How to Make Your Own Macro Meal Plan (In 7 Steps)
"Can you just send me a meal plan?"
I get asked this all the time. And honestly? It would be the easiest thing in the world to say yes. Send a PDF, look helpful, done.
I don't do it. Because a meal plan someone hands you works right up until life happens - a restaurant, a birthday, a Tuesday where you just can't - and then you're "off plan," you feel like you failed, and the whole thing collapses. Sound familiar?
There's a better way: build your own. Twenty minutes, and you understand exactly how the food works - because you did the math yourself. It bends around your life instead of breaking against it.
Should you even follow a meal plan?
Quick, honest look at both sides.
Plans are genuinely useful. On a busy week they kill the guesswork. Shopping is simple, prep is simple, and when you need structure most, it's right there waiting for you.
Here's the cost. A plan you didn't build teaches you nothing - you just follow it, which means you need one forever. It's rigid: you're either "on" or "off," and that binary comes with all the guilt attached. And nobody hands you an exit strategy. What happens once you hit your goal? (Spoiler: what you do after a diet matters more than the diet itself. That's a core piece of how I coach.)
Every one of those problems has the same fix: understand your plan, because you're the one who built it.
How to make your own macro meal plan: 7 steps
Step 1 - Find your calories. Start from your maintenance number. Our free calculator does steps 1-4 for you automatically, but I want you to see the logic once.
Step 2 - Set protein. Multiply your GOAL weight in kilos by ~2.2. That's your daily grams. Protein is 4 kcal per gram, and it's the one number that never changes from here.
Step 3 - Set fats. Goal weight x 0.7-0.9g. This covers hormonal health - don't go below it. Fat is 9 kcal per gram.
Step 4 - Fill the rest with carbs. Subtract protein calories and fat calories from your total; divide what's left by 4. Carbs are your flexible lever - when your plan needs adjusting later, this is usually the number that moves.
Step 5 - Divide by your meals. Pick how many meals fit your life (4-5 works for most), and split each macro across them.
Step 6 - Build each meal with the formula: one protein source + one carb source + one fat source + color (fruit/veg). Minimally processed about 80% of the time. That's it - that's the whole "meal plan."
Step 7 - Plug and play. Adjust portions until you're close to your targets. Close counts: within ~10g on protein and carbs, ~5g on fat is considered accurate. Macros are never perfect, and they don't need to be.
What that looks like in real numbers
Say your goal weight is 70kg and your calculated calories are 2,000:
Protein: 70 x 2.2 = ~155g (620 kcal)
Fat: 70 x 0.8 = ~56g (504 kcal)
Carbs: 2,000 - 620 - 504 = 876 kcal ÷ 4 = ~220g
Across 4 meals: ~39g protein, 14g fat, 55g carbs per meal
A breakfast from that: oats + whey + peanut butter + berries. A dinner: chicken + rice + olive oil + bell pepper. Track it in Cronometer (what all my clients use) and puzzle the portions until the numbers land.
Want the shortcut version?
The free 5-Minute Meal Plan shows you how to build every plate with the protein-carb-fat-color formula - no spreadsheet required.
Get the free 5-Minute Meal Plan →
The best part: going "off plan" is part of the plan
Dinner out? Enjoy it. Guesstimate the portions (assume restaurants are generous with oil and butter), pre-log the meal if you can, and puzzle the rest of your day around it.
That's what separates this from every meal plan you've quit before: you built it, so it moves when your life moves.
No more on or off plan. No more "cheating." Flexibility and freedom - because it's all part of the plan.
Build your first day of eating in 5 minutes
The free 5-Minute Meal Plan: the exact plate-building method, done-for-you simple.