The Kremlin diet: points table and how many calories a 40-point day really has
A point on the Kremlin diet is one gram of digestible carbohydrate per 100 g of food. So there is no need to hunt for a points table: it is printed on every food label, in the "carbohydrate" line. Fat and protein score no points, and a 40-point day can provide 1,200 kcal or 2,800 kcal — the difference lies entirely in what else is on the plate.
How the points work
Each food gets a "price" in points, and one point equals one gram of carbohydrate per 100 g. Chicken, fish and butter cost zero, a cucumber about four, bread forty to fifty, sugar a hundred.
The diet has no single authoritative text, and the thresholds differ slightly between descriptions. Most often they read like this:
- up to 20 points a day for the first one or two weeks;
- up to 40 points while weight is coming down;
- up to 60 points to keep the result.
If a label lists carbohydrate and fibre on separate lines, only the "carbohydrate" line counts as points. American tables include fibre in carbohydrate, so the same foods score a few points more there. The difference between the two conventions is covered in the article on net carbs.
Points table for common foods
The figures below are carbohydrate per 100 g from the FoodGPT food table, compiled from the USDA FoodData Central database and the Russian food composition tables edited by Skurikhin. Cooked buckwheat is calculated from the USDA entry "Buckwheat groats, roasted, cooked" (170686): 19.9 g carbohydrate minus 2.7 g fibre.
| Food | Points per 100 g |
|---|---|
| Meat, fish, butter and oil | 0 |
| Hard cheese | 0.3 |
| Chicken breast | 0.4 |
| Egg | 0.7 |
| Cottage cheese, 5% | 1.8 |
| Courgette | 3.1 |
| Sour cream, 20% | 3.2 |
| Cucumber | 3.6 |
| Tomato | 3.9 |
| Broccoli | 4 |
| Kefir, 1% | 4 |
| Milk, 3.2% | 4.7 |
| White cabbage | 5.8 |
| Walnuts | 7 |
| Apple | 11.4 |
| Orange | 11.8 |
| Potato | 16.3 |
| Buckwheat, cooked | 17.2 |
| Banana | 20.2 |
| Rye bread | 40.7 |
| White wheat bread | 49 |
| Buckwheat groats, dry | 57.1 |
| Pasta, dry | 71.5 |
| White rice, dry | 77.6 |
| Honey | 81.5 |
| Sugar | 99.8 |
The table gives points per 100 g, but you eat a portion. A 30 g slice of rye bread is about 12 points, a medium peeled banana of 120 g about 24. Grains are counted by dry weight: 60 g of dry buckwheat is 34 points however much porridge it makes.
Why 40 points is not 40 kcal and not a calorie target
Points track carbohydrate only. Below are two days of exactly 40 points, calculated from the same table.
| Day 1 | Day 2 | |
|---|---|---|
| What was eaten | 3 eggs, 50 g cheese, 200 g chicken breast, 200 g cucumber, 150 g tomato, a spoon of olive oil, 400 g 1% kefir, 200 g cod, 150 g cabbage | 3 eggs, 150 g cheese, 300 g pork leg, 100 g walnuts, 200 g cucumber, 150 g tomato, 100 g 20% sour cream, 30 g mayonnaise, 150 g kefir, 150 g cabbage |
| Points | 40 | 40 |
| Calories | 1,175 | 2,783 |
| Protein | 132 g | 132 g |
| Fat | 54 g | 236 g |
The first day is a deficit for almost any adult. The second exceeds many people's expenditure, and weight will not drop on it, even though the points are perfect. So people lose weight on the Kremlin diet when total calories fall along with carbohydrate, not because carbohydrate itself is fattening. You can estimate your own expenditure with the article on daily calorie needs.
What research says about low-carb diets
The most complete summary is the Cochrane review by Naude and colleagues (2022): 61 randomised trials, 6,925 participants with overweight or obesity. Low-carbohydrate diets were compared with balanced-carbohydrate diets, and people lost weight on both.
In people without diabetes, the difference over 3–8.5 months averaged 1.07 kg in favour of low-carb, and over one to two years 0.93 kg. The authors rated this as "probably little to no difference". So the Kremlin diet works about as well as any other diet at the same calorie level, and it is worth choosing if it makes eating less easier for you.
The quick drop in the first week is almost always larger than the fat loss. Water stored with glycogen leaves along with it; how this works and why the water comes back is covered in the article on the buckwheat and kefir diets.
What 20–40 points leave short
EFSA, the European Food Safety Authority, sets a reference intake range for carbohydrate of 45–60% of energy and an adequate intake of fibre of 25 g a day (EFSA summary of dietary reference values). At 1,800 kcal that is 200–270 g of carbohydrate, so 40 points is a fifth of the lower bound.
Day 1 above has 6.5 g of fibre, day 2 has 13 g, thanks to the nuts. Too little fibre is a common cause of constipation on a diet; what to do about it is covered in the article on constipation on a diet. Twenty points a day is already keto territory; its effects are covered in the article on the keto diet.
Who should see a doctor first
- Diabetes treated with insulin or tablets that increase insulin release (sulfonylureas, meglitinides). NIDDK lists too little carbohydrate on these medicines as a cause of hypoglycaemia.
- Diabetes treated with gliflozins — dapagliflozin, empagliflozin, canagliflozin. The UK medicines regulator MHRA, in its warning about ketoacidosis on these drugs, lists restricted food intake and weight loss among the factors that preceded it.
- Kidney disease and gout: such diets usually mean more meat and fish.
- Pregnancy and breastfeeding.
- Under 18.
- A current or past eating disorder. A rigid list of allowed and forbidden foods is better discussed with a specialist first; the warning signs are in the article on calorie counting risks.
How to count points without a table
For packaged food the points are on the label: the "carbohydrate" line per 100 g times the portion weight. Home-cooked dishes are harder — soup or salad has to be broken down by ingredient. FoodGPT does this from a photo of the plate and shows carbohydrate on its own line next to calories, so you see both the points and what the points leave out.
Other ways to lose weight and how they were compared are covered in the article on types of diets.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a point on the Kremlin diet?
- One point equals one gram of digestible carbohydrate per 100 g of food. So the points for any packaged food can be read off the label, in the "carbohydrate" line.
- How many points a day on the Kremlin diet?
- Most descriptions say up to 20 points for the first one or two weeks, up to 40 while weight is coming down, and up to 60 to keep the result. The diet has no single authoritative text, and the thresholds vary slightly.
- How many calories are in a 40-point day?
- Any number: points ignore fat and protein. A 40-point day of chicken, fish, eggs, vegetables and kefir provides about 1,200 kcal, while a 40-point day of pork, cheese, nuts and mayonnaise provides about 2,800 kcal.
- How many points are in buckwheat?
- Dry buckwheat groats have about 57 points per 100 g, cooked porridge about 17. Grains are easier to count by dry weight: 60 g of dry buckwheat is about 34 points however much porridge it makes.
- Do people lose weight faster on the Kremlin diet than on a regular one?
- According to the 2022 Cochrane review (61 trials, 6,925 participants), low-carb diets produce on average 1 kg more weight loss over six months and 0.9 kg more over one to two years than balanced diets. The authors consider this little to no difference.
- Who should avoid the Kremlin diet?
- Discuss it with a doctor first if you have diabetes and take insulin, sulfonylureas or gliflozins, have kidney disease or gout, are pregnant or breastfeeding, are under 18, or have an eating disorder.
Read next
- Keto diet: what happens in the body and what comparisons have shown — The keto diet promises a non-standard mechanism: not counting calories, but switching metabolism to a different fuel.
- Net carbs: how to calculate and where the method fails — Net carbs are total carbohydrates listed on the label minus fiber and, for some manufacturers, sugar alcohols.
- Types of diets — When comparing diets in studies, an inconvenient result emerges: the difference between them is smaller than the difference between the people who follow them and those who do not.
This article is for general information. It is not medical advice, a diagnosis, or a prescription for treatment or a diet, and it does not replace a consultation with your doctor. If you have a health condition, are pregnant, take medication, or follow a diet prescribed to you, decisions about food belong with your doctor.
Figures from regulations, guidelines and studies are given as they stood when this article was prepared and may since have changed; check them against the primary sources. This article is not advertising, an offer, or individual advice, and neither the author nor the site owner is responsible for decisions taken on the basis of it.