What is keto? Diet plan for beginners to maximize weight loss ketosis

What to expect from this article about the ketogenic diet:

The goal or intent is to educate you on all things keto. I myself use keto strategically for health reasons. I also fast and take supplements to enable my body to be void of any vitamin and micromineral deficiencies. I’ve been doing keto for a long period of time becoming very keto adapted while perfecting the art of keto-ing. As a trainer, coach, and athlete, I experimented further and figured out that while fats are supremely important to nutrition and make up the majority of my calories I shouldn’t void myself of carbs.

I train hard with weights with equipment such as barbells for Olympic lifting, kettlebells, and dumbbells for HIIT circuit sessions and glycogen reigns supreme for maximum performance.

One thing I will make clear, while I do eat carbs, I only eat enough to fill my muscles up to their full capacity. Due to my muscularity I can hold about 250-350 grams of glycogen of which I burn most of it. On top of it I rarely eat above 250 grams of carbs regardless.

Because I did keto for so long if I was to drop my carb intake to 100, I’d most certainly enter ketosis and all things staying the same, I get leaner due to the higher caloric deficit. My philosophy is all about Fitness Adaptations which is why I wrote my book Fitness Adaptations Principles.

These are the topics we’ll be discussing about the keto diet:

What is keto?

Keto means that most of your calories will come in the form of fats. The fats you consume have nothing to do with the fat you carry on your body. Fats are more dense in calories then carbs or protein, so per same amount of food QUANTITY, you will consume over twice the amount of calories when you eat fats. One gram of carbs has 4 calories vs one gram of fats has 9 calories.

With that fact stated, it is also a fact per my experience, that fat is more satiating then carbs and protein. Protein is more satiating then carbs. This means that you will tend to eat much less fats and protein then carbs. Most people eat twice as many if not 3x as many carbs then they do fats and protein. If you 3x’s the amount of carbs then fats, then in the big picture of things you’ll end up with a higher caloric total at the end of the day.

Why keto?

Are you looking for a ketogenic diet meal plan because you believe it’s more effective for weight loss or because you have an underlying condition?

The reason I ask you is because I too once thought that I’d get better results if I did a ketogenic diet as opposed to a balanced nutrition program. After years of experimenting, trial, and error, I’ve figured that unless you have an underlying condition such as diabetes or high sugar levels, you don’t need to be on keto.

I still believe however Fats are the key to the perfect diet plan:

Need keto friendly snack and drink ideas? I provide them at the bottom of this article. I wish for you to read this before just skipping to that part. I’m also going to provide you with a ketogenic diet sample meal plan and explain why I designed it that way.

Check out my article on fat cycling diet strategies. I go in depth about fat cycling vs carb cycling vs protein cycling.

As a trainer, coach, and athlete, I’ve made it a priority to not just believe everything I see and hear. Many things especially in the health and fitness realm, are hype and fads. When it comes to nutrition, there are several diets to choose from, some are hype and fads and some are legitimate effective diets.

When it comes to choosing the right diet for you, don’t go with it because you hard it’s better for fat loss or weight loss. In the end, losing weight and dropping body fat has to do with your body’s ability to burn more calories then you consume. This means you must understand what you’re eating. Every meal you eat has what is termed macronutrients. The 4 main macros are fats, protein, carbs, and alcohol.

Which diet you choose to follow will not really matter. It’s all about either preference or situation. It’s also about habits. Let me give you a few examples.

If you are diabetic or pre-diabetic, keto is your best option.

Ketogenic dieting vs low carb diets

What’s the main difference between a ketogenic diet and a low carb diet?

For the most part, when it comes to dieting in general, the differences rely mostly in the macro amounts (fat vs protein vs carbs). As previously mentioned, a ketogenic diet has fats as the dominating macro in terms of calorie makeup. 50-75% of calories are provided by fats (preferably healthy fats). In a low carb diet, carbs and proteins make up the majority of macros. In other words, it is what is considered a low fat high protein diet.

Protein macro makeup:

In keto protein is the next highest in the macro content taking up over 25% of the calories. Carbs should be as low as possible being kept at under 5% of the daily calories if possible. In a low carb diet, typically, protein are abut 1.5 to 2.5x’s your bodyweight. This is a huge difference in the macro count.

Is carb cycling more effective for losing weight?

To be fair, both, a keto diet and a low carb diet are both effective when it comes to losing weight. Per my experience and expertise on the subject, it all boils down to your calorie deficit. The higher your daily calorie deficit, the higher the pounds lost amount will be.

What is the difference between both diets?

Both diets in all truths are low carbs. The difference is the ratio of fats consumed. With a ketogenic diet, you are eating a lot more fats then protein.

In a low carb diet, traditionally, you are eating protein and vegetables a few times a day. Because you can only eat so much protein and vegetables, people generally have huge caloric deficits and experience extreme weight loss. As great as this sounds, there are cons.

Pros and cons between a keto and low carb plan?

Keto enhances your bodies fat burning capabilities since you force it to have little to no glycogen. While it’s true that you are utilizing fat as energy, if you don’t maintain a deficit don’t expect to lose body fat or weight. One misconception about keto is that you are going to get leaner because you are using fat as energy. Nothing can be further from the truth.

Yes your body will produce ketones as an energy source from available fat storage, but if you not on a deficit your body will simply replace that fat you burned. The advantage of following a high fat diet is that it is more satiable, fulfilling, and helps you prevent overeating.

The con of a low carb diet is that it forces you into an extreme caloric deficit. By no means, on any diet in general, are extreme caloric deficits a good thing. Protein is also a very fulfilling and satiable food as effective if not better than fats. This is why in my opinion a keto diet with adequate amount of proteins is perfect for weight loss.

Extreme high caloric deficits are tolerable for a significant amount of time. Humans are very resilient. However, your body is also a very special machine. If you bring your calorie intake too low it’ll slow down your metabolism to adjust. But if your ideal body type is 140 pounds at 18% body fat, and you’re eating like a 100 pound person, by the time you get to 140, your metabolism will be performing for a 100 pound person. This is why you’ll then suffer a rebound. You’ll continue to eat like a 140 pound person and as you gain weight you’ll keep increase your caloric intake eventually putting you back where you started. This is as simple as I can explain it.

The proper ketogenic nutrition program planner:

First of all, let me share with you without getting too fancy what the recommended macro percentages are for keto. The most accepted percentages are 70% fats, 25% protein, and under 5% carbs. This is okay but per my experience, specifically for athlete’s, these numbers are not ideal.

When creating the proper ketogenic nutrition plan follow these guidelines.

  1. Start with the minimum about of protein you can consume in grams. For people who don’t workout, that’s about 75% of their body weight in pounds. For athlete’s that’s 1 gram per pound of bodyweight. In my case, if I was sedentary, I’d multiply 180 x’s 75% = 135 grams. But as an athlete, that would be 175 grams.
  2. From there find your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR). This is how many calories do you burn per day without exercise just doing basic consistent every day things such as chores and work. If you exercise you will add your active calories. A simple formula I use, for which there is no science, is multiply your bodyweight by 11 if you’re a woman and 12 if you’re a man. This is for sedentary people. If you exercise I’d add 300-700 calories per hour depending on how heavy you are. You can also just get yourself a fitbit charge 4 which in my opinion is the most accurate and best heart rate monitor watch for counting calories and/or a whoop strap 3.0 which is great for monitoring your stress levels from training.
  3. Once you know how many calories you burn per day on average, multiply that by 5%. Let’s say you burn 1600 calories per day, 5% of that is 80 calories. Divide that by 4 and you get how many grams you need to limit your carbs to. In this case that’s 20 grams per day.
  4. If you add your protein limit per day in grams plus your carb limit in grams per day, and multiply by 4, that will tell you the amount of calories you’ll be getting from protein and carbs.
  5. Subtract the amount of calories you burn per day minus the number that you got in step 4, divide by 9, and that will tell you how many grams of fat you should consume per day.
  6. Everything I just explained is to create a weight maintenance nutrition plan. This means you will neither gain nor lose weight. If you want to lose weight, subtract 300-500 calories to the amount of calories you burn per day (BMR) and follow the steps 1-5 again. If you exercise, you don’t need to subtract. Your exercise will create the necessary deficit.
  7. Use myfitnesspal to keep track of your calories and macro counts.

Want to work with me directly? Check out my online coaching services:

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Creating a ketogenic diet plan step by step:

For me, getting 50-60% calories from fat, eating your ideal bodyweight from protein, and the remaining calories from carbs, which should be very low if you’re on a ketogenic diet, is ideal. I’d keep my carbs to under 50 grams per day. In the formula I provided earlier, I gave you 7 steps and a couple examples. Let’s get a little more detailed here.

For example:

Let’s say you weight 200 lbs right now. Your goal is to weight 130 pounds. This example is for both men and women. To figure out how many calories you should be consuming, at the very minimum, multiply your ideal bodyweight by 11 if you’re a woman, and by 12 if you’re a man. You can eat more but never less. It all depends on how active you are.

If you’re a woman, you’re minimum amount of calories you’d consume per day is 130 x 11 = 1430 calories. If you’re a man, your minimum allowance of calories is 130 x 12 = 1560 calories.

If you decide to consume your minimum allowance of calories, your macro breakdown will be as follow:

130 grams of protein = 130 x 4 = 520 calories

50 grams of carbs = 50 x 4 = 200 calories

520 + 200 = 720 calories, 1430 – 720 = 710 calories for women will come from protein, 1560 – 720 = 840 calories for men will come from protein. In grams, this is equal to 78.9 grams of protein for women, 93.3 grams of protein for men.

Remember, foods have most macros included per meal. Rice for example has carbs and a tiny bit of protein. The protein however is incomplete.

A piece of steak has both fats and protein but no carbs. The protein is complete so this is the protein you need to keep track off.

Foods such as avocados, nuts, and butters all have fats. Avocados and nuts have very little carbs and protein, the carbs are usually fiber which won’t count towards your calories, and the protein are incomplete which count towards calories but towards your complete protein goal.

Vegans should consider research on what foods mixed together create complete proteins or should consume a vegan plant based protein shake. Two or 3 times per day.

If you know how many calories you burn per day, through the use of a fitbit or any heart rate monitor, you’d program your nutrition based on how fast you want to lose weight without eating less then the minimum allowance to reach your ideal body weight.

Let’s say that your fitbit tells you that you burn 2500 calories per day. If you consume your minimum allowance, you’d have a daily deficit of about 1100 calories per day. If one pound of bodyfat, the one you carry outside your muscle, contains 3500 calories, this means you’d lose 1 pound of bodyfat approximately every 3500/1100 = 3.2 days.

In one month this will amount to about 9 pounds of bodyfat per month. The scale may even say more due to water weight that is also lost.

The most important factors to maximize weight loss in ketosis

First, weight loss includes water weight. It also includes the cleansing of waste inside your body. Although many people claim to lose 30 pounds in one month, the reality is that in total they only lose about 4-8 pounds of fat. Whether you’re on a high fat diet, high protein diet, or high carb diet, 2000 calories is going to be 2000 calories. If one pound of fat carries 3500 calories, this means that in order for someone to lose 30 lbs in 30 days, they’d have to create a deficit of 3500 calories per day.

The 30 lbs in 30 days myth:

Let me show you how unrealistic it is to lose a pound per day. Not only un realistic but dangerous!

A 200 pound man has a Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) of about 2200 calories. If that man worked out for one hour he’d burn about 400-500 calories. This would put that man at a 2700 caloric output for the day. If he was to fast for 30 days straight, he still wouldn’t lose 30 pounds of fat because he needs a 3500 calorie output daily. In order to make this happen, he’d have to exercise close to 3 hours a day plus fast for 30 days. However, on the scale, it’d show up close to a 40 pound weight loss maybe more depending on his genetics. It’s not impossible but if someone did this, they may risk death and extreme damage to their body.

If anyone claims that they can help you lose 30 pounds in 30 days, run the other way. They are being deceitful. Many of these scam artists use MMA fighters or other athlete’s from combat sports as their examples of how they lose 30-50 pounds in a month. I promise you, no athlete in the world loses 30 pounds of fat in a month. Cutting weight is much different then losing weight. Cutting weight requires not only caloric deficit, but dehydration. Fighters during the last couple days before their scheduled weigh in sweat off as much water weight as possible. They use sweat suits and jump inside a sauna and can drop as much as 15-20 pounds in one day. Nowadays there are restrictions as to how much they can lose because of how dangerous dehydration is. Immediately after their weigh-in, fighters replenish and gain those 15-20 pounds back. Please stop it with the sweat suits, they will not help you reach your ideal goal weight.

Do different macros have a thermogenic effect that may result in a higher calorie burn per day?

Yes, but that’s too advanced and if you follow my guidelines it won’t really matter. When it comes to achieving weight loss try to keep it as simple as possible. You don’t need exogenous ketones or ketosis supplements and every other garbage supplement out there designed to steal your money. To be honest, yes there are supplements that help, such as carb blockers and fat burners, but they don’t have an overall effect unless you have and execute every other part of the plan such as calorie control and exercise.

Understanding the calories in Macros to keep it simple:

If you eat nothing but butter every day, and each ounce of butter has 200 calories, this means that 28.8 grams of butter has 200 calories. If you eat 10 ounces of butter, you’d consume 2000 calories a day of pure fat, and if you burn 2500 calories per day, you’d lose 1 pound of body fat per week. (3500/500 = 7 days = 1 week).

If 100 grams of rice has 120 calories, 1667 grams of rice will yield 2000 calories. This means you can eat 57 ounces of rice a day, and if you burn 2500 calories per day, you’d lose 1 pound of bodyfat per week. The equation holds true for protein. If you eat 2000 calories worth of chicken per day, and you burn 2500 calories, you’d lose about 1lb of bodyfat per week.

What I want you to see is that it doesn’t matter how you get your calories. You need to create a deficit to lose weight. The opposite is true, if you eat 3000 calories worth of anything, butter, rice, chicken, and you burn 2500 calories per day, you’ll gain 1 pound of bodyfat per week.

If you follow the macro guidelines that I put together in the how to calculate my macros article, you will lose bodyfat just as fast eating a balanced diet as you would going keto.

Does keto and fasting and other diet strategies have their purpose and benefits, yes absolutely. But unless you truly have an underlying condition, you don’t need to put yourself through torture if you are a fan of carbs.

Low carbs and fasting improve insulin sensitivity and can promote autophagy respectively. Carbs are not really the enemy. The abuse of carbs, especially high glycemic carbs is what creates a problem. If you train and balance your nutrition with the guidelines that I provide for you I have o doubt in my mind that you will be healthy, lean, and strong.

Why using a heart rate monitor watch makes weight loss simple and more effective:

When it comes to knowing how many calories you burn per day, you can either take a guess or use a fitness tracker. Guessing can work but it’ll take a lot of trial and error. Why is it difficult to guess? Here are 9 reasons that can throw your weight loss in the wrong direction.

  1. How hard did you push yourself? The more advanced you become as a trainer, runner, athlete, the better you can move, the harder you can push, the heavier you can lift, the less rest you need between sets, and in the end you burn more calories. You may even perform workouts at such a high pace that you enter what’s termed EPOC which means you’ll burn more calories through out the day due to the high intensity of your workout.
  2. How much resistance do you use during your training sessions? Resistance is not only available on weight lifting. Resistance can be added to any workout. In spinning you can increase the resistance on the bike to make it harder to pedal. On a treadmill you can increase the incline which increase the burn on your quads. On an outside jog you can wear a vest to make yourself heavier. With weights you can lift heavier weights. Anyway that you can make the workouts harder will increase your heart rate and how many calories you burn in total.
  3. Do you take a fat burning supplement? I estimate that fat burners will help you lose an extra pound of fat about every 8-10 weeks. That’s every 2 to 2-1/2 months. Although it’s not significant when you break it down to a weekly or daily period of time, over 5-6 months 2 pounds of pure fat loss is huge.
  4. Did you have a big meal before the workout? Working out fasted will not help you burn more fat other then working out on an empty stomach does not make you sluggish and you usually train harder and better. If you eat right before a workout you will feel heavy, sleepy, and uncomfortable. I preach to eat at least 3 hours before a workout. If you can’t do that, you’re better off training fasted.
  5. Are you getting enough sleep? Not getting enough sleep can come with severe consequences. You can’t concentrate as well because you feel down and out. Not having a clear mind can increase the likelihood of making a wrong move and hurting yourself. You also increase cortisol levels when you don’t get enough sleep which can make you weaker, more tired, and increases inflammation in your joints. The combination will make your workouts less effective and thus have a negative impact on your overall well-being. Get 7-8 hours of sleep per day.
  6. What is your body fat percentage? Lean muscle mass burns a greater amount of calories then fat per pound of each. The more muscle you have the more calories you burn. Body fat at levels that are too high for you decreases testosterone levels in men and can lead to a host of underlying diseases.
  7. Are you doing circuits or are you steady state? The way you train will dictate how many calories you burn. In a spinning class for example, you go fast and you go slow. You increase the resistance of your bike and you lower resistance. You pedal as fast as you can and then recover. This is circuit training. Steady state is when you have consistent resistance over a period of time. It’s the equivalent of a nice easy jog for runners. Circuit training depending how intense can build more muscle then steady state low resistance training. Per workout they may result in the same amount of calories burned, but more muscle building over time results in a higher caloric output per day.
  8. Are you male or female? Men usually have more muscle and weigh more then women. Men also have higher levels of testosterone and have heavier more dense bones. This allows men to burn more calories then women. In the end it comes down to the proper nutrition plan.
  9. Are you on any medications that can impact your performance? I’ve had many clients on their first session with me or on an initial assessment immediately creating excuses as to why they can’t lose weight. I have this condition or that condition. It’s simple. If you are consuming more calories then you are burning you will not lose weight. Conditions can impact how hard you train. They can impact your energy. But if you have the right nutrition plan and you put in the work, you will lose weight. With that said, medications can slow you down. They can make you feel as if you have no energy. In this scenario your diet is everything! You may not burn as many calories as if you were 100%, but all that means is that it may take you a little longer to reach your goals. It doesn’t matter as long as you get there.

These are only 9 of many more variables. The biggest advice I can give you is to wear a heart rate monitor. Even then, many times, heart rate monitors don’t consider body fat percentage, but I’ve found that the Fitbit Charge 4 asks you for bodyfat if you have it, and for me personally is very accurate.

Sample 2000 calorie keto diet plans with food list and snacks.

Before I show you the samples, let me give you a pre-liminary list of foods off the top of my head. I do this because these are the most simple and basic ingredients, grocery list, or whatever you want to call it. You can’t go wrong with keto by using this basic list. If you want to get more fancy, check out Tracy Lahr’s e-book.

Protein sources: Whey protein, plant based protein if vegan, eggs, egg whites, meats, chicken, fish. Best protein powder

Carbs: Vegetables and fruits but minimal that you don’t exceed your 5% maximum intake. Fruits only enough to stimulate liver.

Fats: Oils such as olive oil, avocado oil, butter, coconut, almond butter, peanut butter. In the link to the food list I provide above you will find delicious sweet butters that seem to good to be keto. You can also consume mixed nuts (walnuts, macadamias, Pili’s, almonds), cheese (can be both protein and fats), bacon, and keto cookies.

If you want to check out some supplements that control sugar levels which may be useful for keto, check out how to control sugar supplements.

The supplement company dotFit has very useful ketogenic products such as the protein shakes, both whey and plant based, omega pills, and a product called Weight loss and liver support.

Weight loss and liver support cleans out your liver, the second product is a carb blocker, and the third product is a fat burner. Check it out at their store and read more about it in my fat burning pills article where I talk about how to maximize fat burn on any diet! I also give you a special offer if you use the link I provide. Check it out.

Let me try to phrase this as simple and as quickly as possible. The 2000 calorie keto diet interest is due to a misunderstanding that all percentage daily values on the nutrition label of things, are based on a 2000 calorie diet. That does not mean a 2000 calorie diet is what you need.

A 2000 calorie keto diet is for an individual that desires to weigh around 165 lbs.

They could of said percentages are based on a 1000 calorie diet and people would be severely under weight as opposed to obese. That’s why it’s a tricky subject.

The Perfect Body Shape Formula:

Here is a small piece of recommended ideal weights I have on my, How much should I weigh, article:

  • WOMEN: Height 5’8″ Normal 145lbs – Athletic 145lbs – Athletic Muscular 150lbs – Muscular 155lbs – Bodybuilder 165lbs
  • WOMEN: Height 5’9″ Normal 150lbs – Athletic 150lbs – Athletic Muscular 155lbs – Muscular 160lbs – Bodybuilder 170lbs
  • WOMEN: Height 5’10” Normal 155lbs – Athletic 155lbs – Athletic Muscular 160lbs – Muscular 165lbs – Bodybuilder 175lbs
  • WOMEN: Height 5’11” Normal 160lbs – Athletic 160lbs – Athletic Muscular 165lbs – Muscular 170lbs – Bodybuilder 180lbs
  • WOMEN: Height 6’0″ Normal 165lbs – Athletic 165lbs – Athletic Muscular 170lbs – Muscular 175lbs – Bodybuilder 185lb

Here’s a quick link to the article: How much should I weigh?

Your ideal weight is based on the body type you desire. Most women will not need to weigh 165lbs unless you’re 5’8 and want to look like a bodybuilder, 5’10 or 5’11 and want to look muscular, or 6’0 and want to look normal or athletic.

Please follow my 4 step formula on how to build the perfect body shape, so that you can fully understand how to create a health and fitness program.

For women in the 125-130 lb range, I provide a sample ketogenic diet plan below. Just scroll down until you see it. It is for active female. This will be the case if you’re on a weight loss plan.

A 2000 calorie diet

For those who fit the bill, below are your sample ketogenic 2000 calorie sample diets. For those who want more information about keto, programming, I discuss in more details further down the article. So you can skip to it.

If you desire to be 165lbs, and you don’t plan to train, not intense at least, you will most likely maintain your weight with a 2000 caloric intake. If you train you will continue to lose weight or get leaner because you’re output is going to be higher then 2000 calories per day. If you train and you desire to maintain your weight at 165lbs, you will have to increase your calories to meet your maintenance demand (this means you reached your ideal weight and body type). If you’re heavier and want to get down to 165 then this is the perfect plan to get you there.

Without further ado, here are the sample diet plans.

This first one is for people who are highly active and take part in strength training workout routines such as my Gymming at home on Youtube. The second is for sedentary or very lowly active individuals who desire to be 165lbs.

2000 calorie keto diet plan for strength training or highly active individuals:

2000-calorie-keto-diet
2000 calorie keto diet for highly active individuals and who strength train.

2000 calorie keto diet plan for non training and/ or lightly active individuals:

2000-calorie-keto-diet-sedentary
2000 calorie keto diet plan for sedentary individuals.

Things to know:

Earlier I discussed the percentages for macros. Your macros are going to change based on how many calories you eat vs how many calories you burn and what your desired outcome is. In the articles below I go way more in depth about how to calculate and all about macros if you’ve never even heard of them.

See the following article on how to calculate macros:

What are macros – How to calculate for weight loss, bulking, and cutting

Intermittent Fasting:

96 hour fast weight loss results

Sample 1500 calorie Ketogenic Diet for 130lb Ideal Weight:

Ketogenic Diet Meal Plan

The postworkout meal can be meal #2 in this sample. Just please use common sense that there are a total of 3 meals. How you go about them, when you decide to eat breakfast, or whatever, can be modified. You don’t have to follow this sequence. I for example, eat breakfast, and then I eat a post workout meal, and my third meal shortly after my post workout meal. I then fast until the next day when I eat breakfast again.

Just for reference, a 2000 keto calorie meal plan, a popular search term for people looking for nutrition plans, is suitable for someone wanting an ideal weight of about 175 pounds.

A woman on a 2000 calorie ketogenic diet plan, let me rephrase that, a woman on a 2000 calorie any type of diet plan, will never get to an ideal body weight goal of 130lbs unless they run a marathon every day.

This sample is designed to meet the minimum protein intake for an active person who plans to workout to lose fat or weight. The carbs, although they seem high, total sugars are under 40 grams. The rest is fiber.

When dealing with very low calories, it is hard to get over 50% fats in the diet plan while still hit the minimum amount of protein intake. If you wish to up your protein, avoid lean meats but make sure you also lower the protein.

I would not advise this unless you only plan to do light exercise. If you need to eat more calories, let’s say you want to add an extra 350 calories, just eat another post workout meal, or double the post workout meal.

Ketogenic diet food list – sweet snacks on the go to buy from Amazon

Here’s a list of low carb high fat snacks that you add to your keto diet. You can mix and match and even make them into meals.

Organic Grass Fed Beef, chicken, etc.:

Butcher box

Nut butters and Irish Cream Butter:

Thai Kitchen Organic Coconut Milk

(Use this with your ice cream, nut butters and/or mixed nuts to increase fat content and make more keto friendly, Ice cream recommendations, Enlighten, Rebel, Halo Top)

Low carb wraps:

Keto Friendly Cookies and Snacks:

My favorite Keto Friendly Drinks

(I sometimes add coconut oil and a protein powder scoop if my numbers permit it.):

Diabetic Kitchen has the following awsome (DIY) products:

Atkins bars are excellent snack ideas for keto diet, these are my favorites:

TOP FAV:

Tips to make your weight loss journey safe and long term:

  1. Use the Perfect Body Shape Formula to find your goal weight. Create your nutrition plan based on how you’d eat when you are at your target goal weight. You can eat more but never less then how you’d eat at your goal weight.
  2. Buy a food scale. Do not listen to those who tell you to measure food using your hand, a deck of cards, etc. That is non sense at this point in time. Nothing is more accurate then weighing your food and entering it into a free app like Myfitnesspal. It only takes a few seconds maybe a minute of your time per meal. It’s more accurate, keeps your disciplined, and allows you to see where your mistakes are coming from.
  3. Exercise 5x’s per week. Whether you join me live on YouTube or you go for a 60 minute walk, get active! Your body needs it. Exercise improves your mood, increases blood flow which helps you think better, clears your mind, and makes you thankful. You strengthen your heart and soul. All this extends your life.
  4. Stay consistent. Stay positive. Make getting and staying at your goal weight part of your life.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) about the Ketogenic Diet:

Question 1: What is keto?

Answer: Keto, short for ketogenic, is a high fat low carb diet. It was first devised to treat people with diabetes. Nowadays, it is one of the most popular diets in the world and with good reason. High sugar and diabetes is caused by the body’s inability to produce insulin and lose insulin sensitivity. When you go into ketosis your body is free of glycogen. Unless you have type 2 diabetes, you can improve insulin sensitivity.

Question 2: What is the macro profile for ketogenic diet?,

Answer: A typical ketogenic diet, for sedentary individuals, has a caloric composition of 70 percent fats, 25 percent protein, and less than 5 percent carbs. The composition is the breakdown of the total calories to be consumed on a daily basis.

Question 3: How do I maximize weight loss in ketosis?,

Answer: Weight loss has everything to do with energy expedidenture. If you burn more calories then you consume over a 24 hour period you will have a calorie deficit that results in fat loss. Fat loss in turn results in weight loss. However, if you consume more calories then you burn, you will have a calorie surplus that results in fat gain. Fat gain in turn results in weight gain. Make sure you have the right nutrition and fitness program that helps you get into a caloric deficit in a healthy and reasonable manner.

Question 4: How much weight can you lose in a week on keto?

Weight loss has everything to do with energy expenditure. If you burn more calories then you consume over a 24 hour period you will have a calorie deficit that results in fat loss. Fat loss in turn results in weight loss. However, if you consume more calories then you burn, you will have a calorie surplus that results in fat gain. Fat gain in turn results in weight gain. Make sure you have the right nutrition and fitness program that helps you get into a caloric deficit in a healthy and reasonable manner.

Question 5: How can I get into ketosis quickly?

The fastest way to get into ketosis is to fast for 24-72 hours. If you include a workout you’ll reach ketosis in 24 hours depending on the type of workout. Do not attempt to fast without the recommendation and approval of a licensed doctor. Consult with your physician before you attempt any diet plan or exercise regiment.

Question 6: Can eating too much protein kick me out of ketosis?

Answer: When you a lot of protein, much more then 1 gram per pound of body weight, your body will create glycogen from a process known as gluconeogenisis. It can kick you out of ketosis. If you get to this point it is my belief that you are on a high protein diet and not a high fat diet. In order to be following a ketogenic diet, your calories from fat have to be at least 50 percent.

Question 7: What type of keto snacks can I eat?

Answer: Nowadays there is a variety of snacks available to you. Even though you won’t find the need to snack much once you’re keto adapted, you can definitely purchase items like Keto Cookies, low carb protein bars, handful of mixed nuts, you can even have keto ice cream.

Question 8: Can I build muscle with a keto diet?,

Answer: Build muscle has more to do with training then it does diet. If you are an athlete and you eat enough calories to maintain body weight and enough protein to help muscles repair, the type of training your perform will dictate how much muscle you build. This is called hypertrophy training.

Question 9: Is a keto diet healthy?

Answer: When you enter ketosis, your body is using fat as fuel. Your glycogen is depleted which is why you enter ketosis. Unless you have diabetes which significantly increases the possibility of going into ketoacidosis, you will be okay. A low carb high fat diet has actually been shown to be great at improving insulin sensitivity. Additionally high fat diets with moderate proteins are satiable keeping you full longer and prevents overeating. This makes it easier to lose weight by keeping you on track with your calorie intake. Carbs are considered to be the culprit behind the obesity and diabetic epidemic.

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Need a coach? If you thinking of competing, see my contest prep article, bodybuilding competitions for beginners, that includes how to perform the right amount of cardio, programming, and more.

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Once your nutrition is programmed, then learn to workout. How should you be working out to get your ideal body type? How heavy? How many reps? How much rest? If you feel like you aren’t ready for lifting weights and want to lose weight using a treadmill, check out my Proform Treadmill Review where I provide you with solutions to finding and executing treadmill workouts for overweight beginners.

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