Carbs Calculator

1. How to use the carbs calculator?
2. How much carbs do you need?
3. Recommended carbohydrate intake for athletes
4. Carbohydrates in common diets
5. Obesity and carbohydrate intake
6. What are carbs?
7. Slow carbs vs fast carbs
8. Foods with high carbohydrate content

* 1 Calorie equals 1 kcal which equals 1,000 calories.

    How to use the carbs calculator?

Based on your input the carbohydrates calculator first estimates your total daily energy expenditure (TDEE) using the Mifflin, St Jeor et al. ^[6] formula. Based on that and on your preferred percentage of carbs from your overall food intake, it calculates how much carbohydrates (carbs) you have to eat per day in ounces or grams (and calories).

The information our online carb intake calculator requires consists of your age, gender, height, weight and level of physical activity. The last thing you need to input is the percentage of total calories you want to derive from carbs. For reference, you can check a list of carbs in common diets below. When you click "Calculate" the carbohydrate intake calculator will show you the amount (in ounces or grams) and caloric equivalent of the carbs you need to eat on a daily basis.

This information can help you make a more informed choice about your diet. For those wanting to lose weight or gain weight the tool provides guidance on the approximate amount of reduction or increase in carb intake that would be needed.

    How much carbs do you need?

Eating enough carbs as a part of your overall daily diet is important. Typically, 50-60% of a person's diet consist of carbohydrates in one form or another ^[1]. This amounts to about 300 grams (10 ounces) daily for an average 70 kg (154 lbs) person. Using our carbohydrate calculator, you can easily estimate the amount of carbohydrates required based on your personal metrics.

    Recommended carbohydrate intake for athletes

According to Kerksick (2019) ^[2] "Carbohydrates serve as the primary fuel for working muscles during exercise, particularly as the intensity of exercise increases". This is because carbohydrates are the only macronutrient that can provide large amounts of energy using the anaerobic metabolic process.

For a long time the recommended proportion of carbs for more physically active people was 60% of daily calories. During periods of intense training the percentage can be as high as 70%. It is also common advice to heavily load on carbohydrates before a training session. Such advice is present in Williams (1995) ^[3]. According to the same paper the recommended amount of carbs for optimal physical performance is:

• For endurance athletes: 6–10g/kg body weight per day
• For strength athletes: 3.9–8.0g/kg body weight per day

Increased carb intake is not necessary or beneficial

A recent narrative review by Noakes (2022) ^[4] challenges the prevalent advice and the general understanding of the role of carbohydrates in muscle function. His review concludes that "there is little if any evidence that high-carbohydrate diets are essential for superior athletic performance" ^[4]. Regarding pre-workout carb loading he concludes that "quite small amounts of carbohydrate, ingested before or during exercise, are required to ensure that hypoglycemia does not develop during exercise. Ingesting more than that amount will not produce a superior outcome".

Hypoglycemia

That said, if you train hard and long, glucose in the blood may drop below normal levels leading to hypoglycemia. Symptoms of its moderate form include weakness, hunger, dizziness, and neurologic fatigue and can be alleviated if you stop the effort and by consumption of carbohydrates. Starvation has the same initial symptoms. Having enough carbs also spares protein in your tissues, which is otherwise used as an energy source during prolonged exercise or series of intense training sessions.

    Carbohydrates in common diets

Our carb calculator allows you to specify any percentage of carbohydrates from your total daily calories. Here are some references from popular diets that can be useful as reference.

Carbs in common diets

Diet	Fats
High Carb	60%
DASH Diet	55%
Moderate Diet	50%
Zone Diet	40%
Low Carb	25%
Keto Diet	15%

    Obesity and carbohydrate intake

There is a possible link between weight gains and excessive insulin production as a response to rapid carbs. In such cases glucose oxidation takes place at the expense of fatty acid oxidation, and it also stimulates fat storage in adipose tissue. Alternating between high and low blood sugar levels is especially dangerous for sedentary obese people. Physical activity is highly recommended, as even low-to-moderate one can improve insulin sensitivity, stimulates fatty acid oxidation and results in weight loss.

Carbohydrates are also a "primer" in the body's utilization of fat to produce energy, which is why you sometimes hear that fat burns in a carb flame. Without enough carbs you may not be able to burn fats as efficiently, which is yet another reason to use a carbs calculator to estimate your recommended daily carb intake.

However, numerous meta-analyses show no evidence that reducing the proportion of carbs in a diet improves weight loss compared to other types of diets such as low fat diets.^[1]. So, reducing the proportion of carbs in your diet is not recommended as a way to lose weight, although there might be "potential cardiovascular benefit from the macronutrients and not the weight loss" ^[1].

You should consult a nutritionist or physician who is familiar with your health condition and medical history, before significant dietary interventions. Note that our carbohydrates intake calculator does not make any recommendations for the portion of carbohydrates in your dietary mix, it only estimates the calories you need to consume in carbs in different scenarios.

    What are carbs?

Carbohydrates, or carbs, are a building block of all living cells in the human body and most dietary carbs come from plants - fruits and vegetables. Carbohydrates are a key macronutrient. They are an excellent energy source in the form of bloodborne glucose and muscle glycogen, and work especially well for high-intensity physical efforts. Carbs are also used by the central nervous system, with the liver serving as regulator of normal blood glucose levels.

A major subset are the monosaccharides, which come from fructose and glucose and are used directly by cells for energy. When not used, they are stored as glycogen in the muscle fibers and the liver, or converted to fats for longer-term storage. Monosaccharides also participate in the synthesis of non-essential amino acids (amino acids the body can produce itself).

Disaccharides are another type of simple sugar and all of them contain glucose as a principal component. The three macros of this type of nutritional value are sucrose (glucose + fructose), which occurs in beet sugar, cane sugar, brown sugar, bee honey and maple syrup. Lactose is found naturally in milk and therefore often called "milk sugar". Maltose is found in beer, cereals and germinating seeds.

Finally, there are polysaccharides which include starch and fiber. Starch is consumed through bread, cereal, spaghetti and pastries, as well as beans, peas, potatoes. Fiber is found in foods containing plant leaves, stems, roots and seeds. The recommended daily fiber intake is 38 g for men and 25 g for women up to age 50, and 30 g for men and 21 g for women older than 50. If the diet you specify is low-carb, make sure it still includes the required amounts of fiber.

    Slow carbs vs fast carbs

You should avoid consuming carbohydrates with a high glycemic index (GI) too frequently or in excess. A low glycemic load might have minor benefits for weight loss, but other health benefits such as lower total cholesterol and LDL-cholesterol ^[1]. These carbs are rapidly absorbed and may alter your metabolic profile and lead to an increased risk of type II diabetes and coronary heart disease. This is especially true if you are obese (see BMI).

Not all carbs are equal. Those having a higher glycemic index are usually low in fiber content and pose more long-term health risks, particularly of heart attack and stroke ^[5]. Slow release carbs should be preferred, and carbohydrates should be consumed in foods rich in fats (lipids) when possible, as they slow digestion and minimize surges in blood glucose levels, resulting in lower insulin demand. Make sure that the percentage of carbohydrates in your macro mix is adequate as our tool makes no recommendations either way.

    Foods with high carbohydrate content

As with any other macronutrient, different food contains different proportions of carbohydrates. Here are some whole foods with high carbs content:

Foods with high percentage of carbohydrates

Whole food	Carbohydrates (%)
Hard candy	97%
Jelly beans	93%
Apple Jacks cereal	90%
Sugar Corn Pops cereal	90%
Gum drops	87%
Onion, dehydrated flakes	83%
Raisins, seedless	79%
Fig bars	75%
Bread sticks, no salt	75%
Dates, whole	73%
Croutons	72%
Peach halves	61%

Carbohydrate content varies between foods, but foods containing sugar and flour top the list. Pizza is heavy on carbohydrates, but depending on the toppings and cheese used it can be rich in fats as well. Vegetables and fruit are low on the list due their high water content, but are otherwise excellent sources of carbs. Eating dry fruit such as dry grapes is an excellent way to increase your carb intake.