Free macro tool
Carb Calculator
Enter your details and a goal and get the grams of carbohydrate that make up the usual share of your daily calories, as a range, with a per-meal figure.
Worked example
For a 30-year-old man who weighs 75 kg and is 178 cm tall (lightly active) eating about 1,862 kcal a day, the 45 to 65% of calories range for carbohydrate is 209 to 303 g a day.
Calculate your daily carbs
The result below starts from the example's numbers. Change any field and it updates as you type.
Track this target every day
Use the number above as your daily goal in CalorTracker, then log meals by photo, voice or text and see where your day stands against it. Free to start, no card needed to explore.
Results are estimates from published formulas, not medical advice. Your own body can sit above or below them.
Where the formulas come from, and how we check them: how we calculate.
How the carb calculator works
It works out your daily calories for the goal you pick, then converts the 45 to 65% of calories that the Institute of Medicine's Acceptable Macronutrient Distribution Range (Dietary Reference Intakes, 2005) gives for carbohydrate into grams, at 4 kcal per gram. The per-meal figure divides the range by three.
The calories come from the same place as everywhere on this site: your maintenance calories (TDEE, from the Mifflin-St Jeor equation and an activity factor), moved up or down for your goal. When you are losing weight the target never drops below 1,200 kcal for women and 1,500 kcal for men, and if your estimated maintenance is already at or under that minimum the calculator offers no deficit.
The 130 g line
The same report sets the Recommended Dietary Allowance for carbohydrate at 130 g a day for adults. At low calorie targets the low end of the percentage range falls under it, and the calculator says so. Plans that go lower on purpose, such as a ketogenic diet, are a different choice with a different calculator.
A range, not a target
A range is wide on purpose. Where you sit in it depends on how you train, what you enjoy eating and how much protein and fat you want. The macro calculator picks one split (40% carbs) if you want a single answer, and the cutting and bulking calculators fill carbohydrate in after protein and fat.