Vegan Macro Calculator — Protein Without Animal Food

The percentages of a vegan split are the same as anyone else’s. The difficulty is physical: most plant protein comes packaged with carbohydrate, so hitting the protein line pushes the carbohydrate line up with it unless you choose sources that break the pattern.

The carbohydrate that rides along

USDA figures, per common serving:

Food	Protein	Carbohydrate	Calories
Firm tofu, ½ cup (126 g)	22 g	3 g	181
Cooked lentils, 1 cup (198 g)	18 g	40 g	230
Cooked black beans, 1 cup (172 g)	15 g	41 g	227
Peanut butter, 2 tbsp (32 g)	7 g	7 g	191

Read the first two rows together. Tofu and lentils deliver comparable protein, but the lentils also spend 40 g of your carbohydrate budget and the tofu spends 3. Do that three times a day and the difference is over 100 g of carbohydrate — a fifth of a 2,000-calorie day — decided entirely by which protein you reached for.

Nothing here says legumes are a mistake. Those 40 g arrive with about 15 g of fiber, which is more than half the 28-gram Daily Value in one cup. It only means a vegan plan that also wants a moderate carbohydrate line has to be built on soy first and beans second, rather than the other way round.

A day that reaches 110 grams

Two blocks of tofu or tempeh (about 44 g), a cup of lentils at lunch (18 g), peanut butter and oats at breakfast (roughly 15 g together), and a seitan or soy-protein dinner (30 g or so) lands near 110 g with carbohydrate still under control. Compare that with four legume-based meals, which reaches similar protein and roughly 160 g of carbohydrate before any grain or fruit.

If you lift, the target is higher and the same principle applies more sharply — see macros for muscle gain for the range.

What the split cannot see

The 2025–2030 Dietary Guidelines devote a section to this, and it is not gentle. Vegan diets, it says, “show broader shortfalls in vitamins A, D, E, B6, and B12; riboflavin; niacin; choline; calcium; iron; magnesium; phosphorus; potassium; zinc; and protein,” with advice to “monitor nutrient status periodically, especially for iron, vitamin B12, vitamin D, calcium, and iodine.”

Vitamin B12 is the non-negotiable one, because plants do not make it. Fortified foods or a supplement is not an optional refinement of a vegan diet; it is part of the diet. Iron and zinc are the next tier — both are present in plants but absorbed less readily, which is why the same guidance mentions preparation techniques such as soaking and fermenting to improve mineral availability.

The other warning it gives is about the food itself: significantly limit highly processed vegan products, which tend to arrive with added fats, sugars and salt. A meat analogue can be perfect on the macro tracker and still be the least useful item in the shop.

Related splits

If you eat eggs and dairy, the arithmetic gets considerably easier — see the vegetarian macro calculator. For the base three-way split, the macro calculator; to see what the carbohydrate line can absorb, the daily carb calculator.

This content is informational and does not replace advice from a physician or registered dietitian.