I’ve had numerous people come up to me asking for help getting started on the ketogenic diet. Instead of going behind emails let’s keep it in this thread so everyone benefits, even lurkers. I suspect a lot of people are interested in a lifestyle change with the new year coming.

What is the Keto Diet?

In the most simple of terms it’s a diet that has upended modern nutritional standards. Instead of using glycogen as the “easy” fuel source for your body we will switch to burning our body fat for fuel which is what our bodies are designed and prefer to do!

How to Get Started

First you need to get into ketosis. There are a couple options to do this. The first option is to complete a 72hr water fast. This will kickstart your journey to Keto. However, some people are not comfortable doing this because they have been told lies about fasting. That is perfectly fine we will ease you into ketosis through a Keto macro profile.

What’s the Keto Macro Profile?

75% Fat, 20% Protein, and 5% Carbohydrates. This can be deceiving however. Order of priority is keeping your carbohydrate intake <20g net carbs daily, then fat, and lastly protein. This will guarantee you stay in ketosis. Even if 5% is 40g net carbs for example until you are fat adapted stay <20g net carbs. (Net carbs is the total when you subtract out fiber and some sugar alcohols [Erythritol, xylitol] . When in doubt don’t subtract sugar alcohol.)

The next common question is how do you keep track of these percentages or know what my calorie expenditure should be? You need to download a tracker such as carb manager, my fitness pro, or cronometer. I recommend and use personally carb manager.

LINK

Once in the application you just need to input your height, weight, and select a ketogenic diet. Now you are good to go!

Common Pitfalls

#1 Tired, sluggishness, no energy, headaches, “Keto flu,” etc.

You are not intaking enough electrolytes. This is very important on the Keto diet because your body isn’t retaining as much water as you are used to. Here’s a recipe for an electrolyte water that is excellent:

Water - 2L
Potassium Chloride Powder (no salt, nu salt found at grocery store) - 1 tsp
Sodium Chloride (Pink Himalayan Sea Salt) - 1/2 tsp
Sodium Bicarbonate (food grade baking soda) - 1 tsp
Magnesium sulfate (food grade epsom salt) - 1/2 tsp

#2 Too much protein

Keto is insanely muscle sparing so you don’t need to eat copious amounts of protein. Keep your protein intake to 20%. Excess protein will be converted to glycogen through a process known as gluconeogenesis. I have personally tested this and my insulin was spiking like a madman and was gaining weight due to too much protein intake.

What’s a Common Day of Keto Look Like?

Here’s a day at maintenance for me. I’m 6’2” and 185lbs...

6 extra large eggs
2Tbsp Kerrygold butter
3oz Kretschmar Hard Salami
1tsp Cod Liver Oil
1 serving bacon cheeseburger casserole
- 2.66oz Bacon
- 0.33lbs 70/30 ground beef
- 0.33 garlic cloves
- 1.66 XL eggs
- 0.16 cup heavy whipping cream
- 2oz sharp cheddar cheese
1tsp Micronized Creatine Powder
1 Scoop of Isopure
1Tbsp of MCT oil

Macros:

199g Fat (74%)
148g protein (25%)
8g Net Carbs (1%)

Calories: 2452

Note: You need to run your macro profile / calories for Atleast two weeks before tweaking it. After that if you are losing too much weight or gaining too much weight tweak the numbers a little at a time.

Final Comments

Good luck on your weight loss / fitness journey. The ketogenic diet is an amazing way to improve your life and health. I obviously didn’t cover a lot in this very short guide. If you have any questions please leave them below and I will answer them.