We take the planning out of eating well.

What MakeMealPlan is

MakeMealPlan is a meal planning website. You can use a large part of it free, and the personalised planner is a paid subscription. Both are built on the same idea: a plan is only useful if it gives you real numbers, real meals and a shopping list you can take to the store.

How your personalised plan is built

You should never have to trust a number you can't check, so here is exactly how we get from your answers to your plan.

1. 1

   Your resting energy (BMR)

   We use the Mifflin-St Jeor equation, published in 1990 and the one dietitians most often use to estimate how many calories you burn at rest:

   10 × weight (kg) + 6.25 × height (cm) − 5 × age + 5 for men
   10 × weight (kg) + 6.25 × height (cm) − 5 × age − 161 for women
2. 2

   Your daily burn (TDEE)

   Your BMR is multiplied by an activity factor, from sedentary to very active, based on how you told us you move day to day.

3. 3

   Your goal

   To lose weight we take about 500 calories a day off, a pace of roughly 0.5 kg (1 lb) a week. To gain, we add about 300. Whatever the maths says, we never set a target below 1,200 calories a day for women or 1,500 for men.

4. 4

   Your meals

   Your calorie target is split into daily protein, carbohydrate and fat targets. An AI model then writes a week of meals to fit them, following your diet, allergies, favourite cuisine, budget and the number of meals you want. We check that every one of the seven days is actually filled before you see it, and every meal shows its own calories and macros.

How our free meal plans are made

The free 7-day plans are not generated on the fly. Each one is written meal by meal, with gram weights for the ingredients that matter and calories, protein, carbs and fat for every meal.

• The numbers have to add up. An automated check runs on every plan and fails if the daily totals or the headline figures on the page don't match the meals actually listed. A plan that says "150 g protein" has to deliver it.
• Normal food. Meals use ingredients from an ordinary supermarket, with cooking times you can fit into a weekday.
• Who it's for, and who it isn't. Every plan says who it suits, who should skip it, and what to watch out for.
• Kept current. We revise plans when nutrition guidance changes or a reader spots something that needs fixing.

What we promise, and what we won't do

We are not your doctor

MakeMealPlan gives general nutrition information and meal ideas for healthy adults. It is not medical advice and doesn't replace a doctor or registered dietitian. Please speak to a professional before changing how you eat if you:

• are pregnant or breastfeeding
• are under 18
• have or have had an eating disorder
• take insulin, other diabetes medication, or a GLP-1 medicine such as Ozempic or Mounjaro
• have kidney, liver or heart disease
• have a severe food allergy

Our editorial standards

Everything we publish, from a meal plan to a blog post, is held to the same rules:

• Established science only. Calorie and macro guidance follows widely accepted methods such as the Mifflin-St Jeor equation, not trends or single small studies.
• Plain language. If a term needs explaining, we explain it.
• Kept up to date. Our guides and calculators show when they were last updated, and we revise them when the evidence changes.
• Corrections welcome. Found a wrong number or a claim that doesn't hold up? Email support@makemealplan.com and we'll check it, fix it and update the page date.