This free keto macro calculator will help you figure out how much fat, protein, and carbs you should eat on the keto diet for your size.
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In today's post, I am going to share everything you need to know about calculating your macros when starting a low carb diet and how to use a free keto macro calculator to do just that.
🌟 What are macros?
The word macros is short for macronutrients. There are three categories of macros that people need to track if they want to stay in ketosis - protein, fat, carbs.
Here is a little introduction to these three macros.
- Carbohydrates - Includes sugars, starches, and fibers. They are found in grains, starchy vegetables, beans, dairy products, and fruit.
- Fats - These have the most calories of all the macronutrients. It provides your body energy. Healthy fats are found in foods like oils, butter, avocado, fish, and nuts.
- Protein - Proteins are the building blocks of muscles. How much protein you need depends on your body's composition, your age, and your overall health. Protein-rich foods include eggs, meat, beans, and tofu.
🔢 Calculating macros on the keto diet
There are lots of factors that change how much of each macro your body needs.
- Do you want to lose weight?
- Do you need to just maintain your weight?
- What is your age and activity level?
While it's possible to take all of this into account and calculate your macros on your own, I took all the hard work out of it! The easiest way to figure out how many macros you need is to use my keto macro calculator.
After you figure out how many macros you need, you can start tracking them in your meals.
📒 Instructions
Here's how to use the keto calculator to determine your optimum daily macros:
First, choose which measurements you want - metric or US customary. Then, fill out all the fields as accurately as you can.
After all the fields are completely filled out, the results will automatically populate.
There are four different amounts of macros that will populate at the bottom of the calculator - maintenance (if you want to maintain weight) and three weight loss options. Choose the one that most closely resembles your weight loss goals.
🧮 Free Keto Macros Calculator
Here's the free keto macros calculator. Fill it in and discover exactly how many macros you should be eating every day.
Ageyears
Weightstones lbs
Heightfeet inches
Body fat%
Net carbsgrams
Specify the amount of daily net carbs you'd like to consume. Typically, 20-30 grams is recommended to start with.
Results
Maintenance
Maintenance level is the level at which your weight remains stable.
| Your BMR is: | 1536 | kcal |
| Calories to consume: | 2027 | kcal |
| Your fat intake should be: | 184 | grams |
| Net Carbs | Protein | Fat | |||
| 25 | grams | 69 | grams | 184 | grams |
| 100 | kcal | 275 | kcal | 1653 | kcal |
| 5 | % | 14 | % | 81 | % |
Goal
Below is a range of calorie deficits to help you lose weight. For best results, it is recommended that you opt for a moderate calorie deficit of 10-20%.
Small calorie deficit (11%)
| Calories to consume: | 1804 | kcal |
| Your fat intake should be: | 159 | grams |
| Net Carbs | Protein | Fat | |||
| 25 | grams | 69 | grams | 159 | grams |
| 100 | kcal | 275 | kcal | 1430 | kcal |
| 6 | % | 15 | % | 79 | % |
Moderate calorie deficit (22%)
| Calories to consume: | 1581 | kcal |
| Your fat intake should be: | 134 | grams |
| Net Carbs | Protein | Fat | |||
| 25 | grams | 69 | grams | 134 | grams |
| 100 | kcal | 275 | kcal | 1207 | kcal |
| 6 | % | 17 | % | 77 | % |
Large calorie deficit (33%)
| Calories to consume: | 1358 | kcal |
| Your fat intake should be: | 109 | grams |
| Net Carbs | Protein | Fat | |||
| 25 | grams | 69 | grams | 109 | grams |
| 100 | kcal | 275 | kcal | 984 | kcal |
| 7 | % | 20 | % | 73 | % |
🙋 FAQs
This keto macro calculator is really simple to use and will help you understand how much to eat each day. If you have any questions about it, please leave them in the comments.
Here are some common questions most people might have about macros on the keto diet.
What is a lazy keto diet?
The lazy keto diet is one where people don't track their macros, they just try to estimate how much of each type of food they should eat.
Calculating and tracking macros takes time - so it's no surprise that people fall into lazy keto. The problem is that if losing weight is your goal, it's hard to do on a lazy keto diet.
If you don't eat enough fat, you won't go into ketosis and your body won't burn fat for energy.
How do I figure out my body fat percentage?
In order to get you the most accurate macros possible, you need to know your body fat percentage. If you have more body fat, you will need to eat more healthy fats. This is because it will keep you full longer and it will train your body to burn more fat as fuel.
If you have a scale that measures body fat, that is the easiest way to do it. If you don't, you can still calculate it manually. You'll need a measuring tape and this body fat calculator.
What is a calorie deficit?
Part of my keto macro calculator tells you how much of a deficit you should maintain in order to lose weight. A calorie deficit means that you are burning more calories than you consume.
You need to stay within a healthy deficit or else your body will go into starvation mode and lose less weight.
Why is activity level important for macros?
How active you are affects the minimum number of calories your body will burn in a day. Really active people will naturally burn more calories than sedentary people.
What is the best macro ratio for the keto diet?
Ratios change based on your activity levels and a bunch of other factors. This is why the free calculator is so important. It already figures all of that out for you and tells you the ratios based on your answers.
There are some general ratios that most people use. Here is what most people follow on keto:
- 70-80% Fat - 165 grams
- 5-10% Carbs - 40 grams
- 10-20% Protein - 75 grams
Why should I eat such a small amount of carbs?
There are lots of benefits of eating low carb foods on the keto diet.
The main idea behind this is that when your body stops burning carbs for fuel, it starts to burn fat for energy instead. This leads to weight loss and a bunch of other health benefits too.
Is eating too much protein on a low-carb diet bad?
Experts agree that a good range of protein to eat on a low-carb diet is about 0.7-0.9 grams per pound of body weight.
If you eat too much protein, it can actually prevent you from going into ketosis. Your body will start burning the protein as energy instead of fats.
📚 Macro-friendly low-carb recipes
After you have used my keto macro calculator to figure out the number of macros you need when starting the keto diet, then you probably want some recipes that are so easy, you can make them without thinking.
These are some of my favorite quick keto recipes that take less than 30 minutes to prep.
- Air Fryer Steak has just a few steps and tastes like a juicy steak from your favorite restaurant.
- Keto Chicken Cordon Bleu Casserole is a really simple dinner idea that only takes 30 minutes to make.
- Keto Pepper Steak is a really easy low-carb beef stir fry with lots of spice and flavor. Serve it with cauliflower rice!
- Mexican Zucchini And Ground Beef Skillet is a super-simple dinner recipe that you can make in one skillet.
- Low-Carb Broccoli Cheese Soup is a very filling meal that you can make with just a few easy ingredients.
★ FOLLOW ME ON FACEBOOK, PINTEREST, AND INSTAGRAM FOR MORE EASY KETO RECIPES.
Thresa
New to this and trying to educate myself. Why would you use "Grams"?? IE : 70-80% Fat - 165 grams
5-10% Carbs - 40 grams
10-20% Protein - 75 grams
This is the USA and we do not measure in Grams so that information is useless. Need Ounces, Pounds, Calories--what the heck is a kcal? More confused than before I started.
Lisa MarcAurele
kcal label is the same as US Calories in the recipe card.
AE
The link for your "free macro calculator" is no longer working. After ordering your books, I had been using the the different deficit macros to simplify and help my mother understand. Are you able to fix this?
Lisa MarcAurele
Sorry about that. It should work now.
Lea van der Westhuizen
Wonderful
sam
FINALLY!!! Lisa, thank you soooo much! I have been STUCK in a plateau for months and could not figure out the "why"... I got so accustomed to Lazy Keto and IF that I lowered my fat consumption along with my carbs and didn't put 2 and 2 together until I re-read the BIGGEST asset to staying in ketosis...FAT!!! UGGGHHH What a Whack-a-Doodle! This has been driving me crazy!!
thank youuuu you are the BEST!!!
sam
Lisa MarcAurele
Hope you are losing again now that you've rechecked your optimal macros!
Karla
I am more confused than ever- Trying to figure out my macros etc.
Karla
Let me rephrase. Starting the KETO and realizing I have no clue what Im doing. So, Im trying to input info into My Fitness Pal to calculate less than 25 carbs a day but Im so confused on the proteins and fats (and macros) Thanks so much for all your recipes- This will make my journey so much easier
Lisa MarcAurele
The easiest way to track macros is to use a mobile app that is made specifically for keto.
Nicole
Hi Lisa, I'm just wondering if I should check my macros again when I lose a lot of weight, like in a month or so. What do you think? or what did/do you do?
I started Keto before C-19. I didn't lose much weight but did lose ~12" around my waist, high blood pressure, cellulite, heel spurs and plantar fascitis, most of my heartburns and anxiety. I now realize that my problem was that I wasn't checking my macros and probably not getting enough fat. Now, after a 3-month break, I'm starting over again.
Lisa MarcAurele
I do think it's a good idea to check your macros again after weight loss. You need to consume less calories the lighter you are.
Nicole
Thanks! I didn't know for sure.
Veronica
Hi Lisa, have you ever tried any vegan keto recipes?
I purchased your latest cook book back in April, however went vegan shortly after. I was a vegetarian, and modified some recipes. It would be nice to see some alternatives.
Lisa MarcAurele
There are some keto vegan recipes on the site and there will be more in the second cookbook.
Eileen keiser
I cant figure how many calories i should eat. All it says is kcals?????? It says 1542 kcals which is 1542000 cal.
Lisa MarcAurele
When you see kcals, it's calories not kilo-calories.
Romani
Hi,
Thank you for all of your tips and recipes!
I had gastric bypass surgery 3 years ago and need to consume 100-125g of protein per day. Does this mean I am not a good candidate for Keto? I've done low carb for a long time. The less carbs the better for controlling what is left of my diabetes. The diabetes is basically gone but I consider it in remission instead since I know how it can creep back up.
Thanks for your help!
Lisa MarcAurele
In my opinion, a low carb diet with higher protein rather than fat will suit you better. I've also found that limiting fat in a low carb diet does better for me as I've aged. So I don't follow the keto macro recommendations since it's too much fat for me.
Romani
Thank you, Lisa!
Fran
I bought ur book n love it
I've lost 31 lbs in 3 months an have never felt better. Still have a long way
To go
Thank you
Fran
Lisa MarcAurele
Thanks for the note and sharing your amazing keto success story!
Jill
Lisa, I’m in my mid-40s and have been in keto for several years. It was always a struggle for me to lose weight on keto despite obsessively logging my food consumption to meet macro and calorie goals. For the last couple of years, I’ve slowly been gaining weight so that I’m now at the weight I was before I went on keto. I’m intrigued by your statement about the keto macro goals being too high in fat as you age. Could you elaborate on how you determine what to eat?
Lisa MarcAurele
Since your metabolism slows down as you age, you should be cutting back on calories. Fat is very calorie dense so you don't need as much as you age or if you have fat stores to burn. I determine what I should be eating by using the calculator, tracking, and what works as I go. Every body is unique so you need to make choices based on what's been working (or not working) for you. Wishing you the best!
Catherine
thank you very much for the information