Finding Your Keto Macros: A Personalized Guide

The keto diet is a high-fat, low-carb, and moderate-protein diet. Typically, the keto diet restricts carb intake to 5% to 10% of your calories, with fat intake making up 55% to 70% of your calories, and the remaining 20% to 30% of your calories coming from protein. To find your keto macros, you can use a keto calculator, which will help you determine your personalised calorie and macronutrient requirements based on factors such as your age, weight, height, body fat percentage, and activity level.

How to calculate your keto macros

The keto diet is a high-fat, low-carb, moderate-protein diet that can help with weight loss, type 2 diabetes management, and prevention of chronic illnesses. To get started on a keto diet, you need to calculate your keto macros, or macronutrients, which include fat, protein, and carbohydrates. Here is a step-by-step guide on how to calculate your keto macros:

Step 1: Understand the Basics of Keto Macros

The typical keto macros ratio is around 70% fats, 5% carbohydrates, and 25% protein. However, some dietitians recommend a ratio of 75% fats, 5% carbohydrates, and 20% protein. This ratio may vary slightly depending on your individual needs and goals.

Step 2: Determine Your Calorie Intake

Your calorie intake will depend on your current weight, goal weight, and activity level. You can use the Mifflin-St Jeor equation to calculate your basal metabolic rate (BMR), which is the amount of energy your body needs to support its vital functions. The equation differs slightly for men and women:

BMR (men) = (10 × weight in kg + 6.25 × height in cm - 5 × age in years + 5) calories/day

BMR (women) = (10 × weight in kg + 6.25 × height in cm - 5 × age in years - 161) calories/day

Once you have your BMR, you need to multiply it by a factor corresponding to your physical activity level:

• Sedentary lifestyle: 1.2
• Slightly active lifestyle: 1.4
• Moderately active lifestyle: 1.6
• Very active lifestyle: 1.75
• Extra active lifestyle: 2.0
• Professional athlete: 2.3

Step 3: Set Your Weight Goal

After determining your calorie intake for maintaining your current weight, you can adjust it based on your weight goal. Decide whether you want to lose weight, gain weight, or maintain your current weight. A safe and typical diet plan allows for weight loss/gain of 0.5-1 kg (1-2 lbs) per week.

Step 4: Calculate Your Macros

Now that you know your calorie intake, you can calculate your macros. As a general guideline, aim for:

• Carbohydrates: 5% or less of total calories (around 20-40g per day)
• Healthy fats: 70-80% of total calories
• Protein: 20-30% of total calories

To get more specific macro targets, you can use an online keto calculator. These calculators take into account various factors such as gender, age, weight, activity level, body fat percentage, and weight goals. Simply input your information, and the calculator will provide you with personalized macro targets.

Remember, it is important to consult with a healthcare professional or a registered dietitian before starting any new diet, including the keto diet. They can help ensure that your diet is safe and appropriate for your individual needs and health status.

The importance of tracking macros

Tracking your keto macros is essential to ensure you're getting the desired results from your keto plan. The two most popular ways to do this are through a food journal or a macros tracker app. While it may seem tedious at first, it is worth it to get your low-carb diet working optimally.

How to Track Macros

Macros, or macronutrients, are the energy-supplying nutrients your body needs in large quantities: fat, protein, and carbohydrates. To track your macros, you can use a food journal or a macro tracker app. A food journal requires a few extra steps but is an equally effective means of tracking. You can rely on the information on a food's nutrition label and valuable tools like the USDA Nutrient Analysis Library, which allow you to determine the nutrient content of generic and branded foods, as well as fresh produce.

Benefits of Tracking Macros

The benefits of keto—fat loss, better energy, reduced cravings, and improved focus—are entirely dependent on hitting your macros. For example, if you eat too many calories on a ketogenic diet designed for weight loss, you probably won't lose weight. Therefore, tracking your macros is crucial to ensure you're eating the right ratio of nutrients to achieve your desired results.

Customizing Your Macros

No diet is one-size-fits-all. For instance, if you're doing keto for weight loss, you might want to cut carbs below 5%. Alternatively, if you're extremely active, you might want to increase your carbs and protein intake. You can use technology to calibrate your diet to your specific needs, such as a macros calculator that allows you to customize macros based on diet, activity levels, weight loss targets, and more.

Tips for Tracking Macros

• Write things down: Using a journal to plan your meals and macros each morning can help you stay organised and committed to your plan.
• Track ketone levels: Ketones are tiny molecules produced when your liver burns fat. You can measure them in your blood or urine, and elevated levels indicate that your low-carb macros strategy is working.
• Use a macro tracker: A macro tracker app can make your keto diet much easier by telling you your macro ratios based on the foods you've eaten.

The difference between total carbs and net carbs

The keto diet is a high-fat, low-carb, and moderate-protein diet. It involves restricting your carb intake to just 5% to 10% of your calories, which means your body will enter a state of ketosis and burn fat for energy instead of glucose. To find your keto macros, you need to calculate your calorie intake based on your body's needs, taking into account factors such as your sex, height, weight, age, and activity level.

Now, let's delve into the difference between total carbs and net carbs. Total carbohydrates, as listed on food nutrition labels, include all types of carbs: starches, dietary fibre, and sugars. Net carbs, on the other hand, refer to the total amount of digestible carbohydrates in a food product or meal. Net carbs are calculated by subtracting the amount of fibre and certain sugar alcohols, which are not digestible, from the total carb count.

The key distinction is that total carbs encompass all varieties of carbohydrates in a food or meal, whereas net carbs only take into account the carbs that the body can fully break down into glucose. Net carbs are calculated as follows:

• Start by checking the serving size to determine if you are consuming a single serving or more.
• Locate the total carbohydrate and fibre content on the nutrition label.
• Subtract the fibre amount from the total carbs to get the net carbs.
• Further refine the net carb count by subtracting any sugar alcohols, such as erythritol or mannitol. These sugar alcohols have a lesser impact on glucose levels and can be subtracted entirely.

It is important to note that the term "net carbs" does not have a standardised definition and is not recognised by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) or the American Diabetes Association. The calculation of net carbs can vary, and it is always recommended to consult a healthcare professional or a dietitian before starting a new diet, especially if you have any health concerns or conditions.

How to calculate net carbs

To calculate net carbs, you need to know the difference between net carbs and total carbs. Net carbs refer to the number of carbohydrates that are absorbed by your body and impact your blood sugar levels and insulin response. Total carbs include all types of sugars, including starch, fibre, and sugar alcohols.

To calculate net carbs in whole foods, you subtract the fibre from the total number of carbs. For example, if a medium avocado contains 17.1 grams of total carbs, 13.5 grams of which is fibre, the net carbs are 3.6 grams.

To calculate net carbs in processed foods, you need to know the number of sugar alcohols in addition to the total carbs and fibre content. Generally, you can subtract half of the carbs from sugar alcohols from the total carbs listed on the nutrition label. However, if the only sugar alcohol in the ingredients list is erythritol, its carbs can be completely subtracted from the total carbs.

> NET CARBS = TOTAL CARBS – FIBER – SUGAR ALCOHOLS & ALLULOSE

For example, if a keto pancake has 13 grams of total carbohydrates, 9 grams of fibre, 2 grams of erythritol, and 1 gram of allulose, it would have 1 gram of net carbohydrates.

It's important to note that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) does not recognise the term "net carbs" and recommends using total carbohydrates listed on nutrition labels. Additionally, the number of carbohydrates you should consume on a keto diet depends on your current calorie consumption, typically ranging from around 20 to 40 grams.

How to speed up ketosis

To speed up ketosis, you need to understand what ketosis is and how it works. Ketosis is a metabolic state in which your body uses an alternative source of energy called ketones, instead of glucose. This happens when your body doesn't have enough glucose from carbohydrates and starts burning stored fat to create ketones, which now serve as your primary fuel source.

• Minimize Carbohydrate Consumption: Eating a very low-carb diet is the most important factor in entering ketosis. Generally, consuming 5–10% of total calories from carbs will produce ketosis. The general carb limit for ketosis is 30-50 grams per day, but this may vary depending on individual factors such as physical activity levels.
• Increase Healthy Fat Intake: Consuming plenty of healthy fats can boost your ketone levels and help you reach ketosis. Dietary fat is essential in the keto diet, and your body uses it to help create ketones. Examples of healthy fat sources include fatty fish, olive oil, avocado oil, eggs, fatty cuts of meat, avocados, nuts, and seeds.
• Ramp Up Physical Activity: Being more physically active can help you enter and maintain ketosis. Exercises that deplete your glycogen stores quickly, such as high-intensity interval training (HIIT), long runs, and other prolonged endurance exercises, are particularly effective.
• Intermittent Fasting: Intermittent fasting, where you cycle between eating and fasting, has been shown to induce ketosis. Try a 12-hour fast, the shortest possible fasting duration, combined with exercise for best results. Alternatively, a fat fast, where you get most of your calories from high-fat foods, can also boost ketone levels.
• Maintain Adequate Protein Intake: Protein intake should be adequate, around 30-35% of your total calories. This helps stabilize blood sugar levels, curbs hunger, and aids in muscle preservation and recovery.
• Include MCT Oil in Your Diet: Medium-chain triglycerides (MCTs) found in MCT oil can boost ketone production and provide a shortcut to ketosis. Start slowly to reduce the likelihood of digestive side effects.
• Test and Monitor Ketone Levels: Use ketone testing to know whether you have reached or are still in ketosis. There are three ways to test: urine testing with ketone strips, blood testing with a blood ketone meter, and breath testing with a portable breath acetone meter.

Remember, it typically takes about 3-4 days of restricting carbohydrates or following a ketogenic diet to enter ketosis. However, this timeframe can vary depending on factors such as activity level, sleep, and stress.

Frequently asked questions