I promised you I would put together a post telling you HOW to get started on the Ketogenic Diet. So here are some Keto Diet Tips for beginners & things I wish I would have known before I started KETO!
(Pic from Perfect Keto)
GETTING STARTED:
You will want to be eating 70%-80% Fats, 20%- 25% Protein and 5%-10% Carbs. That’s a typical ratio for a Ketogenic Diet. You can enter in those ratios into the MyFitnessPal App and track them that way. But the most important thing to be watching and counting is your CARBS! I even have a little notebook that I’ve strictly tracked carbs in, what I ate, my beginning weight for the day and what exercise I did. It’s great to have that information all on one page so you can look back and easily remember what you did on a certain day. And if you run into issues with the Keto Diet, you can go back and see exactly what you might have done wrong. You won’t need to do this forever… but I did find it was SUPER helpful the first two weeks while I was getting the hang of it!
I’ve read a lot of articles from professionals saying you can be anywhere from 20 grams of Carbs up to 50 grams of Carbs and still be Ketosis. But remember, your body has to burn carbs first. So you don’t want too many and you definitely don’t want to fall out of Ketosis. And if you don’t get enough carbs, you will feel like you are literally going to pass out! So don’t do that to your body either.
Personally, I’ve found that by staying around 15-20 grams of Carbohydrates per day has given me great results!
So currently, my Personal Keto Macros are: 18 Grams Carbs, 70 Grams Protein and 117 Grams Fat. But I am always tweaking those. I wanted to give them to you so you had an range to go off of. The grams will change–depending on how many calories you are trying to stay within. When you first start, don’t go too low on your calories! I’m at 1400 personally.
WHAT CAN YOU EAT ON THE KETOGENIC DIET?:
- Meats (fatty meats are better than lean meats!) Think Beef, Pepperoni, Sausage, Salami, Bacon etc. You can still eat Chicken Breast, you will just want to add healthy fats with them.
- Fish (Fatty fish like Salmon are better choices than others)
- Nuts (But be sure to check the Carb levels on each of them. For example, Cashews have 6 grams of carbs! So you can’t just eat handfuls and handfuls of them or you might accidentally go over your carb limits and not even realize it. Nuts are sneaky because you wouldn’t assume they have carbs because they are a healthy fat & protein. But they do!
- Eggs
- Vegetables (Yes! You CAN eat vegetables. But you have to be careful here. Because some vegetables are too high on the glycemic index or have really high carb counts. Your best bests are leafy green veggies. I personally stick to Broccoli, all lettuces, zucchini, etc.)
- Cheeses (Basically all cheeses are good to go! However, some STILL have carbs. I learned that the hard way with Alfredo Sauce. The sauce wasn’t the bad part… it was that I ate way too much of it (YUM!) and it put me way over my carb limit for the day and I didn’t realize.)
- Dairy products (You want full-fat products… Half & Half, Butter, Heavy Whipping Cream, etc) **Always look at labels. Milk has a good amount of carbs that those full fat items don’t.
- Healthy Fats (Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Coconut Oil, MCT Oil, Avocados, etc) NOTE: Avocados do have a good amount of carbs in them. However, I love them! So they are usually a part of my carb count for the day.
- Ranch! Yes, it gets it’s own line because I eat it with almost everything!
- Artificial Sweeteners: You can use these. Stevia, Erythritol, Sucralose, etc.
SNEAKY FOODS & BAD FOODS THAT YOU SHOULDN’T EAT ON THE KETOGENIC DIET:
I mentioned a lot of these above. But I think it’s important to show you in a list which foods might get you into trouble. You don’t want to *think* you’re eating perfect only to realize that item had way more carbs than you thought it did. So here are some sneaky foods to watch out for. ALWAYS CHECK THE LABELS!
- Yogurt: This has way too much sugar –and therefore carbs.
- Milk: You can use this if you need to. But Milk has 12 grams of carbs in 1 cup! And remember, you’re trying to stay around 20 grams a day.
- Greasy Fats: You CAN eat these and be fine on the Ketogenic Diet. But it might make some of you feel really sick to your stomach. So I try to stay away from those. I get a lot of amazing energy from the healthy fats. So I like to use those as my friends.
- Beef Jerky: You can eat this as well. But most beef jerky has a ton of sugar and is typically cured with brown sugar. So watch the sugar/carb levels on those.
- NO SUGAR: This is hard for a lot of people. Not only will you have about a week of the “Keto Flu”–which I will talk about below– but you will also be going through a Sugar Withdrawl. Sugar withdrawls usually last 4-7 days.
- Spices: You can definitely use a ton of different spice products to season your meals. BUT- again, you’ve got to read labels because sometimes sugar is a main ingredient and sometimes spice blends have carbs in them too.
- Fruit & Berries: These are a no-no on the Keto Diet. You will find a lot of people on the Keto Diet who will say that berries are ok in moderation. But here’s the problem with that, even though it’s natural sugar, it’s still sugar when talking about the Keto Diet. Your body will still have to burn off the carbs/sugar first. It will raise your sugar cravings–even though it’s all-natural sugar– making you want other sugary items. Having berries is up to you. But if I was your friend, and I am! 😉 I would tell you don’t do it. Don’t tempt yourself. Keep yourself away from all forms of sugar so you can keep your cravings at bay. Or you will crash and fall. And you won’t want to start Keto again and go through the Keto Flu a second time!
- Tomatoes: These are considered a fruit on the Ketogenic Diet. Stay away from them and any tomato type sauces.
- Medicines: Most liquid medicines (cough syrups, etc) have sugar in them! If you need medicine, it’s best to go for a pill form. Most of them don’t need corn syrup or other sweeteners since you are swallowing the pills instead of tasting a liquid syrup.
- Condiments. They are really sneaky! Most condiments have added sugar or high fructose corn syrup in them. Both of which are big no-no’s on the diet. So ketchup is out guys! Mustard is good to go. Mayo is good to go. Ranch is even good to go. Anything that is “Sweet” tasting is out!
- Grains: This goes without saying. But it has to be said. No grains of ANY kind. (Wheat, Flour, Corn, Rice, Cereals….)
- Starches: These are out too! No yams, sweet potatoes, potatoes, etc.
HOW TO GET THROUGH THE KETO FLU:
When you start limiting your carb intake and begin the Keto Diet, you will go through something people call “The Keto Flu”. It’s basically your body’s reaction to the changes you are making it go through. It has to burn through any of the left over glucose you have in your body and start using your fat cells for energy instead. It is missing its carbs and is letting you know. This usually lasts about a week for most people.
You might have symptoms of the Keto Flu like Headaches, Stomach Cramps, Dizziness, Nausea,
Want to get through the Keto Flu faster? Of course you do! Here are some tips to help make it more manageable:
- Drink LOTS and LOTS of water! This helped me a ton. The more water I drank, the better I felt!
- You will also need electrolytes! You need potassium & magnesium. I actually just ended up taking those specific vitamins each day to make sure I was getting them. But you can also purchase things like Bone Broth and add a lot of salt to your diet.
- Eat MORE Healthy Fats! You more than likely aren’t used to eating a lot of fats. You might think you are eating enough… but if you count it out, you probably aren’t.
- Exercise also made me feel better. Nothing too strenuous. But it definitely alleviated my symptoms.
- DON’T CHEAT AT ALL. If you cheat, your week of hell starts over. Don’t do that to yourself. I found my Keto Flu only lasts 4-5 days if I am very strict with what I eat and by doing the tips I mentioned above. So stay strong and do it 100% so you can get the results you want.
HOW WILL I KNOW IF I AM IN KETOSIS?
For me, the biggest clue I had that I was in Ketosis was my breath. It tasted sweet- like an acid sweet. And my husband hated how awful my breath smelled, haha. But it’s usually temporary and should go away.
Other Symptoms of Being in Ketosis:
- Weight Loss
- Increased Urination
- Increased Ketone in the Blood & Urine. You CAN track your Ketone levels with either sticks you pee on or with blood pricking device…. But everything I’ve read on those has said that they aren’t 100% accurate. And I’ve found that to be true too. So the physical symptoms are good to have.
- Increased Energy: This typically happens after the Keto Flu and after you’ve been doing the Keto Diet for a couple weeks.
- Mental Clarity and Focus: No more foggy brain!
- Short-Term Fatigue is normal and typical. Some people experience this longer than others (a few weeks).
RESULTS ON THE KETOGENIC DIET:
Everyone’s results will be different. But if you go in 100%, without cheating, not only will you feel amazing, but you will drop weight faster too. I lost 9 pounds in about 7-8 days when I first started the Keto Diet. Those who have a lot of weight to lose, will notice that they drop weight even faster on the Keto Diet. If you have little weight to lose, your weight loss might be slower. But remember, even if it’s slower, you will feel AMAZING eating no sugar, low carbs and healthy fats. It’s what kept me going even when I didn’t see the huge regular losses.
KETO MUST-KNOW TIPS:
- If you aren’t sure how many carbs a food has… and you won’t when you first get started…. just search it online or on your MyFitnessPal app. If the food has a barcode, you can easily scan it on MyFitnessPal and it will pop up the nutritional info immediately.
- TRACK IT! Track your carbs the first few weeks every day. Purchase a cute notebook at the Target Dollar Spot and use one page each day to track everything you eat, carb amounts, your beginning weight for the day and any exercise you did. It will be helpful if you aren’t staying in Ketosis or need to adjust anything.
- More than likely, you will want a fiber supplement. Leafy greens can help aid with constipation. But I found that I needed extra help. Make sure your fiber supplement doesn’t have carbs!
PHEW! Ok that was a lot of information!
I am turning off comments on this post. So if you have a question, comment or want more info on KETO, make sure to follow me on my Spinoff Instagram Account: @TheMeleaShowFIT (https://www.instagram.com/themeleashowfit/) for all of that information and to ask your questions there!
I am far from a KETO expert. But there are things I wish I would have known before I started to save me some time and help me not mess up. So hopefully the information I shared above will give you a head start!
