When going on a low carb, high-fat diet such as the ketogenic diet, it will take a while to get keto-adapted. Becoming keto-adapted essentially means the time it takes a body to switch from burning glucose to fat. It’s a process, but in no time at all, it'll become easier to stick to and maintain. In this post, we’ll give a quick guide on how to stick to the keto diet for weight loss. Be sure to check out the Body Reboot book for an extensive guide on how to start this health transforming diet and what type of benefits you’ll receive! And trust us, they’re worth it! 

Ketovale talks about defining your why. Understand the reason why you’re doing keto, and that will help you determine how to eat the right foods to stay in ketosis 

Define Your WHY

When you get started with a low-carb diet, you need to have a clear idea on WHY you want to change your eating habits, and why you have chosen that particular diet.

The reasons can be very simple – for example, “I want to be healthy and independent as I grow older”, or “I want to lose weight to feel good in my skin again”, or “Processed carbs make me feel like crap” – but you need to know and understand them, in order to be able to define your goals and work towards them. Make a list and reread it every now and then.

Low-carb and keto are one of the best choices out there, for giving yourself a fresh start after New Year or when you set a new goal – both for weight loss and for general health. Both diets are very effective at helping you manage your appetite and feel less hungry, as well as regulate your blood sugar and insulin. Plus a number of other health benefits!

Having a brief set of rules will help you enjoy the many benefits on the kety diet. Healthline does an excellent job of providing a brief overview of the diet and how you can make it a habit. 

If you want to try a ketogenic diet, follow these basic rules:

Eliminate carbs: Check food labels, and aim for 30 grams of carbs or fewer per day.

Stock up on staples: Buy meat, cheese, whole eggs, nuts, oils, avocados, oily fish and cream, as these are now staples in your diet.

Eat your veggies: Fat sources are high in calories, so base each meal on low-carb veggies to fill your plate and help keep you feeling full.

Experiment: A ketogenic diet can still be interesting and tasty. You can even make ketogenic pasta, bread, muffins, brownies, puddings, ice cream, etc.

Build a plan: It can be hard to find low-carb meals for when you're on the go. As with any diet, it is important to have a plan and go-to snacks or meals.

Find what you love: Experiment until you find the ultimate keto diet for you.

Track progress: Take photos, measurements and monitor your weight every 3 to 4 weeks. If progress stops, try reducing portion sizes slightly.

Replace minerals: Ketosis changes your fluid and mineral balance. For this reason, salt your food and maybe take electrolytes or magnesium.

Try supplements: To boost the ketogenic process, you can take ketone salt supplements, MCT oil (5–10 grams twice a day) or use coconut oil regularly.

Be consistent: There is no shortcut to success. With any diet, consistency is the most important factor.

Wondering what foods you should eat? Ruled.me outlines which foods are allowed on the keto diet and which ones you should stay away from. It’s simple, really, but it takes some discipline and the ability to recognize which foods are keto-friendly and which ones are not. 

Do Not Eat

Grains – wheat, corn, rice, cereal, etc.

Sugar – honey, agave, maple syrup, etc.

Fruit – apples, bananas, oranges, etc.

Tubers – potato, yams, etc.

Do Eat

Meats – fish, beef, lamb, poultry, eggs, etc.

Low Carb Vegetables – broccoli, cauliflower, leafy greens, and other low carb vegetables 

High Fat Dairy – hard cheeses, high fat cream, butter, etc.

Nuts and seeds – macadamias, walnuts, sunflower seeds, etc.

Avocado and berries – raspberries, blackberries, and other low carb fruits 

Sweeteners – stevia, erythritol, monk fruit, and other low-carb sweeteners 

Other fats – coconut oil, high-fat salad dressing, saturated fats, etc.

Your willpower may be high now, and you may feel like you can conquer this new diet plan — but we must also acknowledge the fact that we can’t swim upstream forever. If our food environment is filled with easily accessible, carb-rich food that we can eat within the next 60 seconds, then our willpower won’t be able to stop us from cheating on our diet eventually.

To make sure you stick to the keto diet (or any diet for that matter), don’t rely on your willpower — rely on the food environment you create for yourself. Make it so easy to stick to your new way of eating that you can do it naturally.

Here are a couple tips on how to make your food environment keto-friendly:

Make Your Food Environment Keto-Friendly

Clean out your kitchen of any and all foods that are high in carbohydrates. This includes any candy, chocolate, sugary drinks, bread, pasta, and rice.

Go to the grocery store, implement your new label reading strategies, and restock your kitchen with some low carb alternatives to eat and snack on. Some snacks you can try are kale chips, macadamia nuts, high-fat cheese, pepperoni, and our keto-friendly snack recipes.

If you struggle with overeating low carb snacks, put them in a place that is much harder to access. (The more effort you have to put into eating a particular food, the less tempting that food becomes.)

Do not keep your favorite foods in easy-to-see places. (The more you see palatable foods, the more likely you are to trigger a craving and eat it.)

Limit the variety of the foods that you have available at any given time. (This will make it easier for you to eat fewer calories — less food variety leads to less overeating.)

By implementing these suggestions, you will be able to turn any obesogenic (weight gain promoting) environment into a place that promotes healthy eating habits and fat loss.

However, when it comes to traveling, having control over your food environment is much more challenging. This is why we dedicated the entirety of the next tip to what you should do to stay on keto when you are on the go.

Last but not least, after you’re in ketosis and have been following through with the keto diet for around three months or so, Everyday Health recommends trying keto cycling. This may not work for everyone, but it may make it easier to maintain the diet long term and give your occasional body breaks. 

Enter keto cycling. Keto cycling involves following the keto diet for a certain amount of time and then having a day (or more) off. “It’s also called carb cycling,” says Molly Devine, RD, a Durham, North Carolina–based registered dietitian with KetoLogic, a website designed to educate people on keto. “That’s another term for it because there are higher-carb days and lower-carb days.”

The idea is to make the keto diet easier to follow. Knowing that there’s a day in the near future when you’ll be allowed to eat carbs again might help you stick to the diet for a longer amount of time.

Devine says not to jump right into keto cycling. “I would definitely not try keto cycling until you’re about two to three months into your keto diet,” she says. “That's because you need to make sure your body is fat adapted so that it can get back into ketosis easily.” In her practice, Devine has noticed that if the body is used to being in ketosis, it’ll snap back more quickly after eating a carb-heavy meal than if a person is new to keto, though there’s no firm research to support that this is always the case.

Devine says to follow up a high-carb day with vigorous exercise the next morning. The idea is to force the body to burn the glycogen you took in so it can get back to working on fat burn.

It’s exciting going on the keto diet because there are SO many rewards from losing weigh to potentially combating heart disease and more. We wrote the Body Reboot book to provide an overview of the diet and outline how it can help you transform your health. Want a copy? Help us cover shipping visit this page ASAP to get your free book!

Sources: Perfect Keto, Ruled.me, Everyday Health, Ketovale, Healthline