Calorie & Macro Calculator
Get a daily calorie target and macro grams from the Mifflin-St Jeor equation, standard activity multipliers, and protein ranges supported by the ISSN position stand. Enter your details below. No account, no email.
Members: the Phorme app recalculates this automatically as you log.
Four numbers, calibrated to you.
Daily energy expenditure is the sum of four parts. Your basal metabolic rate (BMR) covers baseline survival functions. The thermic effect of food is the energy spent digesting what you eat. Exercise activity captures structured training, and non-exercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT) covers everything else you do while awake.
We estimate BMR with the Mifflin-St Jeor equation from 1990, the predictive formula the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics recommends for healthy adults, then multiply by a standard activity factor between 1.2 and 1.9 to get total daily energy expenditure (TDEE).
Your calorie target is TDEE plus or minus an adjustment for your goal, capped between 250 and 1000 calories per day so the rate of change stays sustainable. Protein comes from ISSN-supported per-pound ranges, fat holds 25 to 30 percent of calories, and carbohydrate takes the rest.
- 1. Enter your age, sex, height, and weight.
- 2. Pick the activity level that matches a normal training week, not your best one.
- 3. Choose a goal: cut, maintain, or build.
- 4. Press Calculate to get your BMR, TDEE, daily calorie target, and macro grams.
- 5. Re-run the numbers every 4 to 6 weeks, or after your weight changes by more than 5 pounds.
BMR: Mifflin-St Jeor (Mifflin and St Jeor, 1990): 10W + 6.25H minus 5A, +5 male / minus 161 female.
TDEE: BMR multiplied by a standard activity factor from 1.2 (sedentary) to 1.9 (extra active).
Protein: 0.9 to 1.0 g per pound for strength and hypertrophy, 0.7 for endurance, per the ISSN position stand.
Fat and carbs: Fat at 25 to 30 percent of calories; carbohydrate takes the remaining calorie budget.
Questions we hear a lot.
How accurate is the Mifflin-St Jeor equation?
It predicts resting energy expenditure within about 10 percent for most healthy adults, which is why the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics recommends it over older equations like Harris-Benedict. The bigger source of error is usually the activity multiplier, so treat the output as a starting number and adjust it against two weeks of real scale data.
Should I cut on the largest deficit the calculator allows?
Usually not. The calculator caps deficits at 25 percent of TDEE and 1000 calories per day because larger cuts cost muscle and training quality. A 15 to 20 percent deficit is easier to hold for the 8 to 16 weeks a real cut takes.
Why do my macros change when I switch training goals?
Protein is set per pound of body weight and scales with how much muscle tissue your training asks you to repair. Strength and hypertrophy goals get 0.9 to 1.0 grams per pound; endurance gets 0.7, with the freed-up calories moved into carbohydrate to fuel volume.
Do I eat the same calories on rest days?
For most people, yes. The activity multiplier already averages your training across the week, so the daily target includes rest days. Splitting intake between hard and easy days is a refinement to add once the weekly average is working.
How often should I recalculate?
Whenever body weight moves about 5 pounds or your training schedule changes. BMR shifts as mass shifts, so a long cut or a big gaining phase gradually invalidates the old numbers.
One plan. Training and recovery in one system.
Phorme builds the plan from what you log and how you recover. No spreadsheets. No guessing.