loss.

If you know that you're ready to lose a few pounds and you have some experience counting calories or tracking macros, select 'lose weight.' This will give you a target that is usually 200-700 calories below maintenance, depending on your activity level, and a 40/40/20 macronutrient breakdown of carbs, protein, and fats. Many nutritionists say before you start cutting or adding calories or tweaking your macros, you should spend some time at maintenance level and get more comfortable with tracking your foods and portion sizes. WHICH GOAL AND ACTIVITY LEVEL SHOULD I CHOOSE? MAINTAIN CURRENT WEIGHTįirst time tracking macros? Or not sure which goal is right for you? Then start with 'maintenance.' In theory, this is where you will eat the same number of calories that you burn and maintain your current weight. And if you'd like to use the calculator to determine your targets for the macros of your choice-say, you're starting a ketogenic diet and want to know how many grams of fats make up 80 percent of your calories-click Customize My Macros to dial in your personalized numbers!

You can find in-depth explanations of our preferred macros for each goal below. If you're wondering if this approach is right for you, trainer and health coach Sohee Lee provides guidance in her article, 'To Macro or Not: Should You Track Your Macro Intake?' If you know you're ready to know your macros, the macro calculator below can help you determine your daily targets for three goals:

As long as you come close to your numbers (how close remains a subject of debate), you have a lot of flexibility on what foods you can use to get there. Also known as 'flexible dieting,' it turns old-school, calorie-based dieting on its head by focusing instead on the amount of protein, carbohydrates, and fats making up those calories. In recent years, a dietary approach called IIFYM, or 'if it fits your macros,' has taken the fitness world by storm. Calories | Macronutrients | Lean Body Mass | Basal Metabolic Rate

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