How many carbs should I eat a day?

It depends on your body weight, how active you are and your goal. Sports-nutrition guidance runs from roughly 2.5g of carbohydrate per kg of body weight for sedentary people up to 6g per kg for hard daily training, adjusted down around 20% for weight loss. For a 70kg moderately active person losing weight, that lands near 220g a day. The calculator on this page does the arithmetic for you.

Should I cut carbs to lose weight?

Not as far as you might think. Weight loss is driven by your overall calorie deficit, not by removing carbohydrates specifically, and the NHS Eatwell Guide keeps starchy carbohydrates as about a third of what you eat. Very low-carb diets are hard to sustain, and cutting carbs hard often backfires through low mood, cravings and rebound eating. A moderate reduction you can actually stick to beats an extreme one you abandon.

Do I need fewer carbs on a GLP-1 like Mounjaro or Wegovy?

Your appetite falls, so your portions shrink naturally, but the carbs you do eat still matter for energy and mood. Because you are eating less overall, aim to make the smaller amount count: wholegrain and higher-fibre options, spread across the day, rather than cutting carbs to almost nothing on top of an already reduced intake.

Is this carb calculator free?

Yes. It runs in your browser with no account and no payment. If you want to track your actual daily carbs against the target, a free Healthcount account gives you a plain-English food diary that counts macros for you.

How many carbs should I eat a day?

It depends on your body weight, how active you are and your goal. Sports-nutrition guidance runs from roughly 2.5g of carbohydrate per kg of body weight for sedentary people up to 6g per kg for hard daily training, adjusted down around 20% for weight loss. For a 70kg moderately active person losing weight, that lands near 220g a day. The calculator on this page does the arithmetic for you.

Should I cut carbs to lose weight?

Not as far as you might think. Weight loss is driven by your overall calorie deficit, not by removing carbohydrates specifically, and the NHS Eatwell Guide keeps starchy carbohydrates as about a third of what you eat. Very low-carb diets are hard to sustain, and cutting carbs hard often backfires through low mood, cravings and rebound eating. A moderate reduction you can actually stick to beats an extreme one you abandon.

Do I need fewer carbs on a GLP-1 like Mounjaro or Wegovy?

Your appetite falls, so your portions shrink naturally, but the carbs you do eat still matter for energy and mood. Because you are eating less overall, aim to make the smaller amount count: wholegrain and higher-fibre options, spread across the day, rather than cutting carbs to almost nothing on top of an already reduced intake.

Is this carb calculator free?

Yes. It runs in your browser with no account and no payment. If you want to track your actual daily carbs against the target, a free Healthcount account gives you a plain-English food diary that counts macros for you.

Free tool, no sign-up

Free carb calculator

How many grams of carbohydrate should you eat a day? Enter your weight, activity level and goal, and get a daily range plus real-food examples of what it looks like.

The short answer

Most people losing weight do well between 150 and 250g of carbohydrate a day, scaled to body weight and activity. Carbs are not the enemy: the NHS Eatwell Guide keeps starchy carbohydrates as about a third of what you eat, and your deficit comes from total calories, not from cutting one macro to zero.

Reference: NHS, Starchy foods and carbohydrates. Last reviewed 8 August 2026.

Your details

Three inputs, and your range updates instantly

Your daily carb range

Lower

238g

Middle

280g

Upper

322g

For weight maintenance and stable energy.

Track your macros

Log your meals in plain English and Healthcount tracks carbs, protein and fat for you.

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How the numbers are worked out

The calculator uses grams of carbohydrate per kilogram of body weight, the same approach sports nutritionists use: roughly 2.5g/kg if you barely exercise, up to 6g/kg for hard daily training. Choosing weight loss adjusts the figure down by 20%, and muscle gain adjusts it up by 20%. The range around the middle number is there because no single figure is exact; anywhere inside it is a sensible day.

Treat the result as a starting point, not a prescription. If your energy or mood dips, eat toward the top of your range. If your weight loss stalls for weeks, check your total calories first before cutting carbs further.

Why carbs matter for sticking to a diet

Read how carbs support mood, and how CBT breaks the restrict-binge cycle before you decide to cut them hard.

Free carb calculator

Track your macros

How the numbers are worked out

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Free carb calculator

Track your macros

How the numbers are worked out

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