How do I find the nutrition facts of what I eat today?
Use the Nutrition Calculator below — search your foods, add them, then click Calculate for full nutrition facts.
| Food | Amount | Calories |
|---|
The Daily Needs tab estimates your calorie burn and prints the Recommended Daily Intake (RDA) for protein, fiber, vitamins and minerals from the National Academies Dietary Reference Intakes.
Your progress against the daily targets from the Daily Needs tab
| Nutrient | Amount | % Daily Value |
|---|
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your Daily Values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs. Trans fat and total sugars have no established Daily Value.
| Nutrient | Your Target | % Daily Value |
|---|
Targets are age- and sex-specific Dietary Reference Intakes (RDA/AI) from the National Academies, except where noted. Use the Food & Meal tab to see how your day measures up.
What Is a Nutrition Calculator?
A nutrition calculator is a free tool that converts a list of foods into a complete Nutrition Facts report: calories, macronutrients, fiber, sugar, sodium, vitamins and minerals, each shown as an amount and as a percent Daily Value (%DV). Instead of looking up one ingredient at a time, you enter everything you ate — in grams, ounces or common servings — and the calculator does the addition, unit conversion and percentage math for you.
There are two directions this works in. A food nutrition calculator measures what is in the plate in front of you, which is what the Food & Meal tab does. A daily nutrition calculator measures what your body needs based on your age, sex, height, weight and activity, which is what the Daily Needs tab does. Comparing the two numbers is the fastest way to know whether a meal is on target. If you only care about energy balance, start with our calorie calculator instead.
How to Use This Nutrition Calculator
- Search a food — type any of the 100+ foods in the database (chicken breast, oatmeal, banana, pizza, lentils) or click a category chip to browse.
- Set the amount and unit — use grams for precision, ounces for US labels, or the food's own common serving (1 cup, 1 slice, 1 medium).
- Add it to your meal — repeat for every ingredient. The table shows running calories for each item so you can spot the heaviest one instantly.
- Set the serving count — cooking a recipe for 4 people? Enter 4 and switch the results to Per serving.
- Click Calculate — you get total calories, a macro split bar, six headline nutrients and a full label with % Daily Value.
- Optional: fill in the Daily Needs tab first — your personal targets then appear as progress bars under the meal results.
How Nutrition Is Calculated: Calories, Macros and % Daily Value
Every number in this tool comes from three formulas. Food values are stored per 100 grams (the USDA standard), scaled to the amount you entered, summed across your meal, then divided by Daily Values to produce percentages:
Calories from macros = (protein g × 4) + (carbohydrate g × 4) + (fat g × 9)
% Daily Value = (amount per serving ÷ Daily Value) × 100
The 4 / 4 / 9 values are the Atwater general factors, published by the USDA and used on virtually every Nutrition Facts label in the United States. Worked example: 85 g of roasted chicken breast supplies 31.02 g protein per 100 g, so 31.02 ÷ 100 × 85 = 26.4 g protein, worth 26.4 × 4 = 106 kcal of the 140 kcal in that portion. Saturated fat uses a 20 g Daily Value, sodium uses 2,300 mg, and fiber uses 28 g — all based on a 2,000 calorie diet.
Daily Value Reference Table (FDA 2026)
The % Daily Value column in the results matches the reference amounts the FDA requires on packaged food labels. Two rules of thumb make the percentages readable at a glance: 5% DV or less is low and 20% DV or more is high.
| Nutrient | Daily Value (2,000 cal) | Why It Matters |
|---|---|---|
| Total Fat | 78 g | Carries fat-soluble vitamins; 9 kcal per gram |
| Saturated Fat | 20 g | Keep under 10% of calories for heart health |
| Cholesterol | 300 mg | Limited by many cardiac diet plans |
| Sodium | 2,300 mg | Adults with hypertension target 1,500 mg |
| Total Carbohydrate | 275 g | Primary brain and muscle fuel; 4 kcal per gram |
| Dietary Fiber | 28 g | Satiety, digestion, cholesterol control |
| Protein | 50 g | 0.8 g per kg body weight is the RDA floor |
| Vitamin D | 20 mcg | Bone health; the most common shortfall nutrient |
| Calcium | 1,300 mg | Bone and muscle function |
| Iron | 18 mg | 27 mg during pregnancy |
| Potassium | 4,700 mg | Offsets sodium; blood pressure support |
| Vitamin C | 90 mg | Collagen, immunity, iron absorption |
Recommended Daily Intake (RDA) by Age and Sex
Daily needs are not one-size-fits-all. These are the adult Dietary Reference Intakes published by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine and used by the USDA DRI calculator. The Daily Needs tab applies the correct row for your age and sex automatically. To translate protein grams into actual meals, our protein calculator breaks it down by body weight and goal.
| Nutrient | Adult Men (19+) | Adult Women (19+) | Key Life Stage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Protein (RDA) | 0.8 g/kg ≈ 56 g | 0.8 g/kg ≈ 46 g | 0.9 g/kg if 65+ |
| Vitamin C | 90 mg | 75 mg | +35 mg for smokers |
| Vitamin A | 900 mcg RAE | 700 mcg RAE | 900 mcg during lactation |
| Vitamin D | 15 mcg (19–70) | 15 mcg (19–70) | 20 mcg if 71+ |
| Calcium | 1,000 mg | 1,000 mg | 1,300 mg if 14–18; 1,200 mg if 51+ (women) or 71+ |
| Iron | 8 mg | 18 mg | 8 mg after age 50 for women |
| Potassium (AI) | 3,400 mg | 2,600 mg | Higher in pregnancy |
| Fiber (AI) | 14 g per 1,000 kcal | 14 g per 1,000 kcal | Typically 30–38 g men, 25 g women |
| Total Water (AI) | 3.7 L | 2.7 L | Food supplies about 20% |
Because water and fiber move together with food volume, check your hydration target with our water intake calculator, and track your height-to-weight ratio with the BMI calculator.
Daily Macro Targets by Goal (2026)
Grams of protein, carbohydrate and fat depend on how many calories you eat and what you are training for. The Acceptable Macronutrient Distribution Range (AMDR) keeps adults within 10–35% protein, 45–65% carbohydrate and 20–35% fat. Here is what those ranges look like on a 2,000 calorie diet:
| Goal | Protein | Carbohydrate | Fat |
|---|---|---|---|
| Weight loss (moderate deficit) | 30% — 150 g | 40% — 200 g | 30% — 67 g |
| Maintenance / general health | 20% — 100 g | 50% — 250 g | 30% — 67 g |
| Muscle gain (strength training) | 30% — 150 g | 45% — 225 g | 25% — 56 g |
| Endurance sport | 20% — 100 g | 60% — 300 g | 20% — 44 g |
| Lower carbohydrate | 25% — 125 g | 10% — 50 g | 65% — 144 g |
Convert those percentages into a personal gram target with our macro calculator, which uses your body weight and activity level instead of a flat 2,000 calorie reference. To see whether your weight is in a healthy range for your height, pair it with the BMI calculator.
Nutrition Calculator vs. Calorie Counter
A calorie counter answers one question: how much energy did I eat? A nutrition calculator answers the follow-up questions — how much of that was protein versus sugar, did I hit 28 g of fiber, am I about to blow 2,300 mg of sodium on one meal? Both use the same food data, but only the second one shows nutrient density.
| Feature | Calorie Counter | Nutrition Calculator (this tool) |
|---|---|---|
| Total calories | Yes | Yes |
| Protein / carbs / fat split | Sometimes | Yes, with a calorie-split bar |
| Fiber, sugar, sodium | Rarely | Yes |
| Vitamins & minerals with %DV | No | Yes — calcium, iron, potassium, vitamins A, C, D |
| Recipe / per-serving mode | No | Yes |
| Personal RDA targets | No | Yes, from age, sex, height, weight |
If your goal is strictly a calorie deficit or surplus, run the same numbers through the calorie calculator for Mifflin-St Jeor BMR, TDEE and a weekly weight-loss projection.
Common Foods: Nutrition Comparison
Values below are calculated from the same USDA data set this tool uses, so you can sanity-check any result. Protein and fiber are shown per typical serving — the numbers you would see after adding each food to your meal.
| Food | Typical Serving | Calories | Protein | Fiber |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chicken breast, roasted | 3 oz (85 g) | 140 | 26.4 g | 0 g |
| Salmon, cooked | 3 oz (85 g) | 175 | 18.8 g | 0 g |
| Tuna, canned in water | 3 oz (85 g) | 99 | 21.7 g | 0 g |
| Egg, hard-boiled | 1 large (50 g) | 78 | 6.3 g | 0 g |
| Greek yogurt, nonfat | 1 container (170 g) | 100 | 17.3 g | 0 g |
| Cottage cheese, 2% | 1/2 cup (113 g) | 97 | 12.6 g | 0 g |
| Cheddar cheese | 1 oz (28 g) | 113 | 7.0 g | 0 g |
| Lentils, cooked | 1 cup (198 g) | 230 | 17.9 g | 15.6 g |
| Black beans, cooked | 1 cup (172 g) | 227 | 15.2 g | 15.0 g |
| Oatmeal, cooked | 1 cup (234 g) | 166 | 5.9 g | 4.0 g |
| Brown rice, cooked | 1 cup (195 g) | 240 | 5.3 g | 3.1 g |
| Whole-wheat bread | 1 slice (28 g) | 69 | 3.5 g | 1.7 g |
| Almonds, raw | 1 oz (28 g) | 162 | 5.9 g | 3.5 g |
| Peanut butter | 2 tbsp (32 g) | 188 | 8.0 g | 1.9 g |
| Broccoli, raw | 1 cup (91 g) | 31 | 2.6 g | 2.4 g |
| Apple, raw | 1 medium (182 g) | 95 | 0.5 g | 4.4 g |
Notice that 100 calories of almonds and 100 calories of chicken breast are not nutritionally equal — one delivers 5.9 g of protein and 3.5 g of fiber, the other 26 g of protein and no fiber. That comparison, not the calorie number alone, is what the % Daily Value column makes visible.
How Accurate Is a Nutrition Calculator?
Accuracy has two parts: the database and the portion you typed in. Nutrient values taken from USDA FoodData Central are laboratory-analyzed and generally land within about 10% for calories and macronutrients, though individual fruits, vegetables and cuts of meat vary with variety, soil and cooking method. Micronutrients such as vitamin A can swing wider, especially in fortified or brand-name products.
The bigger error is human. Studies on portion estimation show people routinely underestimate amounts by 20–50% when eyeballing oils, nut butters, rice and restaurant meals. A digital kitchen scale costs little and drops that error to roughly 1–2%. Restaurant and chain-restaurant calculators add a further layer of uncertainty because cooking fats, sauces and portion trimming are proprietary — treat those results as close estimates, not exact figures.
FAQ
A nutrition calculator is a free tool that adds up the calories, macronutrients, vitamins and minerals in the foods or recipe you enter and reports the totals in grams, milligrams and percent Daily Value. It turns a list of ingredients into a complete Nutrition Facts label so you can see what you are actually eating instead of guessing. This version also estimates your personal daily needs, so you can compare intake against targets in one place.
Add every ingredient with its weight, total each nutrient across the list, then divide by the number of servings. Calories follow the Atwater factors: protein and carbohydrate provide 4 kcal per gram and fat provides 9 kcal per gram. Example: 3 oz roasted chicken breast (140 kcal) + 1 cup white rice (205 kcal) + 1 cup broccoli (31 kcal) = 377 calories, 33 g protein, 51 g carbohydrate and 4 g fat.
Results are only as accurate as the food database behind them. Values adapted from USDA FoodData Central are typically within about 10 percent for calories and macronutrients. The largest real-world error is portion size: weighing food keeps error near 1 to 2 percent, while eyeballing portions can easily be off by 20 percent or more. Brand, recipe and cooking differences add smaller variations on top.
Most adult diet labels use a 2,000 calorie reference, but real needs range from roughly 1,600 calories for small sedentary women to more than 3,000 for very active men. On a 2,000 calorie diet the FDA Daily Values are 50 g protein, 275 g carbohydrate, 78 g fat, 28 g fiber, 2,300 mg sodium, 1,300 mg calcium and 18 mg iron. Fill in the Daily Needs tab to get targets for your own age, sex, height, weight and activity level.
Percent Daily Value shows how much a nutrient in one serving contributes to a full day of eating on a 2,000 calorie diet. As a rule of thumb, 5% DV or less is low and 20% DV or more is high. A food with 6 g of saturated fat delivers 30% DV (6 g ÷ 20 g × 100), so a single serving is high in saturated fat. The same logic applies to sodium, calcium, iron and every vitamin on the label.
The AMDR for adults is 10–35% of calories from protein, 45–65% from carbohydrate and 20–35% from fat — on 2,000 calories that is roughly 50–175 g protein, 225–325 g carbohydrate and 44–78 g fat. The RDA of 0.8 g per kg of body weight means a 160 lb adult needs about 58 g of protein a day, and athletes doing heavy resistance training often aim for 1.6–2.2 g/kg. For a personalized gram target, use our macro calculator and protein calculator.
A calorie counter only tracks energy, while a nutrition calculator breaks the same meal into protein, carbohydrate, fat, fiber, sugar, sodium, vitamins and minerals and compares each one to its Daily Value. Calorie counting tells you how much you ate; a nutrition calculator tells you how nutritious it was. If you want to lose weight, you still need both — a deficit that meets your macro and micronutrient targets preserves muscle and energy while the fat comes off.
Enter every ingredient with its weight, then set the split-into-servings field to the number of portions the recipe makes (4 for a four-serving casserole). The calculator divides each nutrient total by that number, and the Per serving toggle prints the Nutrition Facts for a single portion — the same method professional recipe nutrition analyzers use.
Cooking changes some micronutrients but not the calorie count. Water-soluble vitamins such as vitamin C and B vitamins can drop 10 to 50 percent when vegetables are boiled, while lycopene in tomatoes and beta-carotene in carrots become easier for your body to absorb. Steaming, grilling and microwaving preserve more vitamins than boiling, and protein, carbohydrate and fat totals stay nearly the same because the food simply loses water.
Sources: USDA FoodData Central, National Nutrient Database (2026); U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Nutrition Facts label Daily Values; National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, Dietary Reference Intakes (2023 update); NIH Office of Dietary Supplements; Atwater general factors, USDA. This tool is for educational purposes only and is not medical or dietary advice — consult a registered dietitian or physician before changing your diet.
Free Online Calculators
Daily Value Quick Reference
| Nutrient | Daily Value |
|---|---|
| Calories | 2,000 kcal |
| Total Fat | 78 g |
| Saturated Fat | 20 g |
| Sodium | 2,300 mg |
| Total Carbs | 275 g |
| Dietary Fiber | 28 g |
| Protein | 50 g |
| Added Sugars | 50 g |
Quick Tips & Rules
- Weigh food in grams — eyeballing portions is the #1 source of error.
- 5% DV is low, 20% DV is high — the two numbers that make labels readable.
- Log the meal first, then adjust portions, instead of guessing before you eat.
- Only need calories and a deficit target? Use the calorie calculator.
- Splitting a recipe? Set servings, then switch the label to Per serving.
- Curious how this compares to your body composition? See the body fat calculator.
- Aim for 28 g fiber a day — most adults hit only 15 g.