If you’re looking for a healthy and effective way to shed some pounds while also improving your overall health, you might be thinking about jumping on the keto diet bandwagon. Keto (short for ketogenic) is a low carb, high healthy fat diet that has been proven to provide effective weight loss results and offer numerous health benefits. How does it work? By restricting your carb intake and consuming more fats, the body will enter a state of ketosis, a metabolic process in which the body burns fat reserves for fuel. As a result, pounds drop off and appetite is suppressed. Additionally, blood glucose levels stabilize (making keto a great diet for diabetics, with guidance from their health care providers), blood pressure drops, and healthy cholesterol (HDL) levels increase – and those are just a handful of the benefits.
If the keto diet has piqued your interests and you’re just starting out, setting yourself up for success is an absolute must. Developing a keto diet plan for beginners can seem like an overwhelming task, however. There’s no doubt you have a lot of questions, and answering those questions can certainly help you get started on the right foot. What kind of questions do keto diet beginners have? Here’s a look at some of the most frequently asked questions – and answers to those questions.
What should you eat in your first week of keto?
While the percentages vary depending on the source, on average, your daily diet that should be comprised of the following:
- Healthy fats: 55% to 60%
- Protein: 30% to 35%
- Carbohydrates: 5% to 10% (but no more than 20-25g of carbs)
During week 1, examples of a well-rounded keto meal plan for beginners should include meats, cheeses, keto veggies, nuts, and other low carb, high fat dairy products. For fruits, choose non-starchy items like berries and cantaloupe, and eat no more than 2 serves a day.
How should beginners start on the keto diet?
Before you get started on the keto diet, you should first identify your goals, including how much weight you want to lose, muscle you want to gain, and what type of health benefits you want to reap. Once you’ve determined these things, figure out how many calories you should consume on a daily basis in order to achieve your goals and plan a keto diet menu for beginners and make sure that you always keep your goals at the forefront of your mind. Once you have a meal plan sorted, you need start the task of meal prepping.
How many grams of carbs does it take to enter ketosis?
While the amount will vary, for the average person, keeping total carbs intake under 35g and net carbs under 25g (though less than 20g is ideal) will result in a deep ketosis. In order to stick to such a minuscule amount of carbs, being vigilant about the foods you eat is essential.
How often should you eat when doing keto?
There’s really no right or wrong answer to this question. Simply put, when you’re doing keto, you should eat whenever you feel hungry and stop eating as soon as you feel full. Do note, however, that, of course, you should be vigilant about what you eat and should never go over your carbohydrate limit (20 – 25g for most people).
It’s also important to note that you may experience the so-called keto flu in the early stages of going keto. Even if you don’t feel great, you should do your very best to stick to the diet, eat enough protein in particular, and drink plenty of fluids.
7-Day Keto Meal Plan
Despite answering those questions, establishing a keto meal plan for beginners may still seem complicated. In keeping with our efforts to help you achieve success, we’ve outlined a sample seven day keto diet menu for beginners below. By sticking to this simple keto meal plan for beginners, you should be able to enter a state of ketosis.
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1. Monday
Start out the week with a few recipes that will yield extra servings and store those leftovers away. Doing so will save you some time, energy, and frustration, as you can simply grab some leftovers the rest of the week.
Breakfast: 3 egg omelet with spinach, cheese, and sausage
. 5.35 gram net carbs per serving. Find the recipe at ruled.me.
2. Tuesday
Remember to keep your carb intake under 25 grams on Tuesday, too.
Breakfast: Keto blueberry scones. 4.4 grams of net carbs per serving. Find the recipe at fittoservegroup.com.
3. Wednesday
You’ve made it to hump-day! Yay! A sample mid-week recipe includes:
Breakfast: Cloud eggs. 1 gram of net carbs per serving. Find the recipe at wholesomeyum.com.
4. Thursday
You’re almost there and you’ve done such a great job so far! Don’t give in now! Use the following recipes to get you through your fourth day of the keto diet.
Breakfast: Low carb keto egg muffins. 1.8 grams of net carbs per muffin. Check out the full recipe at wholesomeyum.com.
5. Friday
More like Fri-YAY! Here’s an example of tasty meals to include on your menu today:
Breakfast: Low carb bagels with almond flour. Yes, you can safely eat these bagels on the keto diet, as each one has just 5 grams of net carbs. You can find the recipe at wholesomeyum.com.
6. Saturday
Start the weekend with the following easy keto recipes:
Breakfast: Keto cinnamon rolls. 2.6 grams of net carbs per roll. The recipe can be found at wholesomeyum.com.
7. Sunday
You made it to day 7! Wrap the week up with the following meals:
Breakfast: Keto pancake cereal recipe. 3.2 grams of net carbs. Check out wholesomeyum.com for the full recipe.
Our Thoughts on This 7 Day Keto Diet Plan for Beginners
The sample beginner keto meal plan above has a bunch of yummy and quick keto meals that will surely get you started on the right foot and help you reach ketosis. When beginning the keto diet, it can be tough to make such a drastic change to your diet (by heavily restricting carbs). Having a an easy guide to follow can make all the difference. Just ensure that planning ahead, and that you’ve got plenty of low-carb snacks on hand for when those inevitable cravings kick-in.
