Keto Calorie Intake

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melissaentwistle3
melissaentwistle3 Posts: 23 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi - I tried searching, but didn't find what I was looking for. Im trying to calculate what my macros should be for keto. Im currently 135lbs 3'4 and want to tone up. Can someone help guide me?

Replies

  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,565 Member
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    Set your goal to lose half a pound a week. For macros, you may want to check out the Low Carbers Daily group to see what they say.
  • stanmann571
    stanmann571 Posts: 5,728 Member
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    You've got 2 or 3 unrelated questions with very little to go on.

    1. For keto, your primary macro of concern is carbs. Google is your friend
    2. Are you trying to lose scale weight and fat?
    3. Are you trying to build muscle mass?

    Without insight on what your target weight and training program are, your questions about keto are largely irrelevant to the greater question of what are you doing to increase muscle.
  • WholeFoods4Lyfe
    WholeFoods4Lyfe Posts: 1,518 Member
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    Keto is really specific to the person. The most important macro though is carbs. For someone consuming 1200 calories per day, it's best to keep your carbs at between 5-10% at most. For me personally, I shoot for 10% carbs, 60% fat, and 30% protein when I'm doing keto. I had to play around with those numbers to find out what worked best for me.
  • gcminton
    gcminton Posts: 170 Member
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    I'll second the suggestion to check out the LC group here: https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/394-low-carber-daily-forum-the-lcd-group

    If you just want some basic guidance, here's a calculator you can use to get a starting point: https://www.ruled.me/keto-calculator

    The above website has a lot of other general keto information that you may find helpful, but a lot of it is going to depend on your specific goals. You'll probably end up tweaking the numbers a bit as you go along.
  • jenna_nicolo
    jenna_nicolo Posts: 62 Member
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    If you're looking to tone up, I would make protein your primary focus (i.e. try to hit it every day) and worry about fats next. For Keto, the standard target is typically 20g net carbs or less, this is usually 5-10% of your calorie goal. For LCHF, you could probably get away with 50ish g net carbs or less, or up to 20% of your cal goal. Hit that protein though :smile:
  • Running_and_Coffee
    Running_and_Coffee Posts: 811 Member
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    I'm 5'4 and the exact same weight on keto. My diary is open. I shoot for under 1400 calories a day (usually hit around 1350) and I follow the macros from ketogains.com, which has me at under 20 net carbs. My diary is open if you want to check me out.
  • catravis
    catravis Posts: 2 Member
    edited May 2018
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    I've been on Keto for about 6 months, and have found a few good tools. to find your macros, I suggest using the calculator at Keto Connect (https://www.ketoconnect.net/calculator/). If your looking to tone up I'd suggest selecting the gain or maintain options and putting a 5 to 10% modifier in the calculator. I'm 6' and 145 lbs, and this suggests about 2200 to 2400 for muscle growth, for you I'd expect something closer to 1700 or 1800.

    If your just starting keto, I'd suggest checking out Dr Berg, Thomas DeLauer, and Healthful Pursuit on youtube for tips. And don't focus on the scale so much when you start - if you're like most people you'll lose fat but gain weight for a bit as your muscles rebuild themselves.

    Edit:
    I ran your numbers in with a 20% body fat and 5% calorie modifier for muscle growth and came up with this:
    Total Cal: 1885
    Carb: 20g (80 C)
    Protein: 86.4g (345 C)
    Fat: 162.24g (1460 C)

    That'll be about 0.8 g of protein per lb of body weight. For more rapid muscle growth I'd go with 1 g / lb of protein, but not much more as excess can promote fat storage.
  • melissaentwistle3
    melissaentwistle3 Posts: 23 Member
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    catravis wrote: »
    I've been on Keto for about 6 months, and have found a few good tools. to find your macros, I suggest using the calculator at Keto Connect (https://www.ketoconnect.net/calculator/). If your looking to tone up I'd suggest selecting the gain or maintain options and putting a 5 to 10% modifier in the calculator. I'm 6' and 145 lbs, and this suggests about 2200 to 2400 for muscle growth, for you I'd expect something closer to 1700 or 1800.

    If your just starting keto, I'd suggest checking out Dr Berg, Thomas DeLauer, and Healthful Pursuit on youtube for tips. And don't focus on the scale so much when you start - if you're like most people you'll lose fat but gain weight for a bit as your muscles rebuild themselves.

    Edit:
    I ran your numbers in with a 20% body fat and 5% calorie modifier for muscle growth and came up with this:
    Total Cal: 1885
    Carb: 20g (80 C)
    Protein: 86.4g (345 C)
    Fat: 162.24g (1460 C)

    That'll be about 0.8 g of protein per lb of body weight. For more rapid muscle growth I'd go with 1 g / lb of protein, but not much more as excess can promote fat storage.

    Amazing! Thank you. So thoughtful to share this much information!
  • melissaentwistle3
    melissaentwistle3 Posts: 23 Member
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    Running_and_Coffee wrote: »
    I'm 5'4 and the exact same weight on keto. My diary is open. I shoot for under 1400 calories a day (usually hit around 1350) and I follow the macros from ketogains.com, which has me at under 20 net carbs. My diary is open if you want to check me out.

    Totally checking this out! Thank you!

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