Keto Calculator

Total carbs = everything on the nutrition label. Net carbs = total carbs minus fiber and most sugar alcohols. Fiber doesn't spike insulin and most sugar alcohols (especially erythritol and allulose) pass through your gut largely undigested. So if a keto bar has 12g total carbs, 6g fiber, and 4g erythritol, the net carb count is just 2g. For strict therapeutic keto, count total carbs to be safe.

Once carbs are restricted, your body needs another fuel source — and protein has a catch. Eating too much protein triggers gluconeogenesis, where your liver converts excess amino acids into glucose, partially knocking you out of ketosis. Fat, by contrast, gets cleanly converted into ketones. So fat fills the calorie gap without disrupting ketosis. This is why keto looks "weird" — drizzling olive oil on everything, eating fatty cuts of meat, and adding butter to coffee are how you hit the 70-80% fat target.

For most healthy adults, well-formulated keto is safe for years. Long-term studies (2+ years) show sustained weight loss, improved blood lipids (HDL up, triglycerides down), and lower fasting insulin. Caveats: type-1 diabetics need medical supervision (risk of ketoacidosis), people on diabetes medications need dose adjustments, and those with kidney disease or gallbladder issues should consult a doctor. Pregnant/nursing women, kids, and people with eating disorders should generally avoid keto. Get bloodwork after 3 months to see how your body responds.

Week 1: 2-4 kg — almost entirely water weight. When you cut carbs, your body releases stored glycogen (which holds 3-4g of water per gram of glycogen), so you'll drop several kilos fast. Weeks 2-12: 0.5-1 kg/week of mostly fat, depending on your calorie deficit. Total weight lost over 6 months in studies averages 5-12 kg, but ranges widely. Plateaus are normal — adjust calories down 100-200 or break the diet for a week and resume.

The keto flu is a 3-7 day cluster of symptoms — headache, fatigue, brain fog, irritability, leg cramps, nausea — that hits about half of new keto dieters. Cause: electrolyte loss. As insulin drops, your kidneys flush sodium and water. Fix: aggressively replace electrolytes from day 1. Daily targets: 3-5g sodium (1.5–2 tsp salt), 1g potassium (avocados, leafy greens, salmon), 300-400mg magnesium (almonds, supplement). Drinking salty bone broth twice a day prevents most cases entirely.