At Black Iron Nutrition, we don’t do restrictive or extreme diets. It is not sustainable and it is not how we help people thrive. We take a holistic, evidence-based approach to wellness, nutrition, and movement because that’s what leads to lasting results. Our mission is to help you find your “sweet spot” with nutrition, where you’re never feeling starved or stuffed and steady progress feels natural. The calories and macros you’ll get from this calculator reflect the core of BIN’s coaching philosophy. Whether your focus is on body recomposition (fat loss and/or muscle gain), improving health, enhancing athletic performance, understanding macronutrients is a game-changing tool for reaching your goals.

Our calculator was built using insights from working with tens of thousands of clients over the last decade and backed by rigorous research. By factoring in your personal details, activity levels, and goals, it gives you an excellent starting point for success.

That said, nutrition isn’t one-size-fits-all. Our calculator uses advanced formulas to estimate the calories and macros that should work for most people, but individual needs can vary for a multitude of reasons. If the numbers you receive feel way off from your current intake—and your current approach isn’t delivering results—we recommend booking a Strategy Session or diving into 1-on-1 coaching with a BIN coach. A human touch allows us to dig deeper into your nutrition, dieting, and training history and create a personalized plan tailored specifically to you.

Using the Calculator:

1. Enter Your Info: Start by entering your age, weight, height, activity level, and goal – then check off if you are currently breastfeeding or an endurance athlete in peak training. If you want your macros portioned by meal, select the amount of meals in the advanced option. TIP: If you have a weight gain or loss goal, calculate maintenance first for awareness. We even suggest staying here for a few weeks before starting a caloric surplus or deficit.

2. Deficit Tips: If you want to lose fat, you should be in a high protein caloric deficit, starting with the smallest deficit as the goal is to consume as much as possible while still achieving results. This is to avoid plateaus, hunger, dips in energy, and burnout. Be sure to recalculate if your weight has changed a considerable amount. Utilizing practices like diet breaks or reverse diets can be helpful in longer deficits and a BIN coach can assist you through this in a Strategy Session.

3. Surplus Tips: If you want to gain muscle, you should be in a high protein/carb caloric surplus. The main goal in a surplus is to gain maximum muscle and minimal fat – in order to achieve this, start modestly. Be sure to recalculate if your weight has changed a considerable amount.

4. Review & Adjust: After seeing your personalized macro breakdown, review the results. Use the sliders provided to adjust macronutrient ratios based on your preferences and goals. We’ll let you know if you’ve gone too far in either direction.

5. Customize Your Protein Intake: Utilize the first slider to customize your protein. We provide suggested minimum (1.8g/kg BW) and maximum (2.2g/kg BW) values – choose based on personal preferences and goals. Slide towards the higher end if building or maintaining muscle is important to you. You want to start with a target that you think you can consistently and enjoyably hit almost daily.

6. Adjust Carb & Fat Intake: Utilize the second slider to adjust carbs and fats to fill the remainder of your calories. By default, it's set to an even 50%/50% split (in total calories leftover after protein, not grams), but tailor it to your activity level, preferences, and goals.

>>> New to tracking macros? Check out our blog post Mastering Macros: A Beginners Guide to Nutrition Tracking

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