Keto Macro Percentages: What Are They and How to Meet Them
If you’re familiar with keto you know that a standard ketogenic diet (SKD) calls for macro ratios of high-fat, low-carbs, and moderate protein. But you may still be wondering what those keto macro percentages look like, and how they break down into total grams of fat, carbs, and protein.
In this article, we’ll explore standard keto macros, along with the keto macro percentages of popular variations of the keto diet. We’ll also look at some of the food choices that will help you meet your ideal keto macro ratios.
The TKD allows for an additional 20-30 grams of carbs that athletes consume immediately before and after high exertion activities. This works out to between 70-80 grams of carbs per day.
These carbs are most often consumed in the form of low toxin fruits like berries, watermelon, and cantaloupe.
Cyclical Keto Diet (CKD) Macro Percentages
Cyclical keto diet macro percentages: 75% fat, 15-20% protein, 5-10% carbs on keto days. 25% fat, 25% protein, 50% carbs on off days.
Keto cycling means cycling in and out of ketosis, allowing people to eat more carbs on the “off days.” The CKD is less restrictive, which for some people makes it more sustainable. However, it can also cause challenges when it comes to kicking carb addiction, making it harder for some people to stick with.
The keto days are often concentrated into a span of 5 consecutive days between two consecutive non-keto days. This allows people to time their diets around traditional holidays and celebrations when partaking in various high-carb foods is culturally and socially expected.
For the best results, the carbs on both keto and non-keto days should come from unprocessed sources like fruit and even from pure sugar found in keto ice cream and other unprocessed sweets. Its best to avoid all processed foods and grains which can be high in plant toxins and antinutrients.
High-Protein Keto Diet (HPKD) Macro Percentages
People who chose a high protein keto diet claim to follow it for three key reasons:
- It’s is easier to follow in the long run
- It helps build and maintain lean muscle mass
- When you are adapted to keto, your body becomes more efficient at using ketones and requires less fat to fuel their production. This is why many people well adapted to keto show slightly lower ketone levels than beginners: (.6 – .8 mmol).
It was once believed that eating high amounts of protein on keto would result in blood sugar levels that will inhibit the body from creating ketones. This is due to a process called gluconeogenesis where the body converts protein into glucose.
However, the high-protein keto diet is still a high-fat diet. And there is little risk of overdoing the protein when following HPKD macro ratios: 60-65% fat, 30% protein, 5-10% carbs
This works out to around 120 grams of protein per day provided by 2 8-ounce servings of keto meat, and fatty fish, and around 130 grams of fat per day. Carbs are still restricted to less than 10% of daily calories.
How Do I Add More Fat to My Keto Macro Percentages?
Consuming healthy keto fats is the cornerstone of a well-formulated keto diet. Remember that across all the diets outlined above, you will need to get between 60 and 80% of your calories from fat.
Here are a few strategies to incorporate more fats into your diet:
1 Fattier Meats
Focusing on fatty meats is the easiest way to boost your fat intake. Bacon and pork belly are cheap keto mainstays packed with whole food fats. 80/20 ground beef is another affordable staple, while an un-trimmed ribeye steak is the king of keto meats for many people.
2 Add Fats to your Meals
Just a few tablespoons of tallow, butter, ghee, coconut, and olive oil can boost meals with lean meats like poultry and fish into optimum keto macro percentages.
3 Add Fats To Your Beverages
Adding MCT oil or butter to coffee and tea is a great way to boost your fat intake. You can also try making your latte with heavy whipping cream.
Keto Macro Percentages: The Bottomline
Keto macro percentages offer guidelines for choosing the foods that will meet your fat, carb, protein ratios, helping you enter ketosis, and keeping your body producing ketones in the long run.
Standard keto macros are roughly 70-80% fat, 15-20% protein, and 5-10% carbs. Various other versions of the keto diet allow some flexibility with the macro percentages, but all are high fat, moderate protein, and low carb.