Insulin Dosage Calculator

Your details

Choose the unit your glucose meter displays.
Total grams of carbohydrate in the meal you are about to eat.
g
Your blood sugar right now, before the meal.
mg/dL
The blood sugar level you want to be at after the correction. Typically 80-120 mg/dL (4.4-6.7 mmol/L) as set by your care team.
mg/dL
Turn this off to let the calculator estimate both values from your weight using the 500 rule and 1800 rule.
Grams of carbohydrate covered by 1 unit of rapid-acting insulin. Common starting range is 10-15 g/unit.
g/unit
How much 1 unit of insulin lowers your blood glucose. Often called correction factor. Typical range 20-100 mg/dL/unit.
mg/dL/unit
Total mealtime doseLow dose range
5units

Carbohydrate coverage dose plus correction dose

Carb coverage dose4units
Correction dose1units
Carb coverage4
Correction dose1
Total dose5

Total mealtime dose: 5.0 units (4.0 for carbs + 1.0 correction).

  • Carb coverage: 4.0 units to handle the 60 g of carbohydrates in your meal.
  • Correction dose: 1.0 units to bring your blood glucose from 150 down toward 100 mg/dL.
  • This figure does not subtract insulin on board. If you bolused within the last 3-5 hours, some of that insulin is still working, and taking the full calculated dose on top of it can stack insulin and cause hypoglycemia. Subtract any active insulin as your care team has instructed, or use your pump or app bolus calculator, which tracks it for you.
  • Always confirm the dose with your healthcare provider. Insulin requirements vary day to day based on activity, illness, stress and other factors.

Next stepRound to the nearest 0.5 unit your pen or pump can deliver, then administer per your prescription timing (usually 0-15 minutes before eating for rapid-acting insulin).

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