In my last article, How to Setup MFP correctly, we talked all about why the default settings on food tracking apps are usually a recipe for hanger and frustration. (Seriously, if an app has ever told you to eat 1,200 calories, please close it immediately!).

I even shared a sneak peek of my personal MyFitnessPal dashboard. But here’s the thing: my numbers are tailored specifically to my unique body, my 5’2” frame, and my daily routine. They won’t work for you, and they shouldn’t!

Today, we are lifting the curtain on the confusion. You don’t need a degree in nutritional science or a fancy algebra calculator to figure out your own targets. Let’s walk through exactly how to calculate macros for your unique body type, lifestyle, and goals—the friendly, stress-free way.

Step 1: Find Your Daily Energy Baseline

Before we can figure out your macros, we need to know your baseline. In the fitness world, this is called your TDEE—a fancy acronym for Total Daily Energy Expenditure. It’s just the total number of calories your body burns in a day simply by living, working, and moving.

Instead of trying to crunch these numbers manually, let’s keep it incredibly simple.

1. Head over to a trusted, free online tool like TDEEcalculator.net.
2. Plug in your height, weight, age, and your honest activity level.

Danielle’s Tip: Don’t over-estimate your movement! If you sit at a desk all day but work out for 45 minutes, you are likely “Lightly Active.” Be honest with the calculator so it can give you an accurate baseline.

The number this tool gives you is your maintenance calories—the exact amount of food you need to eat to stay exactly where you are today.

Step 2: Adjust for Your Primary Goal

Now that you have your maintenance number, we just adjust it slightly based on what you actually want to achieve right now.

• To calculate macros for fat loss safely: Subtract 300 to 500 calories from your maintenance number. This puts you in a gentle, sustainable deficit that protects your energy levels, sanity, and hormones.
• To build strength or maintain: Keep your daily calories right at that maintenance baseline. This allows you to focus on changing your body composition (building lean muscle) rather than watching the scale drop.

Step 3: Choose Your Starting Macro Blueprint

Once you have your final daily calorie target, tracking apps make the rest incredibly easy. Instead of obsessing over exact grams, a simple macro guide relies on percentages.

Here are the three standard “starting point” percentage blueprints I recommend to friends depending on their daily habits and lifestyle:

Your Goal / Lifestyle	Protein	Carbohydrates	Fats
The “Balanced Whole-Food” Blueprint (Great for general health, energy, and consistency)	30%	40%	30%
The “Fat Loss & Muscle Support” Blueprint (Higher protein to keep you full and preserve lean muscle)	35%	35%	30%
The “Active Lifestyle” Blueprint (Perfect for endurance, hobbies like cycling, or heavy cardio)	25%	50%	25%

Step 4: Update Your MyFitnessPal Macro Settings

Now for the fun part. Open up your app and let’s get your dashboard customized in less than two minutes:

1. Head to the menu and select More > Goals.
2. Tap on Calorie, Carbs, Protein and Fat Goals.
3. Type in your custom daily calorie target from Step 2.
4. Adjust the percentage wheels for Protein, Carbs, and Fats to match the blueprint you chose in Step 3 until the total hits a perfect 100%.

Danielle’s Take: Why Consistency Beats Perfection

I’ve tried a lot of different nutrition advice over the years, and one major thing I’ve learned is that consistency beats perfection every single time.

When you set up custom macro targets, remember that they are guideposts, not a prison sentence. I still enjoy dessert. I still eat out with friends. The difference now is that I understand how those choices fit into the bigger picture instead of feeling guilty about them.

Don’t stress if you miss your targets by a few grams today. Just focus on fueling your body with whole foods, hitting your baseline, and showing up again tomorrow.

The Quick Skim Takeaway

Stop letting an app guess your nutrition targets for you. Use a free online tool to find your unique Total Daily Energy Expenditure, adjust it slightly for fat loss or maintenance, and use our percentage table above to update your MyFitnessPal macro settings today.