Most people overcomplicate fat-loss macros. The actual job is four numbers: calories, protein, fat, carbs. Get those right and the rest is execution. This guide walks the full process from start to finish, in the order you should actually do it.
Step 1: Estimate your TDEE
Your Total Daily Energy Expenditure is what you burn in a day. Use the TDEE calculator with an honest activity multiplier. Most people skew one tier too high, desk job plus three gym sessions is "moderate", not "active".
Step 2: Set your calorie deficit
The sweet spot for most adults is 0.5–1% of bodyweight lost per week. That's roughly a 300–500 kcal/day deficit for a 150 lb person and 500–800 kcal/day for a 220 lb person. Larger people can sustain larger deficits. The deficit calculator does this math.
Aggressive deficits don't accelerate fat loss; they accelerate muscle loss, hunger, and quitting. Pick the smallest deficit that produces visible four-week-average progress.
Step 3: Set protein
Protein gets set first because it's the lever that protects muscle in a deficit. Use roughly 2.2 g/kg (1 g/lb) of current bodyweight while cutting. For most people that means 130–200 g/day. The protein calculator has the details.
Spread protein across 3-5 meals of 30-50 g each. Anchor every meal with a palm-sized protein source: chicken, fish, lean beef, Greek yogurt, eggs, tofu, tempeh, legumes or a protein shake.
Step 4: Set fat
Set fat at about 25% of total calories. For a 1,800 kcal cut that's roughly 50 g of fat per day. Going below 20% long-term hits hormones, mood, and sleep. Going above 35% leaves too few calories for training fuel.
Step 5: Fill the rest with carbs
Whatever calories remain after protein and fat go into carbs. For most people on a moderate cut that's 100–250 g/day. Skip the low-carb cult; carbs are training fuel and most people perform and adhere better with them. The macro calculator does all five steps for you.
Step 6: Track and adjust
Weigh yourself daily, average the readings across seven days, and compare week-to-week. Don't change anything for at least 14 days. If the four-week average hasn't moved, drop calories by 100–150 or add 1,500–2,000 daily steps. Repeat.
Common mistakes
- Cutting calories every week instead of every 4 weeks.
- Tracking only weekdays, weekend overshoot wipes out a weekday deficit.
- Eating back exercise calories the watch told you about (it lied).
- Treating macros as exact targets; ±5 g protein and ±10 g carbs/fat is fine.
- Never taking diet breaks. Two weeks at maintenance every 8-12 weeks restores adherence.
Putting it together
A 165 lb (75 kg) lifter, moderate activity. TDEE ≈ 2,640 kcal. Cut at 20% deficit: 2,110 kcal. Protein 165 g (660 kcal). Fat 59 g (530 kcal). Carbs 230 g (920 kcal). That's eggs and yogurt at breakfast, chicken and rice at lunch, a shake mid-afternoon, salmon and vegetables and potatoes at dinner, a square of dark chocolate after. Run this for 12-16 weeks, taking a 2-week diet break in the middle.
Use the macro calculator to generate your numbers in seconds, then come back and re-read this guide whenever progress stalls.