How to Calculate Macros for Cutting
Cutting is not just eating less. It is eating in a deficit while keeping protein high enough to protect muscle. Here is how to set your macros.
Cutting means eating in a calorie deficit long enough to lose body fat while holding on to as much muscle as possible. The tool that makes this work is your macros: how much protein, fat, and carbohydrate you eat each day. Get those numbers right and the fat comes off while your lifts stay strong. Get them wrong and you feel flat, hungry, and weak.
Start with your calorie target
Macros live inside a calorie total, so set the calories first. Estimate your maintenance calories, the amount that keeps your weight stable, then subtract a moderate deficit. A cut of about 15 to 20 percent below maintenance is aggressive enough to see the scale move but gentle enough to keep your gym performance.
- Find maintenance from a TDEE estimate or by tracking a few stable weeks.
- Subtract 15 to 20 percent to get your cutting calorie target.
- Aim for roughly 0.5 to 1 percent of body weight lost per week.
- Do not drop below very low intakes just to speed things up.
Set protein first
Protein is the priority macro on a cut because it protects muscle and keeps you full. A common evidence-based range is 1.6 to 2.2 grams per kilogram of body weight per day, and the higher end is smart when calories are low. Each gram of protein is 4 calories, so multiply and subtract that from your daily total.
Fill in fat and carbs
After protein, set fat to protect hormones and satiety, usually at least 0.5 grams per kilogram of body weight. Fat is 9 calories per gram. Whatever calories remain go to carbohydrate at 4 calories per gram. Carbs fuel your training, so keep enough to lift hard rather than cutting them to zero.
- Protein: 1.6 to 2.2 g/kg, at 4 calories per gram.
- Fat: at least 0.5 g/kg, at 9 calories per gram.
- Carbs: the remaining calories, at 4 calories per gram.
- Fiber: aim for a steady daily amount to stay full on fewer calories.