How To Properly Plan Your Carbs

Carbs become the bad guy quickly nowadays. 

However, it’s not their fault. 

We often assume it’s their fault and then we want to avoid them as much as possible or even worse, scratch them from our diet completely. 

One of the biggest issues that people overlook is that a lot of “carb” based foods are filled with fat. This means the thermic effect of that food is lower and has more calories than we assume. 

The right amount of carbs can provide a vital role in weight loss and body composition change. 

Here’s the best way to plan carbs in your day: 

1. Know how many calories you consume
   1. A good starting point is your bodyweight x 10, 11 or 12 depending on your weight lost goals.
   2. Your bodyweight x 13, 14, 15 if you want to maintain your bodyweight 
   3. Your bodyweight x 16, 17, 18 if you want to gain weight
   4. This is subject to change if you need to be in more of a caloric deficit and looking for weight los
2. Know your protein first
   1. A good starting point is your bodyweight x .7 = grams per day of protein you could aim for 
3. Know your fat
   1. A good starting point is your bodyweight x .3-.5 (depending on how you want to eat that day) = grams per day of fat you could aim for 
4. Now multiply
   1. Your protein number x 4 = calories of protein you’ll eat per day 
   2. Your fat number x9 = calories of fat you’ll eat per day
5. Add those two numbers in the previous step together and subtract if from your total calorie intake in the first step
6. Take that new number and divide it by 4 = grams of carbs you could aim for a day

Let’s put it into practice: 

1. 200lbs x 10 (weight loss goal) = 2,000 calories/day
2. 200 x .7 = 140 grams of protein
3. 200 x .4 =  80 grams of fat 
4. 140×4= 560 calories of protein, 80×9 = 720 calories of fat
5. 560+720 = 1,280 and 2,000 calories per day – 1,280 = 720 calories left over
6. 720/4 = 180 grams of carbs per day

That is how you can properly plan your carbohydrates per day to get the most out of them. 

If you don’t want that much carbs you could multiply a high protein number and that simply reduces the amount of carbs you would eat. 

Keep in mind this is nutrition planning. No two people are the same. This is just one framework we’ve used to help active people lose, maintain, or gain weight depending on their goal. 

 If you have questions, simply email [email protected]. 

Tim