Keto Calculator: Work out your Ketogenic Diet Macros

In this Article (Index)

Calculate your Daily Calorie Needs

• Intro: Keto Diet Macros Calculator
• What are macros in Keto dieting?
• Body Fat
• Protein, Fat, and Carbohydrates
• Use the Keto Calculator
• Comments about the Calculator
• The Science behind the Keto Calculator
• How much protein should you include in your diet?
• Caloric Deficit for Weight Loss
• Some Weight Loss Suggestions
• Closing Comments

Our Keto Diet Macros Calculator

This calculator will help you work out the basic macros for your Ketogenic Diet.

What are macros in Keto dieting?

A Ketogenic Diet is a very low carbohydrate, moderate protein, and high-fat diet. It will also include a caloric deficit if your goal is to lose weight.

The exact mix of protein, fats, and carbs plus your daily caloric intake are the "macros" of your diet.

How does this Keto calculator work?

It takes your weight, height, age, and sex to calculate your Basal Metabolic Rate or BMR, also known as Resting Metabolic Rate or RMR.

This is the energy your body uses to survive (breath, basic brain functions, and circulation).

To this we will add the energy you burn daily, based on your level of physical activity:

• Sedentary: little or no exercise, desk job
• Lightly active: light exercise or sports 1-3 days a week
• Moderately active: moderate exercise or sports 6-7 days weekly
• Very active: hard strenuous exercise every day, or exercising twice a day
• Extra active: vigorous exercise 2 or more times per day; or training for a marathon, triathlon, etc.

Caloric Deficit

For those who wonder if calories matter on a keto diet, the answer is "yes", they matter, because you will only lose weight by burning more calories (exercise) and eating less (diet - reduced calories).

Now, knowing how much energy your body needs to function properly, we will define a "caloric deficit" (a shortfall in your calorie intake), so that you start burning the stored fat.

The "deficit" options you can select in the tool are:

• 0% will maintain your body weight.
• 5 - 10% is a small caloric deficit.
• 10 - 20% is a moderate deficit.
• 20 - 30% is a large deficit.

Body Fat

Percentage of Body Fat
A visual Chart. Source

Having defined your daily caloric intake for your diet we will now define your "Lean Body Mass".

Lean Body Mass is your total weight minus your fat stores.

Why is the Body Fat percentage important?

The importance of knowing your body fat is because you must eat enough protein to keep your lean body mass (muscles, brain, and internal organs) functioning properly, you don't want to waste away your muscles. So knowing how much fat makes up your body, the rest is Lean Body Mass.

How to calculate your Body Fat

There are three different ways to calculate your "fat stores":

1. Visual Chart: Check the images depicting different ratios of body fat in men and women. And use the value of the figure that resembles you most.

3. Fitness Level: use the tables below, based on gender and physical fitness which show average percentages of fat for both men and women as established by the American Council on Exercise (1):

The third option is:

3. Calculate your body fat:

Hoover (2017) (2) devised this simple formula:

Adult body fat percentage = 1.3 x BMI + 0.16 x age - 10.34 x gender - 9

You can use our BMI (Body Mass Index) Calculator to work out your BMI, and use this formula.

The value for "gender" is 0 for women and 1 for men.

Protein, Fat, and Carbohydrates

Below we explain How much protein you should include in your diet and the science behind the macro.

Carbs

Carbohydrates (such as sugars and starches) are minimized in a Keto diet.

We discuss the Keto Diet in detail in our "Ketogenic diet" webpage:

The general recommendation is to reduce your daily intake of Net Carbs to around 25 grams per day.

Net Carbs are the total carbs you ingest minus the fiber (fiber is another type of carbohydrate which is beneficial for your body).

Net Carbs (g) = Total Carbs (g) - Fiber (g)

Low-Carb Diet helps you burn more calories

14.Nov.2018
Eating a diet with a low carbohydrate content (20% of daily caloric needs) and high-fat content (60%) made participants burn more calories than those following a moderate or a high carb diet. It also improved triglycerides, HDL, and insulin resistance plus lowering the hunger hormone (Ghrelin) levels.

> > Read More...

Fats

Having defined your carbs intake and basing your protein intake on your lean body mass, the balance to make up your daily caloric allowance is made up of fats.

Now you can use the tool. Further down, we explain the science behind this Keto calculator.

Recalculate your Macros as you lose weight

After the first week, and again after the second and third weeks of a Ketogenic diet, recalculate your macros to take into account your dropping bodyweight and percentage of fat. Your caloric deficit and macros will have to adjust to those changes.

Now, use the calculator and calculate your macros.

Use the Keto Calculator

Calculate your Keto Macros

Ketogenic Diet Macros Calculator

Metric Pounds & Inches

Enter your height

Feet

× Missing input :fill in the missing height value in Feet (e.g. 5)

Inches

× Missing input :fill in the missing height value in inches (e.g. 3)

Enter your weight

lbs

× Missing input :fill in the missing Weight value in pounds (e.g. 187)

Enter your age

Years

× Missing input :fill in the missing age value in years (e.g. 43)

Enter estimated body fat percentage

%

× Missing input :fill in the missing body fat value (e.g. 22)

Your Gender

Gender
Female Male

× Missing input :select gender

Activity Level

• Sedentary: little or no exercise, desk job
• Lightly active: light exercise or sports 1-3 days a week
• Moderately active: moderate exercise or sports 6-7 days weekly
• Very active: hard strenuous exercise every day, or exercising twice a day
• Extra active: vigorous exercise 2 or more times per day; or training for a marathon, triathlon, etc.

Activity
Sedentary Light 1-3 days/week Moderate 6-7 days/week Active hard exercise daily Extreme hard exercise twice daily

× Missing input :select activity level

Enter desired caloric deficit (not more than 30%)

%

× Missing input :fill in the missing caloric deficit value it is a percentage (e.g. 20)

Enter desired Carbohydrate intake (Between 20 and 50 grams ⁄ day)

g

× Missing input :fill in the missing daily carbs intake value (e.g. 26)

Enter your height

cm

× Missing input :fill in the missing Height value in cm (e.g. 175)

Enter your weight

kg

× Missing input :fill in the missing Weight value in kilos (e.g. 85)

Enter your age

Years

× Missing input :fill in the missing age value in years (e.g. 43)

Enter estimated body fat percentage

%

× Missing input :fill in the missing body fat value (e.g. 22)

Your Gender

Gender
Female Male

× Missing input :select gender

Activity Level

• Sedentary: little or no exercise, desk job
• Lightly active: light exercise or sports 1-3 days a week
• Moderately active: moderate exercise or sports 6-7 days weekly
• Very active: hard strenuous exercise every day, or exercising twice a day
• Extra active: vigorous exercise 2 or more times per day; or training for a marathon, triathlon, etc.

Activity
Sedentary Light Moderate Active Extreme

× Missing input :select activity level

Enter desired caloric deficit (not more than 30%)

%

× Missing input :fill in the missing caloric deficit value it is a percentage (e.g. 20)

Enter desired Carbohydrate intake (Between 20 and 50 grams ⁄ day)

g

× Missing input :fill in the missing daily carbs intake value (e.g. 26)

here: Daily Calories here: Macros

Comments about this Calculator

Notes on our Free Keto Macros Calculator

Values in Kilocalories abbreviated Cal., also called Calories (both with capital "C"). The Macro values are given in grams (g) per day. 1 ounce = 28 grams.

This calculator is for adults only. Not for pregnant women. Medical Disclaimer page for full details on the scope of the information provided on our website.

Before starting a diet, consult your nutritionist or physician.

The Science behind the Keto Calculator

How much protein should you include in your diet?

The daily RDA value (recommended dietary allowance) for protein in the US is 0.8 g/kg of lean body mass, which is equivalent to 1.76 g/lb per day. Meaning per pound of lean body mass.

Where the lean body mass is your total weight minus the weight of your body fat.

Plenty has been written about the best protein intake for people who are on a diet or are training or, doing both. The idea is to preserve muscle mass (technically known as FFM or Fat-Free Mass) and avoid wasting muscle away as you diet or exercise vigorously.

We reviewed some scientific papers and found the following recommendations:

Obese and overweight adults who are dieting

In one study, the subjects ages 55 to 80, were followed during a 10-week weight loss program based on a calorie-reduced diet. Half of them ate a high protein diet (1.3 g/kg), half to a normal protein diet (0.8 g/kg), some trained 3 times per week, some didn't (Verreijen, 2017) (3). The high protein group that exercised increased their Fat-Free Mass (they built more muscles).

Older Adults

Deutz, (2014) (4) recommends the following intake:

• 1.0 - 1.2 g/kg in healthy older people.
• 1.2 - 1.5 g/kg in undernourished older adults with acute or chronic illnesses.

An intake above 1.1 g/kg preserved more muscle in older adults than those who ate 0.7 to 0.9 g/kg daily; the latter is a figure that covers the European RDA and the American RDA, which are insufficient for this age group.

Protein for training athletes

Phillips and Van Loon (2011) (5) found that 1.3 to 1.8 g/kg daily, maximized the production of muscle protein in athletes. The protein intake could even reach 2 g/kg during periods of high frequency or high-intensity training to prevent lean mass loss due to caloric deficit.

Stokes et al., (2018) (6) reported that those who were on a diet required more protein intake to maintain muscle mass. They recommended the following daily protein intakes:

• 2.3 g/kg for dieting sedentary adults with a higher body fat percentage who are beginning to train.
• 3.1 g/kg for lean persons who are dieting and have resistance-training experience.
• 1.6 to 2.2 g/kg for non-dieting people seeking muscle growth during resistance exercise.

Stuart M. Phillips (2017) (7) proposed a protein intake for athletes during weight-loss diets of 1.6 - 2.4g/kg.

The Values that we use in our calculator

Based on the above we adopted the following protein intake values for our Keto Macro calculator.

They consider dieting individuals and are based on lean body mass, not total body mass:

• 1.2 g/kg. Sedentary to moderate exercise.
• 2.4 g/kg. Active exercise.
• 3.1 g/kg. Extreme training.

All values are more than the US RDA value of 0.8 g/kg.

This should make sure that muscle loss is minimized.

Caloric Deficit for Weight Loss

The Ketogenic Diet also contemplates reducing your energy intake to create an energy deficit to prompt your body to burn its fat stores.

Marlatt (2017) (8) analyzed the data of the CALERIE 2 study (Comprehensive Assessment of Long-Term Effects of Reducing Intake of Energy Phase 2) and found that a 25% calorie restriction was well tolerated by the participants (non-obese men and women).

The subjects lost over 18 lb. during the diet and two years after they had finished, only regained 54% of the weight loss, their body fat percentage, and mass was lower than the control group.

The 2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans published every 5 years by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Department of Agriculture (USDA) (9), gives the following calorie reduction suggestions:

• 50 to 100 calories per day: may prevent gradual weight gain.
• 500 or more calories per day is a common initial goal in weight-loss programs.

You can check the 2015-2020 Guidelines here.

Considering that an average overweight man with moderate activity would require 2,700 Cal., a 500 calorie deficit would mean eating 2.200 Cal. per day, which is still a very good food intake and implies a restriction of only 18.5%.

We recommend a 15-25% Calorie restriction (or calorie deficit) for sustained weight loss.

Some Weight Loss Suggestions

Most people who lose weight are likely to find it difficult to keep the weight off. They can improve their chances by adopting a lifelong commitment that includes:

• Increased, frequent, and regular physical activity of at least moderate intensity.
• Healthy eating following the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, emphasizing a reduction in total calories, lowered fat consumption, and an increase in vegetables, fruits, and whole grains.

Even modest weight loss (5 - 10 percent of body weight, 10 - 20 pounds) will improve your health and lower health risks associated with being overweight.

Unless medically indicated, weight loss after the first two or three weeks of dieting should not exceed a rate of three pounds or approximately one and one-half percent of body weight per week.

More rapid weight loss may cause an increased risk of developing gallbladder disease, a risk that is believed to be higher than the risk of developing gallbladder disease as a result of staying overweight or obese.

Consult with your Physician before dieting

People who are considered medically appropriate for more rapid weight loss should have their progress monitored by a physician.

Very-low-calorie diets (less than 800 kcal per day) are designed to promote rapid weight loss in people whose obesity has resulted in or has put them at a medical risk of, developing serious health complications. Rapid weight loss may also be associated with some medical problems. A weight loss program should include medical supervision to minimize risks associated with rapid weight loss.

People undergoing weight loss can experience physical changes in the body (dizziness, interruptions in the menstrual cycle, hair loss, for example) that may indicate more serious conditions. People noticing such changes should be advised to talk immediately to their primary care physician.

Children and adolescents, pregnant or breast.feeding women, and people with significant health problems such as bulimia, heart disease, kidney disease, diabetes, or psychiatric disorder, should not begin this program without written authorization by their primary care provider.

People under treatment for other conditions or taking medications prescribed by their health care provider should tell their providers that they have begun this diet because, in some cases, adjustments to medications or modifications to the weight loss program may be appropriate.

Closing Comments

A Ketogenic diet is an interesting option to adjust and lower your body weight. It requires a calorie deficit and a strict diet in the sense of measuring your daily intake of fat, protein, and carbohydrates.

It shows very good results from my personal experience, but just like any other diet, it requires perseverance, persistence, and method.

It also entails certain risks, which we analyze in our "Ketogenic Diet Risks" webpage: