So we already covered that a Standard Keto Diet consists of 70% Fat, 25% Protein and 5% Carbohydrates. The amount of food you’ll eat will depend on your personal macros. Your personal macros will be calculated from your body fat percentage, weight, and level of daily physical activity.
Body Fat Percentage
First, let’s figure out your body fat percentage. There are many ways to measure your body fat percentage. You can use skin calipers, 3D Body Scans, Dual-Energy X-ray Absorptiometry (DXA), Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis (BIA), but the most effective is a combination of these multiple methods.
For the purpose of calculating macros, using a skin caliper and an online body fat calculator would be the most cost-effective method. It’s not the most accurate, but it’s a good starting point. If you had your body fat% calculated at a gym, please use their reading.
IMPORTANT: You MUST calculate your body fat percentage. Do not just guess a random number. It will affect how the macros will be calculated.
Body Fat Calculator
require | require |
require | |
Your body fat is ......
Description | Women | Men |
---|---|---|
Recommended amount: | 20-25% | 8-14% |
Adults in United States, average : | 22-25% | 15-19% |
Obese : | 30+% | 25+% |
Macros Calculator
Once you have your BF%, you can use our Keto Macros Calculator to determine your macros. You should recalculate your macros every time you lose 10 lbs so that you can adjust your food intake to suit your needs, be it to lose weight or for maintenance. Change the values on the calculator to get
Note for activity level:
Sedentary (no exercise), Lightly Active (1-2 days per week), Moderately Active (3-5 days per week), Very Active (6-7 days per week), and Athlete (2x per day).
The calculator will give you 4 options: MAINTENANCE (if you’ve already reached your goal weight), SMALL deficit (safest but slowest), MODERATE (ideal deficit), and LARGE (fast but not sustainable). Please go with a moderate deficit only, especially if this is your first time doing Keto.
Be kind to your body, let it heal at its own pace. Don’t force it to lose too much too fast, or you run the risk of wearing down your body, and missing out on nutrients and calories that your body needs to thrive. Aim for sustainable weight loss. We didn’t become fat in just a week or a month, so give your body time to lose weight gradually too.
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 | % |
This Keto Macros Calculator is an open-source software developed by The Right Software and
How to Track Your Macros
Depending on what you want to do, lose weight or maintain your weight, you can use it to plan how much you should be eating in a day.
The next thing to do is to familiarize yourself with just how big those quantities really are. For example, a 100g of almonds has 9g of net carbs, so if you eat 100 grams in one day, you’ve already used up half of your

The best way to keep track of what you eat is to use a digital food scale and then log what you eat on a food tracking app like MyFitnessPal or Carb Manager. Do note that when using MyFitnessPal, you have to set your macros (under goals tab), otherwise, it will use a high carb macros for its reports. Personally, I use Carb Manager now since it’s more Keto-centric. I have another post on “How to Track Keto Macros Using Carb Manager“.

It may seem like a lot of work now, but when you become more familiar with what 15ml of cream and 15g of nuts look like, you can eventually ditch the scale and eyeball your food portions. You can also choose to continue tracking your meals and meal prepping, setting specific portions ahead of time to ensure that you don’t go over your carb allowance for the day. Do what feels right for your lifestyle and personality.
Citation:
Tinsley, Grant. “The 10 Best Ways to Measure Your Body Fat Percentage.” Healthline, Healthline Media, Apr. 2018, www.healthline.com/nutrition/ways-to-measure-body-fat#section11.
Next: Tips on Starting Keto