Macros for Cutting
A real fat-loss deficit, with enough protein to hold onto the muscle you've already built.
Daily calories for lose fat
2168 cal
Protein
170g
Carbs
237g
Fat
60g
Worked example, step by step
Two reference people, run through exactly the same formulas as the calculator above. Swap in your own numbers and the steps are identical.
Alex
Male · 30 · 5'9" · 170 lb · moderately active
- Weight
- 170 lb × 0.4536
- 77.1 kg
- Height
- 5'9" = 69 in × 2.54
- 175.3 cm
- BMR
- 10 × 77.1 + 6.25 × 175.3 − 5 × 30 + 5
- 1,721 cal
- TDEE
- 1,721 × 1.55 (moderately active)
- 2,668 cal
- Lose fat
- 2,668 − 500
- 2,168 cal
2,168 cal as balanced
| Protein | 170 lb × 1 g | 170 g | 31% |
| Fat | 25% of 2,168 ÷ 9 | 60 g | 25% |
| Carbs | the rest ÷ 4 | 237 g | 44% |
Sam
Female · 30 · 5'5" · 140 lb · lightly active
- Weight
- 140 lb × 0.4536
- 63.5 kg
- Height
- 5'5" = 65 in × 2.54
- 165.1 cm
- BMR
- 10 × 63.5 + 6.25 × 165.1 − 5 × 30 − 161
- 1,356 cal
- TDEE
- 1,356 × 1.375 (lightly active)
- 1,864 cal
- Lose fat
- 1,864 − 500
- 1,364 cal
1,364 cal as balanced
| Protein | 140 lb × 1 g | 140 g | 41% |
| Fat | 25% of 1,364 ÷ 9 | 38 g | 25% |
| Carbs | the rest ÷ 4 | 116 g | 34% |
What the activity levels actually mean
The multiplier is where most people go wrong, usually by picking a level too high. A desk job plus three gym sessions a week is "lightly active", not "moderately active" -- the gym hour is real, but the other 23 are sitting. Here is Alex's TDEE at every level, from the same 1,721-calorie BMR:
| Level | Who it fits | Multiplier | Alex's TDEE | Lose fat target |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sedentary | Little to no exercise, desk job | × 1.2 | 2,066 cal | 1,566 cal |
| Lightly active | Light exercise 1-3 days/week | × 1.375 | 2,367 cal | 1,867 cal |
| Moderately active | Moderate exercise 3-5 days/week | × 1.55 | 2,668 cal | 2,168 cal |
| Very active | Hard exercise 6-7 days/week | × 1.725 | 2,970 cal | 2,470 cal |
| Extra active | Very hard exercise and a physical job | × 1.9 | 3,271 cal | 2,771 cal |
The gap between sedentary and very active is 904 calories a day for the same person -- more than a whole meal. When in doubt, pick the lower level and let the two-week weigh-in correct you.
Gram targets by calorie level
With this split, protein is fixed by bodyweight (170 g for a 170 lb person, shown here) and fat is 25% of calories, so only carbs move as calories change. That is deliberate: when you cut, carbs absorb the deficit and protein stays put.
Gram targets assume you weigh food. If a recipe is in cups and tablespoons, CookSubs converts cups to grams by ingredient so the number you log matches the number here.
| Calories | Protein | Carbs | Fat |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1,600 | 170 g | 130 g | 44 g |
| 1,800 | 170 g | 168 g | 50 g |
| 2,000 | 170 g | 205 g | 56 g |
| 2,200 | 170 g | 243 g | 61 g |
| 2,500 | 170 g | 299 g | 69 g |
| 2,800 | 170 g | 355 g | 78 g |
| 3,200 | 170 g | 430 g | 89 g |
After two weeks: how to adjust
Every number on this page is an estimate of the average person with your stats. You are not the average person, and the only way to find your real number is to eat at the estimate and watch the scale. The rules that make that work:
- Weigh daily, judge weekly. Same scale, same time, after the bathroom, before food. Daily readings swing 2-4 lb on water alone; compare weekly averages, not days.
- Give it 14 days. The first week of any change is mostly water and glycogen. The second week is the first honest read.
- Then move 100-200 calories, not 500. Losing faster than 1% of bodyweight a week? Add 100-200. Not losing at all after two clean weeks? Subtract 100-200, or add a short walk. Never chase a stall by cutting protein.
- Recalculate when your weight changes by 10-15 lb. Your BMR moves with your bodyweight, so a target set months ago is stale.
- Keep protein fixed, flex carbs and fat. Protein is the one macro tied to keeping muscle; it is the last thing to cut and the first to hit.
Common mistakes
- Counting the workout twice. The activity multiplier already includes your training. Adding the calories your watch says you burned on top of it double-counts, often by 300-600 a day.
- Treating the number as exact. Mifflin-St Jeor is accurate to within about 10% for most healthy adults. For Alex that is a 267-calorie band either side of 2,668.
- Eating at BMR. BMR is what you burn asleep and fasting. Eating that little for long is a crash diet with a scientific-sounding name; the deficit belongs under TDEE, not under BMR.
- Rounding macros to the gram. Food labels are legally allowed to be 20% off. Hitting protein within 10-15 g and calories within 100 is precise enough; anything tighter is false accuracy.
Keep going
- Body fat percentage is what actually tells you whether a cut is the right move before you start one here. Body Fat Percentage Calculator
- Once the cut is done, the macros-for-maintenance page recalculates the same protein, carb, and fat targets at your new maintenance calories. Macros for Maintenance
Frequently Asked Questions
How big should my deficit be while cutting?
This uses a ~500 calorie daily deficit, which lines up with roughly a pound of fat loss per week -- aggressive enough to see real progress without the muscle loss and energy crashes that come with a much bigger cut.
Why does protein matter more while cutting?
In a deficit, your body will pull energy from muscle if protein is too low -- eating enough protein (this defaults to about 1g per pound of bodyweight) is what protects the muscle you already have while the fat comes off.
What if I stop losing weight?
As you lose weight, your real calorie needs drop too, so a deficit that worked at your starting weight can flatten out a few weeks in. Recalculate every 10-15 lbs lost, or when your weight trend stalls for 2+ weeks.
How fast should I be losing?
About 0.5-1% of bodyweight a week: 1-1.5 lb for a 170 lb person. Faster than that and a growing share of the loss is muscle and water, and hunger becomes the whole day. Slower than that is fine if you are close to your goal -- the last 10 lb should come off slower than the first 30.
Should I add cardio or just eat less?
Both work; the mix is a preference question. Eating 500 less is exact and free. Burning 500 more through cardio is imprecise (trackers overestimate) and takes an hour. A common middle: eat 300-400 under and walk 30-45 minutes most days, which is easier to sustain than either extreme.
Do I need diet breaks or refeeds?
Not for a cut under 8-10 weeks. For longer cuts, a week at maintenance every 6-8 weeks restores training quality and hormones that drift down in a prolonged deficit, and it costs almost nothing in progress. A single high-carb day rarely does much beyond morale; a full week at maintenance does.