Free macro tool
Cutting Macro Calculator
A cut is a calorie deficit with protein kept high. Choose how big the deficit is and this gives you calories, then protein, fat and carbs in grams.
Worked example
For a 30-year-old man who weighs 75 kg and is 178 cm tall (lightly active), cutting at 500 kcal below maintenance means about 1,862 kcal a day: 143 g of protein (1.9 g per kg), 52 g of fat (25% of calories) and 206 g of carbs.
Calculate your cutting macros
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 cutting calculator works
It takes your maintenance calories and subtracts the deficit you choose: 250, 500, 1000 kcal a day. Then it divides the calories in the order sports nutrition reviews usually give, such as Helms, Aragon and Fitschen (2014) for contest preparation: protein first, from body weight, then fat as a share of calories, then carbohydrate for everything left.
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.
Where each number comes from
- Protein: 1.9 g per kg of body weight, the middle of the 1.6 to 2.2 g range the protein calculator uses for losing fat. Morton and colleagues' 2018 meta-analysis puts the point where extra protein stops adding muscle at about 1.6 g per kg. Body weight counts up to a BMI of 30 and protein stops at 240 g.
- Fat: a share of calories you choose from 20, 25, 30%, at 9 kcal per gram. All three sit inside the 20 to 35% range of the Institute of Medicine's Dietary Reference Intakes (2005).
- Carbohydrate: the remaining calories at 4 kcal per gram.
Choosing the size of the deficit
A smaller deficit is easier to hold and leaves more room in the day for food. The deficit is converted to a weekly pace the same way as on the calorie deficit calculator, which shows the weekly figure and a timeline. If a deficit would take you under the minimum, the target stops at the minimum and the calculator says so.
This is arithmetic from published formulas, not medical advice. Cutting is not for everyone, and anyone with a medical condition should plan a deficit with a doctor or registered dietitian.