Getting ready to start a keto (or even low carb) diet?
Perhaps you’ve decided to change your way of eating to become healthier, lose weight, decrease the joint or back pain , lower your blood sugar levels or one of many possible reasons. No matter the reason the big question on everyone’s mind is where do I begin?
For some basic keto diet information such as what is ketosis, what foods to eat/avoid, how many carbs should I eat and more you will want to check out this page.
Once you have some of the basic or foundation information you can begin to build on that.
If you are used to eating carbs at every meal then this might be a big change for you. It’s not a horrible change. It’s just different. With anything new it’s going to take some time to work things out and discover what works for you. Here are 5 easy steps to help you get started on a keto diet.
Step 1: Make a plan
Those that fail to plan are planning to fail.
Changing the way you eat can leave you a bit frustrated at time. You know all the things you previously enjoyed eating. You knew what meals to make to fit into your current lifestyle. You knew which items to buy. Now things are different. A bit of planning can keep you on track and help you to avoid becoming so frustrated that you give up.
Keto meals don’t have to be anything complicated.
Start with some low carb vegetables, add some protein and include a source of fat. This pattern can be repeated for every meal. Including breakfast! There are no rules that say that only certain foods should be eaten at certain times.
Looking for a list carbohydrate amounts in foods? Then sign up for the keto resource library and get a downloadable PDF file listing a wide variety of foods and their carb counts.
Here’s an example of some quick to put together meals:
Breakfast:
Sauteed spinach and onion stuffed omelette cooked in a bit of butter and topped with cheese or avocado slices
Egg salad (eggs, finely chopped onions and celery mixed with mayonnaise) over a slice of keto bread with a side of breakfast sausages
Keto blueberry muffins (or the muffin of your choice) split in half and spread with some butter with several slices of ham sandwich meat wrapped around a cheese stick
Lunch:
Salad greens topped with leftover baked chicken, steak, fish, pork, hard boiled eggs etc with salad dressing, a bit of cheese and avocado slices
Baked chicken with a side of broccoli/cauliflower and cheese
A burger with all your favorite toppings wrapped in lettuce leaves. You can even make a salad and top it with your favorite burger.
Dinner:
Roasted low carb vegetables topped with some butter with baked chicken, steak, fish or pork
Easy to make keto soup with some cheese on top
Taco salad made with salad greens, taco meat and topped with cheese, salsa, avocado and cheese
The best time to begin a keto diet is on the weekend when you will have more time to prepare some things for the coming week so you can stay on track.
Here are a few things you may want to do leading up to the day you start:
Buy a small notebook. Use it to write down some of the food/meals you are eating.
This does two things:
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It helps you to track your macros (carbs, proteins, fats)
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It helps you remember favorite meals/recipes
You will be glad you spent a little time writing down what you are for the day down the road. Having this information on hand can show you which meals you enjoyed and which recipes you used. I’m sure when you are in the middle of making what turns out to be a delicious meal you think you will remember where you got the recipe from and even how you may have swapped out several ingredients. But a month or two later when you go to make it again and can’t find the recipe or the site you got it from you’ll wish you had written it down.
Check out this post for more information on using a notebook or planner to help keep you on track.
Bonus points for this information also helping you to create your own personalized meal plan! Ever see a meal plan online and think “well that’s nice except I don’t like this recipe, I don’t have time to make that recipe and I don’t want to use these ingredients (or perhaps don’t have them on hand)”. How great would it be to flip open your notebook, quickly flip through it to note meals you enjoyed in the past that you want to make for the coming week.
This all leads us to the next step:
2. Spend a little time looking for a few recipes to try
You don’t have to search for elaborate recipes. Stick to a few simple ones that match your cooking style. Love burgers? Then search for a few burger recipes to try. Short on time and want to make crock pot meals? Find a few that look like you might enjoy them. If you don’t cook often then now is probably not the time to think that you will begin preparing every meal from scratch.
Go with what you know. Check out some of my Pinterest boards for a wide variety of keto recipes you might enjoy. Also check out the recipe page for a list of recipes available on this site.
It’s no crime to use store bought foods such as rotisserie chicken, bagged salad mixes, frozen vegetables, pre-chopped vegetables, and canned ingredients to help save you time. Build on your keto cooking skills along the way.
3. Prepare your pantry
If you live alone or with other people who are also going to be following a keto diet then this step might be easier for you.
Start by going through and removing high carb food items that you will no longer be eating. Stock your pantry with keto friendly ingredients and snacks.
Check out this post here for some of my favorite keto items and ingredients to keep in your kitchen. If you have picked out a few recipes to try make sure you have all the ingredients on hand.
You don’t need to spend a small fortune buying specialty ingredients or every product that says it’s keto. Everything you need to do the keto diet can be bought at your local grocery store.
4. Find alternatives to your favorite items.
In the beginning everyone wants to attempt to recreate every high carb food that they previous ate in the past. For many people this can lead them right back to old food habits.
You might be lucky and find some recipes that you really love. But there are just some things that are difficult to create or impossible to duplicate as the average person doesn’t have access to ingredients found in prepared keto items.
Personally I have yet to find a keto bread that comes really close to bread made with wheat. Sure I make some mug breads every now and then. But if I have a serious craving for a sandwich on sliced bread I turn to the loaf of thin sliced bread from the Great Bread Company that I keep in my freezer.
Some items are easily swapped out with a keto version such as mashed potatoes with keto cauliflower mashed potatoes. Other items…. not so much.
Don’t be afraid to try some of the great keto items out there. Finding a keto replacement to a favorite carb filled food will help keep you on track when you crave that item. It could be the difference between eating and enjoying some keto chips or grabbing a bag of regular chips which then end up leading you back to old eating habits. But be aware that this can also trigger old eating habits.
5. Track your macros
In the beginning you will want to spend a little time tracking your macros (protein, carbs and fat) or, at the minimum, track your carbs/net carbs.
The lazy keto method tracks only the net carbs. Usually most people have no problems eating enough protein and fat throughout the day. However, it’s quite easy to eat far more carbs than you realize. In the beginning it’s beneficial to track them. It helps you understand about how many you are getting from the foods you eat. It also makes you stop and think about what you are eating.
Mindless eating will cause you to eat far more carbs (and calories) then you anticipated. While people might say you can eat as much keto food as you want this isn’t true. In the end, consuming more calories than you burn will result in stalled weightloss and even regain. Eating keto allows you to eat less without feeling like you’re starving. However, it won’t stop head hunger….this is mental “hunger” without an actual physical hunger. You might experience head hunger when you want to eat when you are anxious, bored or stressed.
Try checking out some of the apps such as Carb Manager that are currently available. Many people also use MyFitnessPal to help with macro tracking.
Bonus Tip:
Don’t stress about trying to do keto perfectly!
Changing the way you eat is not something that you do to lose 30 pounds and then you return to old habits. You are looking to change the way you eat for a life time! Don’t stress it, take your time and discover the things you will enjoy again and again.
Life happens and when it does you need to relax and go with it. There is no one perfect way to do keto. In the beginning just focus on eating 3 meals that you enjoy. If you get hungry between meals then have a small snack. Avoid snacking throughout the day. It doesn’t matter if it’s keto fat bombs or whatever you are snacking on. Just because it’s “keto” won’t keep you from stalling the weight loss and even regaining weight.
At the beginning stages you are retraining your eating habits. You are learning to make meals that aren’t focused on carbs. This is going to take time.
Start off slow building your keto fridge, pantry and freezer. When you’re new it’s hard to resist trying every knew keto product at once. Go slow, try a few things a week and don’t stock up until you know that you enjoy it! Nothing is worse than having a cabinet filled with five of the same keto snack that you thought sounded great but you hate the taste. Check out the recommended products section for some of my favorite high carb food replacements.
Got a keto question? Leave it in the comment section below.
Disclosure: The above post may contain affiliate links. I may earn a small commission from purchases made through these links, at no additional cost to you. Anything recommended on this website is a products I have used and loved. Thank you for supporting Remake My Plate and allowing me to share my experiences with you.
Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links. I may earn a small commission from purchases made through these links, at no additional cost to you. Anything recommended on this website is a products I have used and loved. Thank you for supporting Remake My Plate and allowing me to share my experiences with you.