How Much Should I Eat on Keto is not an easy question to answer.
This will depend on a number of factors, but rather than getting overwhelmed, let’s keep it simple to begin with.
Macros on Keto
Related, is what are my macros while on keto, and do I need to know my macros on keto?
For beginners, you don’t have to work out your exact ‘macros’, you can start by substituting your meals for higher fat and lower carb meals straight away.
Approaching macros on Keto in a simple way can often be the best place to start, and you can then fine tune your approach as you learn more about what foods you can eat on keto.
For those with lots of weight to lose or lots of health problems, you will benefit from starting out this way.
It will feel like less of a drastic lifestyle change and you can ease your way in.
A key factor to remember is that percentages aren’t everything. You should be considering the actual grams of what you are eating.
Your carb grams are a limit, your protein grams are a goal and you then use fat as a lever to help you feel more full.
For example, if you have eaten up to your carb limit and met your protein goal, but are still hungry, you should have eaten more fat.
So if you had a chicken breast and some salad for dinner, perhaps you could put some olive oil on your salad and cook your chicken breast in butter.
Or you could swap the chicken breast for chicken thigh, which is naturally higher in fat.
Starting this simple way on Keto is the best way, because it means you won’t get overwhelmed with trying to track every single thing.
Start like this for a few weeks, or a few months, and just eat from the green list.
This can seem a little overwhelming in the beginning. I’ll be covering this in more depth and with video help in my Keto Community.
Calories Per Day On Keto
Once you’ve found out how many calories on keto your body requires, the rest falls in place pretty quickly.
You may use different calories for different days – for example you may need an extra 10% calories for an intense exercise day, and 10% less calories for a quite couch day!
There is a trial and error component to finding the exact calories on keto that your body will respond to, and you can adjust this after trying something for a few weeks and seeing how you feel.
I found once I had lost the majority of the weight I needed to, I had to start to tighten my belt around how much I was consuming and that’s where macros came into play!
If you aren’t sure how many calories you should be eating, I like the Ketogains calculator the best which you can access here: https://ketogains.com/ketogains-calculator/
If you know roughly how many calories a day you should be eating, you can refer to this table to work out how to break that down;
So if you need to consume 1500 calories a day, your Keto macros would look approximately like:
- 125 grams of fat
- 75 grams of protein
- 19 grams of carbohydrates
Remember 70 grams of protein does NOT mean 70 grams of meat. Each meat has different amounts of protein in it, so best to use an online calculator or google. For example, 100 grams of chicken has around 30 grams of protein.
What is TDEE?
Total Daily Energy expenditure, or TDEE, is how much energy your body burns in a day including your exercise.
If your TDEE is 1700 calories, you burn around 1700 calories per day across all of your activities, from sleeping to going to the gym.
So, if you eat 1500 calories of high quality, nutritious food, you will over time lose weight. While I don’t believe in the ‘all calories are created equal’ rhetoric, I do believe that a calorie deficit while eating in a sustainable, nutritious way will lead to weight loss.
4 Steps to Get Started on Keto
Without overwhelming you, there is a lot to learn about keto but you can start simply.
- Print off the green food list from here, https://aussieketoqueen.com/what-can-i-eat-on-keto/,
- Calculate your TDEE
- Create a myfitnesspal account and track your calories and macros loosely (if you wish)
- Get our email notifications to be updated on new recipes and articles
FAQ: How Much Should I Eat On Keto
Q: How many calories can I eat on Keto?
A: While counting calories strictly at the start isn’t always required, it’s good to get an idea on how much you are eating. For most women, calories will usually be around 1400 – 1800 per day but you can use a calculator above to determine where you fit on this.
Q: Are Keto Macros for women different?
A: Yes! Most women don’t need as much protein or calories as men, so it’s important to include your biological sex in the calculators above to work out where you fit.
Q: Can you eat as much as you want on Keto?
A: No. Calories still count – you can’t eat 5kg of fatty steak, even though it’s near 0 carbs, and expect to continue losing weight. While the ‘calorie in, calorie out’ approach has been debunked as too simplistic, our bodies still shouldn’t consume too many calories to allow us to burn fat instead.
Q: Are there any foods I can eat unlimited on Keto?
A: Carbs and calories still count, but I haven’t tracked my salads or vegetables in a long time. I know I’m not going to gain weight from too much broccoli or lettuce!
If you’re feeling a little stuck or overwhelmed, my Preparing for the Ketogenic Diet may assist you:
Remember this is a marathon not a sprint, and will take some trial and error to find what works for YOU.
