The keto diet is a high-fat, low-carbohydrate diet, but how many grams of carbohydrates per day is considered low enough?
Most people on a ketogenic diet only consume 5-10% of their calories from carbohydrates each day. If you consume 2,000 calories a day, this comes down to 25-50 grams of carbohydrates per day. (Don’t worry, you’ll dive into the math below.)
This guide will help you ascertain how many grams of carbohydrates per day to consume in keto. But before continuing, here is one thing you need to understand: every human body is different. Although 30 grams of carbohydrates per day is a good rule of thumb for most people, the truth is that age, activity level, weight loss goals, and body composition all play a role in determining how many carbohydrates can consume and stay in ketosis.
How To Calculate How Many Grams Of Carbohydrates Per Day
Knowing how many grams of carbohydrates to eat per day with keto can be difficult because keto goes directly against the teachings of the standard American diet. The USDA and most dieters advocate a high-carbohydrate, low-fat diet to prevent weight gain, suggesting that 45-65% of total calories should come from carbohydrates.
With keto, you’re trying to get into a fat-burning metabolic state where you burn ketones, rather than glucose, as your body’s leading source of energy. To do this, you’ll need to consume large amounts of fat, switch to a moderate protein intake, and keep your daily carbohydrate intake to an absolute minimum.
To enter (and stay) ketosis, macronutrient guidelines for the average person include:
- 5-10% of calories from carbohydrates
- 20-25% protein
- 70-75% or the remaining calories from fat
Here’s an important thing to keep in mind: In keto, you’ll always be calculating net carbs, not total carbs, for the day.
Your net carbohydrate intake equals the total amount of carbohydrates you eat (in grams), minus the grams of dietary fibre. Net carbs are calculated because dietary fibre does not raise blood glucose (blood sugar) levels, which is precisely what you are trying to avoid on the ketogenic diet.
Calculate carbs Per Day
- Calculate carbohydrates by hand
Unfortunately, knowing your daily macro percentages is not very helpful when reading a nutrition label. To help you calculate your macros (i.e. protein, fat, and carbohydrate intake), try translating these percentages into grams.
One gram of carbohydrates equals four calories, while one gram of protein and fat gives four and nine calories, respectively. If you plan to take in 5% of your daily calories from carbs, you must multiply 2,000 by 0.05 to get 100 calories per day. To convert to grams, divide 100 by 4 to get 25 calories per day.
- Calculating Carbs Using the Keto Macro Calculator
The number of carbohydrates you eat will be affected by your age, activity level, and even bodyweight. To calculate how many macros to consume, be sure to use the keto macro calculator for perfect results. Use the keto calculator to input your information and calculate your macros.
What Do 30 Grams Of Carbohydrates Look Like?
Here are some examples of how to hit the 30-gram limit of carbohydrates on both healthy and unhealthy ketogenic diets.
- Fruit
On keto, always choose low-sugar fruit. This means selecting low-carbohydrate foods like berries and avocados (yes, it’s a fruit) and avoiding high-sugar fruits like apples, oranges, and bananas.
If you’re thinking why you should do this, look at the fruit serving sizes below.
Blueberries
- Serving size: 1.45 cups
- Fibre: 5g
- Net carbohydrates: 25 g
Strawberries
- Serving size: 2.75 cups
- Fibre: 5g
- Net carbohydrates: 25 g
Grapefruit
- Serving size: 2 medium grapefruits (1 cup)
- Fibre: 4g
- Net carbohydrates: 26 g
Examples of fats that contain 30 grams are avocados, walnuts, cashews, whole yoghurt, and pecans.
Examples of vegetables that contain 30g are cabbage, carrots, cucumbers, red onion and chilli.
Conclusion
On the ketogenic diet, most people eat between 25 and 50 grams of carbohydrates per day, or 5-10% of their total calories. This is in stark contrast to the diet she grew up on, where she was told to eat large amounts of carbohydrates, without too much protein or fat.
The exact amount of carbohydrates you eat will depend on your body composition, activity level, and fat loss goals. However, using the Macro Calculator is a great place to start.
On the ketogenic diet, your goal is to burn ketone bodies, rather than glucose, for energy. To do this, you will follow a high-fat, low-carbohydrate diet.
Tips
Staying clear of food late during the night will certainly aid you to lose weight quickly. When you consume late in the evening, you will not metabolize the food throughout your pause. Quiting late evening treat binges will certainly produce outcomes swiftly.
Have milk prior to your meals to aid in slimming down. Milk fills you up, so drinking a glass prior to you begin consuming will reduce the amount of food you eat. You can also grow your muscle mass and keep your bones solid by drinking calcium-rich milk.
Eat whipped butter. A great deal of people do not want to stay clear of butter or make use of butter substitutes. Some people prefer exactly how genuine butter tastes. Thankfully, it is not necessary to entirely cut butter from your recipes if you want to drop extra pounds. Simply utilized whipped butter instead. It contains fifty percent much less calories.
Discussing weight management is much easier than in fact starting on a strategy. Dedicate on your own to beginning today as well as get going on your weight-loss journey. You will be distressed that you really did not begin quicker.
When on a fat burning trip, it is essential that you avoid comparing yourself to others. Every person will certainly drop weight on their own time. Everyone has different high qualities that affect their rate of weight management. As long as you are adhering to your goals, you are great.
