What You Should Know About Calculating Your Macros -

When following the Keto diet you should know that macros are EVERYTHING!. Your body needs a specific amount of macros (also known as macronutrients). This is a breakdown of you fats to carbs to protein ratio. Following these simple guidelines is what will put you and keep you in the ketosis state.

Carbs should make up less than 5% of your caloric intake. Everyone’s macros will be different however your carb intake will most likely be the same between 20g to 29g of daily carb intake. When first starting out a good ratio to go by is 1.5g net carbs per 100 calories.

Net carb intake

Net carbs are what you should track when following a ketogenic diet. This calculation is pretty straightforward: Net Carbs = Total Carbs – Fiber.

Let me give you an example.

one cup of broccoli has 6g of total carbs and 2.5 of fiber. That would equate to one cup of broccoli having 3.5 grams of net carbs. We count net carbs because dietary fiber does not have a significant metabolic effect, meaning it doesn’t spike blood sugar levels.

Removing Carbs

When removing bad carbs from your diet, it is easy to replace them with protein. However keep in mind that eating high amounts of protein does not put you into ketosis. To properly shift your body over to using fat for fuel, protein needs to be kept moderate.

Hitting Your Goals

So to hit your protein target each day without exceeding it by much. Moderate protein is between 0.6 and 1.0 grams of protein per pound of lean body mass. This sounds difficult but don’t worry it isn’t. Also if you don’t understand then there are plenty of apps out there that will calculate your macros just by answering a few questions.

Here is an example regardless. If you weigh 250 pounds with 30% body fat that means you have 75 pounds of fat and 175 pounds of lean mass. In other words your daily protein should be between 105 grams and 175 grams.

It’s so easy to get caught up on the “low-carb” part of the diet and not give enough attention to the “high-fat” part.

Conclusion

Remember fat is what is going to make you full. Fat gives you energy (when in ketosis), and makes food taste delicious at the same time. For most people this figure should be north of 70 percent of daily calories. Watch your limits, eat til you’re full. If you exceed protein or fat limits from time to time it is no big deal. Just don’t shatter those numbers.

I use the app Carb Manager.

Breakdown

Here’s a quick example of your daily macronutrient breakdown on a keto diet when eating about 2000 calories per day: