Diet guide
Low-Carb Diet: How to Count It and What to Eat
In short
A low-carb diet cuts carbohydrate below the usual share of a day's calories without a fixed ceiling, and fills the gap with protein, fat and non-starchy vegetables.
By CalorTracker Team. Published .
What low-carb means in practice
Low-carb is a loose label, not a defined threshold. It describes any way of eating that trims starchy and sugary food, such as bread, pasta, rice, potatoes, sweets and sweet drinks, and leans on eggs, meat, fish, dairy, vegetables and nuts instead. Where a person lands on the scale is their own choice.
That looseness is the main difference from keto. A low-carb day can keep an apple, a bowl of beans or a slice of toast. Many people use it as a sustainable trim of the carbohydrate they were already eating rather than a switch to a different metabolic state.
Setting a carb target inside your calories
Choose the calorie target first, then decide what share of it carbohydrate gets. The standard reference range for adults is wide, and a low-carb day sits below its lower end. Each gram of carbohydrate is four calories, so a percentage turns into grams by dividing the calories assigned to carbohydrate by four.
Protein usually rises to take part of the space, and fat fills the remainder. Our carb calculator and macro calculator do this division for you, and the macronutrients entry in the glossary shows the four-four-nine calorie arithmetic behind it.
Where low-carb tracking goes wrong
Two mistakes appear again and again. The first is swapping carbohydrate for fat without noticing that fat is the denser fuel, so the day lands above target in calories even though the carbohydrate looks right. The second is trusting the word on the packaging: a product labelled low-carb can still be high in calories.
Fruit and dairy are the grey zone. Berries sit much lower than bananas, and milk and yoghurt carry natural sugar. Read the per-100 g figures rather than the category, and decide one rule for them that you can keep.
Foods that fit, per 100 g
Low-carb eating leans on vegetables, protein foods and dairy. Compare the carbohydrate column across these foods; the spread inside the vegetable group is wider than most people expect.
| Food | Calories | Protein (g) | Carbs (g) | Net carbs (g) | Fat (g) | Fibre (g) | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chicken Breast (Roasted) | 165 | 31 | 0 | 0 | 3.6 | 0 | Protein with no carbohydrate and little fat. |
| Broccoli | 34 | 2.8 | 6.6 | 4 | 0.4 | 2.6 | A starch-free vegetable with some fibre. |
| Zucchini | 17 | 1.2 | 3.1 | 2.1 | 0.3 | 1 | Low in calories and carbohydrate; takes the place of pasta in many dishes. |
| Cottage Cheese (2% Fat) | 81 | 10.5 | 4.8 | 4.8 | 2.3 | 0 | A protein-heavy dairy food with modest carbohydrate. |
| Eggs | 143 | 12.6 | 0.7 | 0.7 | 9.5 | 0 | A low-carbohydrate staple for any meal. |
| Mushrooms (Raw) | 22 | 3.1 | 3.3 | 2.3 | 0.3 | 1 | Adds bulk to a plate for very few calories. |
| Cauliflower | 25 | 1.9 | 5 | 3 | 0.3 | 2 | Used mashed, riced or roasted in place of starch. |
| Greek Yogurt | 97 | 9 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 0 | Thicker and higher in protein than most yoghurts. |
| Bell Pepper | 26 | 1 | 6 | 3.9 | 0.3 | 2.1 | Sweeter than leafy greens but still low per 100 g. |
| Almonds | 579 | 21.2 | 21.6 | 9.1 | 49.9 | 12.5 | Nutrient-dense, so portion size does the work. |
Values are USDA FoodData Central figures for the food as listed, per 100 g. Each food name opens its own page with portions and every nutrient.
Calculators for this way of eating
These run on the same formulas as the rest of the site, so the numbers match what you see in the app.
- Carb CalculatorShows the grams of carbohydrate that make up 45 to 65 percent of the calories for your goal, with a per-meal figure.
- Macro CalculatorSplits a daily calorie target for your goal (lose, maintain or gain) into grams of protein, carbs and fat.
- Calorie CalculatorTurns your maintenance calories and a goal (lose, maintain or gain) into one daily calorie target, a weekly pace and a per-meal split.
- Net Carbs CalculatorSubtracts fiber and a share of the sugar alcohols you choose from the total carbohydrate on a label to give net carbs.
Food lists to browse
Ranked tables of foods by a nutrient, computed from the same USDA data.
Side-by-side food comparisons
Two foods at the same weight, so a swap is one glance.
Read next
Guides from the CalorTracker blog.
Terms used on this page
Short definitions with worked examples.
Safety and who this is not for
Cutting carbohydrate changes how much fibre, fruit and wholegrain food you eat, so look at the whole day rather than a single number. Anyone with diabetes or on medication that affects blood sugar needs medical guidance first, because reducing carbohydrate can change what a dose should be.
This page is general information, not medical advice. If you have a medical condition, take medication, are pregnant or are under eighteen, talk to a doctor or registered dietitian before you change how you eat.
Tracking low-carb in CalorTracker
- Choose Low-carb in your dietary preferences so suggested targets and meal plans lean that way. You can still edit the numbers yourself.
- Log by photo, text or voice and read the carbohydrate figure on the review screen before you save the meal. If an estimate looks off, correct it.
- Use the dashboard's carbohydrate progress to see where the day stands, and ask Pepperly to look back over your logged week for the meals that used most of it.
Low-carb: common questions
How many carbs is low-carb?
Can I eat fruit on a low-carb diet?
Sources
- Institute of Medicine. Dietary Reference Intakes for Energy, Carbohydrate, Fiber, Fat, Fatty Acids, Cholesterol, Protein, and Amino Acids. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press; 2005.
- U.S. Department of Agriculture and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2020-2025. 9th Edition. December 2020.
- Hall KD, Guo J. Obesity Energetics: Body Weight Regulation and the Effects of Diet Composition. Gastroenterology. 2017;152(7):1718-1727.
- Food values: USDA FoodData Central, as described on how we calculate. Every outside source we use is on sources.
Count low-carb without the arithmetic
Log a meal from a photo, by text or by voice, check the estimate, and watch the day against your own targets. Free to start, no card needed to explore.
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