How to Begin the Keto Diet

At one point I was fat & tired & sick of being overweight.

I tried to lose weight before through diets, but I always gained the weight back.

But, when I was looking online for ways to lose weight I found out about the keto diet.

Basically, on a ketogenic diet, you eat less than 50 grams — and usually less than 30 grams — of net carbohydrates per day.

Net carbohydrates represent the carbohydrates your body uses for energy minus dietary fiber.

Protein is consumed at moderate levels on the ketogenic diet so roughly 80% of your calories come from fat.

With keto & intermittent fasting, I lost over 40 pounds & finally became free from being overweight & tired.

In this article, I’ll detail everything I’ve learned about keto so you can start keto today as well.

Even though keto has a lot of benefits, let’s discuss the main ones first.

Weight Loss on Keto 😄

There’s a large number of people attempting to lose weight who are drawn to this diet because it makes it easy & simple to lose weight.

Ketosis, a metabolic process in which the body utilizes fats to generate energy, reduces your appetite. I will explain this in more detail later on.

Muscle on Keto 💪

Because of its ability to spare muscle while facilitating rapid fat loss, the ketogenic diet is beloved by bodybuilders and fitness models.

Endurance on Keto 🏃

There is evidence that a keto diet improves endurance compared to more conventional, moderate-to-high-carb diets, so many athletes love the keto diet.

Entrepreneurs on Keto 💻

The ketogenic diet has recently been embraced by productivity gurus for its supposed mental benefits — energy level, wakefulness, and mental sharpness.

Paleo Dieters & Keto 🍖

Some people who follow the Paleo diet are drawn to the ketogenic diet because it eliminates grains and legumes, which are known to irritate the gut and cause digestive and immune issues.

How? 🤔

How could a nearly all-fat diet have such dramatic impacts on the body?

The ketogenic diet alters the body’s metabolic state, known as ketosis, to produce the desired impacts through lowered insulin.

To comprehend the ketogenic diet, you must first understand what ketosis is and how it works.

Intro to Keto 🧑‍🏫

Before you start keto, you must learn how the keto diet works.

Energy Pathways ⚡️

There are several metabolic pathways in the body to produce energy, but certain ones are used more frequently than others.

Glucose, the simplest and most common form of sugar, usually provides the majority of your body’s energy (when you don’t do keto.)

There are other carbohydrates besides pure glucose that are broken down or processed into glucose.

When the body is low on glucose, it can manufacture glucose from protein through a process known as gluconeogenesis.

Aside from glucose, the body can utilize ketones and free fatty acids as energy sources. Although glucose is the preferred fuel, those other energy sources are utilized when glucose stores are depleted in large quantities.

How to Get Into Ketosis 🥑

By eating under 50 grams of carbs per day, your glucose reserves get depleted in around 24–36 hours, & your body burns its own fat for energy. However, you can get into ketosis faster by exercising.

Fasting, eating a very low-carb diet, exercising, or some combination of the three usually depletes the body’s glucose stores.

Metabolic disorders such as Type 1 diabetes may also cause this condition in extreme excess.

Your body begins to rely more on ketones as a source of energy rather than free fatty acids when glucose stores are depleted.

Since many cells in the body are unable to directly utilize free fatty acids, the liver begins to convert fatty acids into ketone bodies as glucose reserves are used up.

Ketones 101 🏃

When a person’s glucose levels are low, the body makes ketone bodies, which are a type of molecule that delivers energy.

Ketosis is a rise in the number of ketone bodies your body produces.

Nutritional ketosis is defined as blood ketone body concentrations of .5 to 3 millimoles per liter, denoted as mmol/L.

The brain in particular can’t utilize free fatty acids because they cannot cross the blood-brain barrier, however, it can use ketones

The three ketones acetone, acetoacetate, and beta-hydroxybutyrate comprise the ketone family.

Acetoacetate is the primary ketone generated by the body in mild ketosis.

In more severe ketosis phases, the body’s major energy source shifts from acetoacetate to beta-hydroxybutyrate.

Acetone is generated as a byproduct of both acetoacetate and beta-hydroxybutyrate. (Yes, I’m referring to the same chemical in nail polish remover and paint thinners.

Yes, your body can burn that for energy.

No, it does not mean that it is safe to drink paint thinner. (It’s not.)

Your body will begin to excrete excess ketones in the urine and breath once you have entered ketosis.

Ketone-measuring strips, which are discussed further down, can be used to determine whether someone is in ketosis.

The presence of ketones in the urine results in a sweet and fruity odor on the breath, particularly acetone/nail polish like.

Your Body & Ketones ⛽️

There are various tissues in your body with various energy preferences. Most are flexible: they may consume glucose, ketones, or free fatty acids.

Fast-twitch muscle fibers function better with glucose instead of ketones.

The brain also requires glucose as an energy source, even when in a state of deep ketosis.

As a result, even when the body is in ketosis, the body will go through gluconeogenesis.

Gluconeogenesis is when the protein you eat gets converted into glucose, or sugar so certain parts of your body can still function.

Since certain parts of the brain will still need glucose on keto, your brain & other organs, like the liver, can still run off of sugar from the protein you eat.

What Happens When I Cut Out Carbs? ❌

Within 24 hours of cutting carbs out of the diet, mild ketosis can be achieved. However, it typically takes three to four days to achieve full, nutritional ketosis — unless you are exercising, in which case it can be accomplished more quickly.

After you first enter ketosis, the metabolic pathways used to burn ketones are increased as your body transitions from utilizing glucose to utilizing ketones.

It can take some time for your cells to adapt to burning ketones rather than glucose.

During the initial phase of keto-adaptation, the body increases the amount of fat it burns and eliminates its waste products.

Ketosis just means that the body is converting fat into ketones; therefore, your body may take some time to adjust to using them for energy.

Keto Adaptation ⚡️

Your body can utilize ketones right away — you will not starve on a ketogenic diet — but your energy & vitality level might be lower than usual at first.

The entire procedure of full keto-adaptation normally takes 2–4 weeks.

The initial few days of this procedure may be unpleasant if your body is not accustomed to using ketone bodies for energy.

Also, during the first week or two of eating keto, you may experience the keto flu, which is a type of “flu” with prolonged fatigue & other flu-like symptoms, but we’ll discuss how to solve this later on.

When you’re first starting keto, you must eat very few carbs— usually 50 grams or less per day — to enter ketosis.

If you eat too many carbs, you will not stay in ketosis.

You will still benefit from becoming keto-adapted, but you may experience a mild version of the keto flu again as you reenter ketosis each time you leave ketosis & re-enter.

The biggest problem with starting the ketogenic diet is that it takes a week or two to get adjusted to keto, so most people quit before they reach the benefits.

Benefits of Keto 😙

Increased Satiety & Easy Fat Loss on Keto 😄

There is substantial proof to suggest that ketogenic diets result in superior fat loss & satiety compared to non-ketogenic diets.

However, there is much confusion about how they work.

The notion that a ketogenic diet allows you to lose weight without consuming fewer calories than you expend has been widely propagated by bloggers and other non-academic sources.

However, this notion is false.

Although ketogenic diets do not provide higher fat loss than higher-carb diets when calories are equivalent, they do provide greater improvements in satiety & insulin management, & thus weight loss.

The ketogenic diet seems to cause weight loss by reducing the amount of food consumed.

While on the ketogenic diet, many people experience a strong reduction in their appetite, to the point where they feel virtually no hunger even as they lose significant amounts of weight.

The reason for this is unclear, but what is certain is that appetite reduction occurs gradually as you get into a deeper state of ketosis.

On a ketogenic diet, your appetite will be fully suppressed after about three weeks, suggesting that it arises from keto-adaptation rather than merely being in ketosis.

Energy expenditure remains the same as usual on a ketogenic diet. Long-term ketosis actually reduces the conversion of the thyroid hormone T4 to T3, the more active form.

This phenomenon would theoretically be expected to decrease energy expenditure, but that doesn’t occur.

It may also preserve muscle mass while losing weight, at least after you’ve become keto-adapted, which takes up to 4 weeks.

You can’t eat the same amount of calories & lose weight on keto, but most people, after adjusting to keto, stop being hungry. This makes it really easy to burn through your fat.

Mental Improvements on Keto 🧠

Many people report improvements in various aspects of mental functioning after they become fully keto-adapted and cease experiencing the keto flu. These benefits include improved mood, focus, improved energy levels, and improved subjective well-being, among other things.

Ketogenic diets are reported to have a more positive impact on mental functioning than low-fat diets. However, another study found that there was not a big difference.

At least, ketogenic diets appear to be as effective as low-fat diets in this regard.

The functioning of the brain improves with the ketogenic diet, but the reasons for this are unknown.

It could be because brain areas function better on ketones, or it could be because the diet leads to steadier energy levels as a result of eating more fat.

Also, chemicals like gluten and lectins, which many individuals react negatively to, may be eliminated as a result of the ketogenic diet.

This could be another possible reason why people are mentally sharper on keto.

Ketogenic diets may also improve behavior management and quality of life in autistic children.

Keto has also been used as a treatment for epilepsy since the 1920s, with patients frequently experiencing more than 50% reductions in seizure frequency.

Lowered Risk for Cancer Through Reduced Inflammation ⚕️

A wide range of study subjects has shown that the ketogenic diet reduces overall inflammation levels. Epilepsy patients, obese individuals, and endurance athletes have all experienced reductions in inflammation as a result of following the ketogenic diet.

The protective effect of ketosis against cancer has been demonstrated in humans as well as in a variety of animal species.

In fact, intermittent fasting, another dietary approach widely believed to have cancer-fighting benefits, appears to be less protective against cancer than ketosis.

It’s no big surprise that inflammation is one of the biggest risk factors for cancer.

Inflammation over time can damage your DNA, causing cancerous cells to develop — ketosis protects your DNA by lowering inflammation.

Beat Diabetes With Keto 🩸

Type 2 diabetes can be effectively treated with ketogenic diets, which improve glucose metabolism and insulin sensitivity.

A low-carbohydrate diet in particular improves diabetes symptoms and reduces the need for insulin injections.

It’s not the case for everyone, but the ketogenic diet seems to help a large portion of individuals with type 2 diabetes.

Carb hyper-responders, however, will benefit more from a high-carb diet.

Improved Heart Health on Keto ❤️

You can improve your heart health on a ketogenic diet, even if you’re not overweight, by increasing HDL cholesterol, reducing LDL cholesterol, and lowering triglycerides.

But, make sure to eat a balance of different types of fats, excluding unsaturated fats like vegetable or corn oils, as they’re inflammatory.

If you eat different types of fats, then your heart health will likely be better compared to just eating one type of fat.

Protect Against Neurodegenerative Diseases on Keto 🧓

Growing scientific evidence suggests that the ketogenic diet may protect against neurodegenerative diseases.

• Having fewer and less severe migraines can be achieved through a ketogenic diet.
• A ketogenic diet may prevent brain injuries from becoming worse, according to one study.
• A ketogenic diet may have therapeutic effects on Parkinson’s disease.

In elderly adults at risk for Alzheimer’s disease, a ketogenic diet improved overall cognitive functioning.

Memory performance was positively correlated with blood ketone levels, strongly indicating that ketosis was responsible for the benefits rather than something else such as eliminating gluten or processed sugar.

Cons of Keto 🫤

Problems Sticking to Keto 😶‍🌫️

It’s obvious that following a ketogenic diet is difficult, but it’s not as difficult as you may think. In one study, 53% of participants on the Atkins diet (low-carb) were able to maintain their diet and finish the study, compared to 65% of individuals on Zone and Weight Watchers diets. However, the Atkins diet, at least in the initial phase, is one of the more extreme kinds of the ketogenic diet because it involves more restrictions than necessary to stay in ketosis.

All-in-all, it is slightly more difficult to adhere to a well-executed ketogenic diet than other diets.

You may also learn to make ketogenic versions of popular high-carb foods if you prepare most of your meals at home.

If you eat out frequently, the ketogenic diet will be more challenging as you must carefully choose your food and meticulously examine nutrition labels before ordering.

If you want to find out a full list of the best foods to eat on keto, here it is.

Keto Insomnia 😴

Eating carbs helps to produce melatonin and thus speeds up the sleep process, which is why some people experience insomnia when they switch to a low-carb diet, like keto. To stop this from happening, if you just started keto, just wait until your melatonin production goes back to normal. If you’ve been doing keto for a long-time, try to eat earlier in the day.

Inflammation & indigestion caused by eating a lot of net carbohydrates at one meal can make it harder to fall asleep. You can mitigate, if not entirely prevent, this problem by spreading out your net carbohydrate intake throughout the day.

If you want to learn more about the common keto side effects, you can read my article here where I go more in-depth.

Decreased Short-Duration Athletic Performance on Keto 🏃‍♂️

The ketogenic diet’s effects on athletic performance — strength, power, speed, and endurance — are perhaps the most controversial aspect. The evidence here is quite mixed.

Some studies have noted that the ketogenic diet enhances performance in endurance athletes.

Endurance on Keto 🏊

Endurance activities such as long-distance running deplete glycogen (carbohydrate) stores quickly, making a ketogenic diet & fats the ideal fuel source.

Other research has produced contrasting results, with one finding that a low-carb diet, was superior for endurance. Ketogenic diets have been found to be either as good or inferior to conventional diets for endurance, based on other studies.

Going keto does not appear to impact strength performance, even for gymnasts and Tae Kwon Do athletes who train for several hours a day.

Strength on Keto 💪

As maximal strength — lifting a heavy barbell for less than five repetitions — is largely fueled by ATP stored in muscle tissue, the proportion of carbs versus fats in one’s diet does not strongly impact it, since your body can make its own ATP regardless if you’re on keto or not.

What about the area between over an hour of continuous activity and very short bursts of activity that last less than 10 seconds?

Anaerobic Exercise (Sprinting) on Keto 🏃‍♂️

You would expect the diet to underperform in this area, and that is exactly what happens — ketogenic dieters do slightly poorer compared to carb-eaters on anaerobic (sprinting) cycling tests.

Basically, longer workouts, like weightlifting and running, are slightly enhanced on a ketogenic diet.

However, keto reduces performance for workouts in the intermediate spectrum, including short-distance sprinting and short-duration, team games.

Should You Start Keto? 🤔

Yes! However, make sure to educate yourself about keto as you start it so you know how it works & the solutions to the problems that you’ll encounter.

It’s more important that you do keto in the long-term rather than just going on “another diet.”

I used to be the person going on diets, but it never worked. It’s more important to choose an eating approach that you can do in the long term, like keto.

Stay Mentally Resilient 💪

Stay mentally resilient on keto, even if you want to quit. Following the ketogenic diet is more difficult than most diets, and breaking the diet, & not coming back, has harsh consequences.

Most cheat meals on other diets only make you feel crappy for a few hours and might make you gain a tiny amount of weight.

However, the ketogenic diet knocks you out of ketosis, and you might suffer the keto flu for a day or more before getting back into ketosis.

It’s important to not fall into temptations on keto, but if you do, then make sure to get back on track.

It’s more important that you come back after each cheat meal than quitting forever after one mistake.

Read Nutrition Labels 📄

On keto, especially when you are starting out, read nutrition labels on all the foods you eat. This is important since it can help you figure out which foods are high in net carbs.

Net carbs = total carbs — fiber — artificial sweeteners. (I usually calculate net carbs instead of total carbs because net carbs are the only carbs that affect your insulin. For example, a salad is high in total carbs because of fiber, but low in net carbs.

Look up the carb content of a food item on Google if you aren’t sure.

It’s also important to eat as many home-cooked meals as possible so you can maintain control over what you’re eating. As mentioned earlier, this diet is difficult to follow when you dine out frequently.

All packaged foods in the US must contain nutrition information, so obtaining nutritional information is relatively simple. It is more difficult in countries without strict nutrition labeling legislation, where obtaining nutrition information is usually only found on certain labels or by Google searching.

If You Want to Gain Muscle, Get Ready to Eat! 🥛

Since keto suppresses your appetite, if you want to eat in a caloric surplus & gain muscle, get ready to eat past the point of fullness.

However, even if you want to build muscle, since keto offers so many benefits, you should consider doing a ketogenic diet.

And to build muscle, you need to make sure that you’re in a caloric surplus.

And, if you need to eat in a surplus, get ready to start chugging heavy cream & replacing water with full-fat milk.

Consider the Athletic Implications for Short-Duration Activities 🏃

The consequences of the ketogenic diet on athletic performance are small, or beneficial, as I said before. Endurance athletes, powerlifters, bodybuilders, and very short-distance sprinters are not significantly affected because ATP, the driver behind these movements, isn’t affected by keto.

However, it might hurt you if you play soccer, basketball, tennis, or any other sport in which players must keep moving for several minutes at a time.

You must consider how important short-to-medium duration athletic performance is to you before you start the keto diet.

How to Get Into Ketosis ASAP ⏳

The process of becoming keto-adapted can be lengthy and painful, or quick and painful. I think it’s better to get over the hump as soon as possible.

Start Keto⚡️

To start keto, you’ll need to reduce net carbs to under 50 grams a day.

It takes around a week or two to get into ketosis.

It’s pretty straightforward. Just make sure to follow these two tips:

• Supplement With 1/2 Teaspoon of Sea Salt Daily 🧂 — On keto, you’ll be peeing a lot. This is because without sugar, your kidneys expel water faster. But, when you urinate, you’ll lose electrolytes, like sodium. To make sure you still have your electrolytes in balance, you must consume an extra 1/2 teaspoon of salt per day. You can add it into your food, or you can take a shot of it with water to get it done with.
• Eat a Lot of Vegetables 🥬 — When you start keto, you may believe that the keto diet is all about bacon & sticks of butter. However, on keto, you still must eat a lot of vegetables. Vegetables have a lot of electrolytes, like potassium, allowing you to re-balance your electrolyte levels, so make sure to eat around 6 cups of vegetables per day.

If you supplement with salt & eat a lot of vegetables, your electrolyte levels will be corrected, allowing you to easily beat the keto flu.

What Foods Should I Eat on Keto? 🤔

Meats — Beef, Lamb, Pork, Poultry, Seafood, Eggs, Etc 🥩

Meats are a staple way to get high-quality protein & fat on the keto diet. However, make sure you eat different types of meats, like beef one meal & fish the next. This will help you incorporate all types of fats into your diet, making you more balanced health-wise.

Also, don’t forget eggs, the hidden gem of the keto diet.

Eggs are mostly made up of fat & a small amount of protein, but the reason they’re so good is because of their nutrients.

Since eggs have a lot of nutrients, they are great for people who’re concerned about a nutritional deficiency on keto.

Also, egg protein, specifically in the yolks, is much more bioavailable than any other source of protein.

This means that even though you only get 5 grams of protein per egg, the protein is more valuable since your body can use more of it instead of converting it to glucose through gluconeogenesis.

Wait a minute, I thought cholesterol was bad?

Actually, dietary cholesterol is not usually associated with increased blood cholesterol, so eat all of the eggs & butter you want.

Hormones like testosterone and estrogen are also created using dietary cholesterol, so dietary cholesterol is needed for health.

Nuts & Nut Butters 🌰

Nuts & nut butters are a great staple of the keto diet because they don’t require preparation & are still high in fats.

You can sweeten and flavor nut butter by adding artificial sweeteners and cinnamon to them, just as you would with tea and coffee. They also go great as a spread on keto desserts & bread.

Oils & Fat 🧈

You must go out of your way to add fat to your diet. To maintain a balance of the three types of fat, look to the following:

• Saturated fat 🧈 — Coconut oil, cocoa butter, & animal fats like butter, beef fat, fish, etc.
• Monounsaturated fat 🫒 — Olive oil, canola oil, peanut oil, safflower oil,
  sesame oil, etc.
• Polyunsaturated fat 🌽 — Vegetable oil, corn oil, soybean oil, sunflower oil, etc.

*Avoid vegetable & corn oil as they’re inflammatory & instead eat other fats.*

Low-Carb Substitutes 🍕

There are a large number of low-carb substitutes for carb-heavy foods, but the downside is that you usually have to cook them yourself.

The upside is that, if properly prepared, they result in a delicious meal.

Foods like pizza, ice cream, cake, & bread all have their keto counterparts.

You may need to practice a bit before you get used to making ketogenic meals that taste as good as the high-carb ones you’re familiar with.

High-Fat Dairy 🧀

Cheese, butter, cream, and sugar-free yogurt are all great additions to the keto diet.

It’s important not to overdo it, many keto dieters consume insane amounts of dairy, which can raise insulin & inflammation, so just don’t eat too much dairy.

Low Net Carb Vegetables 🥦

Most vegetables, like cabbage, kale, etc, are all low in net carbs & great for getting your nutrients on keto. However, vegetables like corn, peas, potatoes, & sweet potatoes need to be avoided on keto since they’re high in net carbs.

Eat green beans, celery, cauliflower, broccoli, squash, eggplant, and peppers, as all of them are nutritious.

Eat at least five servings of vegetables each day, but basically more is better. It’s fine to lightly sauté them in healthy oils like olive oil, coconut oil, avocado oil, or butter to help you consume more healthy fats.

Low Net Carb Fruits 🍓

There are certain fruits, like berries, avocados, tomatoes, lemons, & coconuts that are fine to eat on the ketogenic diet, but most fruits are too sweet and should be avoided.

It’s okay to eat as many avocados and tomatoes as you want, as they aren’t particularly sugary and are packed with nutrients.

Strawberries, raspberries, and blackberries are the best sweeter choices for keto. Only consume blueberries on occasion due to their higher sugar content.

Most fruits are too sweet and high in carbs, so they should be avoided on a ketogenic diet.

Coffee & Tea ☕️

Coconut oil can be added to these beverages to boost ketone production on the ketogenic diet. Stevia and cinnamon are keto-approved flavor additions.

Supplements 💊

If you can’t get a certain aspect of nutrition from your keto diet alone, it’s okay to supplement with pills or powders.

The most common supplements on keto are:

• Multivitamin 💊 — Multivitamins can be your “insurance” that you’re getting all your vitamins on keto. Though they aren’t needed, they can help you get some of the vitamins & minerals that you may have missed from not eating enough variety of foods.
• Fiber Powder 🍶 — Fiber powders can help you add fiber to your diet if you can’t eat that many vegetables. Fiber is crucial for digestive health & overall health, so if you can’t get it from vegetables, consider a fiber powder.
• Greens Powder 🥬 — Greens powders can be used to help you get some of the nutrients from vegetables that you may have missed.

If you want a full list of the best foods for keto, here’s my article going more in-depth on just the food aspect of keto.

Common Beginner Mistakes on Keto 😬

Going In & Out of Keto 🔁

You must remain in deep ketosis for at least a month to adapt to the ketogenic diet. After that, you will not immediately lose your keto-adaptation if you leave ketosis; rather, you will gradually de-adapt if you stay out of ketosis for a long time.

Furthermore, every time you enter and exit ketosis, you’re likely to experience the keto flu again, which isn’t pleasant.

It is preferable not to take very many breaks from this diet.

You can certainly go off it for a while, but it is better to take infrequent longer breaks rather than frequent brief ones.

Once you’re on the ketogenic diet, you should stay on it for at least a month, and preferably several months.

After a year or two on keto, then and only then should you start looking into long-duration carb-cycling.

Not Eating Enough Veggies 🥬

Many people on ketogenic diets tend to eat fewer plant foods in order to avoid consuming too many carbohydrates, which leads to nutrient deficiencies. However, since vegetables are very nutritious & helpful for a keto dieter, you must make sure to eat a lot of vegetables — around 6 cups per day.

Remember to stay under 50 grams of net carbs daily, maybe even under 30 grams daily.

Only net carbs are counted, not total carbs.

Fiber & artificial sweeteners are not included in the net carbs, so that’s why we prefer to count net carbs.

The non-starchy vegetables broccoli, carrots, spinach, celery, and squash have no net carbs, so eat as much as you like.

Avocados and tomatoes are just two of the non-sugary fruits that have low net carbs.

Berries are among the low-sugar fruits that you may consume.

However, avoid fruit such as peaches and bananas that are higher in carbohydrates.

On keto, make sure to consume around 6 cups of vegetables per day to optimize your nutrition for health.

If you don’t know which vegetables to eat, I have an article here detailing the best keto-approved vegetables.

Eating Too Little or Too Much Protein 🍗

Protein is essential for overall fitness & health. It helps your body develop & grow. However, your body can turn protein into glucose, which can knock you out of ketosis if you eat too much of it.

Many people, upon hearing this, jump to the quick conclusion that consuming less protein is preferable, however, it is not.

Your muscles and other body tissues are constructed from protein.

Only if you eat more protein than your body requires will it be converted into glucose.

Your lean body mass — that is, your weight minus your fat — needs between .8 to 1.0 grams of protein per pound or between 20% and 30% of calories.

If you’re physically active, you should consume at least 1 gram of protein per pound of lean body mass or around 30% of your calories.

Remember that proteins and carbohydrates have four calories per gram, while fats have nine calories per gram.

However, some people may eat too much protein, which may also kick you out of keto since protein raises insulin.

You should consume at least two grams of fat for every gram of protein to ensure that you’re still within ketosis.

Gradually Going Into Keto 🗓

What if I gradually went into ketosis by slowly reducing carbohydrate intake?

Never do this.

The reason why is that if you do a low-carb diet, but not low enough to get into ketosis, then you’ll just be tired.

That’s because, on low-carb diets, your body can’t use carbs as the main fuel source, but since there are no ketones, it can’t use fat either.

Basically, you’d be in an infinite loop of hunger pangs.

If you want to start keto, start today & cut down carbs to under 50 grams per day.

This is not enjoyable, but it gets the difficult stuff out of the way quickly & allows you to get the benefits of keto earlier on.

Not Eating All Types of Fats 🍳

Make sure to always eat different types of fats, like an avocado one meal, sardines the next meal, & eggs the next. If you don’t it may result in higher LDL cholesterol, triglycerides, and HDL cholesterol levels.

It is imperative to consume a mix of saturated, monounsaturated, and polyunsaturated fats in your diet.

One type of fat should not make up the majority of your fat intake as it can lead to an imbalance in the body.

Make sure to get enough unsaturated fats to balance out the saturated fats you consume. Eat fish, avocados, nuts, and olive oils to achieve this.

However, always avoid vegetable oils like normal vegetable oil, corn oil, or soybean oil since they’re inflammatory.

Using Ketone Test Strips Excessively 🧪

You can use ketone test strips, also known as ketostix, to test for ketones in your urine and determine how far into ketosis you are. The problem with this is that it is counterproductive for several reasons.

The goal is not to get as deep into ketosis as possible, it’s just to get into ketosis.

Also, there is little correlation between the levels of ketones in your blood and the amount excreted in your urine.

In addition to that, during periods of deep ketosis, your body may stop excreting ketones into your urine entirely, resulting in the appearance that you have left ketosis.

Another issue with ketone strips is that they only measure acetoacetate.

However, the compound beta-hydroxybutyrate is frequently the largest amount of ketone produced by the body.

If acetoacetate is not detected in your urine, then you may have a large amount of BHB or acetone, but it won’t be detected.

Blood tests are more reliable than keto urine strips, but they’re more expensive & hassle-some to perform.

That’s why I generally don’t recommend testing your ketones, & instead recommend checking if you’re getting results & how you feel.

However, if you do want to find out if you’re in ketosis, I have an article here detailing the most common signs that you’re in ketosis.

Avoiding Foods With Small Amounts of Carbs 🥗

Keeping your carb intake low on the ketogenic diet is crucial, however, lowering it further isn’t always better. Lowering carbs to under 20 grams per day may speed up results, but it isn’t necessary to still enjoy all of keto’s benefits.

The purpose of the diet isn’t to achieve the deepest level of ketosis possible; it’s to lose weight, remain productive at work, maintain athletic performance, prevent diabetes, or whatever other reasons you may have had for starting the diet.

Don’t avoid vegetables because they may have a tiny amount of carbs. Your objective, in fact, should be to eat as many vegetables as you can for their nutritional benefit.

Most people should eat around 30 grams of net carbs each day, with 50 grams on days when they are working out particularly hard.

It isn’t necessary to consume less than 20 grams of net carbs, but it can help you to lose weight faster.

Avoiding MCTs 🥥

To get into ketosis faster, consider consuming medium-chain triglycerides, a type of fat. MCT oils, like coconut oil, are a great way at inducing ketosis early on when you’re getting adapted to the keto diet since they produce ketones.

Because of their ketogenic nature, medium-chain triglycerides are often converted into ketones even when on non-ketogenic diets.

Consuming MCT oils allows you to remain in ketosis while consuming more protein and carbohydrates than you would otherwise.

This is beneficial because more protein, fruit, and vegetables are good for you, as well as because allowing more variety in your diet makes the diet easier to adhere to.

In addition to improving fat loss, MCT oils enhance health.

The primary MCTs in coconut oil are 60% medium-chain triglycerides.

Palm oil is close behind, comprising 50% medium-chain triglycerides, while dairy fats come in last, consisting of only 10% MCTs.

Coconut oil includes all four MCT sub-categories, making it the optimal choice for people wanting to raise their ketones.

Start Keto Today 🫵

Many people, including me, consider starting the ketogenic diet to be one of the most positive life-changing decisions they ever made.

You’d be hard-pressed to find a more effective diet for fat loss, overall health, and productivity.

That’s why it’s important to not procrastinate & start keto today.

It may not be as difficult as it sounds, and once you’ve mastered the art of creating delicious, healthy keto meals, you may not miss carbs at all.

Hope this helped!

If you have any more questions about keto or its side effects, I answer most of them in my article here or throughout my website.

And, if you have a specific question, you can contact me on my contact page.