Keto Diet: Calculating Your Personal Macro Breakdown

The ketogenic diet is a low-carb, high-fat diet that shifts your body's metabolism. To achieve this, you need to change the proportion of your macronutrient intake. The typical keto macro ratio is 70% fats, 5% carbohydrates, and 25% protein. To calculate your keto macros, you need to determine your calorie intake, basal metabolic rate (BMR), and total daily energy expenditure (TDEE).

There are keto macro calculators available online that can help you figure out how much of each macronutrient to consume to reach your goals. These calculators take into account factors such as your sex, height, weight, age, and activity level. They will also ask about your weight goal, whether you want to lose, gain, or maintain weight.

Once you have your macro ratios, you can create a keto meal plan that fits your macros and cooking preferences. It is important to note that not all calories are created equal, and food quality matters. Prioritize whole, unprocessed, nutrient-dense foods to ensure you're getting all the necessary vitamins and minerals.

Calculate your calorie needs based on your fitness goal

To calculate your calorie needs based on your fitness goal, you must first determine your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR), which is the amount of energy your body needs to support its vital functions. This value is calculated according to two formulas – one for men and one for women:

BMR(men) = (10 × weight / 1 kg + 6.25 × height / 1 cm - 5 × age / 1 year + 5) kcal / day

BMR(women) = (10 × weight / 1 kg + 6.25 × height / 1 cm - 5 × age / 1 year - 161) kcal / day

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

• Sedentary lifestyle (little or no exercise): 1.2
• Slightly active lifestyle (light exercise or sports 1-2 days/week): 1.4
• Moderately active lifestyle (moderate exercise or sports 2-3 days/week): 1.6
• Very active lifestyle (hard exercise or sports 4-5 days/week): 1.75
• Extra active lifestyle (very hard exercise, physical job or sports 6-7 days/week): 2.0
• Professional athlete: 2.3

If you are unsure, it is recommended to pick the lower number as most people tend to overestimate their exercise level.

Once you know the recommended calorie intake for maintaining your current weight, you can modify it to achieve your desired results. If your goal is to lose weight, you will need to create a calorie deficit, and if your goal is to gain weight, you will need a calorie surplus.

For example, if your daily maintenance calories are 2,000 and you are aiming for a 500-calorie deficit per day to lose 1 pound per week, your new calorie intake goal would be 1,500 calories per day.

It is important to note that you should never go below 1,200 calories a day if you are a woman and 1,800 calories a day if you are a man. Additionally, make sure to check your BMI to ensure you do not become underweight.

Estimate your keto carb needs

Estimating your keto carb needs is arguably the most important step in calculating your keto macros. Research suggests that a carb intake of fewer than 20 to 50 grams per day is sufficient to promote ketosis in most people, but the exact amount you need can vary. Thus, a carb intake of 20 to 25 grams per day is a good starting point. However, if you find yourself struggling to stick to that amount, you can start a little higher, at 50 grams.

You can also use your total calorie intake as a gauge. Carbs provide roughly four calories per gram. So, if you are in a lower calorie range—less than 2,000 calories a day—20 grams would be adequate for reaching 5% of your calories from carbs. If you are at a higher calorie range, you may need slightly more.

Use the following guidelines to estimate your starting carb needs:

• Calorie range <2,000 calories/day: 20 grams of carbs a day or less
• Calorie range 2,000 to 2,500 calories/day: 25 to 30 grams of carbs a day or less
• Calorie range >2,500 to 3,000 calories/day: 30 to 35 grams of carbs a day or less
• Calorie range >3,000 calories/day: 35 to 50 grams of carbs a day or less

Get your low-carb food here!

Try counting your daily net carbs over total carb intake. You can do this by tracking your fibre intake. Fibre is a type of carb that is not easily absorbed by the body (meaning it won't affect blood sugar levels the same way sugars do) and thus, can be excluded from your daily intake. Take your total carbs each day and subtract the amount of fibre you consumed to get your net carb amount.

Calculate your protein needs

Protein is an important macronutrient to consider when starting a keto diet. It plays a role in supporting your lean body mass and other essential bodily functions.

Some people argue that protein should be kept low on keto because it can be metabolised into glucose (sugar). However, research suggests that higher protein intake may support better appetite control and a lower body fat percentage without messing with ketosis.

Your keto protein needs can be estimated based on your activity level and fitness goals.

If you do little to no exercise, you should aim for 0.6g/pound of body weight per day. If you do moderate exercise 2 or more days per week, you should aim for 0.9g/pound of body weight per day. If you do hard exercise 3 or more days per week, you should aim for 1.1g/pound of body weight per day.

For example, a 150-pound moderate active individual looking to lose weight would need 135 grams of protein per day. To get this amount in calories, simply multiply by four (protein provides four calories for every gram), which would give you 540 calories from protein.

You can also calculate your protein needs as a percentage of your total calorie intake. To do this, divide the calories from protein by your total daily calorie needs and multiply by 100%. For example, if you're getting 540 calories from protein and your total daily calorie needs are 1800, your protein percentage would be (540/1800) x 100% = 30% of calories from protein.

Calculate your keto fat needs

To calculate your keto fat needs, you must first calculate your calorie needs. This is determined by your fitness goal: are you looking to lose weight, gain weight, or maintain your weight? This will determine the number of calories you need each day. Weight loss requires a calorie deficit and weight gain requires a calorie surplus.

Once you've got your daily energy needs, you can build your macro goals accordingly. This is where you calculate your keto fat needs.

Your keto fat needs can be calculated based on your remaining calories. Each gram of fat contains roughly nine calories.

Here's how to do the math:

• Take your carb amount and multiply your grams of carbs by 4 to get your calories from carbs. For example, 20g x 4 = 80 calories from carbs.
• Now do the same with your protein needs. For example, 150g x 4 = 600 calories from carbs.
• Now add your carb and protein calories and subtract this number from your total daily calorie needs. For example, 1800 daily calories - (600 calories from protein + 80 calories from carbs) = 1,120 calories remaining.
• Now divide your remaining calories by 9 to get how many grams of fat you need per day. For example, 1,120/9 = 124 grams of fat per day.

Your keto fat macro percentage can be calculated as follows:

Calories from fat/total daily calorie needs) x 100 = % of calories from fat

For example:

1,120/1800) x 100 = 62% of calories from fat

Calculate your keto macros percentage

To calculate your keto macros percentage, you need to determine your calorie intake, the number of macros, and then divide the calories from each macro by your daily calorie needs and multiply by 100%.

Firstly, you need to calculate your basal metabolic rate (BMR), which is the amount of energy you need per day to support vital functions. This can be calculated using the Mifflin-St Jeor equation, which takes into account your gender, age, height, and weight.

Once you have your BMR, you need to multiply it by a factor that corresponds to your physical activity level. Here are the activity levels and their corresponding factors:

• Sedentary lifestyle (little or no exercise): 1.2
• Slightly active lifestyle (light exercise or sports 1-2 days/week): 1.4
• Moderately active lifestyle (moderate exercise or sports 2-3 days/week): 1.6
• Very active lifestyle (hard exercise or sports 4-5 days/week): 1.75
• Extra active lifestyle (very hard exercise, physical job or sports 6-7 days/week): 2.0
• Professional athlete: 2.3

The next step is to determine your calorie intake goal. This will depend on whether you want to maintain, lose, or gain weight. For weight loss, you will need a calorie deficit, and for weight gain, you will need a calorie surplus.

Now that you know your total daily calorie needs, you can calculate your macros. The typical macro ratio for keto is:

• 5% of calories from carbohydrates
• 25% of calories from protein
• 70% of calories from fat

To get the percentage of calories from each macro, you simply divide the number of calories from that macro by your total daily calorie needs and then multiply by 100%.

For example, if your daily calorie needs are 1800, and you are consuming 80 calories from carbs, 600 calories from protein, and 1120 calories from fat, your macros percentage would be:

• (80/1800) x 100% = 5% of calories from carbs
• (600/1800) x 100% = 33% of calories from protein
• (1120/1800) x 100% = 62% of calories from fat

The total of these percentages should add up to 100%.

Frequently asked questions