Four Easy Steps To Starting A Keto Diet

Interested in starting a ketogenic diet? This article will help you in doing just that in four simple steps. They will include a bit of math (yay or aww...depending on your preference on the subject) but if you're in the latter category worry not, for you will have access to a helping calculator. The steps will also include personalization to make sure YOU start off on the right foot with all of your statistics, not just my own. What do you eat on this diet? That will also be covered as well as what to buy for preparing to start it. What's eating right without a little working out to speed up the process? I will also cover a simple workout routine to start things off. So without any further ado, let us begin.

Step 1: Individualized Calculations

When it comes to what you eat you need to keep four things in mind calories, fat, protein and net carbs (Net carbs are calculated by taking the carbs and subtracting the fiber).

1 gram of fat is equal to 9 calories.
1 gram of protein is equal to 4 calories
1 gram of carbohydrates is equal to 4 calories

Knowing those simple calculations might come in handy later when deciding what to eat, they might not, either way having the knowledge might prove useful down the line.

First you need to find your Base Metabolic Rate which determines how may calories your body burns naturally. By naturally I mean if  you were doing absolutely nothing, such as sitting on the couch all day. Then you need to determine how active you are during the day, which will increase the necessary calories your body needs per day. Keep in mind that this is how many calories your body needs to maintain your current weight, so you will need to reduce this intake.

Next, we need to find your body fat percentage. How much of your weight is fat versus everything else in your body. You can do the entire process with this handy dandy keto calculator, or keto-calc as I like to call it. It will take you through everything above step-by-step. It will also give you personalized results in the form of a graph and chart, for those who like visuals, not just numbers.

 Step 2: Menu

Once you have all the information you need, then you need to come up with a menu that will fit your calculated needs. Now, the way I am doing this is not going to be for everybody, monotony will be an issue with some. My menu will remain consistent for at least a week before I make changes. I will make note of these changes as I go. My first week will consist of the following:

• Breakfast:

3 scrambled eggs
2 pieces of bacon
1 cup of coffee with 2 Tbsp of heavy cream

Total estimated: 463 calories, 37g fat, 2g net carbs, 25g protein

• Snack  1:

 1/2 of a hass avocado with light salt and pepper

Total estimated: 114 calories, 11g fat, 1 g net carbs, 1g protein

•  Lunch:

1/2 cup of egg salad

4 romaine Lettuce Leaves

2 pieces of bacon

Total estimated: 262 calories, 21g fat, 1g net carbs, 16g protien

• Snack 2:

2 packages of string cheese

Total estimated: 160 calories, 12g fat, 2g net carbs, 16g protein

• Dinner

6 oz of rotisserie chicken

3/4 cup of cauliflower gratin

2 cups of chopped romaine lettuce

2 Tbsp of cesar salad dressing (sugar free or as close to it as you can find)

Total estimated: 677 calories, 48g fat, 5g net carbs, 50g protein

• Dessert

2 squares of Ghirardelli 85% Chocolate

Total: 125 calories, 13g fat, 5g net carbs, 2g protein

Total estimated for the day: 1,801 calories, 142g fat, 16g net carbs, 110g protein 

To make things easier, you can also download this in PDF form here (Note: The total carbs on the PDF is off by 3). You can make variations as needed to suit your specific needs, this is what works for me.

Once you know what you will eat then it's time to check your pantries, fridge and cabinets to make sure you have everything you need. If you're like me, then you will most definitely need to go shopping. If not and you are stocked then you can go ahead and skip the next step, if not then you'll need to visit the-

Step 3: Grocery Store

I did my grocery shopping for the week on Monday (the 29th) and it consisted of the following:

Cauliflower

Cesar Dressing

Butter

Romaine Lettuce Heads

Sliced Pepper Jack Cheese

String Cheese

Three Pounds of Bacon

Heavy Cream

Coffee

Rotisserie Chicken

Avocados

Ghirardelli Chocolate Squares

and A LOT of eggs

What I needed for this diet but already had at my house:

Mayonnaise

Lemon Juice

Salt and Pepper

and that's it...(I really needed to go grocery shopping)

In my state (Delaware) all this set me back about $110. Keeping in mind that this is going to be breakfast, lunch and dinner for the next week or so it's not too bad. Like I stated above, I will eat the same three meals and snacks for a whole week. The workouts will vary to spike my motivation but not the food! It makes it easier on my wallet. 

So let's get to it!

Step 4: Workouts

For the first week my body will be adjusting to the new way it gets energy. In order to reduce the amount of side effects I will NOT do my regular work out the first week. Once my energy levels out I will start my routine. I will only do high intensity interval training and stretches during the weekend. Once I get into the second week I will update this page with my workouts.

For the high intensity training I will run on a treadmill in the following way:

- 5 min. of warm up (after stretching properly, don't want to pull anything) light to moderate jog
- 5 min. of increased speed where I am comfortable running
- 30 seconds of sprinting as fast as I possibly can
- 4.5 min. of slowing back down to comfortable pace
- 30 seconds of sprinting as fast as I possibly can
- 4.5 min. of slowing back down to comfortable pace

- 30 seconds of sprinting as fast as I possibly can
- 4.5 min. of slowing back down to comfortable pace

- 30 seconds of sprinting as fast as I possibly can
- 4.5 min. of slowing down to cool down my body until I come to a stop (Important: don't just stop running without cooling down)

Total time - 30 minutes 

When on this diet, while exercising or not, make sure you drink plenty of water. All through out the day you should always be well hydrated because your body does not retain water the same way when you're in Ketosis. If you don't like the taste of water, add some calorie free flavoring in your drink. There are tons of them out there. Just make sure you drink enough water! It really can't be stressed enough.

Well that's pretty much everything you need to get started. I'll record my progress as I go. If you decide to do this as well let me know how it goes for you!