Hypothyroid Macro Calculator

This macro calculator tells you how much protein, carbs, and fat to eat per day with hypothyroidism so you can lose weight without damaging your thyroid or metabolism.

Here’s how to use it:

Enter your age, sex, height, weight, activity, and training style, and thyroid status, flag any modifiers that apply, and pick your goal. The calculator gives you your daily protein, carb, and fat targets in both grams and percentages, plus five macro patterns to pick from (Thyroid-Optimized, Balanced, Higher Protein, Lower Carb, and Mediterranean) so you can match your plate to how you actually eat. A sixth pattern (Keto) unlocks if you flag insulin resistance or PCOS.

This is not a generic macro calculator. It’s specifically designed for the needs of thyroid patients and takes into account their special metabolic situation to help you improve thyroid function and retain muscle mass^[3].

Note: This calculator is a tool, not a meal plan. Don’t change your thyroid medication, cut calories, or drop carbs based on the results without talking to your doctor first.

Written and medically reviewed by Dr. Westin Childs, D.O. Last reviewed: April 23, 2026.

How to Use This Calculator

Step #1: Enter Your Sex, Age, Height, and Weight

These four inputs set the baseline for how many calories you burn per day, which is what your macro grams get divided out of^[4].

Men burn about 5 percent more than women at the same weight. Metabolism also drops a little each decade after age 20. Use the unit toggles if you prefer centimeters or kilograms. Either works.

One thing to know: if your BMI is 25 or higher, the calculator adjusts the math in the background so your protein target lands on a goal body weight instead of your current weight. You don’t have to do anything for that to happen. Just enter your real numbers. This keeps your protein honest without pushing the gram count too high when there’s extra body fat in the picture^[5].

Step #2: Pick Your Activity and Training Style

This single dropdown tells the calculator two things at once: how many calories you burn through movement on top of your baseline metabolism, and how much protein you need per pound to hold onto muscle. The choices are sedentary with no structured exercise, active lifestyle (on your feet) with no structured exercise, cardio only, strength training 1 to 2 times per week, strength training 3 to 5 times per week, and hybrid (heavy strength plus cardio most days).

I merged activity level and training style into one question on purpose. Separate inputs let people pick “very active” plus “no exercise,” which cancel each other out and spit back a garbage number. One dropdown forces a realistic combination and keeps the math honest.

Pick the line that matches most weeks of your life, not your best week. Thyroid fatigue makes everything feel harder, which makes most patients overestimate. When in doubt, pick one level below where you think you fit^[1].

Step #3: Pick Your Thyroid Status

Your thyroid status is what makes this calculator different from a generic macro calculator. It adjusts two things in the background: your calorie target (down 0 to 18 percent depending on status) and your protein target (up 3 to 10 percent on top of the training-based number).

There are 12 options: newly diagnosed or untreated, subclinical, Hashimoto’s with or without medication, T4-only with or without ongoing symptoms, T4+T3 combination or NDT with or without ongoing symptoms, post-thyroidectomy (full or partial), and thyroid cancer on TSH suppression. Each one maps to a different adjustment based on how suppressed your metabolism is and how much extra protein you need to protect muscle^[8].

Not sure which option fits? Let symptoms be the tie-breaker. Still tired, cold, and struggling to lose weight? Pick “ongoing symptoms,” even if your TSH is in range. Feeling great? Pick “optimal labs.” Post-thyroidectomy patients should always pick the thyroidectomy option, not the T4-only option, even if T4 is the only medication they take^[11].

Step #4: Pick Your Goal

Your goal tells the calculator whether to give you a deficit, maintenance calories, or a surplus. Pick Lose Fat and you’ll get a 150 calorie per day deficit, which is the pace hypothyroid patients can actually hold without crashing their thyroid further. Pick Maintain and you’ll get the number of calories to stay where you are. Pick Build Muscle and you’ll get a 150 calorie surplus with protein pushed to the top of the range.

150 calories sounds small. On purpose. The standard 500 calorie deficit drops T3, raises reverse T3, and slows your metabolism further^[6]^[9]. Your thyroid is already running the calorie burn down. Cutting 500 more on top of that tells your body there’s a famine, and it responds by slowing you down even more. A 150 calorie deficit flies under that radar, so the damage doesn’t happen^[7].

Step #5: Flag Any Modifiers That Apply

The modifier checkboxes adjust your calorie and carb targets for six situations that change what your macros should look like: PCOS or insulin resistance, menopause or perimenopause, pregnant or breastfeeding, a history of crash dieting or eating disorders, a current weight loss plateau, and digestive issues. Flag any that apply.

PCOS or insulin resistance drops your carb share and unlocks the Keto pattern. Menopause adds another small metabolism hit on top of the thyroid one. Pregnant or breastfeeding overrides any deficit and returns maintenance calories; never diet during pregnancy or while nursing. The crash-dieting flag accounts for years of metabolic damage that sticks around long after the last diet ended^[7]. Plateau nudges protein up and trims calories slightly. Digestive issues shifts the Thyroid-Optimized pattern toward gentler foods.

Understanding Your Results

Your Daily Calorie Target

The big number at the top of your results is your daily calorie target. It’s your baseline metabolism, multiplied by your activity level, adjusted for your thyroid status and any modifiers you flagged, then shifted up or down based on your goal. For a lot of thyroid patients, this number comes in 200 to 500 calories below what a generic calculator would give them. That gap is usually the reason weight loss hasn’t worked before^[1]^[2].

Your macro grams are then divided out of this calorie target. That’s why getting this number right matters. Plug it into a generic macro calculator and the grams come out wrong too.

Your Protein Target

Your protein target is anchored to grams per pound of goal body weight, with a small bump added based on your thyroid status. Training style sets the base (0.6 to 1.0 g/lb); thyroid status adds up to 10 percent on top of that; your goal nudges it up or down a touch. The number usually lands somewhere between 80 and 180 grams per day for most adults.

Two reasons protein gets its own dedicated math. First, protein protects muscle in a deficit^[3]. Lose muscle and you lose metabolism, which makes the next round of weight loss even harder. Second, thyroid patients have higher protein needs than the general population, especially after a thyroidectomy, because removing the gland permanently slows tissue turnover and protein use^[11]. A generic 30 percent protein split misses both of these.

If your weight is high enough that straight g/lb would push protein into the 200+ range, the calculator uses a goal body weight instead of your current weight. This keeps your number realistic and achievable. For a 220-lb woman, that usually means a protein target closer to 130 grams per day, not 220.

The Macro Pattern Tabs

Below your calorie target you’ll see a row of tabs: Thyroid-Optimized, Balanced, Higher Protein, Lower Carb, Mediterranean, and Keto. Each one is the same total calorie target split a different way. Thyroid-Optimized is the default and the one I recommend for most hypothyroid patients. The others exist so you can pick the pattern that matches your actual eating style instead of white-knuckling a split you’ll abandon in two weeks.

The big difference between Thyroid-Optimized and the others: Thyroid-Optimized anchors your protein grams first, then splits the remaining calories between carbs and fat using a ratio that’s been adjusted for your thyroid status. The other patterns use fixed percentages (30/40/30 for Balanced, 40/30/30 for Higher Protein, etc.) and let the grams fall where they fall. Both approaches work. Thyroid-Optimized is just the one most tailored to a hypothyroid body.

Keto is gated behind the PCOS/insulin resistance flag for a reason. Going keto with a normal thyroid is usually fine for a while. Going keto with an untreated or under-treated thyroid can suppress your T3 within a few weeks^[9]. If you don’t have the insulin resistance issue driving you toward keto, the risk isn’t worth it.

Why Carbs Matter More Than You Think for Thyroid

Most thyroid patients undereat carbs. Social media has convinced people that low carb is the answer to every weight loss problem, and if you’ve got a thyroid problem on top of that, going too low on carbs actively suppresses your T3^[9]. Carbs tell your body there’s enough fuel to keep thyroid hormone production running. Cut them too hard, and your body reads that as starvation and turns the thyroid down.

The Thyroid-Optimized pattern gives you enough carbs to protect thyroid hormone output (usually 45 to 58 percent of your non-protein calories, depending on your thyroid status). The Mediterranean pattern goes a little higher. The Lower Carb pattern drops you to about 25 percent carbs, which is the lowest most thyroid patients should ever go without insulin resistance driving the decision.

If you flag PCOS or insulin resistance, the calculator lowers your carb share because the insulin issue matters more than the T3 issue for that subset of patients. It’s a trade-off, and it’s one that’s built into the math so you don’t have to guess.

When You See a Floor Warning

If your calorie target falls below the safe minimum (1,200 calories for women, 1,500 for men), the calculator overrides your deficit and hands you maintenance calories instead. You’ll see a note telling you to skip the deficit and fix your thyroid first. This usually shows up in post-thyroidectomy patients with desk jobs or in patients whose history of crash dieting has dropped their metabolism further than it should be^[7].

You can’t diet your way out of a crashed metabolism. You have to fix the thyroid, build the muscle, and earn your maintenance calories back first. If you’re hitting the floor, the answer isn’t eating less. The answer is getting your thyroid medication dialed in, strength training, and giving your body time to recover before you cut calories again.

Protein Target by Thyroid Status Reference Table

The table below shows how the calculator bumps your protein target by thyroid status on top of the base number set by your training style. Post-thyroidectomy patients get the biggest bump because removing the gland permanently reduces how efficiently the body uses protein^[11]. Patients at optimal labs on combination therapy get no bump because their metabolism is the closest to a healthy thyroid.

Thyroid Status	Protein Bump	Why
Newly diagnosed or untreated	+3%	Slowed tissue turnover^[1]
Subclinical (untreated)	0%	Mild metabolic effect only^[12]
Hashimoto’s, not on meds	+3%	Autoimmune inflammation raises protein needs^[1]
Hashimoto’s on T4 only	+3%	Residual low T3 effect^[8]
Hashimoto’s on T4+T3 or NDT	0%	Closest to healthy thyroid^[13]
T4 only with ongoing symptoms	+5%	Low T3 despite normal TSH^[8]
T4 only at optimal labs	0%	Adequate conversion^[8]
T4+T3 or NDT with ongoing symptoms	+3%	Dose or ratio needs adjustment^[13]
T4+T3 or NDT at optimal labs	0%	Closest to healthy thyroid^[13]
Post-thyroidectomy (full)	+10%	Permanent conversion loss^[11]
Post-thyroidectomy (partial)	+5%	Partial conversion loss^[11]
Thyroid cancer on TSH suppression	+3%	Suppressive dosing effects^[11]

The bump is applied on top of the g/lb target set by your training style. A woman strength training 3 to 5 times per week is at 0.9 g/lb. If she’s post-thyroidectomy, the +10 percent bump pushes that closer to 1.0 g/lb. On a 150-lb goal body weight, that’s 135 to 150 grams of protein per day.

Not sure if your thyroid medication is dialed in? Use the Optimal Thyroid Lab Test Calculator to check.

Think your TSH is telling you the dose needs to change? Use the Levothyroxine Dose Adjustment Calculator.

Want to know if your calorie target is right before you split it into macros? Use the Hypothyroid Calorie Calculator.

Frequently Asked Questions

The best macros for hypothyroidism are 25 to 35 percent protein, 40 to 55 percent carbs, and 25 to 35 percent fat, with protein anchored to at least 0.7 to 1.0 grams per pound of goal body weight. For most hypothyroid women that lands around 110 to 140 grams of protein, 150 to 220 grams of carbs, and 50 to 70 grams of fat per day. For most men the protein climbs to 140 to 180 grams. The exact numbers depend on your thyroid status, activity level, and goal^[1]^[3].

The key rule: hit your protein number first, get enough carbs to keep your thyroid running (usually at least 100 grams per day), then fill the rest with fat. The calculator at the top of this page will run your exact numbers.

Hypothyroid patients should eat 0.7 to 1.0 grams of protein per pound of goal body weight per day, which usually works out to 100 to 180 grams per day. The exact number depends on your training style (more protein for strength training), thyroid status (more for post-thyroidectomy), and goal (a little more in a deficit, a little more to build muscle)^[3].

Three reasons protein matters so much for thyroid patients. Protein protects muscle in a deficit, which protects your metabolism. Protein keeps you full, which makes the deficit manageable. And your body needs the raw materials (amino acids) to make thyroid hormone and rebuild tissue that turns over more slowly with low thyroid function^[11].

For more, read my full guide on protein needs for thyroid patients.

The best macro split for Hashimoto’s is 25 to 30 percent protein, 50 to 58 percent carbs, and 20 to 25 percent fat, with protein anchored to roughly 0.7 to 0.9 grams per pound of goal body weight depending on activity level. Hashimoto’s patients generally do better on higher carbs than the low-carb crowd online would have you believe, because carbs help regulate the autoimmune inflammation and keep T3 up^[9].

What matters most for Hashimoto’s isn’t the macro split so much as what the macros are made of. Prioritize anti-inflammatory protein sources (fish, pasture-raised eggs, grass-fed beef), whole-food carbs (sweet potato, rice, fruit), and fats from whole foods (olive oil, avocado, nuts) instead of seed oils. A generic macro split with ultra-processed food will still leave most Hashimoto’s patients inflamed.

For more, read my guide on natural remedies for Hashimoto’s thyroiditis.

Keto is usually not safe for untreated or under-treated hypothyroid patients because very low carb intake (under 50 grams per day for weeks at a time) suppresses T3 within 1 to 2 weeks and can push an already slow thyroid further^[9]. Keto can be safe (and sometimes helpful) for hypothyroid patients who also have PCOS or insulin resistance, but only when it’s done for a defined block of time (8 to 12 weeks), paired with optimized thyroid medication, and monitored with labs.

That’s why this calculator gates Keto behind the PCOS/insulin resistance flag. If you don’t have the insulin issue, the risk of crashing your thyroid outweighs the upside of going keto. If you do have the insulin issue, keto can be a useful short-term tool. Either way, don’t go keto without your doctor monitoring your thyroid labs.

Most hypothyroid patients should eat at least 100 to 150 grams of carbs per day, and patients in a deficit should rarely drop below 100 grams without insulin resistance or PCOS driving the decision. Cutting carbs below 50 grams per day suppresses T3 within 1 to 2 weeks, which is the last thing a hypothyroid body needs^[9]. The sweet spot for most hypothyroid patients is 40 to 55 percent of calories from carbs.

If you have PCOS or insulin resistance, drop carbs to 20 to 30 percent of calories (usually 80 to 120 grams per day) because controlling insulin matters more for that group. Flag the insulin resistance box in the calculator and it handles the math for you.

Yes, low carb dieting lowers thyroid hormone, specifically active T3, within 1 to 2 weeks when carbs drop below 50 grams per day. The effect is reversible when carbs come back up, but for someone with existing hypothyroidism, the drop in T3 on top of an already suppressed thyroid can make symptoms worse and stall weight loss^[9]. Moderate low carb (100 to 150 grams per day) doesn’t seem to cause the same suppression.

The mechanism: low carb intake drops insulin, which the body interprets as a fuel shortage. Your body responds by slowing the conversion of T4 to T3 (the active hormone) and increasing reverse T3 (an inactive form). The result is lower active thyroid hormone, a slower metabolism, and often worse fatigue and weight gain.

If you have hypothyroidism and want the benefits of lower carb eating without the T3 crash, stay above 100 grams of carbs per day and make them whole-food carbs, not ultra-processed ones.

No, eating a high protein diet does not interfere with thyroid medication (levothyroxine, liothyronine, or NDT) as long as you take the medication on an empty stomach at least 30 to 60 minutes before eating. The issue isn’t total protein intake; it’s timing. Food in the stomach (especially coffee, calcium, iron, and soy) reduces absorption of thyroid medication by up to 30 percent^[8].

Take your thyroid medication first thing in the morning with water only, wait 30 to 60 minutes, then eat your high-protein breakfast. Patients who prefer nighttime dosing should take it at least 3 hours after their last meal. Either window works. The total grams of protein you eat during the day don’t matter for absorption.

Yes, post-thyroidectomy patients need about 10 percent more protein than patients with a functioning thyroid gland, on top of the protein bump you already need from training. Removing the thyroid permanently reduces the body’s ability to convert T4 into T3, which slows tissue turnover and how efficiently the body uses protein^[11]. For most post-thyroidectomy patients, this works out to 1.0 g/lb of goal body weight or higher.

A post-thyroidectomy woman at 150 lb who strength trains 3 to 5 times per week should aim for 135 to 150 grams of protein per day. A post-thyroidectomy man at 180 lb should hit 170 to 190 grams. The calculator factors this in automatically when you pick post-thyroidectomy as your thyroid status.

For more, read my guide on weight gain after thyroidectomy.

If you’re hypothyroid and not losing weight even though you’re hitting your macros, it’s almost always one of three things: your calorie target is wrong for your actual metabolism, your thyroid medication isn’t optimized, or you’ve stacked years of crash dieting on top of your thyroid and your maintenance has dropped further than the calculator can fully capture^[2]^[7].

Generic macro calculators assume your metabolism is normal. If your thyroid is slowing your metabolism by 15 percent and you’re using the wrong calorie target to calculate your macros, you’re not in a deficit at all. You’re at maintenance, or you’re in a surplus. Hitting your macros while eating more calories than you burn will not produce weight loss.

The fix is running your numbers through a thyroid-adjusted calculator (this one), making sure your thyroid medication is actually optimized (check with the Optimal Thyroid Lab Test Calculator), and strength training to rebuild muscle and metabolism if crash dieting damaged both.

This calculator differs from a regular macro calculator in four ways: it adjusts your calorie target for the 0 to 18 percent metabolic slowdown caused by hypothyroid status, it anchors protein to grams per pound of goal body weight instead of a generic percent-of-calories split, it bumps protein up further for post-thyroidectomy and other severe thyroid conditions, and it flags patterns (like keto and very low carb) that suppress T3 in untreated or under-treated thyroid patients^[1]^[9].

A regular macro calculator assumes your metabolism is running at 100 percent and your protein needs are the same as someone without thyroid disease. For a hypothyroid body, both assumptions are wrong. The grams you get from a generic calculator are usually low on protein, high on calories, and sometimes low enough on carbs to make your thyroid worse. This one is built for your body, not the theoretical healthy adult.

References

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Pasiakos SM, Cao JJ, Margolis LM, et al. Effects of high-protein diets on fat-free mass and muscle protein synthesis following weight loss: a randomized controlled trial. FASEB Journal. 2013;27(9):3837-3847. View on PubMed
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Wiersinga WM, Duntas L, Fadeyev V, Nygaard B, Vanderpump MP. 2012 ETA guidelines: the use of L-T4 + L-T3 in the treatment of hypothyroidism. European Thyroid Journal. 2012;1(2):55-71. View on PubMed
Spaulding SW, Chopra IJ, Sherwin RS, Lyall SS. Effect of caloric restriction and dietary composition on serum T3 and reverse T3 in man. Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism. 1976;42(1):197-200. View on PubMed
Westcott WL. Resistance training is medicine: effects of strength training on health. Current Sports Medicine Reports. 2012;11(4):209-216. View on PubMed
Hoang TD, Olsen CH, Mai VQ, Clyde PW, Shakir MK. Desiccated thyroid extract compared with levothyroxine in the treatment of hypothyroidism: a randomized, double-blind, crossover study. Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism. 2013;98(5):1982-1990. View on PubMed
Karmisholt J, Andersen S, Laurberg P. Variation in thyroid function tests in patients with stable untreated subclinical hypothyroidism. Thyroid. 2008;18(3):303-308. View on PubMed
Wiersinga WM. Therapy of endocrine disease: T4 + T3 combination therapy: is there a true effect? European Journal of Endocrinology. 2017;177(6):R287-R296. View on PubMed

Hypothyroid Macro Calculator