What Are Macrontrients? 

Following a ketogenic diet, you focus on macronutrients – nutritional compounds required by your body.  In order to achieve maximum health benefits and to lose weight when following a ketogenic diet, it is important to have your macronutrients calculated (and adhered to).  This means that you are allocated a maximum number of fat, protein, and carbohydrate grams to consume each day.

Each macronutrient varies in the number of calories that it contains:

• 1 gram of fat has 9 calories
• 1 gram of protein has 4 calories
• 1 gram of carbohydrates has 4 calories

Recall that, when following a ketogenic diet, our caloric intake is as follows:

• Fats – 70%
• Proteins – 25%
• Carbohydrates – 5%

We use these percentages to calculate daily macros.  Don’t be concerned if the calculations below are confusing.  Simply understand that these calculations tell us how many grams of fat, protein, and carbs can be consumed within a 24-hour period.  For example, on a 1600 calorie/day:

• Fat: 70% of 1600 = 1120 calories/9= 124g of fat/day
• Protein: 25% of 1600 = 400 calories/4= 100g of protein/day
• Carbs: 5% of 1600 calories= 80 calories/4= 20g of Carbs.

To lose weight, it isn’t enough to simply calculate macronutrients based on the calories that you are currently eating each day.  Your macronutrients have to be calculated based on your current weight, daily activity level, and weight loss goals.

In terms of macros and meeting them, there are some key things to remember:

• Protein macros should be met every day – but try to never go over 30% or the extra protein could be converted to body fat or glucose.
• Fat is a lever – only eat more if you are hungry. You don’t have to meet your fat macros.  When first starting keto, however, you should try to meet your fat macros

• Carbohydrates – try hard, very hard,  to never go over your set limit.

Calculating Macronutrients (Macros)

How does one calculate calorie and macro numbers for weight loss?  There are 2 methods – online calculators or manual calculations.  We’re going to use an online calculator.  

Calories are key.  To lose fat, we need to be in a calorie deficit.  We also need to ensure that our macros align with those recommended for keto:  70% fat, 25% protein, and 5% carbs.

Try googling ‘keto macro calculators’ and your search will reveal a number of different options.  I don’t think that any one is better than the other.  They are all the same thing and, for the most part, when you input your data, give you nearly identical numerical results.  That being said, my go-to calculator comes from the Ruled.me website.

Body Fat Percentage

One of the questions that you have to answer when using an online calculator is your body fat percentage.  Most online calculators are automatically set to 25%, but can be adjusted.  If you purchase a smart scale, it will likely have features that show you additional information (BMI, body fat %, fat-free body weight, subcutaneous fat, visceral fat, body water, skeletal mass, muscle mass, bone mass, protein, BMR, and metabolic age).  I use the Renpho Scale.  I absolutely love it! 

What if you don’t have a smart scale that calculates your body fat percentage?  One option is to take an educated guess … by referring to a ‘Body Fat Visual Calculator’.

Activity Level

You also need to input your activity level when using online macro calculators.  The standard rule of thumb with keto is to list your activity level as being sedentary.  The more active you are, the higher your metabolism and the more calories you burn.  By stating activity level as sedentary, your macros and calories are adjusted for maximum fat loss.

Goal?

Online calculators also ask your goal; lose weight, maintain, or gain muscle?  We’re all likely in the ‘lose weight’ category.  When you select lose weight as your goal, online calculators ask you to identify a calorie ‘deficit’.  I’d recommend that you input 20%.  Never go above 30% as this can backfire.  Your body may go into protection mode and want to hold onto all excess fat.

Net Grams of Carbs

You will then be asked how many net grams of carbs you want to intake each day.  Until you have been following the keto lifestyle for a long time and have reached your goal weight, you should indicate 20 net grams of carbs.

Protein

You will also be required to input how much protein you want to consume each day.  I recommend inputting 0.6 grams (0.6 m- 0.8 is standard for the sedentary activity level).

And Voila!

Once this information is input, the online calculators work their magic and spew out your recommended number of daily calories and fat, protein, and carb grams.  You then take these numbers and input them into your tracking app (MyFitnessPal, Carb Manager, etc.).

Side-note:  Calories and macros should be recalculated with every 10 lbs of weight loss.

Weighing Yourself

It’s easy to get obsessed with this!  Try to weigh yourself only once each day.  Some people like to weigh only on Sundays.  As our weight can fluctuate up to 5 lbs in any given day, weighing myself daily and then taking the weekly average seems to give me a most accurate account of weight loss.  For the 10 Week Keto Challenge, we will follow this process; weighing daily and counting our 7-day average as our weight for that week.

I would recommend that you weigh yourself each morning, as soon as you wake up (and after you have gone to the washroom).

Don’t get discouraged if the scale isn’t moving.  Inches are often lost before pounds.