Keto is very individualized. All the macronutrients will vary person to person depending on where you are starting and your history with nutrition and health.
With that said there are some general guidelines.
1. Carbohydrates with fewer than 50 grams.
This will be total carbs. Some people like hard-charging athletes can get up to 100 or more and still be in nutritional ketosis. Some people might need to be as low as under 10 grams. Myself I typically need to be under 35 to be in ketosis because I am very CHO sensitive due to my bodybuilding days when I consumed between 600-1000 grams of CHO per day.
2. This is not a high protein diet.
I came into keto after following a decade long standard bodybuilding diet (low fat, high carb & protein) then into the Paleo diet, then into nutritional cleansing which I still do, and finally into Keto in July 2014. Protein intake for each averaged around 350 grams to 200 grams to 50-100 grams. I would say my average on Keto is around 70-80. Again this will be dependent on each person. Fat is protein sparing. I said ‘no way’ can I keep my muscle and strength eating that low protein— well, I’m the strongest pound for pound I’ve ever been and have been since starting in July 2014.
3. This is a high fat diet.
When I say high fat I MEAN HIGH FAT! It will vary person to person however it should be a minimum of 150 grams. I typically shoot for 250-300 grams at a body weight of around 175-182. Fat doesn’t make you fat. Total calories usually is at least 70% of total and sometimes can reach as high as 90%.
Again to recap- a whole lot of fat, a moderate amount of protein, and very low carbs. Your primary source of carbs will be coming from green veggies or fibrous ones like cauliflower, nuts/seeds, or good baking flours like coconut.
Going Keto does take some planning and research. You definitely don’t just want to jump in head first with the plan to eat lower carb and higher fat
A good nutrition program is a lifestyle program. Keto is a lifestyle nutrition system. It is not a calorie counting plan.
The premise of the ketogenic diet is to run off of ketones which is created from the fat we eat and also our own body
fat stores. Even the leanest of lean will always have body fat
stores to run off of. Fat is part of our survival mechanism.
We want to stop running off of glucose (or carbohydrates) as our fuel.
"A good nutrition program is a Lifestyle program."