The ketogenic lifestyle boasts many benefits including losing weight (if that's your goal), banishing your brain fog, increasing your energy and protecting you from some of the most prevalent chronic diseases currently afflicting the world.

Once you become fat-adapted via the ketogenic diet your body will have the machinery to effectively burn fat (vs. glucose) as a preferred fuel and BOOM! You are metabolically flexible and you can wave goodbye to the "hangries" forever more.

There are a multitude of health benefits but today's post is a quick tutorial on how to calculate your macros (Carbohydrates, Protein and Fats) to achieve your goals within the Keto lifestyle.

We will focus on the goal of losing fat for this tutorial but you can also use this calculator to determine macros for muscle gain.

For a deeper dive into what keto is and its benefits head on over to @kiwideb 's blog and read her current keto series.

For this tutorial we will be using the Ketogains Calculator.

1. Click the above link to arrive to this screen where you will enter your weight in either pounds or kilograms and your bodyfat percentage. If you don't know your bodyfat percentage click the "How to visually estimate bodyfat %" link and give it your best guess. Ladies, you will have to scroll down on that page to find the visual examples for females.
   _{Don't worry too much about this number - just give it your best guesstimate. Or, if you have a scale that also reads your bodyfat % you can use that. Neither option is really that accurate so an approximation is fine.}




2. In this example, we will be finding the macros for a 150lb (68kg) person with a 32% bodyfat who wants to lose weight.
   
   
   
   After you've filled in your weight and bodyfat % the calculator will give you a guess at your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) or the number of calories your body expends just by living and the Thermic Effect of Food (TEF) calories or how many calories you burn digesting and processing the food you eat.
   
   
   NOTE**
   These are approximated numbers. If your metabolism is compromised or sluggish from years of abuse then these numbers are probably lower.
   
   

   The final number BMR+TEF is the number of calories it takes to keep you exactly where you are now.

   The next section for Activity Level (not counting exercise) should be left as sedentary in most cases, especially if fat loss is your goal.

   If you changed the activity level parameters then The Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE) number will change to show the total number of calories necessary to remain stable in your current condition, otherwise, it will remain the same as the BMR+TEF.

3. Click the radio button for "Lose Fat" and leave the Calorie Deficit percentage at the default 25%.
   
   


4. And Voila! Your macros!
   
   
   Things to note:

   For weight loss leave the Protein Ratio at 0.8, leaving it at the default value protects you from muscle loss. Too little protein and your body will scavenge your muscles for the needed building blocks.
   
   Net Carbs will always be 25 grams. My personal recommendation is to only use the "net" of the net carbs feature for vegetables. In other words, for all carbs except vegetables count all the carb grams. For vegetables, you can take the total carbs in grams and subtract the fiber grams and use that number as the number of carbs. Example: 1 Cup Broccoli has 6 grams of carbs minus 2.4 grams of fiber = 3.6 grams of carbs.
   
   
   
   Another very important note - while the keto diet is often described as a high-fat diet it doesn't mean low protein. It means moderate protein and very low carbs. (Note: I am specifically talking about nutritional ketosis, not therapeutic ketosis which is reserved for the management of medical conditions such as epilepsy, cancer and other neurological disorders)
   
   Therefore, I advise to never go over your carbohydrate gram goal as that can bump you out of ketosis, always hit or exceed your protein goal and eat fat to satiety. Eating in that way forces your body to mobilize its own fat to make up the caloric deficit while protecting your muscle mass.

   Any questions or comments? Please leave them below. And #POWERUP!

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   This has been a part of @cgbartow 's PowerUP Challenge that you can read about here.

   

   Your Task If You Choose to Accept It

   
   

   1. Create a post using 100% powerup
   2. Use the word “powerup” in your title so that others may know what it is instantly
   3. Use the tag #communitygrowthproject as one of your tags on the post that I may upvote you at 100% from both my personal and CGP accounts. Estimate .04 cents upvote
   4. Tag 5 people and add these instructions at the bottom of your post so the Community Growth Project may find and support them as well
   5. Resteem this post to give more awareness to the movement
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   I Challenge:

   @monchhichi23, @svemirac, @eonwarped, @mimismartypants <--see what happens when you mess with me?, and Miss laughs-a-lot @dreemsteem.

   In Peace, Love, and Health
   ~T

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   References:
   All screenshots from Ketogains.com
   Beyond weight loss: a review of the therapeutic uses of very-low-carbohydrate (ketogenic) diets