Most people bounce between calorie apps because the targets keep changing. They don't. You only need three numbers, and they should stay still until your body or your training does.

1. TDEE (maintenance calories)

This is roughly how much you burn on a normal week, not your hungriest day. Use body weight, height, age, sex, and how active you actually are, not how active you wish you were. If maintenance is wrong, every macro after it is wrong.

2. Protein

Set this first. A simple starting point is about 0.7 to 1.0 grams per pound of body weight, then fill the rest of the calories with carbs and fat based on the training you do. Protein is the number that keeps muscle on during a cut and recovery honest during a bulk.

3. The gap (deficit or surplus)

Fat loss is maintenance minus a small, boring gap, usually 300 to 500 calories. Muscle gain is maintenance plus a small gap. Huge gaps make the tracker look exciting for a week and then you stop logging.

Once those three are set, logging food, weight, and lifts is just checking whether the plan is true. If weight is not moving after two to three weeks, change the gap, not the whole system.

That is what MacroForge calculates and then tracks. One-time purchase, Excel or Google Sheets, no subscription.