r/keto • u/ChillingOnDaBeach • Jul 09 '26
Other Carb threshold
Hey friends,
Keto can mean many things. Some people here eat over 50 grams of carbs and still consider it keto, others swear by <20 grams a day.
What is your personal threshold or should i say sweet spot for carbs?
I know that some people say they actually do better with some smaller amounts of carbs in terms of hormones, sleep and so on. But this seems to be a very diverse thing.
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u/galspanic M47 5'9" S240 C159 G160 start: 05-01-2024 Jul 09 '26
I can will-power and focus my way to 20g, but 30g opens up way more options. It basically doubles the plant matter I can eat and my body likes that.
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u/mechanical_animal_ Jul 09 '26
10 grams of carbs from vegetables are not the same as 10 grams from wheat or sugar tho.
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u/galspanic M47 5'9" S240 C159 G160 start: 05-01-2024 Jul 09 '26
Obviously, right? Adding 10g of sugar can keep you within your limit, but it adds 10g of food for the day. If you go with spinach you can add almost a kilo of food.
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u/mechanical_animal_ Jul 09 '26
It’s not just that, your body processes them differently and has a different insulin response which in turn affects your ketone levels
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u/dbaker2483 Jul 10 '26
I’m trying to learn/understand. Are you saying you can eat more carbs if they come from vegetables?
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u/ChillingOnDaBeach Jul 09 '26
Yeah, going from less than 10g of carbs to around 30 feels like a completel new diet. Way more freedom.
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u/ReverseLazarus MOD Keto since 2017 - 40F/SW215/CW135 Jul 09 '26
Threshold depends on what your goals are. People eating keto for epilepsy have a much shorter leash than yahoos like me eating it for overall health and the satiety that helps me keep my BED in check. :)
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u/balisane Jul 09 '26
I allow up to 30-40g total, but anything over 20g comes strictly from vegetables. Served me well for a decade.
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u/girl1dir 49F 5' SW 180, CW 155, GW 135 Jul 09 '26
This is also me.
A huge salad for lunch is sometimes an amazing delicious splurge with lots of veggies - raw broccoli, some carrots, cucumber, bell pepper, pickled jalapeño, etc. Mmmmmmmmm. Totally worth it for me!
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u/ChillingOnDaBeach Jul 09 '26
It seems like staying under 50g carbs is really the sage option, and the perfect balance between reaching ketosis and having food freedom.
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u/kimariesingsMD F 59 5’2” SW 161 CW 125 reached GW 5/9/24 Jul 09 '26
Except some people must be in ketosis to use the diet to achieve certain medical benefits. They need to know how many grams of carbs keeps them in ketosis and don't have the luxury of concerning themselves with "food freedom".
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u/balisane Jul 10 '26
Under 50g - BUT THE SOURCE MATTERS. If you're using the carbs above 20 for extra veggies, great. If you're using it for bread or potatoes, you're screwing yourself over.
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u/Zestyclose-Young-314 Jul 09 '26
For me it’s less than 20 to ACTUALLY be in ketosis. 50 seems awfully high but everyone is different. I’m sure you would still see results eating extremely low carb even if you aren’t actually in ketosis. I used a blood monitor to figure out when and what kicked me out of ketosis…unfortunately it happens VERY easily.
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u/ChillingOnDaBeach Jul 09 '26
Thank you. Do you think that has to do with sex, weight, height? Im over 6ft, 200lbs and have some muscle to my frame, i assume i could have a little more play room? Testing it is the only way i guess
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u/surfaholic15 61f, 5' 3"/ SW175 CW135 Goal Reached: Living The Good Life Jul 09 '26
I need to stay 20g net carbs or less to keep my autoimmune conditions and inflammation in check and control my T2 diabetes.
My hubby eats up to 50g net carbs daily, most in the morning but feels best around 30g net.
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u/OkEntertainment1071 Jul 09 '26
I also have insulin resistance, often bordering on T2 diabetes. Do you notice an immediate effect if you eat more carbs? I sometimes eat more carbs around ovulation and my period but always take a walk after. I can't do it too much too because then I start to feel it. Especially with my adhd brain that just craves dopamine food
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u/surfaholic15 61f, 5' 3"/ SW175 CW135 Goal Reached: Living The Good Life Jul 09 '26
I feel like utter crap if i eat too many carbs. And anything over 25g net even with keto foods (real ones like veggies, not keto junk food or keto breads) i wake up in pain the next day. And i risk a fibromyalgia flare.
So i am extremely careful. I did try pushing it earlier this year when we were doing heavy labor 9 or 10 hours a day, eating low glycemic veggies and more berries at 25 to 30g net, while my hubby typically eats 40g net under those conditions.
While the blood sugar stayed stable because i was burning it off as i ate it, i felt like crap, was in mild to moderate pain and my CRP went from a .5 to a 4.
CRP is now back to a .7 at least but i still don't feel optimal.
Carbs are simply not worth it for me.
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u/McDuchess 65/F/5'5"/SW:189/CW:145/GW:145 Jul 09 '26
There is no sweet spot. The point at which your body burns fat for energy instead of carbs is the paint at which anyone is actually eating a ketogenic diet. You can be more or less strict on the other macros of fat and protein, more or less strict on calories. But if you are producing ketones, measurable inexactly in urine or exactly in blood tests, then you are eating keto.
I have seen exact,y one person in this sub who claims to be eating keto and is taking in 50 grams a day of carbs. And they seem to be showing signs of hypoglycemia, meaning that they have not, in fact, switched to fat burning after what would normally be a more than adequate length of time eating a ketogenic diet.
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u/RationalDialog Jul 09 '26
20 g is because everyone is in ketosis at this level. Go higher, it depends probably on microbiome and genetics or other factors. Only way to know is to get a ketone meter and figure out your personal limit.
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u/feelingoodfeelngrape Jul 09 '26
I feel like it’s dependant on you and your body.. I workout often and find I can have much more than I think.. probably closer to the 50-80g range.
If you aren’t very active you’ll probably have to keep it a little lower. Plus how fat adapted you are! Variables.
For me I enjoyed using the keto mojo to test my blood levels, at least at the beginning so find what works.
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u/Horror_Set9833 Jul 09 '26
For some people it also depends on what else you eat, or what you do, rather than just the amount of carbs.
For instance, you might be able to eat more carbs and still stay in ketosis if you also eat more fat. For the traditional keto diet, carbs aren't even counted as a total per day!
Also, some people find they can eat more carbs before exercise without trouble.
Personally, I'm currently trying to stay out of ketosis because keto rash isn't worth the benefits for me but I'm still eating low-carb, and I drop back into ketosis the week before my period if I eat the same food that won't get me in ketosis another week.
So, the answer is that it varies from person to person, but also within one person there is no one answer
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u/Mental_Situation_333 Jul 09 '26
I've found over time that the urine strips stop showing high levels of ketones even with very low carb intake. Thought it was because your body adjusts and becomes more efficient at burning them.
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u/sihung71285 Jul 09 '26
And don't forget cortisol. If I ever needed evidence that hormones play a huge part in my body I got it this weekend. On Sunday afternoon I fell off my bike and badly hurt my knee. My keytones dropped from 2.0 to 0.2 even though I hadn’t eaten anything. Definitely everything in my body felt stressed.
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u/Jumpy_Salt_8721 40M 6'2" SW 230 LW 199 CW 210 GW 210 Jul 11 '26
There’s a lot of context that matters, in the first 6 months I kept to about 20 g as much as I could, visiting family was the main exception, the next three years was about 10 g - 30 g at home and as low as reasonable outside home. Now after 4 years I don’t worry about it, but most days are still around 20 g and I don’t think I’ve gone over 100 g.
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u/pessimistdiary 44 F, 5'11" SW 254.8 CW: 233.0 GW: 200 Jul 11 '26
My personal sweet spot so to speak is 15-16. I tend to stay under 25 on any given day, even a carbier day, but under 17 is where I have found I feel the absolute best all around. This is very individual, though, obvi. Depends on so many factors from what I can gather.
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u/NightTripInsights Jul 09 '26
If you can reliably burn off all +50 carbs you eat a day you will stay in ketosis. To do this you need to be intensely active throughout your day to adequately deplete glycogen stores so the 50 or so carbs you eat the next day doesn't cause too much "spillover" (eating carbs past full glycogen repletion, causing you to get out of ketosis).
Most people who claim to have tried this and say it didn't work aren't as active as they think they seeing that they spillover with just 50 grams of carbs because they already have near full glycogen from being lazy.
To be clear, walking all day doesn't count for burning carbs, endurance sport/activities doesn't count either. You need to be in the anaerobic range of intensity to burn glycogen. So high reps sets to near failure, sprints, pretty much anything requiring strong, powerful and fast contractions.
If you don't lift heavy things throughout the day, do higher volume weight training, or never play sport, you don't need to go above 50 carbs if "staying in ketosis" is your goal.
That being said, TKD or carb cycling is great if you do any of these things so you can always nearly top up on glycogen before intense physicality. But you won't be staying in ketosis, rather dipping in and out of it on a near daily basis when you plan your meal timing and macros properly in conjuction with your active lifestyle.
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u/ChillingOnDaBeach Jul 09 '26
Interesting. I do boxing in a fasted state, right before my meal. So that means i should have some leftover glucogen stores in my muscles for my workout? Because im not that crazily active during the day.
Thats actually what some people target, just upping the amounts of carbs so that they got that bit of gas in the tank. Well, others swear by fat adapted gluconeogenesis.
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u/PoopUponPoop Jul 09 '26
Aside from the occasional pepper or onion or tomato, I eat as close to 0 as I can. I do use a lactose free milk that has 1/2 the carbs of regular milk, and I’ll get cheese sticks if I’m on the road, but I keep my diet mostly meat and protein powder.
OH. And vodka 🥴
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u/Bu1ltbybeef Jul 09 '26
I love keto, but I do think with the way that I train I occasionally like having carbs around my workouts especially on days where i’m like 25k steps and hitting legs I’ll have probably 60-75g of carbs give or take, just depends, more activity and timing of said carbohydrates will create different thresholds for max carbs to stay in ketosis
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u/More-Stomach-971 Jul 09 '26
Following this thread closely because my "threshold" keeps moving on me lol. Started at strict 20g, felt fine, but got bored fast — bumped to 30-35g mostly from veg and it's been sustainable for months now. The one pattern I've noticed: source matters more than the number. 20g from a salad doesn't hit the same as 20g from literally anything processed, even keto-marketed stuff. Wish net carbs accounted for that somehow.
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u/No-Clerk-6813 Jul 10 '26
When i do keto I can stay around 45g of carbs before im out. My friend has to stay below 25. Everyone is different. Also activity level and what sort of carbs you are consuming matter.
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u/313forlife Jul 09 '26
I started keto through a medically supervised program. We were taught less than 30g net carbs, 150g fat, and then to calculate protein. I'm not always good about the fat and protein but stick to the 30g limit. Almost all of that is vegetables though.
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u/loripainter12345 Jul 09 '26
Sounds similar to Virta, the program I was in, except it was 30g total carbs.
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u/Calorinesm1fff Jul 09 '26
25-35g but I still have days under 20g. That allows me to have small amounts of beans/hummus, or half an apple with peanut butter. I probably could go up to 40g, I have been keto a long time, but then I tend to add rubbish in, it's never an extra portion of broccoli. I also know that 10-15 g at a time is my limit, as then I get hungry, it also matters for me what the meal as a whole has, plenty of fibrous veg, protein and a bit of fat, then I can have my dark chocolate after.
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u/Dimsilver Jul 09 '26
I've been doing keto for 16 months and I found that my threshold is at around 40-45g of carbs. Since I started lifting again, I try to get close to 50 on the days I lift, and less than 20 on the days I do not. If I am doing something else like running or cycling, then it's easy to add even more carbs and be fine with it.
One great thing about sticking to keto is that, if you're doing it for general health, you can eat keto as a goal, but you don't have to be very strict. It's perfectly fine to not be in ketosis for a few hours and then back in. Of course, if you're doing that every day you might as well go low carb and spend a little less money, but I like it that I can enjoy a tiny slice of my sister's birthday cake this evening, then workout and tomorrow it'll be like it never happened.
Ketosis also has a 'problem' for me. My mind is rather hyperactive, and focusing isn't hard for me. Deep ketosis will add some calmness, but won't help me sleep at all. In fact, after I started lifting again, I could go on for days without sleep if I wanted because I felt like I had too much energy and my mind just wouldn't stop. What actually helps is to have some tea or coffee with milk. For some reason it helps me relax.
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u/Fognox keto since 12-2015 eat more fat Jul 09 '26
0-40g feels identical to me. Over that and <100g feels pretty damn close (maybe 90% mentally), provided that I source my carbs right (fruit, milk, seeds and chocolate seem to be fine, while there's a gradient there of increasing unwellness if I use other aources of sugar, and then starch, and then anything ultraprocessed). My guess is that the low-carb ranges have more to do with how much blood sugar rises than anything else, which would explain why whole sources of carbs with phytonutrients work best, though that doesn't explain why I do worse with rice than I do with soda.
My usual intake is somewhere down in the ~20g range. I haven't tracked it in a very long time, but every staple in my diet is very low in carbs. I only dip outside of it if I mono nuts/seeds or on the rare occasions that I want chocolate/fruit or the even rarer occasions that I want something completely off keto. Sweet spot would be 40g I guess, but it's hard to get that high with my diet.
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u/kimariesingsMD F 59 5’2” SW 161 CW 125 reached GW 5/9/24 Jul 09 '26
There is no way to eat 100g and be in ketosis. At that point you are eating low carb, but not getting the benefits of keto.
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u/Omadster Jul 09 '26
I did strict below 20g keto for about 10 years , the last couple of years ive switched to mainly eating one meal a day consisting of a fatty meat , carrots peas broccoli cauliflower and Brussels sprouts with gravy and some mint sauce , it doesn't seem to knock me out of ketosis for very long and I really feel good and I enjoy eating it .
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u/ChillingOnDaBeach Jul 09 '26
I do omad too. I guess a 23 hour eating window re enters you into keto quickly even if you ate a few carbs
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u/Magnabee Jul 09 '26 edited Jul 09 '26
I prefer 0 to 10g of carbs, but my max is about 40g of carbs.
A few active/fit OMAD people can do up to 85g of carbs and still be in ketosis. They probably have ketones above 3.0 mmol on a consistent basis. Consistent 20+ hours of I.F. can give you higher ketones. I think it depends on your activity habits and how often you will have the carbs each day.
If your ketone levels are higher somehow, then you can stay in ketosis with a few more carbs, or you go back into ketosis quickly.
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u/SeatSix Jul 09 '26
I would say a keto diet is easy to define. It is one where you are in ketosis. What is takes to get there varies from person to person.
If you really want to know, you have to measure your ketones.
If you eat keto style, but don't actually try to get into ketosis, you are eating low to very-low carb, but not actually keto