How many carbs on keto a day. Optimizing Carb Intake on Keto: Calculating Net Carbs for Maximum Results
How many carbs should you consume on a keto diet. What are net carbs and how do you calculate them. Which foods are low in net carbs for keto. How does carb intake affect ketosis and weight loss.
Understanding Net Carbs: The Key to Keto Success
The ketogenic diet has gained immense popularity for its ability to promote rapid weight loss and improve various health markers. At its core, keto is a high-fat, low-carbohydrate diet that aims to shift the body’s metabolism into a state of ketosis. But how many carbs can you actually consume while staying in ketosis? The answer lies in understanding the concept of net carbs.
Net carbs are the carbohydrates that your body can digest and use for energy. Unlike total carbs, which include all forms of carbohydrates, net carbs exclude fiber and certain sugar alcohols that don’t significantly impact blood sugar levels. This distinction is crucial for keto dieters, as it allows for more flexibility in food choices while still maintaining ketosis.
Calculating Net Carbs: A Simple Formula
To determine the net carb content of a food, use this straightforward calculation:
- Net Carbs = Total Carbs – Dietary Fiber – (Sugar Alcohols รท 2)
This formula takes into account that not all sugar alcohols have zero impact on blood sugar. By subtracting half the sugar alcohol content, you get a more accurate representation of the carbs that will affect your ketosis.
The Ideal Carb Intake for Keto: Finding Your Sweet Spot
While the general recommendation for keto is to consume no more than 50 grams of net carbs per day, this number isn’t set in stone. Your optimal carb intake depends on various factors, including your body composition, activity level, and metabolic health.
For those just starting on keto, aiming for 20-30 grams of net carbs per day can help ensure you enter ketosis quickly. As you become more fat-adapted, you may be able to increase your carb intake slightly without exiting ketosis. However, it’s essential to monitor your ketone levels and adjust accordingly.
Factors Influencing Your Carb Tolerance
- Body weight and composition
- Activity level and exercise intensity
- Metabolic health and insulin sensitivity
- Age and gender
- Stress levels and sleep quality
Experimenting with your carb intake and tracking your ketone levels can help you find your personal carb threshold for maintaining ketosis.
Low Net Carb Foods: Staples of the Keto Diet
Knowing which foods are low in net carbs is essential for successful keto meal planning. Here’s a list of keto-friendly options that can help you stay within your daily carb limit:
Proteins
- Beef, pork, lamb, and other red meats
- Poultry (chicken, turkey, duck)
- Fish and seafood (salmon, tuna, sardines, cod)
- Eggs
Vegetables
- Leafy greens (spinach, kale, lettuce)
- Cruciferous vegetables (broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts)
- Zucchini and other summer squashes
- Asparagus
- Bell peppers
Healthy Fats
- Avocados
- Olive oil, coconut oil, and MCT oil
- Nuts and seeds (in moderation)
- Full-fat dairy products (cheese, butter, heavy cream)
These foods form the foundation of a well-formulated ketogenic diet, providing essential nutrients while keeping net carbs low.
The Impact of Carb Intake on Ketosis and Weight Loss
Maintaining the right balance of macronutrients is crucial for achieving and sustaining ketosis. Carbohydrate restriction is the primary driver of ketosis, as it forces the body to shift from using glucose as its primary fuel source to burning fat for energy.
When carb intake is too high, even if it’s just slightly above your personal threshold, it can kick you out of ketosis and hinder your weight loss progress. This is why tracking net carbs is so important for keto dieters.
Signs You May Be Consuming Too Many Carbs
- Increased hunger and cravings
- Fatigue or lack of energy
- Difficulty concentrating or brain fog
- Weight loss stalls or gains
- Decreased ketone levels (if measuring)
If you experience these symptoms, it may be time to reassess your carb intake and make adjustments to your diet.
Tracking Net Carbs: Tools and Techniques
Accurately tracking your net carb intake is essential for keto success. Fortunately, there are several tools and techniques available to make this process easier:
Food Tracking Apps
- MyFitnessPal
- Carb Manager
- Cronometer
- KetoDiet App
These apps allow you to log your meals and automatically calculate net carbs based on their extensive food databases.
Food Scales and Measuring Tools
Investing in a digital food scale and measuring cups can help you accurately portion your food and calculate net carbs more precisely.
Meal Planning and Prep
Planning your meals in advance and preparing them ahead of time can make it easier to control your net carb intake and avoid impulsive food choices.
Balancing Macronutrients: Beyond Carb Counting
While tracking net carbs is crucial for keto success, it’s important to remember that a well-formulated ketogenic diet involves more than just carb restriction. Balancing your intake of fats and proteins is equally important for maintaining optimal health and achieving your weight loss goals.
Recommended Macronutrient Ratios for Keto
- 70-75% of calories from fat
- 20-25% of calories from protein
- 5-10% of calories from carbohydrates
These ratios can vary slightly depending on your individual needs and goals, but they provide a good starting point for most people following a ketogenic diet.
Common Mistakes in Carb Counting on Keto
Even experienced keto dieters can make mistakes when it comes to tracking their carb intake. Here are some common pitfalls to avoid:
1. Overlooking Hidden Carbs
Many foods contain hidden carbs that can add up quickly. Be vigilant about reading labels and tracking all ingredients, especially in processed foods and condiments.
2. Ignoring Serving Sizes
Underestimating portion sizes can lead to unintentional carb overconsumption. Use measuring tools and pay attention to recommended serving sizes to stay on track.
3. Relying Too Heavily on Total Carbs
Focusing solely on total carbs without considering fiber and sugar alcohols can lead to unnecessary food restrictions. Learn to calculate net carbs accurately to expand your food options while staying in ketosis.
4. Neglecting Micronutrients
While counting carbs is important, don’t forget about essential vitamins and minerals. Choose nutrient-dense, low-carb foods to ensure you’re meeting your body’s nutritional needs.
Adapting Your Carb Intake for Long-Term Success
As you progress on your keto journey, you may find that your carb tolerance changes. Some people can gradually increase their net carb intake while maintaining ketosis, while others need to stay at a lower level for optimal results.
Regularly reassessing your carb intake and its impact on your health and weight loss goals is key to long-term success on the ketogenic diet. Don’t be afraid to experiment with slight adjustments to find what works best for your body.
Tips for Sustainable Carb Management
- Monitor your ketone levels regularly
- Keep a food journal to track how different carb levels affect you
- Incorporate intermittent fasting to enhance ketosis
- Stay hydrated and maintain proper electrolyte balance
- Listen to your body and adjust your diet as needed
Remember, the goal of keto is not just weight loss but overall health improvement. Finding the right balance of macronutrients, including your optimal net carb intake, is crucial for achieving lasting results and feeling your best on the ketogenic diet.
Calculate Your Optimum Net Carb Intake on Keto
Whether the focus is total carbs or net carbs, counting this macronutrient is a must for many keto dieters. How else can you make sure to stay in ketosis if you’re not keeping track of how many carbs you eat in a day?
Whether the focus is total carbs or net carbs, counting this macronutrient is a must for many keto dieters. How else can you make sure to stay in ketosis if you’re not keeping track of how many carbs you eat in a day?
Do the math: how to calculate net carbs on keto
By now, you know that the keto diet is an extremely low carb, high fat diet that helps people shed pounds quickly and effectively. But as you dig deeper, you may have seen the term “net carbs” a few times. What exactly are “net carbs” and how do you calculate them? Are they different from total carbs? How many carbs am I allowed to have per day on keto? Read on to find all the answers.
Total carbs vs. Net carbs
Total carbs versus keto net carbs
For those on the keto diet, the most important thing to consider is the amount of “net carbs” in your food. This number can be quite different from the amount of total carbs, and here is why: Net carbs are the ones that are absorbed into your body. Some sources of carbohydrates like fiber and sugar alcohols are not absorbed into your bloodstream, therefore they are not part of your daily allowance of net carbs.
On the keto diet, you are allowed to have no more than 50 grams of net carbs per day – and the fewer, the better! But by focusing on “net” rather than “total” carbs, you won’t be denying your body the essential fiber it needs for proper function. Try meal planning ahead of time so you can always track how many net carbs you’re consuming.
Calculate Net Carbs
How to calculate keto net carbs
There are, of course, numerous online databases that tell you how many net carbs a food has. However, sometimes you’ll have to do it on your own. Thankfully, it’s pretty easy to do! To calculate a food’s number of net carbs, look at the label and follow these two simple steps:
- Determine the carb content: take a look at the number of total carbohydrates, then the amount of fiber and any sugar alcohols (sometimes shown as “Erythritol” on nutrition labels). These things together equal the “total carb content.” (Any sugar shown is already included in the total carbohydrate amount).
- Subtract the amount of dietary fiber and half the amount of sugar alcohols from the total carbohydrate amount. The result is the amount of net carbs in the food.
Take a look at the example on the side:
Net Carbs = Total Carbs – Dietary Fiber – Half Sugar Alcohols
Net Carbs = 20g – 8g – 5g = 7g
Your net carb amount will always be less than or equal to the total carb count. Remember, you can consume 50g of net carbs each day on a keto diet.
Low Net Carb Foods
What foods are low in net carbs?
Just because you now know how to calculate keto net carbs doesn’t mean you have to do so for everything you eat. There is a range of delicious, healthy foods that are positively encouraged on the keto diet.
Meats such as beef, veal, lamb, pork, chicken, and turkey, and fish such as cod, sardines, tuna, and salmon have very low net carbs. Most green and leafy vegetables also have an extremely low keto net carb count and can be enjoyed freely. And don’t forget, you can also include delicious high fiber, low fructose fruits in your keto diet plan.
Green Chef
Lose weight and regain your health with the keto diet
As you can see, the principles of the keto diet are pretty straightforward: Keep your intake of keto net carbs below 50g per day and focus on high fat foods. Let us at Green Chef make it even easier for you. Choose delicious, hearty keto meals from our meal plans and have them delivered right to your doorstep. We take the math out of keto!
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Table of Contents
Keto Diet Guide
Green Chef is a USDA certified organic company. We work with farmers to source sustainable, delicious ingredients.
Green Chef is a USDA certified organic company. We work with farmers to source sustainable, delicious ingredients.
Keto Diet – How Many Carbs are on Keto Diet
– Kevin’s Natural Foods
Introduction to the Ketogenic diet
Low-carbohydrate diets have been all the rage for years. Carbohydrate restriction is a well-known way to reduce total calorie intake, balance blood sugar, and reduce body weight.
What makes the keto diet different is that the diet not only requires extremely low net-carb intake but very high-fat content.
While the carb counts are generally recommended to be somewhere between 20 and 50 grams of net carbs per day, your optimal target won’t be the same as everyone else’s.
Factors that affect your target carb intake include your body weight, body fat percent, fitness level, and baseline caloric needs.
But wait, isn’t fat bad for you?
For a couple of generations, we have been told that dietary fat is the culprit of a whole list of ailments including higher rates of obesity, high blood pressure, and cardiovascular disease.
But today, this low-carb and high-fat diet has been clinically proven to actually improve these conditions by promoting effective and significant weight loss (Source).
How the ketogenic diet works
In a typical modern diet, the majority of our calories come in the form of carbohydrates, with moderate protein intake and a little bit of dietary fat. This is a matter of efficiency, as high-carb foods are easy to process into immediate energy in the form of glucose (sugar).
The keto diet reduces carbohydrate consumption but also has numerous health benefits.
Generally, a person who eats much lower carbs will burn fat as a fuel source. Your liver converts fat to energy molecules called ketones, which are used by the brain to produce energy.
Eating keto diets can significantly lower blood glucose and help reduce fat storage. Numerous studies show weight loss with keto without counting calories. Keto diets are also good at decreasing blood sugars as well as improving blood pressure.
The keto diet works by robbing the body of glucose by dramatically restricting carbohydrate intake.
When the body runs out of this convenient form of energy, it burns fat instead, turning it into a form of energy called ketone bodies. When the body is mostly running on ketones, it is in a metabolic state called “ketosis”.
How to achieve ketosis
Ketosis occurs naturally in the event of starvation or fasting.
Insulin levels drop and stored fat becomes the body’s primary energy source. Ketosis is therefore a preferred metabolic state when calories are restricted because your fat stores break down instead of your lean body mass.
Ketogenic diets promote nutritional ketosis.
A very low carbohydrate diet deprives the metabolism of glucose, keeping ketone levels high without requiring starvation.
Macronutrients
You can follow the keto diet by establishing a daily carb limit. Eat keto by restricting foods with high net carbs and fueling up on healthy fats and protein. You keep track of your nutrition by counting macros.
What are macros?
While micronutrients are all the vitamins and minerals that are essential nutrients for our bodies to build and repair, macronutrients are the foods that give your body energy.
There are three forms of macronutrients:
On the ketogenic diet, healthy fats are your best friends. You get 9 calories for every gram of fat.
Examples of healthy fats include plant fats–like olive oil and coconut oil–as well as fatty foods like avocados and animal protein such as butter, ghee, and lard.
Medium Chain Triglycerides (or MCTs) are a form of saturated fat that is able to skip primary digestion and go straight to the liver, where they break down into ketone bodies. They do this whether you’re in ketosis or not.
MCT supplements can help give you the energy boost you would normally turn to carbs for, while also enhancing the benefits of ketosis.
Protein
Protein does not necessarily throw you out of ketosis, but it doesn’t turn into ketones.
You get 4 calories for every gram of protein.
Eat plenty of protein to get your needed calories.
Just keep in mind that the more calories that come from protein, the fewer ketones make it into your blood.
Examples of what is keto diet friendly, quality protein include nuts, seeds, eggs, fresh meat, and seafood.
Carbohydrates
On a typical, non-restricted diet, carbohydrates make up the majority of consumed calories.
On the keto diet, we go to great lengths to restrict the number of net carbs consumed each day.
You get 9 calories for every gram of carbohydrate, but the story doesn’t end there.
Net carbs
Net carbs are calculated by taking the total carbs minus fiber and sugar alcohols.
Fiber, though vital to our digestive health, does not provide calories when eaten. Likewise, sugar alcohols are difficult for the body to digest and do not cause changes in blood sugar levels.
Because of this, most keto diets subtract both fiber and sugar alcohols from total carbs and aim for net carbs per day.
For example, a food may have 15 grams of carbs and 6 grams of fiber–this would mean you only have to record 9 grams of net carbs.
This approach to counting net carbohydrates is important because it makes it possible to include fruits and veggies that might seem to be too high in carbs at first glance.
Low-carb veggies include non-starchy vegetables like leafy greens, cucumbers, broccoli, cauliflower, asparagus, and squash.
Want to make your food choices easy? Check out Kevin’s selection of meal kits and recipes!
This mild but flavorful curry will make a great meal for the entire family! Tender chicken breast strips in a rich and creamy blend of coconut milk, basil and Thai spices.
Thai-style coconut chicken
Step 1: Pick your Keto Diet
Before you embark on your keto journey, it’s important you understand that there are several variations of the keto diet.
Each version has different recommendations for the proportions of fat, protein, and carbs you should aim for each day.
The best approach to keto varies depending on what your goal is.
- The Standard Ketogenic Diet (SKD): The standard ketogenic diet is the form of the diet that most dieters are familiar with. It’s very low-carb, moderate-protein, and high in fat. Your macros stay the same every day. When following the SKD you should aim for no more than 5-10% of your daily calories to come from carbs. Protein should be 15-20% and fat 70-75%.
- The Cyclical Ketogenic Diet (CKD): The cyclical ketogenic diet is a variation on the diet that allows your total carbohydrate intake to vary by the day. The CKD allows for 2 non-consecutive days of higher-carb intake, usually for the sake of athletic performance. By allowing you more carbs (100-150g) the day before an intense workout, your liver is able to store up that glucose and use it to enhance your performance. Keep in mind that 100-150g is still considered low-carb. It’s important that your total energy intake doesn’t exceed the number of calories you’re able to burn during on your carb-heavy days, as the goal is to use up all your glycogen and return to burning fat for fuel as soon as possible.
- The Targeted Ketogenic Diet (TKD): The Targeted ketogenic diet (TKD) is very similar in concept to the cyclical ketogenic diet. The difference is that higher carbohydrate foods are saved for right before workouts, rather than planning an entire day of consuming more carbs. This approach to the ketogenic diet has also been useful for neurological conditions such as narcolepsy and dementia. Ketosis improves cognitive function in these illnesses, and saving carb consumption for periods when it’s less critical to perform (such as before bed) can improve the quality of life for individuals with these crippling conditions.
- The High-Protein Ketogenic Diet (HPKD): The high-protein ketogenic diet is much like the standard keto diet in that you still stick to just 5-10% of your daily calories coming from carbohydrates. But instead of 15-20% of your calories coming from protein, you aim for 30% protein instead, reducing your fat intake to 60-65%. It may not sound like a huge change, but for some people this means double the protein each day!
The HPKD is still a high-fat, low-carb diet and will stabilize your blood sugar, increase your energy, and reduce your cravings. There are just two big differences:
- It’s much easier to implement, as consuming 70%+ of your calories in fat can be difficult.
- Ketosis is harder to get to and maintain. If you have too much protein in your diet, your glucose levels will get too high and your ketone levels will get too low to keep you in ketosis.
HPKD is a good option for men and bodybuilders who are used to eating a lot of protein and are likely to burn through any excess glucose that is generated (yes, protein turns into glucose too).
Want to kickstart your keto journey? Check out this Teriyaki-style Chicken:
Tender chicken breast strips in a sweet and savory teriyaki sauce made with coconut aminos, ginger, and garlic. Add some broccoli, carrots, and riced cauliflower to have a delicious chicken stir-fry bowl.
Teriyaki-style Chicken
Dirty Keto/Lazy Keto
This version of the keto diet keeps things simple.
Just keep your keto carb limit below 5-10% of your daily calories, and eat the rest of your calories in fat and protein.
This version of the diet may not get you all the way into ketosis, but your body still burns fat, and you will still lose weight as long as you don’t overdo it on calories.
This version of low-carb eating can be an excellent stepping stone into or out of a stricter form of the keto diet.
Whatever version of the diet you pick, remember that you’ll likely adjust and find a sweet spot just for you that might not fit any of these templates perfectly. That’s just fine! It’s a starting point.
Step 2: Calculate your Macros
Just like any other diet, you’ll want to consider your fat-loss goals before determining what your daily caloric needs are.
Even if you’re aiming for dramatic results, it’s hard to keep to a daily deficit of more than 1000 calories (-2lbs per week).
This means women shouldn’t aim for lower than 1200-1500 calories per day and men no less than 1500-1800 calories per day.
If in doubt, talk to your doctor about your ideal weight and caloric goals.
How To Do Keto Math
For the sake of simplicity, we’ll walk through calculating macros for a 1500-calorie Standard Ketogenic Diet.
If math isn’t your thing, don’t worry!
Use the calculator/chart below or consult a healthcare professional. [insert table or imbed calculator? If the website doesn’t already have a macros calculator, we should program one]
Calorie goal: 1500
Macro targets: 70% fat, 20% protien, 10% carbohydrates.
Keep in mind that 1g fat = 9 calories, 1g protien = 4 calories, 1g carbs = 4 calories
To calculate how many calories should be carbohydrates, use the following formulas:
Calories from carbs: 1500 calories x 10% = 150 calories
Grams of carbs: 150 calories ÷ 4 calories/gram = 38 grams
To determine your other macros, the formula is the same:
Calories from protein: 1500 calories x 20% = 300 calories
Grams of protein: 300 calories ÷ 4 calories/gram = 38 grams
Calories from fat: 1500 calories x 70% = 1050 calories
Grams of fat: 1050 calories ÷ 9calories/gram = 117grams
Remember that these are targets and that those targets may shift with time!
Step 3: Test for Ketosis
Is your keto macro ratio working?
One of the first clues that you’re probably on the right track is a condition called keto flu.
Keto Flu
The Keto flu is a collection of symptoms you may experience as your metabolism shifts into ketosis. Symptoms include:
- Bad breath
- Brain fog
- Fatigue
- Loss of Apetite
- Nausea
- Weight loss
Most of these symptoms subside in just a week or two, at which point you should start feeling the more positive effects of ketosis. These include:
- Clearer thinking
- More energy
- Better mood
- Fewer cravings
But just feeling a certain way doesn’t mean your ketone levels are where you want them to be. The only way to know for sure is to actually measure your ketone levels.
There are several different ways to do this.
3 Ways to Test for Ketosis
The most accurate way to check your ketone levels is with a blood test, but this isn’t always practical.
Breathalyzers are being researched and may hit the market soon.
The most convenient way to check your ketone levels is with a urine test, which is available at most drug stores. [possible affiliate link?]
Conclusion: Stick With It
If you’re struggling to reach ketosis, or it’s just taking you a long time to adjust to a very low carb diet, do remember that reducing carb intake will still result in weight loss benefits, even if you don’t quite reach ketosis.
Any diet less than 150 grams of carbs per day is considered low-carb.
On a low-carb diet, insulin drops.
Insulin has many jobs, including telling fat cells to store energy and your kidneys to regulate sodium. This drop in insulin levels is also why low-carb diets help manage insulin sensitivity and diabetes.
As your carb intake decreases, you’ll likely notice that your body is shedding both excess sodium and water, reducing bloating and other signs of water retention.
This loss of water weight is one of the reasons you may see a quick drop in your body weight that then plateaus.
As great as it is to shed all that water, it’s super important that you still consume enough electrolytes like sodium. Replacing electrolytes is the best way to treat and prevent the worst effects of the keto flu.
Ketogenic diets have been demonstrated to be sustainable long-term for many patients who need them. Even folks with terminal cancer have benefited from achieving and maintaining ketosis (source).
For the average person using a ketogenic diet to lose weight, however, the extreme carb restrictions aren’t something they are prepared to sustain for life. As you reach your health and weight loss goals, carbs can be reintroduced into a balanced diet, but you’ll always want to keep your carb intake a bit lower than it probably was before your keto diet.
Whether you are starting a keto diet, are a low-carb veteran, a healthy meal delivery service can make eating keto easy so don’t forget to check out Kevin’s amazing selection of entrees and meal kits!
10 commandments of the keto diet, the basics of the keto diet that you need to know
4. 5/5 – (15 votes)
I have long wanted to write something concise on this topic. One that you can print and carry with you. In general, the basics of a keto diet in 60 seconds:
Keto diet proportions
Basic keto macronutrient ratio:
- 60-75% of calories from fat,
- 15-30% of calories come from protein and
- 5-10% calories from net carbs
Getting Started on a Keto Diet
I’ll talk about this separately, but for now you cut carbohydrates, starches, grains and sugar from food and from your head. At all.
Review the keto food list.
Start by cutting your carbohydrate intake (total carbohydrates without fiber) to 20-30 grams daily. Don’t be afraid to drastically cut carbs. It is better to remove all your usual carbohydrates from your diet. Most can stay in ketosis (the body’s natural state of using breakdown products of fat rather than carbs for energy) on 20-30 grams of net carbs per day. A limit of 50 carbohydrates is also suitable for someone, but it is better to increase gradually and slowly. Over time, you will find a carb limit that allows you to stay in ketosis.
Read more of my hit on 11 secrets to successfully starting a keto diet.
We eat and love protein
Keep your protein intake moderate, but don’t starve, don’t be afraid of protein. Strive to ensure that protein-rich foods, quality meat or fish are in the diet every day. If protein intake is too low, troubles like hair loss will begin.
Adding good fats
On keto, we increase the proportion of calories that come from healthy fats (saturated, omega-3, monounsaturated). We eat butter, fry in ghee, bacon fat, lard, coconut oil. Add extra virgin olive oil, avocado oil to salads. It is fats that give us a long-lasting feeling of satiety. We DO NOT eat sunflower, linseed, other seed oils. And no margarine, trans fats, hydrogenated fats.
Don’t overeat anything
If your net carb limit is very low (20 grams or less), avoid fruits and desserts, even those that are low in carbs. Keto baked goods, nuts, cheese are all easy to overeat. Avoid them at the start of a keto diet, or eat them infrequently and minimally.
We do not eat sweets
We do not eat sugar and all its types. Honey, agave syrup, cane sugar, coconut sugar, glucose, dextrose, etc. Sometimes we use sweeteners: stevia, erythritol. But not at the beginning of the diet for sure. I am 9I haven’t eaten anything sweet for months. No stevia with erythritol, and you can do it, I’m sure.
How many times a day to eat on a keto diet
Eat when you are hungry, even if it is one meal a day. Do not adapt to the 5 meals a day of relatives and children.
You don’t need to deliberately limit the amount of food you eat, but you should stop eating when you feel full, even if the plate is not empty – leave it, put the rest of the food in the refrigerator.
Do I need to count calories on a keto diet
Don’t count calories – listen to your body, including hunger and satiety signals. Ketogenic and low carb diets have a natural appetite control effect and you will eat less.
If you are trying to figure out where and how much proteins, fats and carbohydrates are contained for the first time, then try counting macronutrients through applications. Fat Secret Lifesum.
A food diary is very helpful. Just a sheet of paper, date, time, what and how much they ate. Keeping a diary or using a BJU app helps when starting a keto diet or if you’re struggling to lose weight. When you figure it out, immediately drop the calculations with a clear conscience.
Ketone measurement is optional
No, not required, but required if the ketogenic diet is the treatment protocol for you. But then the doctor himself will tell you about it and tell you what and how to measure and count.
More water and more salt
Increase the amount of water you drink – at least 2-3 liters per day. You will be thirsty, drink. If you have been on a salt-free diet before and are used to the taste of food without salt, start salting again. Himalayan pink salt is great, but any salt will do.
And even more knowledge! Read books about the keto diet in Russian or in English. Ask questions in the comments, on Instagram, via Facebook.
How many carbohydrates can you eat per day?
- This entry was published on: 06/25/2014
- Post Category: How to lose weight? / Articles
- Post author: lchf.ru
It’s largely up to you – how strict are you going to stick to the LCHF principles, what is your starting weight, how fast do you plan to lose weight and by how much (and whether you plan to lose weight or just want to get rid of sugar addiction for example) .
There is this very average concept: the most strict version of the LCHF or keto diet allows you to consume no more than 10 grams per day, the average version – up to 25 grams, and the free version – up to 50 grams of carbohydrates. Usually, 20-50 grams per day accumulates even from foods that are not rich in carbohydrates – vegetables, fruits, nuts and milk. And by the way, even the most liberal version of the LCHF suggests that we get carbohydrates from vegetables, fruits and berries, whole dairy and sour-milk products, nuts, a small amount of root vegetables, in short, from foods with a low glycemic index – their consumption does not lead to a strong spike in blood sugar. Wheat flour and cereals, bread and pastries, sugar and sugary drinks should be avoided in any case.
Another way of calculating is related to the percentage of calories obtained from carbohydrates. When following the LCHF, this figure varies between 5-10%. If you stick to an average intake of approximately 2,000 kcal per day, then carbohydrates should give you no more than 200 kcal. Because one gram of carbohydrates contains about 4 kcal, then we get all the same 50 grams. But if you are involved in intensive sports, or your work is associated with heavy physical exertion, then your need for energy can be much higher – and three and four thousand calories. In this case, you can consume more carbohydrates, but be careful not to go beyond 10% of all calories. Well, besides, make sure you don’t overeat. LCHF allows you to eat as much as you need to fill up, but, unfortunately, not everyone is able to stop in time. This often happens in people who are already very overweight. In such cases, try to plan your diet more carefully to avoid overeating.
However, even if you end up getting more than 10% of your daily calories from carbohydrates, but gradually reduce their amount and refuse at least the most harmful refined carbohydrates, this can also make sense. Even diets that restrict carbohydrates to 20% of the total calories technically fall under the definition of low-carb and they also work. It’s just that you will most likely lose weight more slowly than on a strict keto diet, but this, like much else in our body, is largely determined by individual characteristics.
Low carb LCHF products in our online store
See also:
What they eat here
Healthy starch: it is still there .