Daily calorie target for losing, maintaining or gaining weight, with macros in grams of protein, carbohydrate and fat per day and per meal.
By AdminDrafted with AI writing toolsUpdated Checked examples: 4
By the 7,700 kcal per kg rule, losing about 0.5 kg a week corresponds to about 2,006 kcal a day, 550 kcal below maintenance, which the balanced split turns into 100 g protein, 251 g carbohydrate and 67 g fat.
| Meal | kcal | Protein (g) | Carbs (g) | Fat (g) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Meal 1 | 669 | 33 | 84 | 22 |
| Meal 2 | 669 | 33 | 84 | 22 |
| Meal 3 | 669 | 33 | 84 | 22 |
7,700 kcal per kg is the static ≈ 3,500 kcal per pound rule.
Preset splits are conventions, not clinical standards; the balanced preset sits inside the AMDR.
The calculation starts from maintenance calories (TDEE), the Mifflin-St Jeor BMR times an activity factor. For a weight-change goal it adds or subtracts the weekly rate × 7,700 kcal per kg ÷ 7 days. The target is then split into protein, carbohydrate and fat with the Atwater factors of 4, 4 and 9 kcal per gram, and divided across your meals.
People use it to turn a goal such as losing 0.5 kg a week into daily numbers. For the default 30-year-old man (70 kg, 175 cm, moderately active), maintenance is 2,556 kcal, a 550 kcal deficit gives a 2,006 kcal target, and the balanced split is 100 g protein, 251 g carbohydrate and 67 g fat.
The 7,700 kcal per kg rule is static: energy needs fall as weight drops, so real loss slows over time (Hall et al., 2011). Splits outside the US Acceptable Macronutrient Distribution Ranges, which are population ranges, are flagged.
Work out your maintenance calories (TDEE), then subtract 550 kcal a day for each 0.5 kg a week you want to lose, from the rule of 7,700 kcal per kg. A woman who maintains her weight on 2,022 kcal would eat about 1,472 kcal a day. To gain, add the surplus instead.
Take a 40-year-old woman who weighs 80 kg, is 165 cm tall, is lightly active and wants to lose 0.5 kg a week:
Over three meals, that is 491 kcal and 25 g of protein each.
The activity factors are 1.2 for a desk job with little exercise, 1.375 for light exercise 1–3 days a week, 1.55 for moderate exercise 3–5 days, 1.725 for hard exercise 6–7 days and 1.9 for a physical job or training twice a day.
The BMR and TDEE calculator sets the Harris-Benedict and Katch-McArdle equations beside Mifflin-St Jeor, so you can see how much the starting number depends on the equation.
Each weekly rate becomes a fixed daily deficit. For the same woman, whose maintenance is 2,022 kcal a day, these rows show the arithmetic, not recommended intakes:
| Loss per week | Daily deficit | Daily target | Deficit as share of maintenance |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.25 kg | 275 kcal | 1,747 kcal | 13.6 % |
| 0.5 kg | 550 kcal | 1,472 kcal | 27.2 % |
| 0.75 kg | 825 kcal | 1,197 kcal | 40.8 % |
| 1 kg | 1,100 kcal | 922 kcal | 54.4 % |
| 1 lb (0.454 kg) | 499 kcal | 1,523 kcal | 24.7 % |
| 2 lb (0.907 kg) | 998 kcal | 1,024 kcal | 49.4 % |
The NHLBI practical guide on adult obesity aims for 1 to 2 lb a week and notes that faster loss does not give better long-term results. The NHS gives 0.5 to 1 kg a week.
A fixed deficit takes a bigger share of a smaller intake. At 1 kg a week this woman would cut more than half her maintenance, leaving 922 kcal, below the NHLBI low-calorie range for women.
The rule works in reverse. Gaining 0.25 kg a week takes a surplus of 275 kcal a day, and 0.5 kg a week takes 550 kcal. For the same woman, 0.25 kg a week means about 2,297 kcal a day. For muscle gain, check protein against the targets below.
A smaller body uses less energy, so a fixed intake leaves a shrinking deficit. With age, height and activity unchanged, each kilogram lost lowers Mifflin-St Jeor resting energy by 10 kcal.
At 75 kg, the woman's maintenance falls by 50 × 1.375 = 68.75 kcal, to 1,952.84 kcal. Eating the old 1,471.59 kcal leaves a smaller deficit of 481.25 kcal, not 550. Recalculating with the same 0.5 kg rate gives a new target of 1,403 kcal.
In Hall and colleagues' 2011 model, a sedentary 100 kg man who cuts 480 kcal a day levels off near 75 kg. He reaches half of that loss in about a year and 95% of it in about three years.
Hall's team calculated that the static 7,700 kcal rule predicts 22 kg lost in the first year for the same cut, about twice what their model predicts. Treat any target as a starting point.
Protein needs scale with body weight, not with calories. Published targets, in grams per kilogram of body weight per day:
| Situation | Protein (g/kg/day) | Source |
|---|---|---|
| RDA for healthy adults | 0.8 | Institute of Medicine, 2005 |
| Exercising adults building or keeping muscle | 1.4 to 2.0 | ISSN position stand, 2017 |
| Resistance training for muscle gain | about 1.6, up to 2.2 | Morton et al., 2018 |
| Lean, resistance-trained, in a deficit | 2.3 to 3.1 per kg of fat-free mass | Helms et al., 2014 |
Morton's meta-analysis of 49 trials found no further gain in fat-free mass from resistance training above about 1.62 g/kg a day. Its 95% confidence interval ran to 2.2 g/kg, which the authors suggested for people aiming for the largest gain.
Helms's range is per kilogram of lean mass, which the body fat calculator estimates. To set protein from body weight alone, use the protein intake calculator.
A macro split is a share of calories, so protein grams fall as the deficit grows. On the 1,472 kcal target, the four preset splits give:
| Preset (protein / carbs / fat) | Protein | Carbohydrate | Fat | Protein per kg |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Balanced (20 / 50 / 30) | 74 g | 184 g | 49 g | 0.92 g/kg |
| Low-carb (30 / 20 / 50) | 110 g | 74 g | 82 g | 1.38 g/kg |
| High-protein (40 / 30 / 30) | 147 g | 110 g | 49 g | 1.84 g/kg |
| Keto (20 / 5 / 75) | 74 g | 18 g | 123 g | 0.92 g/kg |
The US Acceptable Macronutrient Distribution Ranges are 10–35% of energy from protein, 45–65% from carbohydrate and 20–35% from fat. Only the balanced split sits inside all three.
The balanced split leaves this dieter just above the 0.8 g/kg RDA, while the high-protein split clears Morton's 1.6 g/kg. The same share gives more grams on a bigger budget: 20% protein is 150 g at 3,000 kcal but 75 g at 1,500 kcal.
A custom split must add up to exactly 100%.
The NHLBI guide sets low-calorie diets at 1,000 to 1,200 kcal a day for most women, and 1,200 to 1,600 for men and for women who weigh 165 lb or more or exercise regularly. It calls diets under 800 kcal very-low-calorie diets.
Very-low-calorie diets need special monitoring and, the guide says, should not be used routinely.
NICE guideline NG246, recommendations 1.16.8 to 1.16.11, limits diets of 800 to 1,200 kcal a day to supported, multicomponent care for people with obesity, or with overweight and type 2 diabetes.
Under NG246, diets below 800 kcal belong in specialist care for people with obesity and a clinically assessed need for rapid weight loss. Both kinds need supervision, nutritional completeness and a limit of 12 weeks.
Because NICE reserves diets of 1,200 kcal or less for supervised care, get medical advice before following a target in that range. The method is for adults and makes no adjustment for pregnancy or breastfeeding.
For a model that tracks weight over time toward a goal date, the NIDDK Body Weight Planner is also built for non-pregnant, non-breastfeeding adults.
Checked against: Mifflin 1648.75 × 1.55 = 2555.5625; 20 %/4, 50 %/4, 30 %/9 → 127.778, 319.445, 85.185 g; ÷ 3 meals
Checked against: Mifflin 1414 × 1.375 = 1944.25; 0.5 × 7700 / 7 = 550; 40/30/30 split at 4/4/9 kcal per g
Checked against: 0.5 lb = 0.226796185 kg × 7700 / 7 = 249.4758035; Mifflin 1805 × 1.725 = 3113.625; 20/5/75 split
Checked against: Mifflin 1249 × 1.55 = 1935.95 with no deficit; 30/40/30 split; ÷ 5 meals
About 550 kcal a day by the usual rule of 7,700 kcal per kg (3,500 kcal per pound, from Wishnofsky 1958): 0.5 × 7,700 ÷ 7 = 550. The NHLBI adult obesity guidance pairs a deficit of 500 to 1,000 kcal a day with a loss of 1 to 2 lb (0.45 to 0.9 kg) a week. Measured loss usually slows after the first weeks because energy needs fall as weight drops.
A smaller body uses less energy, so a fixed intake produces a shrinking deficit. Hall and colleagues' 2011 model in The Lancet found that the body weight response to a change in intake has a half-time of about a year; for an average overweight adult, each 100 kJ (24 kcal) a day cut from intake eventually lowers weight by about 1 kg. The static 7,700 kcal per kg rule ignores this and overstates long-term loss.
The US Dietary Reference Intakes set Acceptable Macronutrient Distribution Ranges of 10–35 % of energy from protein, 45–65 % from carbohydrate and 20–35 % from fat, ranges linked with lower chronic disease risk while meeting nutrient needs. The balanced preset here (20/50/30) sits inside all three. The high-protein, low-carb and keto presets fall outside the carbohydrate range and are flagged.
Divide the calories from each macronutrient by its Atwater factor: 4 kcal per gram for protein and carbohydrate and 9 for fat (alcohol is 7), the general factors listed by FAO. On a 2,006 kcal target split 20/50/30, that is 401 ÷ 4 = 100 g protein, 1,003 ÷ 4 = 251 g carbohydrate and 602 ÷ 9 = 67 g fat.
For information only, not medical advice. These formulas describe populations, not you; talk to a clinician before acting on a result.
This calculator includes 4 worked examples with independently sourced answers. They run in the test suite, and you can run them here too.