Macro Calculator for Women

Get your daily calories and protein, fat, and carb split, built from your weight, height, age, activity, and goal. And because a static 28-day-average number misses half the picture, you'll get a follicular band and a luteal band, not just one.

Pregnant or postpartum? This calculator won't give you a number for those stages, but it'll show you how Gaia handles the math instead.

This uses the Mifflin-St Jeor equation and published activity multipliers, not your personal data. It's a starting point, not a prescription, and it isn't a substitute for advice from your provider or a registered dietitian.

Calories, macros & your cycle

This calculator starts with the Mifflin-St Jeor equation, one of the more accurate published formulas for estimating basal metabolic rate (BMR) from weight, height, age, and sex: 10 × kg + 6.25 × cm − 5 × age − 161 for women. Multiplying BMR by an activity factor (1.2 to 1.725, depending on how much you move) gives total daily energy expenditure, or TDEE, the number most people mean when they ask how many calories they need. A goal adjustment then nudges that up or down: roughly −15% to support fat loss, +10% to support muscle building, or no change at all to maintain.

Why one number isn't the whole story

Almost every calorie calculator online stops there, with a single daily number. Research on resting energy expenditure across the menstrual cycle finds it runs roughly 2 to 9 percent higher in the luteal phase, the one to two weeks after ovulation, than in the follicular phase before it. That's a real, measured shift in how much energy your body is using at rest, not a story about willpower or discipline. This calculator shows both bands side by side so a bigger number in the back half of your cycle reads as expected, not as a lapse.

How the macro split works

Protein uses the same published gram-per-kilogram ranges as our protein calculator, from about 1.2 g/kg for a mostly sedentary day up to 2.0 g/kg for resistance training or a fat-loss phase, with perimenopause and postmenopause nudged toward the higher end on the anabolic-resistance rationale. Fat is set at 0.8 to 1.0 g/kg. Carbohydrate fills whatever calories are left, which is also why carbohydrate is the macro that moves most between your follicular and luteal bands: protein and fat targets are tied to your bodyweight and stay fairly steady, while the extra calories in the luteal phase show up mostly as more carbohydrate.

These are estimates, and tracking them is optional

Every number on this page comes from population formulas applied to what you typed in. They're a reasonable starting point, not a personalized prescription, and they can be off in either direction for your actual metabolism. It's also worth saying plainly: if counting grams and calories tends to make food feel harder rather than easier, not tracking them is a legitimate choice, not a failure to optimize.

Also worth a look: Curious exactly where you are in your cycle right now? See our cycle phase calculator. And for what to eat and how to train by phase more broadly, read the cycle syncing guide.

Weeks of logging beats a formula run once.

This page runs the same math for everyone who types in the same numbers. Gaia sets phase-aware calorie and macro targets from your own logged cycle, tracks what you actually eat against them, and adjusts as your patterns change, instead of asking you to re-run a formula every few weeks.

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Common Questions About Macros & Calories

It starts with your basal metabolic rate (BMR), the calories your body burns at rest, estimated here with the Mifflin-St Jeor equation. Multiply BMR by an activity factor (1.2 for sedentary up to 1.725 for very active) to get your total daily energy expenditure, or TDEE. From there, a goal adjustment shifts the number up or down: roughly -15% to support fat loss, or +10% to support muscle building, with maintenance left as-is. This calculator does that math for you, but it's a population-average estimate, not a personalized prescription.

Because a single number ignores half the month. Research on resting energy expenditure across the menstrual cycle finds it runs roughly 2 to 9 percent higher in the luteal phase (the two weeks or so after ovulation) than in the follicular phase. Most calorie calculators are built around a static number and, implicitly, a male or non-cycling body. This one shows a follicular band and a luteal band side by side so that eating a bit more in the second half of your cycle reads as a normal physiological shift, not a lapse.

BMR (basal metabolic rate) is the energy your body uses at complete rest, just to keep your organs running. TDEE (total daily energy expenditure) is BMR multiplied by an activity factor to account for movement, exercise, and daily life on top of that resting baseline. TDEE is the number most people mean when they ask "how many calories do I need," since it reflects an actual day rather than a body lying still.

This calculator uses the same published gram-per-kilogram protein ranges as our protein calculator (roughly 1.2 g/kg for sedentary up to 2.0 g/kg for resistance training or a fat-loss phase), fat at 0.8 to 1.0 g/kg, and fills the remaining calories with carbohydrate. Protein and fat targets are based on your bodyweight and stay fairly constant; carbohydrate is what flexes to cover the difference between your follicular and luteal calorie bands.

In the luteal phase, the one to two weeks before your period, resting energy expenditure runs modestly higher and appetite commonly rises alongside it, both linked to the hormonal shifts after ovulation. Eating somewhat more during that window lines up with what your body is actually doing, rather than working against it. This calculator's luteal band reflects that shift; it isn't a suggestion to under-eat in the follicular phase to compensate.

Yes, but by how much depends on trimester and individual factors that go beyond what a general formula should estimate, so this calculator intentionally doesn't generate a number for pregnancy or early postpartum. If you're pregnant or postpartum, a conversation with your provider or a registered dietitian is the better path than a calculator built for a non-pregnant, non-postpartum body.

Educational content, not medical advice. This calculator applies the Mifflin-St Jeor equation and published activity, protein, and fat ranges to the numbers you enter. It is not a personalized nutrition plan, it does not diagnose or treat any condition, and it does not account for metabolic, digestive, or other medical conditions that can change what's right for you. If you are pregnant, postpartum, managing a health condition, have a history of disordered eating, or unsure what's right for your body, a registered dietitian or your healthcare provider can help you land on a plan. Go Go Gaia is a tracking tool, not a substitute for professional medical or nutrition care.