Moving this here from Reddit so you don’t have to go there.

Meta: This page is intended to be a very brief checklist of sorts for starting Keto and makes the following assumptions:

That you are over the age of 18

That you are starting a ketogenic diet for weight loss

That you have discussed your diet changes with your doctor, particularly if you have a medical condition.

  1. What is (and isn’t) Keto?

Keto is: A high fat, adequate protein, very low carb diet. It can be used to lose, gain, or maintain weight.

Keto is not: A zero sugar diet, a “clean” diet, or a magical cure for all ailments.

  1. How do I start?

Before starting Keto you should do the following five things:

Read over the FAQ. It has a lot of information that will help you out!

Calculate your macros using a macro calculator like the one linked on the sidebar. Using the expert settings enter your age, weight, height, and gender (your “stats”). Set your activity level to sedentary, your protein ratio to 0.8, and your net carbs to 20. The calculator will now show your macros - the amount of protein, carbs, and fat you should be eating per day. Even if you don’t intend to track your food it’s important to know your macros.

You may have seen other calculators or websites telling you to track your ratios or percentages. Those are only relevant for therapeutic Keto; the kind used to treat epilepsy. If you are doing keto for any other reason you should always measure in grams.

Grab a bottle of salt substitute from your local grocery store. Common brand names include Lite Salt (in the US and Australia) and Nu-Salt and Lo Salt (in the UK). This is the cheapest and most effective way to supplement your potassium intake which you’ll want to do. More info on why and how can be found in the FAQ section called Adapting to a Low Carb Lifestyle.

Take before pictures and measurements. Even if you never share them with anyone, you’ll be glad you did it.

Number five is optional but highly recommended: download a food tracking app or set up an account on a food tracking website. This will be the easiest way to know what you’re eating and make sure that you are staying within your macros. A list of popular macro tracking apps can be found in the FAQ.

  1. When do I start?

As soon as possible! You don’t need any fancy supplements or meal plans or expensive ingredients or testing supplies- the easiest way to start Keto is to just eat what you normally do minus the carbs.

Get in the habit of checking nutritional information before you eat and remember that this is a learning experience. You won’t be perfect at first and that’s okay. If you do want a meal plan or ideas of what to eat check out the FAQ, Pinterest, and the subreddits r/ketorecipes and r/ketomealseatingnow.

  1. Is that it?

Pretty much. Keep your net carbs under 20g, eat enough protein for your body to function, and get the rest of your calories from fat. If weight loss is your goal then fat should be seen as a threshold- you can eat any amount of dietary fat up to your fat macro. This is because you want at least some of your fat intake to come from, well, the fat that’s on your body. Always aim to meet or exceed your protein macro and don’t worry about going over.

  1. How much weight can I expect to lose?

Weight loss is slow and non-linear. You may lose a lot of water weight at first, you may not. Don’t compare your weight loss to others and remain focused on your goals beyond losing weight. Be patient and it will happen in time.

  1. How do I stay motivated/committed? (credit and thanks to u/DClawdude!)

Ultimately you build discipline and commit, or you don’t. Control and motivation are not about willpower really, they are about discipline and also goals. The scale itself is often not enough motivation, and motivation can only get you so far versus discipline.

Discipline is basically building good habits and sticking to them. You have to ask yourself what is more important to you: being less fat in a month or having a candy bar now? What is going to provide more long term satisfaction?

Frankly there is always an excuse to cheat. There is always an upcoming holiday or birthday or graduation or quincenara or bar mitzvah or other celebration or someone decided to just bring cookies to work or you go out to dinner and order a sandwich instead of something else. There is always an excuse, if you want it bad enough you will just not make excuses.

Which is not to say it isn’t difficult, it IS to say that committing is what is necessary especially when you are in an environment where others eat other things.

A lot of people also say that thinking, “I no longer eat that” is a more helpful mindset versus “I can’t have that.”

If you cheat and fail, reflect critically on why it happened, don’t go into a shame spiral - make a plan for the next time the situation comes up, because it will, and think about a better way to handle it.

You have to want it, nobody can want it for you. It’s your body in the end.

Committing to changes that improve your health can be hard. Being fat is also hard. Choose your hard.

revision by ketokate-o— 4 years ago