Pick a calorie target and a diet style. Get exact grams, not just percentages.
Enter a daily calorie target, then choose a diet style. The page divides the calories into protein, carbohydrate and fat percentages and converts each share into grams. The optional body weight field is there for the protein cross-check, since grams of protein per pound is a more useful number than a percentage for anyone training.
Percentages are a starting point, not a personal prescription. Two people with the same calorie target can need very different protein amounts depending on body weight and training.
At 2,200 calories a day, the four styles on the page produce:
| Style | Protein | Carbs | Fat |
|---|---|---|---|
| Balanced (30/40/30) | 165 g | 220 g | 73 g |
| High protein (35/35/30) | 192 g | 192 g | 73 g |
| Low carb (30/20/50) | 165 g | 110 g | 122 g |
| Keto (25/5/70) | 138 g | 28 g | 171 g |
The arithmetic is the part worth knowing: protein and carbohydrate carry four calories per gram, fat carries nine. So 30% of 2,200 is 660 calories, and 660 divided by 4 gives 165 grams. The fat row is why keto looks so different — 70% of 2,200 is 1,540 calories, and dividing by 9 gives 171 grams rather than the 385 grams a divide-by-four would suggest.
The split is a way of spending a calorie budget, and the budget matters more than the split for most purposes. Two diets at the same calories and the same protein produce broadly similar weight change; the difference is adherence and how the food feels to eat.
Protein is the macro worth anchoring in grams rather than percent. A common range in sports nutrition guidance is roughly 0.6 to 0.9 grams per pound of body weight for people training regularly, with higher intakes for athletes in hard training. At 160 pounds that is 96 to 144 grams, so the balanced row's 165 grams is comfortably above the middle of that range and the keto row's 138 grams is inside it. Percentages hide this; grams do not.
Fat has a floor for hormonal health and carbohydrate is the cheapest fuel for hard training, so the useful question is not which split is best but which one you will still be following in six months. A split you abandon in three weeks has an adherence rate of zero, and no macro ratio beats that.
Because fat has nine calories per gram and protein has four. The same share of your calories is less than half the weight.
No. Being within about ten grams of protein and within a couple of hundred calories is close enough for most people. Chasing a single gram is a sign the plan is too complicated.
It is very low: about 28 grams at 2,200 calories, which is less than two slices of bread. Some people find it sustainable and many do not.
Often yes, because protein helps preserve muscle in a deficit and is filling. Keep it in grams per pound rather than raising the percentage.
No. Fibre is counted inside the carbohydrate figure. Aim for a reasonable amount from vegetables, beans and whole grains regardless of the split.
The 4 and 9 calorie factors are the usual Atwater values. The splits are this page’s presets.
Last updated: November 2, 2026. Reviewed by David Liu.