Keto Calculator | Determine Your Personal Macros [Precise & Simple]

Starting on a ketogenic diet? Let’s calculate how much you should eat.
We use the information you put in to create an accurate keto nutrition profile for you.

How do I use your calculator to get my macros?

While inputting your information, you may find that some of the sections and terms are confusing. If this is the case for you, simply click the lower case “i” logo located near the title of each section of our keto calculator. After you click the lower case “i” logo, you will be directed to a brief explanation that should answer your questions.

If you are still unsure of how to use the keto calculator or if you think you aren’t getting the right keto macro numbers, read through the other Q&As and comments below, you will probably find the answer there.

If you still don’t find the answer, please submit a comment with the question and we will address it as soon as possible.

Why do you need my gender/age/height/weight?

Most people aim for a specific goal on a ketogenic diet. We aim to make sure the results of the calculator are accurate and can be used by anyone.

Our keto calculator uses the Mifflin-St.Jeor Formula which was the most accurate (versus the Katch-McCardle Formula or the Harris-Benedict Formula) in a few studies. In this formula, the gender, height, weight, and age are needed to calculate the number of calories to consume.

Why do you need my body fat percentage?

Our keto calculator uses body fat percentage to calculate your lean body mass. Using this number, we’re able to calculate how much protein you need to sufficiently lose weight without losing excess muscle. Eating too little or too much protein on a ketogenic diet (or any diet) can lead to dangerous or unwanted results.

DEXA scans are proven to be the most accurate measurement of body fat. They’re commonly available at gyms and some doctor offices when requested. If you don’t have access to this, you can always go the old-fashioned route and use a good quality caliper. The last resort is using a guide to visually estimate – this can sometimes be a little bit inaccurate, so try to over estimate your body fat percentage.

Why do you need to know my activity level?

This will give us an idea of how much the minimum amount of calories your body will burn in a day. Our keto calculator uses this to calculate your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR). We use this number, along with your body fat percentage, to estimate how many calories you’ll need for your goals.

The BMR is simply a number of calories we burn while our bodies are at rest and from eating and digesting food. Together they form what’s known as TDEE, or total daily energy expenditure. This is the keto calculator’s estimate for your total calories burned per day. If you use a heart rate monitor or third party software to monitor your calories, you can use the custom input in the activity level section for an even more accurate macro profile.

What is a deficit/surplus?

A deficit or surplus just relates to the number of calories you want to intake. A surplus means you are eating more than your body needs. A deficit means you are eating less than your body needs.

Typically if you are losing weight, you want to have a deficit in calories. 10-20% is standard for people. 20-30% ranges are considered high deficits and are typically difficult to do (you will be fighting hunger). You can go up to a 30% deficit, but going past that can lead to metabolic damage in the long run (study).

Typically if you want to gain muscle, you want to have a surplus in calories. You need extra calories if you want to put on lean mass. Typically, 5-10% is suggested, but going over 10% can lead to excess weight gain.

Why should I eat so few carbs?

There are numerous benefits that are scientifically proven on the ketogenic diet. On keto, it’s a general rule of thumb to stay under 30g net carbs a day. We recommend for weight loss to stay at or below 20g net carbs a day.

The end goal of a ketogenic diet is to be in a metabolic state known as ketosis. We do this through starvation of carbohydrates.

How much protein should I be eating?

Protein intake is imperative when it comes to keto. Too much and you can lower your ketone levels, too little and you can lose excess muscle. You want to be in the sweet spot.

If you’re sedentary, we recommend having between 0.6g and 0.8g protein per pound of lean body mass.
If you’re active, we recommend having between 0.8g and 1.0g protein per pound of lean body mass.
If you want to gain muscle, we recommend having between 1.0g and 1.2g protein per pound of lean body mass. You should not need to consume more protein than that, according to these studies.

It can seem complicated, but it’s honestly not! It’s just a ratio of protein. If you are 100 lbs. of muscle and want to gain muscle (1.0g protein), you eat 100g protein.

If you’re still confused, don’t worry – the keto calculator automatically sets your protein based on your activity level.

I’m not sure about my macros, are they right?

Generally speaking, many people are concerned that the keto calculator results in too many calories to eat. It’s very common for the average person to lose weight on a 1600 calorie a day keto diet. If you’re not 100% sure or confused about anything, you can also read more about macronutrients on a keto diet >

You should try to eat according to the macros given and try to spread your meals out during the day. Don’t worry about getting exact numbers to the tee. You can afford a small fluctuation in your macros, but as long as you are close to your ranges, it will balance itself out.

If you’re just getting started and still want to learn more about keto, consider reading our extensive guide to keto >

Why do calories matter? Isn’t a keto macronutrient calculator useless if I am already limiting carbs?

After hearing about the keto diet and how it helps you burn fat, you may be wondering why we even have a keto calculator. According to many low carb diet proponents, all that really matters when it comes to losing fat is cutting the carbs — Isn’t this true?

High-quality research studies have been published on this specific topic, and the data clearly shows that – regardless if you are on a high carb or low carb diet — you will lose weight if you are in a calorie deficit and gain weight if you are in a calorie surplus. For a closer look at the research and why calories matter, check out this article.

Due to the irrefutable importance of calorie consumption for weight loss and weight gain, a keto macro calculator is one of the most valuable tools that you can use to increase your chances of diet success.

Do I have to use the keto macro calculator to get results?

Simply by eating keto foods and cutting out the carbs, most people will eat fewer calories than usual and start losing weight consistently. However, following the diet in this way can increase your likelihood of hitting a weight loss plateau and not knowing what to do next.

One of the most efficient and effective ways to diet is by using a macronutrient calculator, like the ruled.me keto calculator, as a guide for how much you should eat. It will provide you with estimates for the fat, protein, carbs, and calories you should consume each day to get the results you want.

To help you stay on track to meeting your macro needs, we recommend using a calorie tracking app like MyFitnessPal or Cronometer. If you’d like to learn how to use these apps for the keto diet, read through our carb (and calorie) tracking guide.

By using our keto calculator, you will find out how much of each macronutrient (i.e., fat, protein, and carbs) you need to eat so that you can:

Significantly increase your chances of getting the results you want
Enter and stay in ketosis
Stay on track with your keto diet (especially if you track your macros as well)
Stop guessing how much you should be eating
Enjoy all of the benefits of keto dieting and ketosis

What exactly do the results mean?

After you entered all of your data and calculated your macros, you will get results that look something like this:

Example results from the keto calculator

Let’s start with the calories. Simply put, a calorie is a basic unit of energy that helps us understand how much energy we can potentially get from the food we eat. Calorie intake is one of the most critical variables to be aware of when you are trying to change your body composition.

If you eat fewer calories than you need to maintain your weight (which is also known as a calorie deficit) then you will lose weight. Conversely, eating more calories than you need to maintain your weight (which is also known as a calorie surplus) will cause you to gain weight.

Notice that I am saying “weight” loss and “weight” gain rather than “fat” loss and gain. By manipulating your calorie consumption, you will predictably change the numbers on the scale, but whether or not those numbers reflect a strong bias toward fat loss depends on the other numbers from your keto macro calculator results.

Fat, muscle, and water can all be lost and gained during the course of your diet. The proportion of weight you lose as fat, muscle, and water depends heavily upon the macronutrient content of your diet (i.e., how much fat, protein, and carbohydrates you eat). If you’d like to learn more about the macronutrients, check out our guide to macros.

Depending on the info that you enter into our keto calculator, you will get different ratios of fat, protein, and carbs. In general, carbs should remain low because they will prevent you from entering into ketosis and getting all of the benefits of the keto diet. By limiting carb consumption to this degree, many people will lose a considerable amount of water weight as well.

Protein is essential for maintaining and gaining muscle mass. Eating less protein than recommended by our keto calculator will typically cause you to lose more muscle mass while eating the right amount of protein will help you maintain or gain muscle mass (as long as you are doing some form of resistance training as well).

While you are restricting carbs, your fat intake will be used as a lever to increase and decrease calorie consumption so that you can gain, maintain, or lose weight. If you are eating the right protein along with the right amount of calories and fat, then the percentage of the weight you lose from fat will increase.

To find out how many calories of each macronutrient you should eat, make sure you convert the macro numbers that you get from our keto calculator to calories first. Here are the conversions for each macronutrient to make it easier for you:

1 gram of carbs = 4 calories
1 gram of protein =4 calories
1 gram of fat= 9 calories

My protein is higher than my fat recommendation. What should I do?

You may notice that the percentage of grams of protein you have to eat is much higher and fat is a lot lower than the percentages that are typically recommended for keto. This can happen for two reasons:

You didn’t convert grams to calories. You must convert the grams of fat and protein to calories and then calculate your macronutrient percentages. Calorie percentages, not gram percentages, are what the recommended keto percentages are based on. Usually, once you account for the fact that one gram of fat has five more calories than one gram of protein the calorie percentages will end up being what you expect from a typical keto diet.
Your goals and activity levels require you to eat more protein. Even after you convert grams to calories, you may find that your suggested protein intake is high (above 30%) and fat is a bit low for keto (less than 60%). This commonly happens for keto dieters who lift weights and won’t impair your progress with the keto diet.

The only problem that high protein intake can cause, however, is lower levels of ketone production. If this is the case for you and you want to maintain a higher level of ketosis, then try decreasing your protein intake to the lower end of the recommended range or restricting carbs a bit more.

In general, as long as you are restricting carbs enough and eating the right amount of protein for your body composition goals and activity levels, you should be able to get all of the benefits of the keto diet — even if your macro percentages don’t fit precisely into the recommended keto percentages.

Why does your keto calculator only calculate net carbs?

Total carbs is not a precise indicator of the carb content of a food. When you see “total carbs” on a food label, the number beside it represents the cumulative total of grams of dietary fiber, sugar, and sugar alcohol that are in that food item or beverage. Net carb content, on the other hand, relates to the carb content of the food that is digested at four calories per gram and impacts your ketones levels.

By giving you your suggested carb consumption in net carbs, we are providing you with the most direct way of knowing how many carbs you need to eat to enter ketosis. Any dietary fiber or sugar alcohol that is added on top of that will usually have a little to no direct effect on your ketone levels and body composition.

For example, if we told you to eat 50 total carbs rather than 20-30 grams of net carbs, you could be eating anywhere between 0 and 50 grams of net carbs. At 0 grams of net carbs, most people will get into ketosis within the first week and experience deeper levels of ketosis as the weeks progress. On the other hand, while eating 50 grams of net carbs per day, many people will struggle to get into ketosis and sustain higher ketone levels.

By following a strict net carb limit, you will know exactly what you need to eat to get into ketosis reliably and what variable you should change if you want to stimulate more ketone production.

(Note: If you live in Europe, Australia, or Oceania, the carb content on the label reflects the net carbs in a serving of that food, so you will not have to subtract fiber from that number because it already has been done.)

Does your calculator have a fiber intake option?

Our keto calculator will only tell you your suggested carb, fat, and protein intake. The general recommendation for fiber intake is 14 grams per 1,000 calories consumed. The simplest way to meet your daily fiber needs are by eating more low carb vegetables, having some keto bread with your meals, or taking fiber supplements.

If you find that your fiber needs are difficult to meet with your current net carb limit, then simply eat enough fiber so that you have regular bowel movements one or more times a day.

What should I do after I use your keto macro calculator?

Once you get an estimate for your keto macros with our keto calculator, we recommend checking out our keto guide, keto recipes, keto food list, carb tracking guide, and our other keto blog posts.

Click on this link to check out our keto recipe catalog (with new keto recipes added every week). This will give you a good idea of what you can eat for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and dessert while you are keto dieting. I also suggest checking out our keto food list so you have a better idea of what you should and shouldn’t eat.

Once you know what you will be eating on keto, you will probably be wondering how much of you should eat for each meal. Since meal size depends on the individual and his/her goals, we recommend using a calorie tracking app and our carb tracking guide to help you figure out the macronutrient content of your meals. As you track your macros, you will be able to figure out what adjusts you need to make to your diet to reach your goals.

How do I meet my macros with a ketogenic diet?

The simplest way to meet your macros is by cutting out non-keto foods and eating keto-friendly foods. Here’s a brief food list for you to start with:

Do Not Eat

Grains – wheat, corn, rice, cereal, etc.
Sugar – honey, agave, maple syrup, etc.
Fruit – apples, bananas, oranges, etc.
Tubers – potato, yams, etc.

Do Eat

Meats – fish, beef, lamb, poultry, eggs, etc.
Low Carb Vegetables – broccoli, cauliflower, spinach, kale, and other low carb vegetables >
High Fat Dairy – hard cheeses, high fat cream, butter, etc.
Nuts and seeds – macadamias, walnuts, sunflower seeds, etc.
Avocado and berries – raspberries, blackberries, and other low glycemic impact berries
Sweeteners – stevia, erythritol, monk fruit, and other low-carb sweeteners >
Other fats – coconut oil, high-fat salad dressing, saturated fats, etc.

To see more specific advice on how to meet your macros on keto, click here for a comprehensive keto food list. Or, if you want a different idea of how to get to these macro calculations, you can also see our 14 Day Keto Diet Plan for ideas.

If you are looking for more specific suggestions on how to meet your protein and/or fat needs on keto, we will explore that in greater detail in the next two questions.

How do I reach the protein intake level that was recommended?

The easiest way to meet your protein needs is by making sure you are consuming a good protein source at each meal. Here is a list of some of the most common protein sources you can add to your keto meals:

Wild Caught Fatty Fish
Shellfish
Whole Eggs
Red Meat
Pork
Poultry
Organ Meat
Other Less Common Meats
Bacon and Sausage (without any added sugar, maltodextrin, or dextrose)
Nut Butter
Higher Protein Cheeses
Low Carb Protein Powders

Most keto dieters will be able to meet their protein needs with 2-3 keto meals that contain one or more of these protein sources. If keto recipes aren’t enough to help you meet your protein needs, all you need to do is add one of the high protein foods from the list above.

Here are a couple of examples:

To add as much protein as possible with minimal calories and fat:

Add an unflavored protein powder to your keto sauce or dressing. (caution: this may change the thickness of your sauce or dressing)
Add white meat chicken, turkey, or other lean meats or fish to your meal.
Have egg whites with your meal.
Make a quick protein shake with a low carb protein powder.

To add extra protein and fat to your meal:

Add higher fat meats like bacon, sausage, and fattier cuts of meat to your meals.
Have whole eggs with your meal.
Add extra high protein cheese (e.g., parmesan cheese, mozzarella cheese, cheddar cheese) to your meal.
Have some high protein nuts and nut butters (e.g., almond butter, peanut butter).

For more high protein and/or high fat keto meal ideas, check out our keto recipes. Dishes that feature seafood or meat will typically have the highest protein content.

How do I eat all of the fat that the keto calculator recommends?

When you are first starting the keto diet, eating so much fat may seem like a daunting task.

How are you supposed to consume all of that fat and enjoy it at the same time? By knowing what keto-friendly options are available to you.

Here are some high-fat keto foods that you can eat to meet your fat needs:

Fatty Fish
High-fat Meats (such as pepperoni and bacon)
High-fat Cheese (like mascarpone and cream cheese)
Animal Fat (non-hydrogenated)
Lard
Tallow
Avocados
Egg Yolks
High-fat Nuts (like macadamia nuts, brazil nuts, and pecans)
Butter/Ghee
Mayonnaise
Coconut Butter
Cocoa Butter
Olive Oil
Coconut Oil
Avocado Oil
Macadamia Oil
MCT Oil
Heavy Cream
Sour Cream
Fat Bombs

To meet your macros most efficiently, try combining high protein with high-fat foods or have foods that are both high in protein and fat at every meal. For example, having a fatty fish or fatty cut of meat with high-protein cheese (and low carb vegetables) is a simple and easy way to have a keto-friendly meal that will help you meet your protein and fat needs. On the other hand, if you just want to increase your fat intake, then find ways to add oil, animal fats, butter, fat bombs, and/or high-fat cheeses to your meals or snacks.

Here are some specific examples for you:

To add more fat and protein to your meals:

Add higher fat meats like bacon, pepperoni, and fattier cuts of meat to your meals.
Have whole eggs or egg yolks with your meal.
Add extra high protein cheese (e.g., parmesan cheese, mozzarella cheese, cheddar cheese) to your meal.
Have a keto milkshake or smoothie (with extra MCT oil if needed):

To add as much fat as possible to your diet:

Top your meals with high fat, low protein dairy like mascarpone cheese, heavy cream based sauce, or cream cheese.
Add sliced avocado to your meals or have it as a snack.
Have fat bombs whenever you are running low on fat.
Top off your meal with extra oil or animal fat.
Have high-fat nuts like macadamia nuts, brazil nuts, and pecans.
Add your favorite keto dressings when appropriate.
Here are some of our favorite high-fat keto dressings:

For more high fat and/or high protein keto meal and snack ideas, check out our keto recipes.

How do I track my net carbs?

The simplest way to make sure you are limiting carbs enough is by using an app like Cronometer that calculates net carbs for you. In our guide to carb tracking on keto, we teach you how to configure Cronometer (and MyFitnessPal) for keto diet success.

You can also track net carbs by calculating them yourself and adding them up throughout the day. If you need help finding the net carbs in the foods you are eating, read through this quick post.

Comments

Danny says

November 19, 2013 at 12:32 am

I just wanted to say thank you for making this keto calculator! I have been on a few other websites and they have not given me what I wanted. I did not see good results for the past 3 weeks now and decided to strictly follow what your macros were.

I’ve been using this for the last week and a half and the results are great! thank you!

Reply
- ruledme says
  
  November 19, 2013 at 1:48 am
  
  No problem! Glad you’re finding success in your diet – you’ll get to your goals I’m sure 🙂
  
  I based this off of Martin’s keto calculator but decided to go more in depth with protein and exercise. Based on the research I did, his protein counts were a bit low, so I have adjusted them for less loss of muscle mass.
  
  Feel free to ask any question you might have about keto around the site, I try to post something new every day, but even if I don’t I try to stay active.
  
  Reply
clara says

January 31, 2014 at 1:51 am

according to the keto calculator, I am to eat 1868 kcal a day. I use myfitnesspal to keep track of what I eat. According to myfitnesspal, I should eat 1200 kcal a day to lose about 1 lb a week. This seems like a lot of discrepancy. I understand the theory behind the ketogenic diet, but I should be ultimately in caloric deficit daily to lose weight, no? Also, in some other keto calculator on the web, I should keep my caloric intake at around 1600 a day. Am I going to be able to lose weight at all eating 1868 kcal even if I follow the ketogenic diet?
Thanks in advance for your response.

Reply
- Craig says
  
  January 31, 2014 at 1:57 am
  
  Clara,
  
  Did you read the instructions next to each title? You can edit your calorie deficit depending on what you weigh. You should also be editing your protein ratios if you are sedentary. Most likely you did not adjust these and that’s why there’s such a large difference between the other keto calculator and this one.
  
  Reply
  - clara says
    
    January 31, 2014 at 4:22 am
    
    yep, I did do all that. I am pretty active and work out 5 to 6 days a week ( HIIT and weights). It would be nice to eat 1800 calories a day and still lose weight if this keto calculator is correct.
    
    Reply
    - Craig says
      
      January 31, 2014 at 4:29 am
      
      Clara,
      
      If you’re doing HIIT and Weights then yes I think that 1800 calories would allow you to lose weight. 1800 is even pretty low for that amount of working out.
      
      Reply
  - keshia says
    
    February 8, 2014 at 6:12 pm
    
    Craig, I was wondering the same as Clara. My macro info is spot on with hers. I don’t know her height, age or current weight but I did notice that the macros of a fellow ketoer who is male, 5’9 and 220 lbs are lower than mine. So am I on the right track? I’m a 5’4 female, 40 years old, 152 lbs (lost 2 lbs since Jan 15th) with 20-22% BF. I only do 10-20 minutes of cardio daily but I weight train 45-60 minutes 5 days a week.
    
    Reply
    - Craig says
      
      February 8, 2014 at 6:19 pm
      
      Keshia,
      
      It really depends on what your end goals are for this. If you want to lose weight, or if you want to gain muscle mass. Since you’re already relatively low body fat for a woman, I figure you want to gain muscle mass?
      
      If you want to lose weight, you have to go into a calorie deficit, but if you want to gain weight you need to be at a calorie surplus. Most likely the male friend who is a ketoer has a high deficit because he wants to lose weight. When you’re lower bodyfat, your deficit needs to be much lower because your fat stores cannot cover a large deficit like his could.
      
      Anyway, let me know your goals and I can help out. For you, for losing weight I got:
      2003 kcal Daily Calorie Intake
      20 g Net Carbs (4%, 80 kcal)
      73 g Protein (15%, 292 kcal)
      181 g Fat (81%, 1631 kcal)
      
      And for gaining mass, I got:
      2448 kcal Daily Calorie Intake
      20 g Net Carbs (3%, 80 kcal)
      97 g Protein (16%, 389 kcal)
      220 g Fat (81%, 1978 kcal)
      
      So if you want to do something like that between your off days and your lifting days, that’s fine – but just know that it’s pretty difficult (if not impossible after a few weeks) to gain muscle mass without being in a calorie surplus.
      
      Reply
      - keshia says
        
        February 8, 2014 at 8:33 pm
        
        Thanks Craig. My goal is to lower my body fat more while maintaining what muscle I do have. So if I’m understanding this right, based on your response, A 20% deficit is too high and I need to ADD a few more calories to lose the fat?
      - Craig says
        
        February 8, 2014 at 8:34 pm
        
        Right Keshia,
        
        What I would do is calculate all your macros with all your exercise included, and then do a 5-10% deficit on that. That way your fat stores can cover the deficits and it won’t be too large. Too large of a deficit can cause metabolic damage.
      - keshia says
        
        February 8, 2014 at 8:37 pm
        
        Another question please. I’m never sure how to categorize my activity level. Yes, I go all out for that hour in the gym but I’m a full time wife and mom. So the rest of my day entails things like house/yard work and errands. So I usually just put lightly active. What’s your opinion about that?
      - Craig says
        
        February 8, 2014 at 8:39 pm
        
        That’s fine. You could get away with moderately active, but the best thing for you to do would be to have an accurate idea of your exercise so you can accurately find your macros. I think around 2000-2300 calories will be something to what you’ll be needing.
Crystal says

February 9, 2014 at 2:12 am

Hey there. So my husband and I are starting this diet tomorrow. I am 5’8 127 lbs. and my husband is 215 6’0. My goal is not to lose more than a couple of lbs. but to lose the soft stuff and get some definition. My husband needs the lbs. I have read a lot about ketogenic diets and the ratios vary a bit. What I got from this calculator was a pretty high caloric intake. Now I was told to not even worry about the calories just your macro ratio. Also the protein seemed high as well. Can you offer us any tips as we start? I just want to do this right. Thanks!

Reply
- Craig says
  
  February 9, 2014 at 2:16 am
  
  Crystal,
  
  Sure. So for you – you should be at a calorie deficit. But since you’re pretty low weight already, I suggest something like a 5-10% deficit (No more than 10%). To get “defined” while losing weight is pretty much impossible. You CAN gain muscle in a calorie deficit, but only for the first few weeks and you’d have to be doing quite intense strength training. You might want to consider doing a surplus, to gain both fat and muscle, and then switching to a “cut phase” where you cut your fat but keep your muscle.
  
  As for your husband, if he needs to gain – he should be in a calorie surplus. Normally for suplus’ I suggest 10%.
  
  The protein in my calculator is, by default, higher than most. For someone that is inactive and trying to lose weight, I always suggest using a 0.6g ratio. For someone that is active, keep it default. When losing weight, you can lose muscle, and I personally find that a bit higher protein that other calculators do help with preservation of muscle during the weight loss. Some other people disagree, but I link to the studies that I read through to come to the conclusion I did.
  
  Hope that explains everything – as for tips, just read through some of the articles on the website. I spent a lot of time writing them and they’re packed full of information. If you want to get on a more personal level, you can join our facebook group too: https://www.facebook.com/groups/keto.diet/
  
  See you on the site (and maybe on facebook)!
  
  Reply
  - Crystal says
    
    February 9, 2014 at 2:25 am
    
    Completely agree. I wasn’t happy with the lower protein intake. I love my protein. So I initially put a 15% deficit purely because I am at the low end on my weight and my BMI is 19.4%. I just want to be cut. Thanks so much for your quick response and I am sure you will be hearing from me again!
    
    Reply
    - Craig says
      
      February 9, 2014 at 2:27 am
      
      Yeah I wouldn’t suggest 15% deficit. Per pound of fat, you “generally” (and that’s assuming a lot of conditions) can cover 50 calories per 1 pound of fat. So keep that in mind when you calculate your deficits. Too high of a deficit can be counter-productive and also cause metabolic damage. See you around 🙂
      
      Reply
maria says

February 17, 2014 at 9:06 am

Hi! Thank you for the calculator:)!!! I am planning on starting the Ketogenic diet on March 1. I am 188lbs, 5ft3in.My body fat percentage is an estimated 45%. My goal weight is around 110-120. I did the calculations for a 10% deficit and for a 25% deficit. I am sedentary but plan on walking at least 30 minuets daily. Which deficit would be most effective at losing the weight quickly and is still healthy so that I don’t cause metabolic damage.

Reply
- Craig says
  
  February 17, 2014 at 9:11 am
  
  Maria,
  
  Howcome you’re starting so far away? You could start tomorrow if you wanted 😉
  
  I would suggest a 15-20% deficit for your current weight/bodyfat % – hope that helps!
  
  Reply
  - maria says
    
    February 18, 2014 at 7:58 am
    
    Ha!!! I
    I could start tomorrow, couldn’t I! 🙂 Thankyou for the quick response. Should I get the keto sticks and how many days does it generally take before someone gets into ketosis?
    
    Reply
    - Craig says
      
      February 18, 2014 at 8:02 am
      
      Maria,
      
      You could for sure. Take a look at the Keto FAQ for some more information on those questions.
      
      Reply
Suz says

February 17, 2014 at 11:54 am

Please please help me, I am so confused with the working out of cal and carbs. I am a 44 yrs, female, weight is 68kg and height is 167cm and desprately need to loos 2kg per week. I will be forever greatfull if you can help me with how much cal and carb to eat before I start on my keto diet.

Regards

Suzette

Reply
- Craig says
  
  February 17, 2014 at 5:08 pm
  
  Suzette,
  
  Losing 2kg per week is extremely unhealthy weight loss, so you’ll never be able to lose that much without doing a large amount of damage to both your body and your metabolism. As for your macros, I don’t know what your bodyfat % is, so I can’t really help out.
  
  Best of luck
  
  Reply
Sony says

February 27, 2014 at 12:08 am

Hey Craig,
Loving your site! It has become my go to for everything. I’m on week 2 of ketogenic diet and realized I need to be more detailed about my macros. I’m 4’11, 111 lbs but 35% BF (hence the keto)and I’m doing Jillian Michaels get Ripped in 30 (5-6x/week). I’m trying to figure out how I can lose FAT, but maintain muscle/get stronger –> get leaner BF%?

I’m using Myfitness pal to log in all of my habits and macros. So, hopefully with your help I can aim for the right numbers.
Thank you in advance for your help!

Reply
- Craig says
  
  February 27, 2014 at 10:38 am
  
  Hey Sony, thanks! What I would suggest is to keep a 0.8g protein ratio (it’s default, so no need to change anything) but use moderately active as your activity level. Don’t worry about putting any of your exercise into the calculator (just leave it as moderately active). You should be eating a decent amount of calories a day to keep up with the exercise, but enough to keep yourself in a deficit. Keto is a pretty muscle sparing diet, so you shouldn’t worry too much about maintaining muscle. Gaining muscle is kind of iffy, you might see some progress at first, but after that you can’t really gain much muscle without a calorie surplus. So, for now, just continue losing weight – the rest sounds great. Keep track of your macros and you’ll be set 🙂
  
  We have a facebook group (link is in the sidebar – Ketogenic Living) that you can join. Many people help out and support there. See you around (or in the group)!
  
  Reply
  - Sony says
    
    February 28, 2014 at 4:20 pm
    
    Thanks so much! While I push hard for that 30 min – 45 min workout, the rest of my day is mostly sitting around. Do you think mod activity is still applicable?
    
    Also, when it comes to nutrition bars like Quest bars- should I pay attention to all carb or only net carbs? Thank you!
    
    Reply
    - Sony says
      
      February 28, 2014 at 4:23 pm
      
      Also, what’s a good deficit to do? I did the calculation for a 25% deficit since it says to stick within 15-25? Thank you for all of your help. =)
      
      Reply
      - Craig says
        
        February 28, 2014 at 4:26 pm
        
        Since you’re exercising I suggest keeping it between 15-20%. 25% may be too high considering your exercise also. Moderately active is still fine to use.
        
        As for Quest Bars and things of that sort – some are OK and some are not. Erythritol is common in a lot of these, which directly passes through the digestive tract (humans don’t have the enzymes to break it down, so I never count them). It’s up to you whether you want to count them or not, but I never had a problem with Erythritol.
Barry says

February 28, 2014 at 10:02 am

Hey Craig,
I had a friend who has done this diet has lost over 100 pounds so I wanted to start the diet on March First. I am 6’4 about 320 and I would say about 45 -50% BF and want to lose weight. Also I work in retail so I am constantly walking around on my feet. I was doing good with the calculator until I got to the surplus/deficit section. Wanted to get further clarification on that section. Also, the hardest part of this diet for me is giving up juice! I am addicted lol… Wanted to know do you have any tips or alternatives for this? My friend switched to diet soda but I’m not really a fan. I was looking at maybe diet snapple or coke zero? Thanks in advance

Reply
- Craig says
  
  February 28, 2014 at 7:34 pm
  
  Barry,
  You should be fine doing a 20% deficit. You have enough fat stores to be able to cover a larger deficit (even with your job taken into account). As for juice, I don’t really have a solution. I always recommend water – and a lot of it. You could try the different flavorings for drinks that are sugar free (like Crystal Light, Mio, etc.).
  
  If you have any more questions let me know, we also have a facebook group that helps people out (it’s called Ketogenic Living, the link is in the side bar).
  
  All the best and good luck!
  
  Reply
Cheryl says

March 13, 2014 at 7:29 pm

The calculator is not working for me.

Reply
- Craig says
  
  March 13, 2014 at 7:30 pm
  
  Cheryl, make sure that you’re putting in the correct numbers for each field 🙂
  
  Reply
Cheryl says

March 13, 2014 at 7:37 pm

It’s working now! Thank you!

Reply
- Craig says
  
  March 13, 2014 at 7:39 pm
  
  Glad to hear!
  
  Reply
Dallas says

March 14, 2014 at 10:54 pm

Hey there, so I’ve been doing ketogenic for about 3 weeks now and I’ve lost 17 pounds, however I have found I have been stalled for about a week. I recently introduced a whey isolate (with sucralose, only 1g carb per scoop), as I could not get the required 80-85g protein/day. I am a vegetarian so it’s not as easy to get no-low carb protein sources. I have been doing the lowest carb veggie meats and they haven’t been a problem so far. I am not currently working out, but I do plan on doing some weights/cardio just to tone up. I also do bulletproof in the morning.

I’m not really sure what is causing the stall or what I can do. I read about the fat fast, but I cannot bring nuts into my house since my roommate is allergic. Do I cut out the whey and see if it helps, even though my protein intake will then only be at 40-50g/day?

Any input is greatly appreciated. Thank you!

Reply
- Craig says
  
  March 14, 2014 at 11:07 pm
  
  Awesome job so far Dallas! Are you allowed to eat eggs? If so, you could bring eggs into the mix to up your protein and cut back on the isolate.
  
  If not, keep with it for a little longer – sometimes I see stalls for 1-2 weeks and then they start losing again. 🙂 Best of luck and let me know what happens!
  
  Reply
  - Dallas says
    
    March 15, 2014 at 12:01 am
    
    I can definitely eat eggs, and I try to, I just have difficulty finding ways to eat them, since overly “egg-y” tastes make me gag. I’ve tried steamed (with some cheese), boiled, and egg salad, but they aren’t things I want to eat every day. Since most spices have hidden carbs, I can’t exactly jazz them up that way either. Who knew eggs could be such a predicament?!
    
    I’m heading to California in 2.5 weeks and want to lose another 10 pounds before I go so I can rock a bikini. This is why my stall is causing panic. I will try reducing the isolate and adding in some exercise and hope and pray my body wants to burn fat!
    
    Reply
    - Craig says
      
      March 15, 2014 at 12:11 am
      
      That works – just make sure your deficit is not too high. You can get away with spices on eggs because it’s not like you’re going to be adding a tablespoon of spice to some eggs. More like 1/2 tsp. of some spices to 3-4 eggs (which is 18-24g protein). So you can add some spices, it wouldn’t make a large difference I’d say 🙂
      
      Either way let me know what happens!
      
      Reply
      - Dallas says
        
        March 20, 2014 at 1:51 am
        
        Just an update..I decided to do a fat fast. I’m on day 2, so far down 1 pound in the day and a half I’ve been doing it. It seems to be the break through I needed. After finishing I will resume with tweaked macros.
        
        Question though..yesterday I had BP coffee in the a.m, 15 macadamias throughout the day, 3 tbsp. of natural peanut butter, and a vega hydrator (an electrolyte drink). Does that sound decent to you? I wasn’t hungry throughout the day, and I’m positive I can manage the same for the next 2 days (I may stretch out to 5 days total depending). That makes it 898 cals, 89% fat, 5% protein, 6% carbs.
      - Craig says
        
        March 20, 2014 at 1:54 am
        
        Dallas, that sounds right for a fat fast – but I highly suggest not stretching it longer than 3 days time. Honestly, fat fasting is just for getting into keto or breaking a plateau and I am a little bit against it. Losing 1 pound in a day (though it’s probably a lot of water) is still an unhealthy way to think about weight. You should be aiming for 1-2 pounds a week, max. Just keep that in mind and don’t get too crazy with the fat fasting 😉
BN says

March 16, 2014 at 2:38 am

Craig, first of all many thanks for putting all this together. It’s a really great site and a really great help!

So I’ve just started this and my Macros worked out to be (wanting to lose weight – and putting a deficit of 15%):

KCals – 2159
Net Carbs – 25g which I set
Protein – 151g (daily protein ration of 1)
Fat – 162g

I worked out my eating today to have been:

ACTUALS
KCals – 2028
Net Carbs – 24.4
Protein – 126.3g (daily protein ration of 1)
Fat – 173.2g

I also went for a 5k run today / and I generally weight train quite intensively for 40/45mins 3 times a week. My lifestyle otherwise is fairly sedentary.

So given my lifestyle/exercise regime, if I ate as I actually did today – is there any danger in that? Am I over or under anything significantly?

Thanks again!

Reply
- Craig says
  
  March 16, 2014 at 3:23 am
  
  Thanks BN!
  
  What is your actual weight? If you’re relatively heavy (body fat % wise) you can afford to go into a higher deficit, so I wouldn’t mind you sitting at those numbers. But, if you’re more lean (lower bodyfat %) then you’d probably need to increase your calories a bit to put up with the exercise. You’re not in danger really for a little while, so you have time to sort it all out and figure out what works for you the best, That said, I certainly don’t think a larger deficit than 35% in total (if you’re quite heavy) would be that healthy.
  
  All the best!
  
  Reply
  - BN says
    
    March 16, 2014 at 3:38 am
    
    Thanks for the quick reply Craig!
    
    I’m 182lbs / 5’10” / and using the visual estimation I’m probably in the 15%-19% body fat range.
    
    Reply
    - Craig says
      
      March 16, 2014 at 3:50 am
      
      BN,
      
      Yeah, you’d definitely want to up the calories a bit. You don’t have too much to lose, so your fat stores can’t cover as much as a very heavy person, for example. Anyway, hope that helps – best of luck 🙂
      
      Reply
Katherine says

March 22, 2014 at 11:08 am

Hi Craig,

I’ve got a couple of questions…

I’ve been doing LCHF since Jan (always been low carb in the past but more LCHP).

I’m 175 cm tall, weigh 63.5 kg and have 25 % body fat (about 50 kg lean mass). I used to be extremely overweight, about 160 kg (BMI >50) and through D&E and weight loss surgery I have lost 95 kg or so. I have a considerable amount of excess skin which influences by body fat % (according to the dexa-scan technician). My ‘trunk’ body fat is 16.5 % but legs (where most of the skin is) is 30 %. So I don’t really have an accurate body fat vs excess skin measurement. However, according to the dexa-scan my lean mass is 50 g.

I’m trying to lose a few more kg before I have surgery to remove the skin. I’ve entered by data into your keto-calculator and got the following:
1327 kcal Daily Calorie Intake
25 g Net Carbs (8%, 100 kcal)
63 g Protein (19%, 252 kcal)
108 g Fat (73%, 975 kcal)

That is basically what I eat, give or take a bit. I’m very strict with my carbs and really do try to get my protein and fat in but some days it is a bit low. I’ve had zero weight loss and I’m starting to wonder why….

Just to complicate things, I’m wondering if my WLS history – a lap band and now a gastric bypass would be affecting things? With the lap band I used to eat 1,000 – 1,200 calories a day and have done so since about 2006. So I’m wondering if there have been long-term alterations to my metabolic rate? I’m a scientist by training so I’ve tried to search the literature but it’s a very sketchy subject with no clear answers – any thoughts?

I realise that my deficit is quite large but if I eat anymore my weight goes up – I got down to 62.5 kg at once stage and now I’ve gained about 1 kg or so. I am assuming that it’s muscle given that I do 30 min pilates and 1 hr of callanetics per week…

I’m definitely in ketosis – I check my fasting ketones in the morning and also in the evening. My readings range from 0.6 – 3.2 mmol/L but generally they’re higher in the morning than the afternoon. I’ve no history of diabetes or anything – my BG levels are < 5.5 mmol/L.

Any pointers would be greatly appreciated!

Reply
- Craig says
  
  March 22, 2014 at 12:33 pm
  
  Katherine,
  
  I actually suggest upping the calories a bit and working on a smaller deficit. Yes, you’ll gain some weight at first, but you can actually repair the metabolic damage that was done from lap band surgery/eating little/etc. It does take time, though, so you’d have to push through it. This metabolic damage could very well be the reason you’re not losing weight, unfortunately.
  
  Reply
  - Katherine says
    
    March 22, 2014 at 1:02 pm
    
    Thanks Craig!
    
    I’ve been reading around your site and come to a similar conclusion 🙂 I’ll see how I go – I really do wonder about the long-term damage to my metabolism and really hoping that I can start to repair my body..
    
    Thanks again – and thanks for such a *fantastic* site – with references 🙂
    
    Reply
    - Craig says
      
      March 22, 2014 at 1:04 pm
      
      Appreciate it Katherine 🙂
      
      The timing for how long it’ll take for repair is kind of dependent on the person so I can’t give too much more details on that. But once you do start healing properly, you should see better results! Wish you the best!
      
      Reply
TJ says

March 25, 2014 at 4:39 pm

Hi Craig,
Wanted to know if you could give me a hand at what my macros need to be. Needing to drop at least
80lbs. Currently at 248, wanting to get between 165-175 (larger build). I am sedentary, but would like to take
up daily walking of at least 30 minutes; but haven’t as yet. My BMI, I think that’s what it asked for is high, the 45% or higher =(. If you need any other info…let me know.
Thanks a bunch! Tj

Reply
- Craig says
  
  March 25, 2014 at 4:44 pm
  
  TJ, it asks for your Bodyfat %, not for your BMI. I took a guess and put in that you were 34% Bodyfat, but I think you should check out the “visual guide to estimating bodyfat” so you can be a bit more accurate.
  
  With those numbers, I got:
  1998 kcal Daily Calorie Intake
  20 g Net Carbs (4%, 80 kcal)
  98 g Protein (20%, 393 kcal)
  169 g Fat (76%, 1525 kcal)
  
  Reply
  - Tj says
    
    March 25, 2014 at 8:19 pm
    
    Okay, so it is 45% that I need =( WELL I AM WORKING ON IT 😉
    So, I just go enter it with that in mind? Isn’t that kind of calorie per day going to make me gain even more??? I’m so use to seeing that 1200 is needed to lose. Wow.
    Thanks for your help, again, Tj
    
    Reply
    - Craig says
      
      March 25, 2014 at 8:53 pm
      
      Tj, yeah you still have to feed your body energy. You could go into an aggressive deficit of 30% if you’re 45% bodyfat, though, since your fat stores can cover the deficit 🙂
      
      Reply
Keshia says

March 29, 2014 at 9:36 pm

Hi Craig, I need some advice. I’ve been doing Keto almost 3 months now and can’t lose 1 pound. I consulted with a very popular keto person who mentioned that cortisol may be an issue. My 5 day split workout may be too much stress, therefore preventing me from keto adapting. What do you think about that? Do I really need to limit my workouts to lose weight (only 10-15 pounds)? Thanks for your input.

Reply
- Craig says
  
  March 29, 2014 at 9:44 pm
  
  Keshia,
  
  I think Stephanie is criminal to charge so much for her consultations. I keep hearing over and over how little success people have had. First make sure you’re eating enough for your workouts, and then make sure your macros are on point (AKA getting enough fat/moderate protein/low carb). If you are still having problems it could be a number of reasons so you can email me or catch me on facebook to go more in depth 🙂
  
  Reply
  - Keshia says
    
    March 29, 2014 at 11:55 pm
    
    PHEW…..I’m sooo glad you didn’t say to stop working out! Lol… I’m not a man, but I know that there are plenty of men on keto that kill it in the gym everyday….so why not me! Thanks, I’ll send you my specifics.
    
    Reply
simone says

April 6, 2014 at 10:31 am

Hi Craig
Great site! Thanks so much for the content. It’s really informative. I just had a couple of quick questions regarding my macros.
I used your calculator and it came up with 52g protein, 20g carbs, 170g fat.
I am trying to lose 4kg to get into fitness modelling as well as building muscle. I weight train everyday and do intense cardio about 3 times a week (mainly interval sprints). I’m a bit concerned with the minimal protein being 52g for an entire day. Can you tell me if this sounds right?
I’m a PT and have used cutting diets, bulking diets etc but now I’m really focused on losing body fat and would like to be around 14-16%. At the moment I’m sitting at around 22% but not sure how accurate the reading is on my scales. I’d really appreciate your feedback!
Thanks Craig!

Reply
- Craig says
  
  April 6, 2014 at 10:32 am
  
  Simone,
  
  If you’re doing weight lifting you’ll need to use a higher protein ratio. The default is set to 0.6 and that is meant more for sedentary people. Try something like 0.8 – 1.0 ratio and you’ll get better number more suited for someone with your work out regimen!
  
  Hope that helps 🙂
  
  Reply
  - simone says
    
    April 7, 2014 at 10:01 am
    
    Thanks so much Craig. Would 90-100g of protein be too much on big weight training days?
    
    Reply
    - Craig says
      
      April 7, 2014 at 6:41 pm
      
      I do not know your body measurements Simone, but I would think 90g would be fine (depending on how many calories total you’re eating that day).
      
      Reply
Quyen says

April 6, 2014 at 6:25 pm

Hey,

Can someone help me calculate my macros? I’ve used several calculators and they all come out with different figures which is getting confusing to say the least!

My info: 175cm height, 75kg weight, 15% BF, I do 2x 1hr cardio sessions a week (20min rowing at 9 setting, 20min skipping, 15 min cycling at 6 setting), I also do PUSH PULL weights 4 times a week (roughly 3 exercises per muscle group, 3-4 sets, 8-10 reps….including compound exercises like squats, bench, deadlift,etc.) each weight workout takes about 2 hours

The part I’m not sure about with the above calculator is the Exercise part and how much calories to add in order to offset my calorie count.

My aim to get my maintain my muscle mass and get my body fat down to 10%.

Thanks for any help, much appreciated!

Reply
- Craig says
  
  April 6, 2014 at 7:10 pm
  
  Quyen,
  
  You’re going to have to experiment with macros for yourself to see what works out. It’s pretty difficult to reduce bodyfat while maintaining or building muscle, so you may have to cut working down some and decrease calories a bit in that time frame (as I’m sure you know, it’s called a cut).
  
  Reply
Alicia says

April 9, 2014 at 10:39 pm

Hi Craig,

I’m 5’5″ and weigh 143lbs. I work out 2-3 times a week cardio 20 mins each time sometimes if inspired, 40 minutes. I’m looking to lose 15-20lbs. I’ve been low carb for 2 months and so far lost 10lbs. My body fat i would estimate 27%. I used your calculator and it said around 1381 calories. How can i loose weight quickly (over the next month or so), am i calculating correctly? I’d like to get down to 15-20% body fat for now. Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Reply
- Craig says
  
  April 9, 2014 at 10:54 pm
  
  Alicia, my best advice I can give you is to stop trying to lose weight “quickly”. It took time to gain weight, it’s going to take time to lose weight. Losing weight very rapidly is just unhealthy and will have negative consequences attached to it.
  
  Reply
  - Alicia says
    
    April 11, 2014 at 5:50 pm
    
    I would be happy with losing 10-15lbs over any amount of time but im wondering if my calculations are correct. I have been stuck at the scale for over a week and need to see if i’m doing this all correctly. Based on my numbers, what do you think?
    
    Reply
    - Craig says
      
      April 11, 2014 at 6:09 pm
      
      Alicia, I got these numbers using the same numbers you gave me:
      1410 kcal Daily Calorie Intake
      20 g Net Carbs (6%, 80 kcal)
      63 g Protein (18%, 251 kcal)
      120 g Fat (77%, 1079 kcal)
      
      I would suggest upping your calories on the days you are doing working out, though, by 100-200 (just up your fat intake and protein intake slightly).
      Hope that helps.
      
      Reply
      - Alicia says
        
        April 11, 2014 at 6:27 pm
        
        Thank you so much! I’ve only been at 100g fat each day and i almost always go over my protein intake by 70g!!!! My carbs have been great lately and they are anywhere between 10g and 17g a day. I just have been stuck on that scale for what feels like forever!
      - Craig says
        
        April 11, 2014 at 6:34 pm
        
        Alicia, if you’re going over on protein by that much then I am thinking that would be your problem. Excess protein is turned into glucose during gluconeogeneis, and this could be causing your stall. Reduce your protein, up your fat, and see where that takes you.
Alicia says

April 11, 2014 at 6:42 pm

Thanks Craig! That makes complete sense!!! 🙂

Reply
- Craig says
  
  April 11, 2014 at 6:44 pm
  
  Anytime 🙂
  
  Reply
AndyWear says

April 14, 2014 at 4:53 am

The calculator is confusing me. I don’t really know how much energy or calories I’m burning when I work out. Right now I’ve been inactive because of an injury, but I calculated based on what I plan on doing when I get back into working out. Workouts I usually do are: dead lifts, bench press, shoulder press, hip rotation with weighted olympic bars, basic sit ups and crunches, clean and press. I usually workout for about an hour, minus my warm ups and stretches. On the weekends sometimes I go hiking which lasts for 4-7 hours. I plan on maybe playing basketball once or twice a week. When I play, its usually 2-3 hours. I also rock climb once or twice a week for about 2 hours a day. Once I’m active again I think I’m fairly active but I still gain weight.

I’m male, 5’2, 160 pounds right now. I’m pretty muscular but based on the charts I’m about 34 percent in body fat.

This was my result:

1854 kcal Daily Calorie Intake
20 g Net Carbs (4%, 80 kcal)
63 g Protein (14%, 253 kcal)
169 g Fat (82%, 1521 kcal)

Does this sound alright to you?

Reply
- AndyWear says
  
  April 14, 2014 at 4:57 am
  
  I forgot to mention that I would like to be around 10 percent body fat, and maybe weigh around 130 pounds.
  
  Reply
- Craig says
  
  April 14, 2014 at 7:43 am
  
  Andy,
  
  That sounds a little low, calories wise, for working out as much as you plan to. I’d suggest upping the calories (lowering the deficit you’ll be in) and go from there. I’d think something like 2000-2200 would be around where you’d want to be.
  
  Reply
Jenn says

April 24, 2014 at 9:48 pm

Hi Craig, thank you so much for your site! It is very helpful.

I am just beginning my research on going Keto and have been reading all about it for the past week or so and want to get started. I am having a tough time generating my macros though and the calories seem crazy high! I am used to only eating 1200-1500 calories per day and I work out (bootcamp 4x/wk, kickboxing 1-2x/wk, 20min cardio at gym or 3mi walks on day off), but have not been losing weight. I do recognize that I have built muscle and dropped body fat % – used to be at around 34% and am now around 28%. I am 5’6″ and 168lb, my main goal is to get down to around 145lb.

Could you take a look at what the input I got for my macros are and guide me here? With a 30% deficit. Also, should I lower my carbs?

No workout days:
1793 kcal Daily Calorie Intake
20 g Net Carbs (4%, 80 kcal)
72 g Protein (16%, 290 kcal)
158 g Fat (79%, 1424 kcal)

Workout days:
2108 kcal Daily Calorie Intake
20 g Net Carbs (4%, 80 kcal)
72 g Protein (14%, 290 kcal)
193 g Fat (82%, 1739 kcal)

thanks so much!!

Reply
- Craig says
  
  April 24, 2014 at 10:28 pm
  
  Hey Jenn, you’re welcome! The macros look great – you shouldn’t need to reduce carbs any more than that since you’ll still want to get some veg into your diet 🙂
  
  Reply
  - Jenn says
    
    April 25, 2014 at 11:15 pm
    
    Thanks Craig, but are my calorie counts too high? Should I strive to eat the 1793 even if I workout that day?
    
    Also, I love veggies…I’m having a tough time keeping the carbs down because of them.
    
    Ok, one last question…. in myfitpal tracker… do you subtract the total carb-fiber to get the net carbs for 20g?
    
    Thanks!!
    
    Reply
    - Craig says
      
      April 26, 2014 at 12:21 am
      
      They don’t seem to be all that high. Try cutting some veggies out and eating grass fed, organic organ meats if you’re having problems with vegetables bringing your carbs too high.
      
      Reply
Michelle says

April 25, 2014 at 10:18 pm

I have been doing low carb for a while now but I cannot seem to get below 166 lbs no matter what I do. I drink 3 qts of water+ other liquids (no caffeine or diet soda, in case you wonder), eat plenty of fat, exercise 3 x a week for 30 mins 3 times a week at least at moderate intensity. my macros are 5% carb 15% protein 80% fat. I eat between 1600 – 1700 daily. Sometimes I wonder if I eat too much, and some times I wonder if I need to eat more. I have lost a lot of weight, but I have been stuck for months so I must be doing something wrong. I used to be 265lbs, but currently 166lbs. I know it takes time, but this is really getting ridiculous in my opinion. Very frustrating. Should I cut back on fat and increase protein? Cut Calories, or increase them? Increase activity? Please advise. I appreciate any help you can give me.

Reply
- Craig says
  
  April 25, 2014 at 10:31 pm
  
  Michelle,
  
  You may want to increase the amount you eat to see if that helps. Normally as you lose weight you have to eat a bit more because your fat stores can’t cover the deficit as easily.
  
  Reply
Heidi says

April 28, 2014 at 5:52 am

Hi Craig
Well I started a keto diet in Feb 2014 and I managed yo gain about 8-10 lbs. I think it was the butter. 🙂 so that wasn’t what I was going for. Now I’m going to work to take the weight off that I gained plus an additional 10 lbs .
I am 5’10” 173 lbs and 25% bf. I lift heavy weights 3x per week. The heart rate monitor I wear says I’m burning about 400 calories per session approx. that might be high but the sessions are fairly intense with kettle bells and squats deadlift complexes for example.
Another 3 days I do cardio HIITS and the some additional running at about 75% of my LT for total of 30-45 min.
I’m not looking to gain, I’d like to lose fat and get cut for summer which is quickly approaching. I’m cool with doing some of this through the summer months.
My question is how large of a deficit can I make?
Thank you for your time 🙂

Reply
- Craig says
  
  April 28, 2014 at 5:58 am
  
  Heidi,
  
  Since you’re exercising you’d want to be in a little less of a deficit since your body will be demanding more energy. I would think something like 10-15% deficit would be fine for you, I wouldn’t try going down further than that.
  
  Reply
  - Heidi says
    
    April 29, 2014 at 8:36 am
    
    Cool Craig, thank you for the advice! 🙂
    
    Reply
    - Craig says
      
      April 29, 2014 at 8:38 am
      
      Sure thing!
      
      Reply
Chris says

April 30, 2014 at 10:55 pm

Hi Craig,

Thanks for all the informative info you have been posting. It really simplifies it for a newbie.

I would like to double check something if I may, I have just done a DEXA scan, and calculated my lean mass to be 69kg (25kg fat, 3.2kg bone) totalling 97kgs.

i’m 171cm tall and 28y.o.

im at an office job but try and do weights 3 times a week (20 reps, lower weight) trying to maintain muscle mass and lose fat, as well as walk on average about an 80 minutes a day on top of daily activities (some days zero, some days 3 hours).

my question is would a 25% deficit be too much even if im not hungry? and could this hinder weight loss?

I also supplement by taking l-glutamine and acetyl l-carnitine (3-5 grams each per day). Is it fine to continue with this?

thanks so much again for the information you have put up so far. It’s been incredible 🙂

Reply
- Craig says
  
  April 30, 2014 at 10:59 pm
  
  Hey Chris – thank you! Your supplements are fine to continue to take, but I’d go ahead and make it something like a 15% deficit. Since you’re doing some activity, you’d see larger muscle loss if you were to go into a 25% deficit. You’re going to lose SOME muscle when you lose weight, but to keep it to a minimum, you want to go about it the right way 🙂
  
  Reply
Chris says

May 1, 2014 at 1:31 am

thanks for the lighting quick reply. Ill start the SKD on Monday after I pick up some ketosticks over the weekend. ill also probably up the protein from 0.6g per lb of LBM to 0.7g-0.8g and adjust as required as im still doing 3 days of weight training. thanks again!

Reply
- Craig says
  
  May 1, 2014 at 10:59 am
  
  Sounds good Chris! I’d go with 0.8 – 0.9g if I were you 🙂
  
  Reply
jkhd says

May 2, 2014 at 12:01 pm

Greetings, I’m a 60 yr old woman, 5’4″ and 150 lbs. I am currently on Thyroid meds and have started growth hormone also. Over the past few years, I have put on 20 lbs, while exercising 7 days a week, from 1 to 2 hours a day. Instead of losing, I put weight on. I started the Keto woe about 5 months ago, have lost 6 pounds, but can’t seem to shake the remaining 15-20 pounds. I had been 128 to 132 and that would be my goal weight. I workout now with weights 5 days a week, for about an hour. My macros have been 20 g of carbs, sometimes not meeting that, 129 g of fat and 82 protein. Where do I go from here?

Reply
- Craig says
  
  May 2, 2014 at 12:05 pm
  
  Hey there,
  
  You could try cutting protein down just a tad and increasing fats a bit more. Without knowing too much more about what you’re eating, there’s not too many suggestions I can give.
  
  Reply
jkhd says

May 2, 2014 at 12:05 pm

Also, I have food intolerances to soy, peanuts, eggs, wheat, dairy and gluten

Reply
Cynthia says

May 9, 2014 at 6:57 pm

Hi,

I would really appreciate your help. I struggle to loose weight. I do not have a gallbladder also. My height is 5″2 and my current weight is 166. I started this diet at 159 and have been putting on weight gradually. That is a shame because I love the diet. I would like to loose 30 pounds. I mostly sedentary with the exception of a 20 minute walk in the morning and a 10 minute walk in the afternoon. The rest of the day I sit at a desk. Can you help me estimate the right macros for me. I tried 1400 calories and also 950 calories. Did not loose in any occasion. I have been doing this diet since last November. Thank you! The only time I lost weight I was on a 750 calorie diet. I do not want to live like that anymore

Reply
- Craig says
  
  May 9, 2014 at 7:01 pm
  
  Cynthia,
  
  You’ll have to reach through each section of the calculator and see what kind of numbers you get. I’d estimate you’d need to eat around 1400-1600 calories a day. That said, you have to stick with it for some time. Even though you don’t have a gallbladder, there’s plenty of people that don’t have a gallbladder and can do this (they have to introduce fats slowly into their diets – normally with other foods also).
  
  If you were eating such a small amount of calories, you have to also realize that you may have done some metabolic damage to yourself. If that’s the case, it can take months to repair that damage. May I also ask – have you had your bloodwork done recently on hormones? If you stuck to 1400 calories for a month at least then it may be a hormone issue too. There’s a lot of questions that arise when someone isn’t losing weight – the first one I always ask is: Are you eating enough calories, and are you getting enough fats?
  
  Reply
Les says

May 10, 2014 at 9:19 am

Hey Craig,
I’m 105kgs body fat 46% and just been diagnosed with insulin resistance. My nutritionist has given me tips and suggested this diet as it appears my body doesn’t cope with carbs. Ive been doing it for 3 days and been using keto sticks and still no sign of ketosis! What do you recommend and how many calories should I be eating? I’m keen to lose 1kg a week. Thanks in advance 🙂

Reply
- Craig says
  
  May 10, 2014 at 5:15 pm
  
  Hey les,
  
  You’ll have to go through the calculator to roughly figure out your macros. What I suggest is to leave mostly everything default so you get a good starting point. It’ll take a few more days most likely to enter ketosis, but when you do you’ll most likely begin to feel the energy levels. It also may take up to a month to become fully fat adapted (which is a bit different than just ketosis). I wish you the best in your journey!
  
  Reply
Krista Boutilier says

May 11, 2014 at 1:59 pm

Hi there, First of all thank you for the great calculator!! I’ve been doing Keto since March 1st of this year, I’ve lost 19lbs so far. I started at 248 lbs so I have a lot to still lose. I’ve been using the macros as set by the calculator (1334 kcals, 6% carbs, 21% protein & 73 fat) Most days my net carbs are between 12-16grams, I always hit my fat grams & protein is right on as well. Despite this I’ve been struggling with the same couple of pounds for the last month, in fact this morning I was up 3 lbs (net carbs yesterday was 2.4%), also I cannot get my ketones up. I’ve been blood testing daily & the highest I’ve had is 1.3 and my average is 0.8. This morning I was 0.4. Its very frustrating!! I’ve tried raising my fat a bit & lowering protein but saw no results so I went back to what your calculator recommended. I have PCOS, could this change how my macros should be set? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance! Krista

Reply
- Craig says
  
  May 11, 2014 at 4:19 pm
  
  Hey Krista,
  
  It’s hard to say with PCOS because some people report they have to eat less calories and some people are they have to eat more to lose. You could self experiment a bit and see which one works for you. I would suggest maybe upping the fat a little bit (10-20g) and seeing where that takes you. Stick with it for 2-3 weeks and then weigh in. Daily weight changes are natural on keto and can be up to 5 lbs. at a time (up and down) due to water weight. Make sure you keep that in mind!
  
  Reply
  - krista Boutilier says
    
    May 12, 2014 at 4:26 pm
    
    Hi again Craig!
    
    Thanks I’ll give that a shot & see how it goes. WHen I raise the fat I assume I should drop the protein a bit, is that correct? I almost think I do best when I cycle my calories, if I go low a day or two & then high for a day or two. Perhaps I’ll incoorporate the higher fat with calorie cycling for a few weeks. Figuring things out with PCOS is definitely trail & error.
    
    Thanks again!! Krista
    
    Reply
    - Craig says
      
      May 12, 2014 at 5:42 pm
      
      That sounds fine Krista – long as you cycle with your body’s needs (some days you’re just more hungry than others) it shouldn’t be a big deal 🙂
      
      Reply
Beth says

May 15, 2014 at 7:05 pm

Hello Craig,
I just finished the Keto-Calculator and I think my brain blew a fuse. I am 60 years old and have been obese my entire life. I currently weigh 300 pounds. In the past 20 years my lowest weight was 240 pounds. I have never been able to loose weight on any diet of more than 800 calories a day. I have tried low carb diets in the past but stalled after a 5 or 10 pound loss. My keto-calculator says I should be eating 2010 calories, 20 net carbs, 99 protein grams and 170 fat grams. I have very limited movement due to arthritis in my knees and hips. Which translates to no exercise. I am house bound and sit at my desk all day. For the past 3 weeks I have been on a LCHF diet, keeping my calories at around 1200 a day and carbs below 30 and fat at around 50% of total calories. I have only lost 2 pounds and all I see is another failure ahead. My question to you, Is it possible for someone like me to actually lose weight eating what my keto-calculator recommends for my daily intake?

Reply
- Craig says
  
  May 15, 2014 at 7:11 pm
  
  Beth, I could imagine that you’re not losing weight because of your protein intake. If fat is only 50% of your caloric intake, then protein will be much higher than you need – which translates into glucose when protein goes through the process of gluconeogenesis. What I suggest to you is to stay strict with yourself with your tracking so you ca get a good idea on what to do.
  
  As for the other problems, I can see you losing weight with that aforementioned amount of calories. BUT, with that said, you may gain some weight at first. It sounds to me like over the years of dieting (and extreme calorie restriction) that you’ve done some serious metabolic damage to yourself. Eating 1800+ calories in a day may make you gain a few pounds at first, but it will help heal your metabolism to function normally (and that’s what you’d want in the end, right?) So I suggest slowly upping your calories as you feel comfortable to the amount you found on the calculator. Since you are overweight, it may not harm to go to 1800 or so calories depending on how you feel (of course, just gauge how you feel, not the actual numbers). The most crucial element to it all is making sure that you are getting enough fat. Limit your protein and severely limit your carbs. Fats are what you need and want in order for this diet to work. Having too much protein will force your body to not be in a state of ketosis.
  
  Hope that helps!
  
  Reply
angie says

May 16, 2014 at 3:16 am

Hello,
I am 5’3 i currently weigh 154 body percent fat is unfortunately 31.6%
I have been doing some research and have decided to part take in the keto diet/lifestyle.
I have downloaded your 30 day ketogenic diet!! thank you
I am looking to lose about 30pounds. in order to get my body into ketogenic mode..would you suggest to changing any of the values produced by your calculator?
1242 kcal Daily Calorie Intake
20 g Net Carbs (6%, 80 kcal)
63 g Protein (20%, 253 kcal)
101 g Fat (73%, 909 kcal)

am very new to this any advice will be appreciated
thank you for your time

Reply
- Craig says
  
  May 16, 2014 at 3:18 am
  
  Angie,
  
  Considering your size, you may want to change the default calorie deficit to a lower number. Maybe 15% deficit or a 10% deficit (rather than a 20%). I think that might help you out a bit more 🙂
  
  Reply
'K' says

May 19, 2014 at 5:57 pm

I read be vigilant with water intake, may I ask whats the idea water intake for maximum weightless in Ketosis, does water help or hinder ?

Also, random question, can I have almond milk ?

Many thanks

‘K’ 🙂

Reply
- Craig says
  
  May 19, 2014 at 8:06 pm
  
  K,
  
  Water is important in ketosis as it’s a natural diuretic. It will also help regulate your body and hunger levels properly. I normally tell people to drink at least 100 oz. water in a day, but normally go for 120 oz (1 gallon).
  
  You can have unsweetened almond milk, but just make sure you check the nutrition label a lot of companies will sweeten with sugar.
  
  Hope that helps!
  
  Reply
Liana says

May 19, 2014 at 6:06 pm

Hello,

I’m 5’1 and weigh 106.8lb with 16.1% body fat (as of today)
I’ve been living the keto lifestyle for about 1.5 months now
I started out at 115lbs with 21% body fat (as of late Feb)
I wanted to get your input on what is the correct amount of calories I should be eating because I feel like my loss has been very slow.

I workout M-F at 5am (20min cardio and 20-30min weight training). I also do some light walking around lunch time.
Sat-Sun are my long distance days (4-7 miles)
Would this be considered Lightly or Moderately Active?

Based on your calculator, if I want to have a 30% deficit, these are my macros:

1249 kcal Daily Calorie Intake
20 g Net Carbs (6%, 80 kcal)
72 g Protein (23%, 287 kcal)
98 g Fat (71%, 882 kcal)

I find it very difficult to eat between 1200 – 1400 if I don’t IF.
Also I don’t think I’ve ever gone 20g net carbs or under…I usually range around 25 – 50g.
Please let me know your input and whether or not these macros are a safe range.

Thank you in advance!
Liana

Reply
- Craig says
  
  May 19, 2014 at 8:10 pm
  
  Liana, you’re a small girl so losing is going to be slow no matter how you look at it. You can’t let the weight loss stories of very overweight people skew your perception of weight loss in already lean people. 30% caloric deficit seems way too high for you, especially for your activity levels. I’d suggest something more in the range of the 10-15% area.
  
  Hope that helps,
  Craig
  
  Reply
'K' says

May 19, 2014 at 6:50 pm

Are you familiar with the VLCD Cambridge meal replacement – that state you loss weight by being in Ketosis. Do you think it would work – be advisable to mix or merge the Keto diet and cambridge – as they both offer the same method of weight loss.

I ask this as I have very a try bad thyroid problem and have screwed my metabolism over many years of extreme dieting, and now I prefer to almost live on shakes, including protein shakes and juicing.

I very much appreciate your time and knowledge.

Many thanks

Reply
- Craig says
  
  May 19, 2014 at 8:09 pm
  
  K,
  
  Very low calorie diets can work, but you have to consider what “weight loss” means. Weight loss is a combination of fat, muscle, and water. In high protein, low carb, low fat and ultimately low calorie diets you tend to lose a lot more muscle and a lot less fat than you would on a higher fat, normal calorie, and moderate protein diet.
  
  I have hashimotos and I’ve had no problem losing weight – but you have to understand and know what you are doing. The ratio at which you lose weight is more important than the total weight lost, in my eyes. If you lose a lot of muscle and keep some of the fat, by the time you are at your “goal weight” you will still look “skinny fat”. I’d suggest trying to repair and heal your metabolism, rather than continue with what you’re doing.
  
  Reply
  - 'K' says
    
    May 20, 2014 at 4:04 am
    
    A very interesting response, thank you so much.
    
    If you have any ideas or suggestions for repairing and healing my metabolism, I would very much appreciate it, I will also, see if I can investigate it myself.
    
    Much appreciated and thought provoking.
    
    🙂
    
    Reply
    - Craig says
      
      May 20, 2014 at 4:08 am
      
      Sure thing K. Pretty much eating correctly (proper fat/protein/carb ratio) and proper caloric amounts. The calories may need to be worked up to, but at 800-1000 range, you are looking at a really high deficit, so try to cut that down to a smaller deficit.
      
      Reply
Vanessa says

May 20, 2014 at 2:40 pm

Excited !

Reply
Adeline says

May 21, 2014 at 12:15 am

Hey! I started Keto about 3 weeks ago and this has really helped set my macros in place. Just purchased Keto-fied too! It’s gonna be fun!

Thank you so much!

Reply
- Craig says
  
  May 21, 2014 at 12:48 am
  
  Awesome Adeline, I hope it all goes well for you and I hope you enjoy the book, too!
  
  Reply
Kathy says

May 23, 2014 at 1:12 am

I am much bigger than the visual calculator. I am 5’2″ and weigh 265 pounds. My waist is 50 inches and my hips are 58 inches. So would I still use the 45% body fat number or would I increase it? Thanks for this site. You rule!

Reply
- Kathy says
  
  May 23, 2014 at 1:14 am
  
  forgot to mention that I am 61 years old and sedentary. I walk around my apartment a little bit and manage to climb 1 flight of stairs once a day, but that is about it. thanks again.
  
  Reply
- Craig says
  
  May 23, 2014 at 1:54 am
  
  Kathy,
  
  You could use 50% as your BF number, and then see how that works for you to begin with. I think just switching your diets and trying to live healthier will help you out a lot in the beginning. Once you start losing weight, you can begin to adjust 🙂
  
  Reply
JK says

May 23, 2014 at 2:09 am

You really made a great reference for this. Very informative. Thank you for taking the time to put this all together.

I had a question for you. I was following another websites Keto Calculator and my amounts were a bit different from what I got on here. I’m 6’4 just hovering around 200 lbs at the moment. I go to the gym at least 5 days a week in the mornings where I do light cardio and some weights, and about 3-4 evenings a week where again I do light cardio and more of a charged weight workout focusing on certain muscle groups. My main issue is I want to make sure I am able to at the very least retain my form while cutting down a bit. I’ve been out of the game for about 2 years due to a spine surgery and finally strong enough to get back into the routine.

Right now I am following a 2100 Calorie, 150 Fat, 20 Carb, and 170 Protein per day intake. I know I am losing weight but I am afraid that maybe it’s counter productive to my muscle growth. I’m probably around 17-19% body fat according to the pictures. Do you think I should be taking in more fat/protein? I’m having a hard time even eating what I am at now. I take about 32G protein in the morning in a shake and the same after my nightly work out. I’ve always lived a low fat diet lifestyle so the switch to high fat has been pretty tough. What do you think? I have an office job so I sit around for about 10 hours a day but am very active before and after work being a gym rat.

Thanks again, this website is awesome and I’ve had some of your recipes… they are great! (that sausage/spinach/wine/tomato saute blew my mind)

Reply
- Craig says
  
  May 23, 2014 at 2:31 am
  
  Hey JK,
  
  The difference between mine and the other is pretty much the way we calculate total calories. I cite the studies that I use to do mine, he cites his. It’s more of a personal difference in why we use the different studies we use to determine total calories.
  
  Most of what you’re doing sounds fine, but you may want to up the fat even more (I know, I know). How long have you been doing keto for? It might take some time before you see a real performance boost in the gym. It takes around 4-6 weeks to become keto adapted (fat adapted, completely) and that’s when you will get that performance you might be searching for. I ran your numbers through the calc for something that’s less aggressive with the deficit (since you’re trying to preserve) and got something closer to this:
  
  2251 kcal Daily Calorie Intake
  20 g Net Carbs (4%, 80 kcal)
  164 g Protein (29%, 656 kcal)
  168 g Fat (67%, 1515 kcal)
  
  I’d suggest eating some more fats to what you are currently doing, my estimations are actually on the low end of the spectrum. The protein seems okay with me. For the gym, fats before, protein after – which sounds similar to what you’re doing now.
  
  Keto is pretty muscle sparing, even with working out, so I don’t think you’ll need to worry too much about that. Though, if you do go into an aggressive caloric deficit then you may lose some muscle – which is just inevitable with weight loss.
  
  Hope that helps but if you have more questions let me know – thanks for all the kind words!
  
  Reply
Allison says

May 23, 2014 at 6:51 am

Hi!
I Crossfit 5 times a week and 2-3 times a week do extra 30 min of cardio. I’m 5’7″, 140#, body fat is 22%.. The calculator is telling me I need over 3400 calories daily!!??… I had to have done something wrong! I want to gain mass.
Help me please, thanks!
Allison

Reply
- Craig says
  
  May 23, 2014 at 7:18 pm
  
  Allison,
  
  Check what your calorie surplus is. If you are wanting to gain mass, go for 5-10% caloric surplus.
  
  Reply
Karmen says

May 25, 2014 at 8:31 am

Hi Craig ! I am 50 years old female, 140 lb., 5.4 H. This is my result:
1616 kcal Daily Calorie Intake
20 g Net Carbs (5%, 80 kcal)
64 g Protein (16%, 255 kcal)
142 g Fat (79%, 1281 kcal)

My question is; What can I eat per day to make this 64 g Protein -16% ? I am afraid ,that I can eat more…
Do I have to calculate every day all my meals in Fitday , to be sure that I am doing good with all this % ?
Thank you so much ! I am new here and very exited ! I like your site !

Reply
- Craig says
  
  May 25, 2014 at 6:57 pm
  
  Karmen,
  
  It’s best to track your foods to make sure you are not overeating for at least the first 2 weeks to get an idea of what you’re doing. This percent can vary from meal to meal, but at the end of the day you want to have the majority of your food being fats.
  
  Hope that helps!
  
  Reply
Rachel says

May 26, 2014 at 3:52 am

Hi Craig,

Good site!

I’ve been reading up about a keto diet for about a month now and have actively moved in to a Keto diet over the past 2 1/2 weeks but hadn’t been counting calories only the % split of the macros so hadn’t seen a shift on the scales. I found in the past week my hungry has more or less disappeared, on further reading I’ve discovered that I really do need to count calories so have been doing this since Saturday via MFP.

I find if I eat breakfast (3x strips of bacon & egg for example), I’m really not hungry at all come lunch, I tend to have a bit of fat and keep going to dinner. Based on the last 3 days I’ve been 100-200 calories less than the recommendations in this calculator. Does it matter? I’m honestly not hungry but I don’t want to do damage either. I’m currently 174 pounds / 170cm / approx 35% body fat and 5 months post partum (I say this because I’m sure hormones after a baby are still a little whacked).

Any advice would be great!
Thanks =)

Reply
- Craig says
  
  May 26, 2014 at 5:56 pm
  
  Rachel,
  
  Are you breast feeding? Normally women who do want to increase calories a bit, so I’m surprised your body isn’t naturally more hungry. If you’re not hungry at all, you should be okay. Do what you’re comfortable with for the time being 🙂
  
  Reply
  - Rachel says
    
    May 28, 2014 at 6:47 am
    
    Thanks Craig,
    No I’m not breastfeeding. So I figure, I just listen to my body and hopefully it starts shrinking! 😉
    
    Reply
Carmen says

June 1, 2014 at 9:53 pm

Hello:
Does gender matter when establishing your macros? i.e; would a 250 lb male with 40% fat have the same macros as a 250 female with 40% fat? Thank you, Carmen

Reply
- Craig says
  
  June 1, 2014 at 10:08 pm
  
  From the studies I based the calculator on, it would be very close in the TDEE – so gender doesn’t usually matter. But that said, the muscle composition of men and women are normally not all that close. Women generally walk around with 100lbs or less of muscle on them, while men usually have a lot more muscle. You will rarely see a 250 female with 40% fat, unless in strongman/strongwomen competitions.
  
  Reply
Donna says

June 2, 2014 at 6:01 pm

Thank you for ALL this information!!! I am very excited to get started.

Reply
- Craig says
  
  June 2, 2014 at 6:42 pm
  
  No problem Donna, I wish you the best of luck!
  
  Reply
Kate says

June 3, 2014 at 4:33 pm

Hi Andy,

I’ve been on a Ketogenic diet for the past 6 weeks and have only lost 4 kgs (and all in the first week!)… needless to say the keto diet was not calorie based, and we were eating 2000-2200 a day if eating to recommendation. I’m 113kgs, 173cm, and I’m getting married in 7 months so have been working really hard to loose the weight. My outcome was (not exercising) – does that sounds right?
1683 kcal Daily Calorie Intake
20 g Net Carbs (5%, 80 kcal)
79 g Protein (19%, 317 kcal)
143 g Fat (76%, 1286 kcal)

Reply
Charles says

June 6, 2014 at 7:53 pm

Hello !

Just like many others I got a little lost with all the keto calculators on the net, right now I’m following a keto diet with my wife, and in her case her numbers are :
94 kg, 45% estimated body fat, 1m71, little to no sport, sedentary (housewife with an adorable 6 months Wonder in her hands) and -little nasty bonus- a Hashimoto hypothyroid condition (in the US it seems common and well known when here in France doctors tends to look her up like a curious beast ….)

Anyway we were on a 1150 kcal / 85 fat / 80 prot / 10 Net carb diet.
She is starting to hit a plateau after an initial 2.5kg loss. We started looking on the net for some clues for this plateau bump and when we found your website we tried the calculator and got the following results :

1317 kcal Daily Calorie Intake
10 g Net Carbs (3%, 40 kcal)
68 g Protein (21%, 274 kcal)
111 g Fat (76%, 1003 kcal)

Needless to say we are a bit puzzled, could she break that plateau and continue her weight loss (she aims ideally 1m71 for 70 but if she gets to 88 she’d be mighty happy about it :p).

Obviously we were 12g prot too high, 26g fat short and 100kcal short, are we miscalculating things or would your numbers be the ones we should follow ?

Thank you in advance for your advice 🙂

Reply
- Craig says
  
  June 6, 2014 at 11:44 pm
  
  I’d suggest following the numbers you got from the calculator. Her original numbers seem a bit low (which can cause stall in itself). But I also suggest getting the fat and protein ratios correct – they are vital to this whole process. Look into some other things such as milk, cheese and other dairy. That can cause stalls when eaten in larger amounts than usual.
  
  There’s a post I made about weight loss plateau’s (give a quick search on the side bar for it) and it might also shed some light on things. I’m hashimotos hypothyroid myself, so I do know you can lose weight with it. Is she currently taking medication for it (thyroxine?). Either way, I hope that helps – make sure she is drinking enough water through the day (about 2 litres)!
  
  Reply
Sara says

June 7, 2014 at 8:04 am

Hi!

I’m so confused! lol I need help with my macros, please. Im 211 5’6 female. I’ve been on the Keto
diet for 3 weeks, I’m losing, but I’m not sure if my macros are right. Ive gone to several different
calculators and they all say something different. My workout is light, recovering from an accident, so
really not much at all, but plan on in the next week or so. Heres what I’m getting…1754 cal, 77 proteins,
20 carbs and 152 fat…That to me sounds way off… Thanks!

Reply
- Craig says
  
  June 9, 2014 at 11:42 am
  
  Sara, that sounds fine to me. As long as you are doing light work outs, then 1700 calories is a realistic number to still lose weight on 🙂
  
  Reply
Marty says

June 8, 2014 at 10:04 am

You have done such an excellent job with all your information and with your FB fan page. Thank you. I’ve been on the keto diet for over 3 weeks. I’m feeling wonderful and have lost 6 pounds. I just want to make sure I am on the right track. I want to lose about 40 lbs. total and continue on this WOE always. Using your keto calculator my parameters would be 1661 kcal, 30g (7%) carbs, 66g (16%) protein, and 142g (77%) fat.

I am a 59 year-old woman, currently 184 pounds, averaging 40 min/day of either brisk waslking or pilates. Does this seem like I’m on the right track? And I am a little unsure how to convert this to MyFitnessPal as it seems to only use increments of 5% in the macros. Also, do I add daily exercise data into MyFitnessPal since exercise was already considered in the keto calculator?

Thank you so much for your help. 🙂

Reply
- Craig says
  
  June 9, 2014 at 11:42 am
  
  Marty, you can use MFP and go by the gram ratios that it shows. You should be able to get your macros just about on track using their system of percentages (if it’s off by a little, it should be no big deal). You sound like you’re on the right track, so I think you’ll do just fine! 🙂
  
  Reply
Shana says

June 10, 2014 at 2:43 pm

I am fascinated and really interested in starting a leto diet, but even with this calculator, I am lost. Maybe I’m too blonde. I am 29, 5’4″, and 195 lbs (gasp, I know). I want to lose weight and build muscle. I am a work from home mom, so currently my daily activity is housework, but I have access to a gym in my neighborhood and I have someone to watch the kiddo 5x a week. What should my macros look like? Should I focus on cardio primarily, weights? Or just a mixture of the two? I am motivated to do this, but want to make sure I’m doing it right. I eventually want to get super ripped, but I know I need to get this fluff off.

Reply
- Craig says
  
  June 10, 2014 at 3:48 pm
  
  Hey Shana.
  
  I tried to explain each section in the keto calculator, so I’d just ask you to go through and read all of the headings again and try one more time before I do them for you. You should just be able to enter your weight and bodyfat % (if you don’t know it, you can use the visual estimation). Since you want to lose weight and build muscle, I suggest a warm-up (10-15 mins) of cardio or HIIT and then the rest of your session (30-40 minutes) of lifting. You can find different lifting routines online. I have also wrote an article on the 5×5 strength routine which is great for beginners (should only be about 20-25 minutes).
  
  You’ll have to go to the gym (or at least have access to weights at home). You could do body resistance exercises, but using weights and straining your muscles (heavy lifting, not very many reps) will be the best bet. I suggest you use a “maintenance” on calculator but use “moderately active” as the activity factor. Don’t bother putting any exercise in at the moment and gauge how you feel after going to the gym. You should also be using something like a 0.9 protein ratio (instead of the default 0.6).
  
  Lastly, your body takes some time to truly become keto adapted (efficiently burning the fat as fuel), so you may want to get adjusted to it first before going to the gym. If you start keto and go to the gym right away, you might find yourself fatigued in the beginning.
  
  Reply
Dan Christie says

June 11, 2014 at 5:37 pm

I cant seem to get the keto calculator to function. It wont do the energy expenditures.

Reply
Dan Christie says

June 11, 2014 at 5:39 pm

I cant get the keto calculator to function. The energy expenditures sections wont work. Ant ideas

Reply
- Craig says
  
  June 11, 2014 at 5:56 pm
  
  Hey Dan,
  
  Refresh the page and make sure you let it load fully before entering any numbers (about 4-5 seconds). Then it should work fine 🙂
  
  I had to code it to load after all of the other jscript code, so it takes a couple of seconds sometimes.
  
  Reply

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