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Macronutrients — how much protein, fat and carbohydrate per day
Calories decide whether you lose weight. Macronutrients decide what you lose and how you feel while losing it. Below: per-kilogram numbers, the order to set your targets in, and an example carried all the way through.
In this guide
Three macronutrients and what they are worth
Macronutrients are the nutrients the body needs in grams rather than milligrams — unlike vitamins and minerals. There are three of them, plus alcohol, which supplies energy but performs no nutritional function.
| Macronutrient | kcal / g | Main role |
|---|---|---|
| Protein | 4 | building and repairing tissue, satiety |
| Carbohydrate | 4 | fuel, especially for high-intensity work |
| Fat | 9 | hormones, absorption of vitamins A, D, E and K |
| Alcohol | 7 | none — energy without nutritional value |
| Fibre | about 2 | digestion, satiety, gut microbiota |
One thing in that table surprises people most often: fat carries more than twice the calories per gram of anything else. A tablespoon of olive oil is about 120 kcal — the same as two large handfuls of vegetables or half a chicken breast. That is why leaving fat out of a logged meal wrecks the balance harder than leaving out anything else.
Protein: set this one first
In a calorie deficit the body looks for energy anywhere it can, muscle included. Adequate protein alongside resistance training is what pushes that choice toward fat tissue instead.
| Situation | Protein per kg of body mass |
|---|---|
| Maintenance, no training | 1.2–1.6 g |
| Fat loss with resistance training | 1.6–2.2 g |
| Building muscle | 1.6–2.0 g |
| Significant excess weight (BMI > 30) | 1.2–1.5 g per kg of target mass |
Above roughly 2.2 g/kg there is no further benefit for recreational trainees — it is not harmful, it simply occupies room that could have gone to carbohydrate.
Protein has two more advantages that weigh as much in practice as the theory does: it is the most satiating macronutrient, and it has the highest thermic effect — digesting it consumes 20–30% of the energy it delivers, against 5–10% for carbohydrate and 0–3% for fat. A higher-protein diet is easier to hold at the same calorie count.
What that looks like in food
- 100 g chicken breast — about 31 g protein
- 100 g low-fat cottage cheese — about 19 g
- One medium egg — about 6.5 g
- 100 g cooked lentils — about 9 g
- 150 g skyr — about 15 g
- 100 g salmon — about 20 g
Fat: set a floor, not a ceiling
Fat is not what makes you gain weight — an energy surplus does. It is, however, essential: without it sex hormones are not produced and fat-soluble vitamins are not absorbed.
A sensible floor is 0.8–1.0 g per kilogram of body mass, and it is not worth dropping below 20% of daily calories. Everything above that floor is preference: some people feel better on a higher-fat, lower-carbohydrate split, and some the other way round. There is no single correct answer here, only the one you can hold for months.
The sources are worth watching, though: olive oil, nuts, avocado, oily fish and eggs rather than trans fats and yesterday's frying residue.
Carbohydrate: whatever is left
Carbohydrate is the one macronutrient with no dietary minimum — the body can manufacture glucose from other sources. That does not make it optional in any useful sense. It means only that in the order of setting targets it comes last: it gets what remains after protein and fat.
In practice that usually lands at 2–5 g per kilogram of body mass. The more you train and the higher the intensity, the further up that range you sit — muscle glycogen fuels work that fat cannot supply quickly enough.
Worth tracking separately: fibre, 25–35 g a day. It is what drives satiety, gut function, and the difference between a meal of a given calorie count lasting four hours or one.
A worked example, all the way through
A woman, 70 kg, target 1570 kcal (from the deficit calculation), three resistance sessions a week.
Note the order: protein, fat, remainder. Carbohydrate is never set first, because it is meant to be the adjusting variable — when the calorie target changes, carbohydrate is what moves, and protein stays where it was.
If carbohydrate had come out very low in this example — under 100 g on three training sessions — that is a signal the deficit is too deep or fat is set too high. Drop fat to 0.8 g/kg first, and only touch protein after that.
What matters, and what is noise
A lot of advice has accumulated around macronutrients that changes very little in practice. It is worth knowing where to spend your attention:
| Matters a lot | Matters little |
|---|---|
| Daily calorie total | The time of day you eat carbohydrate |
| Daily protein total | Splitting protein across exactly six meals |
| Repeating it across weeks | Getting a single day perfect |
| Fibre and meal volume | The post-workout “anabolic window” |
| Whether you can actually eat this way | Glycaemic index within a mixed meal |
The right-hand column is not false — its effects are simply an order of magnitude smaller than the left-hand one's. It starts to be worth attention once the left has been handled for months.
One closing practical note: treat macro targets as ranges, not numbers to hit to the gram. ±10 g on protein and ±15 g on carbohydrate changes nothing. What changes everything is whether the weekly average landed where it was supposed to.
Common questions
How much protein per day when cutting?
1.6–2.2 g per kilogram of body mass if you train with resistance. At 70 kg that is 112–154 g a day. Above 2.2 g/kg there is no further benefit for recreational trainees. With significant excess weight the multiplier is applied to target mass rather than current mass.
How do I split my macros?
In this order: protein first (1.6–2.2 g/kg), then fat (0.8–1.0 g/kg), and carbohydrate takes whatever calories remain. Carbohydrate is the adjusting variable, so it is what moves when you correct your calorie target — not protein.
How many calories are in a gram of protein, fat and carbohydrate?
Protein 4 kcal/g, carbohydrate 4 kcal/g, fat 9 kcal/g, alcohol 7 kcal/g, fibre about 2 kcal/g. Fat carries more than twice the calories per gram of the others, which is why missing the olive oil or butter in a logged meal distorts the balance most.
Do I need to hit my macros exactly?
No. A deviation of ±10 g on protein and ±15 g on carbohydrate has no practical consequence. The weekly average is what counts, not the precision of any single day — chasing gram-level accuracy usually ends with the diary being abandoned.
Does the timing of carbohydrate matter?
For body composition, essentially not — the daily total decides. It is worth arranging meals around your own appetite and training hours, because that affects whether the diet is sustainable, and that matters a great deal more.
Work it out once, then let it run
Plately breaks a photo of your meal into calories and macros, keeps an eye on hydration and charts your weight. The Start plan is free and needs no card.
Open the app →This article is informational and is not medical advice. The formulas below are estimates for healthy adults. If you have a medical condition, take medication, are pregnant or are breastfeeding, set your targets with a clinician rather than a calculator.