What macros should I eat to lose fat?
For a 200 lb person cutting on a 2,400 calorie target
- Target calories (500 deficit)
- 2,400 a day
- Protein
- 200 g
- Fat
- 67 g
- Carbs
- 249 g
Opens the Macro Calculator. Free, no account needed.
Macros are the second decision, not the first. Calories decide whether you lose fat at all. Macros, protein especially, decide how much of that loss is fat and not muscle. So get a calorie target you trust first, then split it.
The split I use for fat loss is simple. Set protein around a gram per pound of body weight, put fat at roughly a quarter of your calories, and let carbs fill whatever is left. In the example above that is 200 grams of protein, 67 of fat, and 249 of carbs on a 2,400 calorie cut.
Why protein leads: in a deficit it is the lever that protects the muscle you have, and it is the most filling of the three, which quietly makes the whole cut easier to stick to. Fat has a floor worth respecting for hormones and satiety, which is why I do not crush it to zero. Carbs are the flexible one, and they are also your training fuel, so I would not fear them.
You do not need to hit these to the gram. Land protein first, get fat and carbs within five to ten grams, and call it good. You are not going to stall because your carbs were 12 grams off.
Put your weight and calorie target in the calculator to get your own split.
Not sure where to start?
The home page calculator gives you your real numbers in one place: the calories to aim at, a macro split, and a few things to do this week. Free, no account needed to see it.
Find where to startIf you would rather someone build this around your life instead of guessing, my 1:1 coaching is there. The free tools get you most of the way.