Macro Planning Sheet
Check the percentages add to 100 before anything else. Then remember fat is 9, not 4.
BFCBrilliance · bfcbrilliance.com/tools/macro-split-calculator
The plan
- Date
- Daily calories
- Carb %
- Protein %
- Fat %
- TOTAL % (must be 100)
- Carb grams
- Protein grams
- Fat grams
The constants and the ranges
- Carbohydrate
- 4 calories per gram
- Protein
- 4 calories per gram
- FAT
- 9 calories per gram
- Grams of a macro
- calories x percent / 100 / cal-per-gram
- AMDR carbohydrate
- 45-65% of calories
- AMDR fat
- 20-35%
- AMDR protein
- 10-35%
- Source
- Institute of Medicine, Dietary Reference Intakes
- ⚠ 25% fat by calories
- is only about 13% by WEIGHT
- ⚠ Always ask
- percent of CALORIES or percent of GRAMS?
- ⚠ The total matters
- more than the split, for most goals
Log a few days against the targets
| Date | Calories | Carbs (g) | Protein (g) | Fat (g) | vs target |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Before trusting the numbers
- Percentages add to exactly 100
- Split sits inside the AMDR ranges, or you decided deliberately otherwise
- Calorie total came from somewhere real, not a guess dressed as precision
- Protein toward the higher end if losing weight or building muscle
- Clear whether a quoted split means calories or grams
- Tracked for a few days before adjusting anything
- Any medical condition or medication discussed with a professional
Fat is 9, and that changes everything
A gram of fat carries more than twice the energy of a gram of protein or carbohydrate. So 25% fat by calories is only about 13% by weight — and comparing a percentage from one basis against grams from the other is the commonest way a macro plan goes quietly wrong.
Nothing else checks your percentages
Enter 40/30/40 and every gram figure looks reasonable — they just describe 110% of your calories. The arithmetic cannot object. That is why the total is the headline output here rather than a footnote.
The total beats the split
Within the AMDR, evidence that one split outperforms another is far weaker than evidence that total intake drives weight change. Protein is the partial exception, worth keeping high when losing weight or building muscle. Precision in the split is not a substitute for honesty about the total.