The most common question I’m getting right now is how did I get started. Where did I learn what to do/not do? I’m a diligent researcher by nature because I like to stay informed to be able to make my own decisions. I don’t typically just take someone else’s word for it without doing my research. So I strongly urge you to do your research as well and learn this properly. It’s easy to wreck a whole week of hard work with one accidental bad food choice. To be considered fat adapted or keto is to have carbohydrates below 20 net carbs. That’s pretty low so make sure you know what you’re doing so you don’t throw yourself out of ketosis. It can take up to a week to get back into ketosis (fat adapted).
Here’s my favorite resources for getting started:
- Read the book Obesity Code by Dr. Jason Fung.
- Check out this website: www.dietdoctor.com
- Follow a couple blogs that have recipes and guidance such as
My best advice is to go through your refrigerator and pantry. Remove ALL OF THE TEMPTATION. REMOVE ALLLLLL OF IT!! Get rid of all the sauces, cookies, pastas, rice, breads, sweets, processed foods, etc. Once you are dropping weight you will not want these awful things anyways. Plus, out of sight out of mind! Fill your fridge and pantry with keto foods so you have them available when you need it. Replace your sugar with a keto approved sweetener such as Swerve and replace your table salt with pink Himalayan Sea Salt. Additionally, remove or unfollow all the social media sites that have tempting foods.
Take “before” and “progress” pictures! Yes, do this for yourself. Don’t worry… these photos can only be for your eyes. It’s not like you have to share them with anyone! When you are losing weight or reach your goal weight you will regret not taking before pictures to compare with. Or when you are having a weight loss stall or lacking focus you can use these photos as motivation. Trust me. Take these pics!
Be Prepared! Nothing can ruin a diet faster than poor planning. Make sure you sit down at least once a week and make a menu. I like to make it as easy as possible to set myself up for success during my busy week. If you have food on hand to cook you will be less likely to eat out at a restaurant. Also, make double batches so you can easily re-heat dinner for the next day when you know you may be extra busy. I know a lot of folks have great success meal prepping for the entire week. You can even measure out your macros this way to save time.
Another HUGE thing to point out is to be committed. Research keto and see if you are going to fully commit to this. This is a lifestyle. This is not a fad. If you are going to use keto to drop some weight and think you can go back to eating your old habits is going get the pounds back fast. You can either use glucose for fuel or you use ketones for fuel. You cannot mix the two!
I highly suggest a couple tools to get started as well. Here is a list of the tools I use.
- The tool I use most is my digital kitchen scale. You should be weighing anything you put in your mouth and logging it into a food diary.
- You can figure out your macros using an app called myfitnesspal. This shows you your macros so you know how much food you should be eating for a steady weight loss based on your current weight. Learning which foods can wreck your macros is huge! For example, it’s easy to blow calories snacking on nuts because an ounce contains a ton of fat. It’s easy to eat too many so make sure you weigh them and eat the serving size!
- A bathroom scale is also something you should invest in but don’t worry… you don’t need it. I only weigh myself once a week. I found when I weighted myself daily I was obsessing over it. Now, weekly weigh-ins are enough and it’s nice to see a big drop!
- Get a soft tape measure and measure your body. Write it all down so you can reference it at a later date, or when you hit a weight loss stall. Sometimes the scale doesn’t move but you’re still shrinking!