8 Steps to Weight Loss Success on the Ketogenic Diet
What I’ve learned in 2 years of eating Keto
You want to lose weight, but diets don’t work for you. Not for long.
You’re sick of struggling with food.
If you don’t do something, you’ll never be normal again. And the refrigerator is over there all day long.
You wonder if the Keto diet could help you lose weight.
You know it’s a low carbohydrate, high fat plan.
But how can you adopt a low carbohydrate lifestyle when you just ate a whole carton of ice cream?
There’s just not enough willpower in the entire universe to keep you away from that box of Oreos. Dunked in cold milk. You don’t even want to know how many carbohydrates you consumed in the last 24 hours.
You know you have to shift your diet to lose weight. And for your health. Maybe even your sanity. You have to do something, or you will always feel like a failure.
If you are considering the ketogenic diet, you’re on the right track. You may even know people who have successfully navigated the ketogenic diet and lost weight.
Maybe losing weight is possible.
The ketogenic diet, depicted as wildly successful in the media, changes the way your body derives its energy. Instead of processing carbohydrates for energy, your body runs on fat. It’s called being fat-adapted and it’s the result of achieving ketosis.
If you have started Keto and you can’t get into ketosis, you may want to give up and classify this as just another diet.
But Keto is not just another diet.
It’s how our bodies used to function naturally before grocery stores were everywhere.
Ketosis is what the human body experienced before a time when “experts” encouraged what seems like continual snacking between meals to “keep your energy up.”
A fat-adapted lifestyle requires some planning and even strategy. If you are committed to losing weight and sick of trying diets that fail you, but instead, leave you feeling like the failure, don’t give up.
Or if you’re not seeing results from your Keto journey, you can take a step back and reboot. There’s a reason Keto hasn’t faded away from the media spotlight. And that’s because it works. It can work for you too.
1. Adopt a Strong Intention
The foundation of a strong commitment is an unwavering intention. The strength of your intention defines your chances of success on your Keto journey.
Have you ever heard someone say they are “going to try” something, like run a 10K race? Perhaps you have used that language. If you plan to “try Keto,” your chances of success are slim.
Using the word “try” is a sign you have no intention of succeeding. When failure is no longer an option, when you must succeed, then you will succeed.
Start from a place where failure is not an option. Where you embrace and envision your own success.
Start when you feel committed and motivated. Be willing to accept your own shortcomings by focusing on the global picture: your successful healthy lifestyle.
You will experience challenging days. You understand that.
We’ve all lost our control and eaten three muffins or two bags of cheesy popcorn in one sitting.
That may happen at some time on your Keto journey. Accept it, release it, and keep going.
All successful paths are paved with what can be characterized as multiple failures.
But people who achieve their goals know that what is perceived as failure is a tiny little setback. It’s just one day.
So, pay attention to your language and choose success language.
If you are still using the word “try” in reference to starting Keto, you’re committed to continue the struggle to lose weight.
“If you think you can or you think you can’t, you’re right.”
-Henry Ford
Game up on your intention and adopt your success language.
2. Choose Your Menu
Your goal is to acquire a month of Keto recipes.
Collecting recipes is the most time-consuming activity of this journey.
Completing this step before you move forward prevents a stall in the middle of your journey.
I would budget a minimum of one week for this activity.
Keto menus vary widely, and this step is particularly challenging because it’s about food choices.
Take a look at some of the free 30-day Keto menus available online. You do not have to purchase a menu. An abundance of free weekly and monthly Keto diet plans are available at no charge.
One problem I experienced was the bounty of dairy-heavy recipes.
Sure, some dairy products, like butter or cheese, taste fantastic in recipes. However, a diet heavy in dairy can cause other health problems, which is a whole different topic.
A note about Keto dairy recipes: I did not consume much dairy when I started Keto, but I chose to make me and my boyfriend Keto chocolate cheesecake. The crust was butter and almond flour and the cheesecake itself was primarily cream cheese. It tasted out of this world!
We finished the pie in less than a day.
I was silently horrified that I had consumed 8 oz of cream cheese in less than 24 hours. In my heart (no pun intended) I knew that cannot be healthy for me, even if the macronutrients qualify for the standard keto diet.
There was no need for me to go dairy-crazy when I was dairy-free.
So, start where you are. If you consume dairy, keep using dairy. Take what works for you and start getting familiar on how to integrate good fats into your diet.
During this phase experiment with new recipes to see how you and your family like them.
Then choose some type of organization for your recipes.
If you have a system in place, keep using it. If you don’t have a recipe system in place, time to create one, whether it’s digital or on paper in a notebook.
3. Change Your Shopping Habits
Slide into this step gently as you build your menu, a few items with each trip to the grocery store.
It’s time to make lists of healthy oils like avocado oil, coconut oil, olive oil, and real butter.
If you are a baker, you will buy almond flour, coconut flour, and your choice of a sugar replacement. I use Swerve, which is a sugar alcohol.
Other basic Keto staples are avocados, raw nuts, pasture raised eggs, grass-fed beef, organic chicken, and wild caught salmon.
The biggest change won’t be what you buy, but what you DON’T buy.
When you’ve been buying soda and potato chips every week for years, it’s weird not buying them. Give yourself a week or two — maybe more — to make this adjustment.
Implement this buying strategy as you choose recipes.
Transition naturally. With each grocery trip, pick up at least a handful of “new” things you’ve never bought before. At the same time, you won’t replace the processed foods in a box, like breakfast cereal loaded with sugar or carb-loaded snacks.
Some find it too painful to discard “perfectly good food.”
I understand.
Your new strategy is don’t replace the carb-loaded items once you finish them.
When your processed food is limited, your food choices naturally transform.
It takes a bit of will power, but a list and your commitment will guide you. Yay! You’re almost there!
4. Go Full Throttle
You have your recipes and your kitchen is stocked.
You know what you’re going to be cooking and eating.
It’s GO time. Pick a day and say it to yourself. “This is it!”
You may want to create this in a prayerful moment with the Divine or you may want to tell your whole family and all your friends.
Do what works best for you, so you will feel supported to the degree it’s possible.
When I jumped into my Keto journey, my boyfriend was not supportive at all, so I did not speak to him about it. I felt he would be resistant.
When you don’t have a support system, just do what you’re going to do. Don’t necessarily define it to anyone else.
Remember, you don’t owe anyone an explanation as to why you aren’t drinking soda anymore.
After you mentally hit the “go” button, the two main things you have to do, besides the obvious of staying on your 75% fat, 5% carbohydrate, and 20% protein plan, are measure your ketones and measure your macros.
These are both easy.
5. Love Your Macros
Another important step in achieving ketosis is measuring your macros, short for macronutrients.
Macronutrients are the fats, carbohydrates, and protein that make up your food. You’ll need to know your percentages of each of these, measured in grams.
I wish I could tell you to skip this part, but starting out, I don’t see any way around it.
The percentages for the Standard Ketogenic Diet are Fat (75%), Protein (20%) and Carbohydrates (5%).
Macros are trackable on a variety of free apps.
I use the free version of the MyPlate app, by Livestrong.
I love this app!
It’s intuitive and super easy. One awesome function is the ability to enter a recipe you routinely eat. So, each time you cook the recipe, you don’t have to enter all the ingredients.
Enter the foods from your meal before you eat to see if it has too many carbs. You can then adjust your choice or amount of foods in advance and stay on your program.
This takes two minutes.
For example, you’re eating 2 large eggs and a tablespoon of butter for breakfast. When you enter that into the MyPlate app, your macros are 76% fat, 3% carbs, and 21% protein. So, you are almost at a perfect start, percentage wise, of your daily goal.
The Livestrong app also tracks water and exercise if you like. I haven’t used those, so I can’t speak to them, but they may be very helpful if you are shifting from soda to water.
One of the attributes of using an app to achieving ketosis is clarification — however horrifying it may be — of what you have been doing to your body.
I used to regularly consume a half gallon of chocolate ice cream over a 12-hour period.
TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY-SIX grams of sugar each time, in just over 12 hours!
I’d lose control in the evening and eat more than a quart before bed and then finish it for breakfast.
If I had been tracking myself, I know I would have curtailed that behavior years before I did.
This step of controlling macro percentages is so empowering! And that leads to a truly healthy lifestyle.
One win at a time and you will build success momentum!
6. Measure Your Ketones
The Keto diet causes your body to go into ketosis. You’ll need to get into ketosis and know you are in ketosis.
How do you know? You measure your ketones, a byproduct of ketosis, to determine when you have achieved this state.
Ketone strips for urinalysis cost around $10 in a drug store or online.
The strips turn dark when you are in ketosis and you compare it to a color chart on the bottle.
This is the most important initial step, besides what you eat, as you begin your program and verify you are fat-adapted.
I can tell by the way I feel when I’m in ketosis. I don’t use the strips constantly anymore, only occasionally for verification.
One great thing is the feedback you see in real time. For example, you will be able to see what a couple of innocent beers do. They kick me right out of ketosis.
This knowledge of what will take you out of ketosis gives you strength to control your eating habits with much less will power. No more mental arguments with yourself about consuming a donut.
Determining the foods that take you out of ketosis is an empowering step on your journey. Emerging into a place of power is motivating in an exciting way, because you are seeing results!
7. Enjoy Your Results
My interest in the Keto lifestyle activated when I read about the other results besides weight loss.
The biggest plus I’ve experienced on Keto is the dramatic shift away from chronic sugar addiction.
Without using an ounce of will power.
I have no desire to binge on carbohydrate rich foods anymore.
You will effortlessly control your desire for any carbohydrate food, whether it’s a sugary muffin after a complete meal or an entire warm cherry pie topped with vanilla ice cream for breakfast. Those days of hating yourself after “an eating episode” are over.
The uncontrollable desire for sugary processed foods presents the main obstacle to weight loss.
You will lose weight on your own terms after shifting your relationship with carbohydrates.
You will skip meals and have a steady flow of energy. Even in the middle of the afternoon.
Imagine at 2pm not needing a caffeinated drink to keep you awake at your desk or not wishing you could take a nap right now. Instead, what if you were actually engaged in your project, whether it’s work or home related?
You will have the energy and motivation to work out, whether it’s a home yoga practice, brisk walk, or 30 minutes at the gym (possibly someday soon). Without forcing yourself. Without dreading it. Imagine choosing to exercise because you want to. Because you’re motivated. Because it feels good.
Enjoy every little bit of it! You deserve it!
8. Know Yourself
Whatever your reason for choosing the Keto Diet — to lose weight, for cognitive function, to feel better, or reduce inflammation, take ownership of your health.
No one knows your body like you do.
I submit this diet is NOT for everyone.
Many insulin-dependent type 2 diabetics have had transformational success with the keto diet, losing weight, and reducing or ending their dependence on medications.
Lele Jaro, a 20-something Instagrammer, documented her Keto journey of losing 100 pounds and getting off insulin. She wisely counseled with her doctor through this process.
And there are many more success stories of diabetics improving their health, as evidenced by their numbers (weight, glucose, A1C, and insulin).
I noted a You Tube Video titled “Dangers of the Keto Diet.” Without calling out this person directly, please note they chose to do the Keto diet after reading about the anti-inflammatory benefits associated with the diet.
However, they had an auto-immune condition. They did not, per the video, work with a knowledgeable health care professional.
Absolute ignorance on their part. And dangerous.
Maybe the high fat consumption overloaded their liver. I cannot say why, but per their video, it landed them in the emergency room.
They felt the You Tube Warning was a public service announcement about the bad Keto diet.
They obviously were NOT a good candidate for the Keto diet.
A wiser take away is work with a knowledgeable health care provider, especially if you have a chronic condition, such as diabetes, auto-immune conditions, or cancer.
Take full responsibility for your health and well-being.
Make wise choices on your own behalf and with your best interests in your heart and mind.
Your body is your temple.
There is something you do better than anyone else and the people of this planet need that thing. You need to feel well to do that thing.
Yes, it’s a challenge at first.
I’m 2 years into this journey and I’m still finding my way.
If I can do it, I know you can do it.
Don’t get me wrong.
I’m not saying this is easy.
It will take a strong intention on your part. You have it in you.
Wolfgang von Goethe is credited with saying, “At the moment of commitment the entire universe conspires to assist you.”
You’ll have to make a food plan you can access and live with. You may have to learn new cooking skills.
You’ll learn a new way to grocery shop.
Everyone makes mistakes and so will you.
Specifically, do not dwell on your lapse of action or inaction. Talk to yourself like you’d talk to your best friend when they need encouragement.
Choose to see yourself as a success.
If your goal was to lose 20 pounds the first month and you lost 16, then celebrate!
Maybe you are learning how to set weight loss goals, and this is your first adjustment. Good job! You will just improve from here.
Once you are in your rhythm, you will feel better than you’ve ever felt — and I mean that.
Wrap your head around that. You will feel better than you’ve ever felt! Once you achieve ketosis, you will not need to expend the extra time on “doing” Keto, unless you want to.
Instead, you will choose to exercise or take your children and their friends on an outing (post-pandemic of course), because you have the energy and you want to.
Here’s to your weight loss journey and a new life of steady physical energy and powerful mental focus!
