Every great nutrition plan starts with two simple, non-negotiable data points: your biological gender and your age. You'll notice the calculator asks for biological gender (not identity) — and that's intentional. The science behind calorie and protein calculations is based on physiological differences in muscle mass, hormonal profiles, and metabolic rate between biological males and females. Getting this right from the start means your numbers will actually reflect how your body works.

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  Biological Gender Select Male or Female from the dropdown. This determines which version of the BMR formula is used in the next step — the two formulas have different constants because men typically carry more lean muscle mass relative to body size.
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  Age (18 – 120 years) Enter your current age in whole years. Age matters because your metabolic rate naturally decreases as you get older, and the calculator makes specific adjustments — particularly for protein targets — once you're over 50 to counter age-related muscle loss (sarcopenia).

Once you've filled in both fields, hit Next → to move on. The calculator will flag any issues if something looks off — just follow the prompts.

Your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) is the number of calories your body burns just to stay alive — breathing, keeping your heart beating, regulating temperature, running your organs — even if you lay completely still all day. Think of it as your body's baseline fuel consumption. Everything else in this calculator is built on top of this number, so getting it right matters.

First, choose your BMR formula. The calculator gives you two scientifically validated options:

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  Mifflin-St Jeor (Recommended for most people) This is the gold-standard formula used by dietitians worldwide. It calculates BMR using your height, weight, age, and gender. It's highly accurate for the general population and requires no additional measurements. Start here unless you know your body fat percentage.
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  Katch-McArdle (Best for athletic or lean individuals) This formula uses your lean body mass (the weight of everything in your body except fat) to calculate BMR. Because it ignores fat tissue — which burns very few calories at rest — it's significantly more accurate for people who have a lower body fat percentage. To use it, you'll need to enter your body fat %.

Next, choose your units — Metric (cm, kg) or Imperial (inches, lbs) — using the toggle buttons. Then enter your height and weight.

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  Height Metric: 60–300 cm. Imperial: 24–118 inches. Enter your height without shoes. If you're between centimetres, round to the nearest whole number.
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  Weight Metric: 30–300 kg. Imperial: 66–661 lbs. Use your current body weight, measured in the morning before eating or drinking for consistency. Don't estimate — even a 5 kg difference can shift your targets meaningfully.

Once your BMR is calculated, you'll also see your BMI (Body Mass Index) — a general population health screening tool. Keep in mind that BMI has well-known limitations (it doesn't account for muscle mass, bone density, or body composition), so treat it as a rough reference point rather than a definitive health verdict.

Your BMR only tells you what you burn at rest. But you're not lying still all day — you move, exercise, walk, stand, fidget. Step 3 multiplies your BMR by an activity multiplier to produce your TDEE: Total Daily Energy Expenditure. This is the number of calories you burn in a full, real day — and it's the most important single number in all of nutrition planning.

Select the activity level that most accurately reflects your typical week — including both structured exercise and your general daily movement:

Your TDEE is displayed immediately after you select an activity level. You'll also see a ? button next to the heading — tap it for a detailed explanation of how the TDEE formula works.

Now you tell the calculator what you're actually trying to achieve. This step produces your TDCI — Target Daily Calorie Intake — the number of calories you should eat every day to move towards your goal. It's calculated by taking your TDEE and applying an adjustment based on what you select here.

Choose one of three primary goals by tapping the card that applies to you:

After selecting your goal, a calorie adjustment slider appears. This lets you control exactly how aggressive or conservative your approach is:

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  For fat loss: 5–25% deficit range The slider shows your projected weight loss rate per week based on the deficit you choose. A 10–15% deficit is the sweet spot — aggressive enough to produce visible progress, gentle enough to preserve muscle mass and avoid metabolic adaptation. The calculator will warn you if your target dips below the safe minimum (1,200 kcal for women; 1,500 kcal for men).
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  For muscle gain: 5–25% surplus range The slider shows your projected weekly weight gain. A 5–10% lean surplus is generally optimal — enough to fuel muscle protein synthesis without excessive fat gain. Anything above 15% will likely result in more fat than muscle.

This is where the calculator stops being generic and starts being genuinely yours. Step 5 gathers four layers of information that dramatically change the quality and relevance of your macro targets and meal plan.

Training Type

Select the type of training you do most. This directly influences the ratio of protein, carbs, and fat the calculator recommends in Step 6:

Dietary Preferences

Tap all the tags that apply to you — you can select multiple. This filters the meal plan in Step 7 to only suggest foods and dishes that fit your dietary needs and personal preferences. The options cover:

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  Dietary restrictionsNo restrictions, Vegan, Vegetarian, Keto, Dairy-free, Gluten-free, Nut-free, Pescatarian, Halal, Kosher
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  Cuisine preferencesNigerian 🇳🇬, African 🌍, Mediterranean 🫒, Asian 🥢, Caribbean 🌴 — your meal plan will feature dishes from your selected cuisine traditions, from Jollof rice and Suya to Shakshuka, Pho, and Jerk Chicken

Meals Per Day

Select how many meals you'd like your daily plan built around — 2, 3, 4, 5, or 6. The calculator defaults to 4, which suits most people. Here's the honest science: meal frequency has no meaningful effect on fat loss or muscle gain by itself. What matters is hitting your daily calorie and macro totals. Choose the frequency that fits your schedule and that you can realistically sustain.

Lifestyle Factors

Two sliders capture your current sleep quality and stress level. These don't secretly change your calorie targets — they generate personalised advisory flags so you have a complete picture of the factors influencing your results:

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  Sleep Quality Poor (under 6 hrs) / Good (7–8 hrs) / Excellent (8+ hrs). If you select Poor, the calculator flags how sleep deprivation raises ghrelin (your hunger hormone) and lowers leptin (your fullness hormone) — making sticking to any calorie target significantly harder. Nutrition and sleep are inseparable.
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  Stress Level Low / Moderate / High. High stress triggers elevated cortisol, which promotes visceral fat storage, increases cravings for calorie-dense foods, and impairs muscle recovery. If you're under significant stress, the calculator flags this as something to address alongside your nutrition plan.

You now know how many calories to eat. Step 6 tells you what those calories should be made of. Your macronutrients — protein, carbohydrates, and fats — determine whether your calories build muscle, fuel performance, support hormones, or simply keep you satisfied. They are not interchangeable.

The calculator automatically pre-sets your macro split based on your training type, goal, and age (from Steps 3–5). For example, a strength-focused person in a fat-loss phase will see higher protein and lower carbs than an endurance athlete in a muscle-building phase — because the science calls for that. Keto preferences also override the preset appropriately.

Adjusting the sliders

You can customise each macro using the three sliders — protein, carbohydrates, and fats — each showing your target as a percentage of total calories. The calculator builds in guardrails and will warn you if:

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  Protein falls too lowInsufficient protein risks muscle loss, especially in a calorie deficit or for anyone over 50
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  Fat drops dangerouslyFats below ~15–20% of calories impair hormone production and can suppress testosterone and oestrogen
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  Carbs are very lowOn keto or very low-carb approaches, the calculator notes potential effects on training performance

Your final macro results are displayed below the sliders, showing your daily gram targets for protein, carbs, and fats — along with two important bonus targets: your estimated daily dietary fibre (approximately 14g per 1,000 kcal of carbs) and your recommended daily water intake (0.033 litres per kg of bodyweight). Both are often overlooked but significantly impact how well your plan actually works in practice.

This is what it's all been building towards. Step 7 delivers your complete, personalised nutrition plan — presented in four parts.

Part 1: Your Results Summary

At the top of this step, you'll find a clear summary card showing all your key numbers in one place: your BMR, TDEE, daily calorie target (TDCI), and your macro targets in grams — along with your fibre and water goals. This is your nutritional fingerprint. Two action buttons sit here:

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  Copy Results to ClipboardCopies all your results as formatted text so you can paste them into a notes app, message, spreadsheet, or share with a coach or training partner
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  Print / Save as PDFOn desktop and Android, this opens your browser's print dialogue — choose "Save as PDF" to save a clean copy of your results. On iPhone, the calculator detects iOS and shows you step-by-step instructions to save via the Share menu instead

Part 2: Calorie Cycling

Rather than eating the same number of calories every day, the calculator builds a smart calorie cycling strategy that matches your fuel intake to your actual energy demands:

Part 3: Your Personalised Meal Plan

Below the cycling targets, you'll find a full daily meal plan structured around the number of meals you chose in Step 5. Each meal contains specific dish suggestions drawn from the cuisines and dietary preferences you selected, with the calorie and macro breakdown for each. Not happy with the suggestions? Hit 🔄 Regenerate Meals to instantly generate a fresh set of meal ideas from the same database.

Part 4: Progress Re-entry — Update Your Numbers Over Time

Scroll to the bottom of Step 7 and you'll find the Update Your Weight & Recalculate box. This is a feature that most calculators don't offer — and it matters a lot. As you make progress — losing or gaining weight — your calorie and macro targets need to be updated to reflect your new body composition. Enter your new weight, hit Recalculate, and the entire plan refreshes instantly without you having to start over from Step 1.

Navigating between steps

Once you've completed a step, it appears in the progress bar at the top in red — and becomes clickable. You can jump back to any completed step at any time to tweak a number (your activity level, your goal, your macro split) and the plan will update accordingly. You never have to start from scratch.

The calculator gives you accurate, science-backed numbers. What you do with those numbers determines your results. Here are the things that separate people who get results from people who don't:

1. Weigh yourself consistently. Use the same scale, at the same time of day (ideally first thing in the morning, before eating or drinking), in the same clothing. Bodyweight fluctuates by 1–3 kg day-to-day due to water, food volume, and hormones — look at your 7-day average trend, not individual readings.

2. Track what you eat for at least two weeks. Most people significantly underestimate how many calories they consume. Apps like Cronometer, MyFitnessPal, or even a simple food diary will show you whether you're actually hitting your targets. You don't have to track forever — even two to four weeks of honest tracking recalibrates your understanding of portion sizes permanently.

3. Validate your activity level. If your weight isn't moving in the direction you expect after two to three weeks of consistent eating at your TDCI, your activity level estimate is likely off. Drop it one level and see what happens. The numbers don't lie — your body will tell you.

4. Prioritise protein above everything else. Of all the macro targets, protein is the most important to hit — especially when losing weight or training. It preserves muscle, keeps you fuller for longer, and has the highest thermic effect of any macronutrient (meaning your body burns more calories just digesting it). If you're going to be flexible with anything, let it be carbs and fats — not protein.

5. Update your numbers as you progress. Use the re-entry box in Step 7 every four to six weeks. Your targets should evolve with your body. This one habit is what separates people who plateau after a few months from those who keep making progress.

6. Sleep and stress are not optional extras. The lifestyle flags in Step 5 exist because poor sleep and chronic stress are two of the most overlooked barriers to body composition change. No calorie target can fully compensate for a hormonal environment working against you. If your sleep or stress scores were concerning, treat those as priorities alongside your nutrition.