How to Set Macros for Clients: A Coach's Working System
Setting macros for clients comes down to three moves: pick a calorie target from body weight and goal, set protein first at 1.6 to 2.2 g per kilogram of body weight, then split the remaining calories between fat and carbs based on what the client will actually eat. That is the easy 10 percent, and any calculator can do it. The other 90 percent is the adjustment system: what you change, by how much, and when, once real-world data starts coming in. This post gives you the full working system, including the exact weekly adjustment rules.
Start with calories, not macros
Coaches who jump straight to macro splits skip the number that decides everything. Get the calorie target roughly right and a slightly imperfect macro split still works. Get calories wrong and a perfect split fails.
You have two solid options for a starting point:
- Formula route. Run Mifflin-St Jeor with the client's age, height, weight, and activity level, then apply the goal: subtract 15 to 25 percent for fat loss, add 5 to 10 percent for muscle gain.
- Bodyweight shortcut. Bodyweight in pounds times 10 to 12 for fat loss, 14 to 16 for maintenance. Cruder, but within range for most gen-pop clients, and faster when you are onboarding several people a week.
Either way, treat the number as a hypothesis, not a verdict. A 40-year-old client with a desk job and two young kids will not burn what the activity multiplier claims. You will find their real maintenance in the first three weeks of data, which is exactly what the adjustment protocol below is for.
How to set protein, fat, and carbs for a client
Protein comes first because it has the strongest evidence behind it. A meta-analysis of 49 studies by Morton and colleagues found that gains in fat-free mass plateaued around 1.62 g of protein per kilogram of body weight per day, with the confidence interval reaching roughly 2.2 g/kg. In practice: 1.6 g/kg is the floor for anyone training hard, and up to 2.2 g/kg makes sense in a deficit, where protein also protects muscle and keeps hunger manageable.
Then:
- Fat: 0.6 to 1 g per kilogram of body weight. Below roughly 0.5 g/kg, adherence and hormone health both suffer. Clients who love cooking with oil or eat out often should sit at the top of the range.
- Carbs: everything left over. Carbs are the flexible lever, so give them to the client's preference and training demand. A client doing four hard lifting sessions a week keeps more carbs than one doing two walks and a yoga class.
One opinion worth stating plainly: percentage-based splits like 40/30/30 are a relic. They scale protein with calories instead of with body weight, which means your 1,500-calorie client ends up under-protected and your 3,200-calorie client eats chicken all day for no reason. Set grams per kilogram, always.
Meal plans vs macros: which clients get which
Most coaches pick one philosophy and force every client through it. The better move is matching the tool to the client's food skills.
A 20-week randomized controlled trial by Conlin and colleagues compared rigid meal plans against flexible macro-based dieting in resistance-trained adults. During the 10-week deficit, both groups lost fat about equally. The difference appeared afterward: in the free-eating phase, 10 of 11 flexible dieters gained lean mass while 9 of 12 rigid dieters lost it. Rigid plans work while the rules hold, then fall apart because the client never learned to make food decisions.
So use meal plans as scaffolding, not as the destination:
- Complete beginner, overwhelmed by choice: start with a simple meal plan built from foods they already eat, and teach the macro logic behind it as you go.
- Some tracking history, busy life: macro targets with a protein-first rule and two or three template meals for chaotic days.
- Experienced client: straight macro targets and autonomy, with check-ins focused on trends rather than food choices.
The goal is graduation. If a client still needs a plan written for them after six months, the coaching is not working, whatever the scale says. This is the same skills-first argument we make in our guide to nutrition coaching for personal trainers.
How to adjust macros for clients week to week
This is where results actually come from. Collect body weight (daily or at least 3 times per week, averaged weekly), adherence, hunger, energy, and training performance. Then apply rules. Waiting on two weeks of data before any change protects you from reacting to water-weight noise.
| Situation after 2 weeks | What to do |
|---|---|
| Fat-loss client losing 0.5 to 1 percent of body weight per week | Change nothing. The plan is working. Most coaches adjust too often, not too rarely. |
| Weight flat, adherence above roughly 80 percent | Drop calories 5 to 10 percent, taken mostly from carbs, or add 1,500 to 2,000 daily steps instead. |
| Weight flat, adherence below 80 percent | Do not touch the numbers. Fix the adherence problem first: simplify meals, adjust targets to fit their real life, shrink the tracking burden. |
| Losing faster than 1 percent per week, hunger high, training suffering | Raise calories 5 percent. Faster is not better past this point; you are burning muscle and trust. |
| Muscle-gain client up more than about 0.5 percent per week | Pull calories back slightly. Anything much faster is mostly fat gain. |
The adherence row matters most. When a client is not losing weight and not hitting targets, cutting calories punishes them for a compliance problem and makes the plan even harder to follow. Diagnose before you prescribe. Your check-in data tells you which row you are in, which is why a consistent client check-in system is a prerequisite for macro coaching, not a nice-to-have.
Onboarding a client who has never tracked
Handing a tracking newbie four targets on day one is how you lose them by week three. Sequence it:
- Week 1: log only. No targets. They record what they normally eat, you get baseline data, and they learn the app without pressure.
- Weeks 2 to 3: protein plus calories. Two numbers. Protein builds the habit with the highest payoff; calories anchor the total.
- Week 4 onward: full macros, only if the first two phases stuck. Plenty of gen-pop clients get excellent results on protein plus calories forever, and there is no prize for complexity.
Where you run this matters more than coaches admit. If your client tracks in MyFitnessPal, checks in over WhatsApp, and trains from a PDF, every check-in starts with data archaeology. When macro targets, food logging, check-ins, and progress trends live in one branded app, you see the adherence picture the moment you open the client's profile. That workflow is exactly what LVLUP's nutrition planning tools are built for, inside your own branded app rather than a shared platform. For the full tracking stack, see our guide to tracking client progress in online coaching.
Key takeaways
- Set calories first; macros are downstream of the calorie target.
- Protein at 1.6 to 2.2 g per kilogram of body weight, set in grams, never percentages.
- Fat at 0.6 to 1 g/kg, carbs get whatever calories remain.
- Match the tool to the client: meal plans are scaffolding for beginners, macro targets are the graduation path.
- Never adjust on less than two weeks of averaged data, and never cut calories when the real problem is adherence.
- Onboard new trackers in phases: log only, then protein plus calories, then full macros.
Run macro coaching under your own brand
LVLUP puts macro targets, food logging, check-ins, and progress trends in one branded app your clients actually open. Launch in about 20 days.
FAQ
How do I calculate macros for a client?
Set the calorie target first using Mifflin-St Jeor or a bodyweight multiplier, then set protein at 1.6 to 2.2 g per kilogram of body weight, fat at 0.6 to 1 g/kg, and give the remaining calories to carbs. Treat the starting numbers as a hypothesis and refine them against two-week trends in weight and adherence data.
How often should I adjust a client's macros?
Review weekly but change nothing until you have at least two weeks of averaged data, and only adjust when progress has genuinely stalled with good adherence. Typical moves are 5 to 10 percent of calories at a time. Most coaches adjust too often, which teaches clients to distrust the plan.
Should I give clients meal plans or macro targets?
Match the tool to the client's food skills. Rigid plans and flexible macros produce similar fat loss in controlled research, but flexible approaches build the decision-making skills that survive after the plan ends. Use meal plans as short-term scaffolding for beginners and graduate everyone toward macro targets.
Do all coaching clients need to track macros?
No. Many general-population clients get excellent long-term results tracking only protein and calories, and some do fine with habit-based coaching alone. Full macro tracking earns its complexity with physique-focused or advanced clients who need tighter control.
Can personal trainers legally set macros for clients?
In most regions, giving general macronutrient targets and nutrition education is fine, while prescribing diets for medical conditions is not; that line belongs to registered dietitians. Rules vary by country and state, so check your local scope-of-practice rules and refer out clients with medical needs.
