Weight Gain Calorie Calculator
Set a goal weight and a gaining pace, and this tool works out the calories you need each day and your protein, fat, and carb targets in grams. The surplus is also shown as everyday food portions, so you can put it straight on your plate.
This tool provides estimates for healthy adults aged 18 and over. If you are pregnant, breastfeeding, under medical care, or under 18, please consult a doctor or registered dietitian before changing your calorie intake.
Enter Your Current Stats
These figures are the basis for your calorie needs.
Everyday activity level
Set Your Goal
The faster you gain, the larger the share of that gain that ends up as body fat.
Gaining pace
Your Daily Calorie Target
Your current calorie burn, plus the surplus you need in order to gain.
Macro Split
When gaining, set protein by body weight first, then fill the rest with fat and carbs.
What the Surplus Looks Like as Food
How much to add on top of what you already eat. Each figure covers the whole surplus on its own.
Track Your Weight and Adjust
Estimated calorie needs vary from person to person. Log what the scale actually does, and the target is corrected to match.
Weigh yourself each morning under the same conditions — after waking, after using the bathroom, before eating. Once you have around two weeks of entries, the tool compares your measured pace against your goal pace and works out a daily calorie correction. Entries are stored only in this browser.
How to Use
- Enter your gender, age, height, and current weight, then pick your everyday activity level. Switch between metric and imperial at any time.
- Set a goal weight and a gaining pace. The time it will take appears straight away.
- Your daily calorie target and macros in grams appear next. Protein and fat can be tuned with the sliders.
- Finally, check the surplus translated into food portions.
- After about two weeks of weight entries, you get a correction based on your measured pace, which you can apply to the target with one button.
How the Numbers Work
Frequently Asked Questions
- Why does this tool use about 5,000 kcal per kg when weight-loss tools use around 7,200?
- Because what your body adds is not the same as what it takes away. Weight lost is mostly body fat, and fat tissue runs at roughly 7,200 kcal per kg — about 3,300 kcal per lb, close to the familiar 3,500-calorie rule. Weight gained is a mix: fat plus lean tissue such as muscle. Lean tissue holds a lot of water and costs closer to 2,000 kcal per kg. Averaging the two, gaining a kilogram takes less energy than losing one, so this tool uses about 5,000 kcal per kg, or roughly 2,300 kcal per lb.
- Which gaining pace should I pick?
- Pick Lean bulk if you want to keep fat gain to a minimum, or Aggressive if getting the weight on matters more than what it is made of. If you are unsure, start at Standard and check the scale every two weeks. Just be aware that the faster you go, the more of the gain arrives as fat, and the more you will have to take off later.
- What if I am not gaining weight?
- Estimated calorie needs carry real person-to-person variation, so the reliable move is to follow the scale. As a rough guide, if your weight has not moved in two weeks, add about 200 kcal a day; if it is climbing too fast, take away about 150 kcal. Log two weeks of entries in “Track Your Weight and Adjust” above and the tool works this correction out from your measured pace for you.
- Is more protein always better?
- For building muscle, the benefit flattens out somewhere around 1.6 to 2.2 g per kg of body weight, which is about 0.7 to 1.0 g per lb. Going past that mostly eats into your carbs and fat, which is where your training energy comes from. That is why the slider in this tool stays inside that range.
- Can I just gain it all at once?
- Piling weight on quickly means much of it arrives as body fat. That is why this tool caps the weekly gain at 0.25 to 0.75% of body weight. If your goal is a long way off, another approach is to alternate: gain for a set period, hold steady for a while, then gain again.