The ketogenic diet is a high fat, moderate protein, low carbohydrate diet. Once your body reaches a state of ketosis it is now burning fat for fuel rather than glycogen (which comes from carbohydrates). The excess fat stores within your body are utilized as energy causing you to lose weight. At first the thought of replacing your body’s fuel source may seem like a drastic measure to take in order to lose weight. It’s also a bit daunting when you start to think about which foods contain high carbohydrates. It’s easy to become unsettled by the idea of eliminating all the comfort foods we have grown to rely on in our everyday diets. It’s no wonder that there are so many people questioning whether keto is worth trying.

When done correctly, the keto diet is is full of whole foods that are far more nutrient dense than the average person’s diet, which usually contains an abundance of highly processed food.

For many people the keto diet can be beneficial to try for a short term to see how their body reacts. If after a few weeks you feel great then continue on. But if after a few weeks you don’t feel it’s fpr you then try out something that better suits you. Keto advocates will tell you without a doubt there is a long list of benefits. Keto skeptics will in turn give you a long list of risks. The reality is everyone adapts differently to a significant change in diet, regardless of what diet you are trying and the keto diet is no exception.

If you look closer at the list of benefits from the advocates and the list of risks from the skeptics you’ll start to notice that those lists contain many of the same points. What appears to be an advantage or benefit for one person may be a risk or disadvantage for another. Here are some aspects of the ketogenic diet that can be pros for some and cons for others.

Digestive Problems

For years it has been recommended that people increase their fiber intake. Many people consume bars or drinks that contain added fiber to help their digestion. Switching to a ketogenic diet may have an adverse effect on one’s digestive system. If your body is used to an abundance of fiber rich food it may react negatively to the decrease in fiber by causing constipation, diarrhea, or other digestive problems.

The increase in fat may also create the same unwanted digestive issues, especially for people who don’t have a gallbladder or who have other pre-existing digestive health issues. If you find that the fat is causing digestive stress it may be that your body needs some additional time to adjust. Try easing your way into the higher fat intake by gradually increasing your fat levels over the course of several weeks.

As someone who has always had a very sensitive stomach I can tell you that changing to a keto diet has significantly improved my digestive troubles. I had a long list of foods that gave me an upset stomach and now following the keto diet I have less than a handful of items that I know are going to cause me issues.

While my body has become more accepting of healthier foods I used to have trouble eating. I also noticed it has become far more intolerant of junk food. I feel terrible if I eat a takeout meal that has been prepared with low quality oils even if it meets the low carb requirements. It seems my body has grown wiser from this keto process and has learned it doesn’t need to tolerate the garbage that I used to eat.

High Intensity Athletes

The ketogenic diet has become a highly controversial topic among many fitness communities, especially those in high intensity activities. Some fitness gurus will tell you that ketosis has given them more stamina, increasing their intensity and/or lengths of workouts. Others firmly believe that the very best fuel source for our bodies is glycogen (carbohydrates) and high intensity athletes should eat up to 40% or more of their daily calories from carbohydrates to reach peak performance. The reality remains the same, everyone’s body reacts differently, including athletes. Some athletes perform exponentially better on a ketogenic diet while others see their performance decline.

If you are an athlete or someone who enjoys exercising multiple times a week and you’re thinking about starting a ketogenic diet it is essential to listen to your body and give it time to adjust. If you’re just starting on a keto diet lower the intensity and frequency of your training while your body is adapting and then ease back into your normal routine. You may find that you are unable to achieve the same results or you may find that you exceed them!

Highly Structured

The “proper” macronutrient ratios for a ketogenic diet are 75% fat, 15-20% protein and 5-10% carbohydrates. It is a completely different way of eating than most people have become accustomed to. There is an adjustment period in the beginning for not only your body but your mind. If you have tried many different diets in the past you may be mentally prepared for having to track and be conscience of everything that you’re eating. If you’ve never dieted at all this can initially be either completely overwhelming or a fun self-challenging numbers game.

As you continue to track what you are eating and become more familiar with the macronutrient contents and the portion sizes a couple of things will happen. First you’re going to become more familiar with ingredients and macronutrients. This is going to make tracking easier and quicker the longer you continue. Second, you’re going to either learn to love tracking your food or hate it. Some people, myself included, find that tracking becomes a personal challenge. You’re always trying to improve on either your ratios, your calories, your ingredients or your recipes. This structured and challenging game keeps me motivated to continuously improve myself. I find it fascinating to see how certain aspects of my diet effect my body. It’s like a science experiment that only you can conduct because your body and the way it reacts and adapts is completely unique.

There are people at the opposite end of the spectrum who absolutely hate tracking their food. They may find it takes too much time, they don’t enjoy having to scrutinize each thing they ingest, they aren’t good at adding up the numbers, or they get incredibly discouraged any time they don’t have a successful day. If you enjoy tracking your meals it is going to be worth trying keto. If you think tracking will be more of a struggle for you then it will take a bit of experimenting to figure out if keto is right for you. While it’s possible to successfully reach ketosis without tracking your macronutrients it’s far easier to succeed by tracking what you eat, especially when you’re just starting out.

More Whole Foods

At first the thought of enjoying more whole foods and less processed food could only seem like a benefit right? Well of course eating more whole foods and less junk is going to be healthier for anyone. For almost anyone concerned with their health it is going to be one of their main goals. But when you start getting into the everyday realities of how this effects your busy lifestyle it might start looking like a disadvantage for some people. This “benefit” can quickly become the main reason people give up on a keto diet.

It’s easy to entice people into a diet full of vitamin and nutrient rich food that is always prepared at home. It’s how most of us wish we lived our lives because we know it’s the best option for our’s and our family’s health. Unfortunately the busy life that most families have created for themselves usually doesn’t leave time for hours spent preparing meals each week.

It’s so convenient to just grab a pizza on the way home after a long day at work or quickly roll up to your favourite drive thru window to snack on a burger on the way to kids swimming lessons. These conveniences are loaded with carbs and the places that sell them usually don’t have very good low carb options, if any at all. It may seem simple when you first start to bring your bag of pork rinds and grab a black coffee while you order your children nuggets and fries. This self control may slowly dwindle over time and you find yourself sneaking a few bag fries here and there. Then you gradually increase your small slip-ups and before you know it you’re back to eating an entire burger and fries.

If you’re living a busy life it takes a bit of extra thought and planning to make keto a sustainable option. This doesn’t necessarily mean you need to spend a lot of additional time to stick to it. It just means you need to be honest with yourself and have realistic expectations and goals set for yourself and your family. You may need to cancel your drive thru trips and have your kids pack a couple sandwiches for themselves to take on the road rather than tempting yourself with the smell of french fries each week. Maybe you decide to have a cheat day once a month. This way when you do have a craving you can remind yourself that there’s only x number of days until you can decide to eat that item and happily go back to your zero carb snack. Your diet is ultimately just that, it’s yours. Rather than being constantly miserable (which is only setting you up for failure) make decisions based on what works best for you. If you’d like some more ideas on how you can make your keto diet more sustainable check out one of Cleanish Keto’s previous blogs here.

So is Keto Worth Trying?

With any diet it’s always important to do your own research, consult your doctor if you have a pre-existing health condition and pay close attention to how your body reacts when changing your eating habits. There are a long list of benefits and risks to consider before starting any diet. With keto many of these items can be added to either list as each individual has unique ways of adapting to changes in their diet. If you decide to try it out always be mindful of what your body is telling you and don’t be afraid to customize your choices to suit your needs. It’s better to make slight improvements to your health rather than no improvement at all.

About fifteen years ago I went through a few months of regular periods of dizziness or sometimes I would even black out for a few seconds. When I went to the doctor to find out why, he told me I was dehydrated and needed to ensure I was drinking enough water. Looking back I can’t help but wonder how I could have been so dehydrated to the point of my body forcing itself to stop functioning. The memory of this experience has caused me to be diligent in my water intake. This change in diet made me wonder how much water is required when diving into a ketogenic diet?

Drinking water daily is essential to our bodies for proper function. There is no exact measurement of water that your body requires daily to keep hydrated while practicing a ketogenic diet. Rather than tracking exactly how much water you are consuming daily it’s far more important to recognize the signs your body provides you. Your body will show you it needs water and you should drink when you are thirsty.

Keep in mind that your body loses a lot of water weight when you are initially going into ketosis. You will need to drink more water than normal to stay hydrated.

Continue reading to learn the truth about the standard recommended 8 glasses of water a day, how to recognize if you are drinking enough water and ways in which you can stay hydrated.

The Eight Glass of Water per Day Myth

We have all heard the standard recommendation of drinking 8 glasses of water per day. This is commonly referred to as the 8 x 8 rule stating that you should drink eight 8-ounce glasses of water per day. If you ask anyone how much water they should drink each day they will likely tell you about the 8 x 8 rule. If you pressed them further as to why they needed 8 glasses per day the probably wouldn’t know why. The usual answer is “because that’s how much you are supposed to drink. Everyone knows that”. The reality is this started as the result of a 1945 recommendation by the US National Research Council (NRC) saying “adults should consume 1 millilitre of water for each calorie of food, which adds up to about 2.5 litres per day for men and 2 litres for women”. What seems to be forgotten here is that the NRC recommendation states most of that water intake should come from food sources. The Hydration for Health group has pushed for sustainable healthy hydration habits by sharing scientific research and educational materials for the public. They recommend the above mentioned 2.5 litres for men and 2 litres for women. Further investigation shows that this organization was created by large food corporation Danone. Volvic, Evian and Badiot water brands are owned by Danone. I’m not saying the recommendation is wrong or harmful but it’s hard to trust when the people making the recommendation have a monetary interest. Eight glasses of water is not necessarily what your body requires to stay healthy. Some people may need more than this and some people might need less.

Signals that You Need More Water

I’ve noticed that the longer I have been following a ketogenic diet the more in-tune I am with what my body requires to feel it’s best. This includes being able to recognize the early signs of dehydration.

Here are some common signals that you may need to rehydrate:

• Thirst
• Dark yellow urine
• Urinating less than normal
• Muscle cramps
• Dizziness
• Nausea
• Headaches

If you are starting to become dehydrated you may experience some or all of these symptoms. When your body starts to become dehydrated ensure that you are drinking more water and getting enough electrolytes. For tips on how you can increase your electrolytes and a recipe for my homemade ketorade click here.

Increasing Your Water Intake

There are many people who don’t enjoy drinking water. If you’re one of those people you may be wondering how you can stay hydrated while avoiding drinking multiple cups of plain water each day. The solution is fairly simple. While drinking plain water is probably the easiest and best option there are many other keto friendly ideas to help keep you hydrated. These include:

• Add a few drops of no carb flavour drops to your water
• Add a slice of lemon to your water
• Drink unflavoured or carb-free flavoured sparkling water
• Have a coffee or tea (flavoured coffees and teas work great here)
• Eat a lot of dark leafy greens or other low carb vegetables that have higher water content (such as cabbage)
• Drink bone broth

If you’re like me and you don’t have any problems drinking water but find that you get busy and forget throughout the day, try some of these tips to help keep your water intake consistent:

• Drink a glass of water whenever you eat a meal or snack
• Drink a glass of water before you go to bed and as soon as you wake up
• Keep a bottle of water with you wherever you go
• Set a daily water goal for yourself

Water Intake and Keto Flu

When you first start keto your body loses a lot of water weight. This sudden drop in water weight along with a sudden decrease in your electrolytes play a large role in causing the keto flu and can cause you to quickly become dehydrated. During this transition into ketosis it is extremely important to keep yourself hydrated. It’s important to increase your intake of electrolytes including as mush sodium, potassium, magnesium and calcium as you can. Along with the tips mentioned in the previous section a great way to restore your hydration and electrolytes is to drink a homemade electrolyte boosting drink known as ketorade. Everyone has their own slightly different variation of this drink. Mine usually includes water, salt, salt alternative, electrolyte drops and apple cider vinegar. For a more detailed description and recipe of my homemade ketorade click here. By staying hydrated and topped up on electrolytes you can minimize your keto flu symptoms and should be back to normal within a few days.

While most people find that they require more water on a keto diet than they do on a Standard American Diet (SAD) the question of how much is enough varies among each individual person. Keeping yourself hydrated is important no matter what diet you are following. I started my keto journey by drinking 8 glasses of water per day as a starting point and adjusted my intake accordingly based on what my body told me. I suggest you do the same. Whether you’re on a ketogenic diet or not ensure to always listen to your body’s signals and continue to drink water each day in whatever form works for you.

Sources

Where Did the 8-Glasses-of-Water-a-Day Myth Come From?

The Water Myth

Health Myths: Drink Eight Glasses of Water per Day

Drink 8 Glasses of Water a Day: Fact or Fiction?

Starting a new diet that requires hours of exercising each week is just not sustainable for most people. I am lucky to squeeze in a weekly half hour walk. There is no way I could manage putting in multiple hours at the gym. If you’re just starting keto you may be wondering is it possible to be successful losing weight without spending time exercising?

The whole concept behind the keto diet is to put your body into a state of ketosis. Your body is burning fat for fuel rather than sugar. This is achievable by changing your diet and does not require you to exercise. Once your body is in a state of ketosis and you’re burning fat you are going to start losing weight. Exercising regularly has it’s own health benefits that cannot be replaced by any diet.

Let’s take a closer look at how exercising has impacted my keto journey and discuss a couple of reasons why you may or may not choose to exercising.

My Keto Results

I started keto in January of 2019, about 6 months after giving birth to my daughter. At this time I weighed 150 lb, was in size 12 jeans and still had a flabby pouch where my stomach used to be. By August of 2019 I had dropped down to 117 lbs and size 4 jeans. I still had a bit of loose skin around my stomach but with a shirt on I’m the only one who could notice it was there. Since August I have hovered around 115 to 125 lbs and am currently at 121 lbs. I’ve achieved these results by changing my diet and living a somewhat busy lifestyle with minimal exercise.

I have a toddler at home so it’s very rare that I find myself sitting in one spot for very long. There is rarely time for dedicated exercise at my house and zero time spent at the gym. In fact I tried to start working out at the gym months ago and just recently cancelled my membership because I hadn’t been in months. I try to set a good example for my daughter by going for walks or getting out the mats for mom and baby yoga. I quickly found the example of showing her exercising is important and the quality time spent with her are the only real accomplishments. The pace of a two year old doesn’t get the heart pumping. I’m far from breaking a sweat waddling along the sidewalk or watching her try to stretch like a kitty.

Exercising has been my lowest priority for the last two years. I’m sure one day I’ll make time to go swim lengths at the local pool or go mountain biking like I used to because those are things I enjoy doing. For now I’m just enjoying my busy, exercise free, life and sticking to my low carb diet. So far eating a low carb diet has been enough to maintain a slim body.

Exercising While Starting Keto

We’ve established that exercising is not required to lose weight. However, if you’re beginning a keto diet for the first time and have decided that you’d like to start (or continue) to workout as you begin a keto diet be cautious about the intensity of your workouts when you first start out.

As the body switches from burning sugar as fuel to burning fat as fuel some people develop flu-like symptoms, which is known as the keto flu. Not every person develops the same symptoms and some people won’t experience the keto flu at all. If you develop symptoms of the keto flu you may want to consider reducing the intensity of your workouts or put them on hold for a few days until your body has adjusted to it’s new fuel supply. Once the keto flu has subsided (it usually goes away in a couple days) you should be good to go back to your regular routine. Some people say that they’re able to increase the intensity and have more stamina once they’re in ketosis. Others say that they don’t have the stamina they once had and have to scale back the intensity of their workout. Everyone’s body adapts differently.

Keto and Muscle Building

I think many people visualize losing weight with a nice toned muscular body. Losing fat is not the same as becoming fit and muscular. Usually when beginning a keto diet the number one goal is to lose weight. It’s easy to lose weight by decreasing your carb intake. It’s important to realize that the weight you are losing is fat. If you decide to skip the exercise while losing that fat you’re going to end up with a slim body. Muscles are not going to magically appear as you lose fat. If your goal is a nice toned muscular body then you need to exercise to build those muscles. When setting your goals distinguish whether you want to just lose fat or if you want to become fit and gain muscle.

It’s important to realize that losing weight, especially if you’re trying to build muscle at the same time, is not the same as losing fat. Generally speaking when someone says they want to lose weight they are trying to lose fat. Unfortunately many people narrow their focus on losing fat and don’t think about replacing it with muscle. If you decide you want to build muscle while losing fat you won’t see as much weight drop as someone who is not exercising. Muscle is much denser than fat. A pound of fat is bulky and about the size of a grapefruit. A pound of muscle is firm and about the size of a small orange. One pound of muscle takes up less space on your body than a pound of fat. You may need to measure your success based on other details that your scale doesn’t measure. Instead of setting a weight goal for yourself try measuring your success by the circumference of your waist, your pant size, your energy level or your confidence level when looking in the mirror.

Essentially exercising on keto is a personal choice based on your goals. If you are just starting out on keto I suggest that if exercise is already part of your routine then you keep it up. If you aren’t currently exercising you should plan to start once your body is fat adapted. Exercise, while not vital to keto success, is very important to your overall health.

The keto diet can become an overwhelming and unsustainable diet when you’re trying to do everything perfectly. You want to eat healthy, lose weight and feel your best all at once. This means eating the correct foods, tracking portion sizes and reigning in your self control.

If you’ve been tirelessly spending hours of additional effort each week struggling yet determined to stick to your keto diet then look no further. No one has that much time to waste on figuring out what food they will be eating. I am going to give you my top three tips to simplify your keto diet in order to free up those hours for the more important things in life.

1. Stop trying to meal prep every single meal
2. Prepare to be on-the-go
3. Keep your kitchen stocked with fallbacks

---

Meal Prepping

Meal prepping for your week has become a popular trend. The idea of meal prepping is to pick a day, prep all your meals ahead of time and then have pre-made meals ready to go for your entire week allowing more time to spend with your family on busy weeknights. After spending hours coming up with meal ideas, making shopping lists, going to the grocery store, and then spending my entire Sunday afternoon cooking up a storm I started to rethink this meal prepping situation. Instead of spending the twenty minutes each night cooking dinner I was instead spending nearly an entire day of my weekend meal prepping. On top of that I still found myself spending at least 15 minutes having to reheat dinners or put finishing touches on a dish. Why was I spending half a day making food rather than using that time to do something fun with my kids or getting some much deserved relaxation time before starting another busy week?

The solution turned out to be easier than any YouTube meal prep video I’ve watched. Eliminate the meal prep in exchange for preparing a standard go-to weeknight dinner. I’ve traded in my hours of finding new dishes and creating meal plans for a quick half hour trip to the grocery store to gather enough meat, vegetables and healthy fats for the week. This means I can purchase what’s on sale, saving myself not only time, but money. I found when I was meal prepping I was spending additional money trying to purchase items I wouldn’t otherwise buy to obtain all the ingredients in some type of casserole recipe I had found online. With my new approach I have scrapped the recipes and moved on to just purchasing the items I know I should be eating.

During the week I pull some meat out of my freezer in the morning and either throw it in my slow cooker or put it in the sink to defrost. Then after work I cook up some vegetables in some healthy fat and grill up my meat, if it’s not already cooked. To save yourself time for another day just take out double the meat and cook up twice the amount of vegetables. If I have a really busy night, or just don’t feel like cooking later, I’ll throw some vegetables, meat and bone broth in my slow cooker either before I go to bed the night before or in the morning and when I get home there’s a pot of delicious soup waiting to be eaten. This new routine has saved me so much time and money. I don’t think I could ever go back to meal prepping.

Prepare to be On-the-Go

In a perfect world we would cook all our food at home and sit around the table with our families three times a day with our healthy meals. This is not a reality for most families. Before starting keto our family would often find ourselves rushing through the drive thru on a busy weeknight or eating sandwiches in the car on the way to sports practices. There are not a lot of keto friendly drive thrus in my area and bread’s off the table so I need to be prepared for busy on-the-go times. I do this by keeping a to-go backup plan ready for unexpected travels. Each week I ensure that I have three very important items stocked up:

1. A bottle of sweetener in my purse
2. A grab and go snack on hand wherever I am
3. A grab and go snack in my fridge.

The sweetener is usually for coffee. I try to eat a naturally sourced sweetener, so if I’m out and about and just need a quick burst of energy, I’ll grab a coffee with extra cream and put a few squirts of my own sweetener in it. I usually keep this in my purse, diaper bag or car along with my grab and go snack.

My grab and go snack is something that doesn’t need to be refrigerated. This way I can store it in my bag for the week without it going bad. Usually this snack is a keto friendly bar or a bag of pork rinds. Whatever you decide to use ensure that you know what the macros are when you pack it (write it on the bag if you need to) and try to keep it as low carb as possible so you don’t have to worry about your carb count.

The final item to keep on hand is something quick to grab in your fridge. At our house we always keep a bag of no carb pepperoni sticks in stock. You can keep any low/zero carb snack you like to just grab and go. Some alternative ideas are cheesesticks, pickles, olives, baby cucumbers or deli meat. Anything that you can just throw into a sandwich bag while running out the door that will deter you from rolling through the drive thru.

Keep your Kitchen Stocked with Fallbacks

We have three fallback meals on hand at any given time. These are meals that everyone in the house enjoys, they’re easy to make and quick to prepare. Every family’s fallbacks are going to be different. My three fallbacks are egg roll in a bowl, frozen leftover meat with frozen vegetables and bacon with eggs. Yours could be anything you want. This works best if you stick with things that are going to last a long time if you don’t eat them this week. Make sure they take less than 15 minutes to prepare. If you have older children try to make at least one of these meals something that they can help with or prepare on their own.

We try to keep a standard meal recipe at our house. Each meal consists of four main ingredients: meat, vegetable, fat and spices. Each of these four components changes with every meal. However, I find that because I try to stick to purchasing meat on sale, and usually do the same with vegetables, there are only so many combinations to be made. You can change up these meal variations by including different fats and spices to your meat and vegetables. This keeps things simple to prepare, but still gives you enough variety so you won’t get bored.

If you are practicing intermittent fasting you may choose not to eat breakfast at all. Cutting out an entire meal makes any lifestyle easier. I try to skip my breakfast whenever I can, but sometimes I wake up feeling famished and know that I’ll never make it to lunch time without some food. I always keep a to-go breakfast that I enjoy on hand for these mornings. For me this means keeping a can of coconut cream in my cupboard. I put a few tablespoons of coconut cream and a dash of vanilla extract in a travel mug and top it up with hot coffee. I enjoy this so much that I never feel guilty about eating this for breakfast. Sticking to your keto diet is much easier when you’re enjoying the food you eat.

No one can perfectly execute their keto plans 100% of the time. As long as you’re trying your best that’s a success in itself. As with anything in life practice and repetition makes it easier. So scrap those time consuming meal preps, keep some healthy low-carb snacks handy and your kitchen stocked and you should have no problem saving time, money and your sanity.

For the first six months of my keto diet I counted my macros religiously. Never really taking the time to sit back and contemplate the pros and cons. I just did it because all the keto experts said it would make me more successful. I was a beginner to keto, but not to other popular diet regimens. I wasn’t aware of how customizable a keto diet could be. There are so many options to customize a keto diet to suit your life. One of those options is counting your macros.

Creating a pros and cons list is a useful tool in helping to make a decision. The following list will guide you in making the decision of whether or not counting your macros will help you be successful on your keto diet.

Pros to Counting Macros

• Faster initial weight loss
• Aware of the quality of food you’re eating
• Aware of portion sizes
• Sense of accomplishment
• Creates structure that many people thrive on

Cons to Counting Macros

• Time consuming
• Easy to fall into IIFYM (if it fits your macros)
• Convenient to limit variation in foods
• Stressful/disheartening if targets are not met
• Relying on numbers vs. your body’s signals

Continue reading for further explanations on each of these pros and cons.

Faster Initial Weight Loss

This is an obvious and logical point. If you keep a record of what you are eating and therefore hold yourself accountable for the foods you consume you will lose weight faster. If your goal is to drop pounds as fast as possible then counting macros is going to be crucial in your success.

Aware of the Quality of Foods You’re Eating

Keeping track of your macronutrients forces you to look at food labels. As you begin to look at how many grams of fat, protein and carbohydrates you are consuming you will naturally look at the ingredient list to see what items your food is really made of. This is going to make you more conscious of what types of fats you’re ingesting and what types of chemicals/preservatives are being added.

Aware of Portion Sizes

Most of us don’t understand what a single portion of food looks like. When I started keeping track of my macros I was shocked to see just how little food my body really needed to be healthy. Counting your macros forces you to take a closer look at how much food your body really requires versus how much food you have become accustomed to eating.

Sense of Accomplishment

Counting your macros gives you a daily goal. Putting in the effort to ensure that you have met your daily goals makes your keto diet rewarding. When you reach the end of your day and realize that you have succeeded in your goals the keto diet becomes a positive and easily sustainable way of living.

Creates Structure

I am a list person. My brain thrives on making lists and adding structure to unorganized situations. I find the structure of counting my macros to be stress relieving. It has helped me to add some clarity to what can easily become an overwhelming change. Everyone’s mind operates differently so it’s very possible that just the mention of this added structure makes you a bit anxious. You’ll need to decide which column this point fits into for yourself.

Time Consuming

At first the process of counting macros takes quite a bit of additional time. Reading labels, planning meals, recording what you eat, and reflecting on how to adjust your foods and portions to reach your goals. Be prepared to initially spend 10 minutes per meal on tracking your macros. Don’t let this point get you too discouraged. As you continue to learn the in’s and out’s of your tracking app and become more familiar with your keto diet this time will easily cut itself in half.

Easy to Fall into IIFYM

If it fits your macros (IIFYM) is a common keto philosophy where people focus solely on their levels of proteins, fats and carbohydrates. They tend to disregard whether they’re making a healthy choice. Not concerned with how many essential vitamins and nutrients are being consumed or whether they are eating something healthy and beneficial to their body. For some IIFYM is a necessary part of a busy day. Most tracking apps focus on your calories, protein, fat and carbohydrate levels neglecting the ingredients that supplied them. It is important to be aware that even though you have met your macro goals, you may not have made a healthy choice.

Convenient to Limit Variation in Foods

As you begin to track your food it becomes incredibly easy to get into the habit of repeatedly eating the same things in effort to save time inputting new items into your tracking app. This is a great way to be able to grab a quick bite without searching through new foods or analyzing each line of the nutrition label. It becomes easy to just have a short list of food that becomes your go to source of nutrition. If this sounds like a trap you’ll easily fall into you should make a special point of adding in some variation each time you go grocery shopping. While unpacking your groceries add the new items into your app. If you already have them in your saved foods it makes it more convenient to grab and add to a meal. This makes it more likely you’ll avoid the repetition trap.

Stressful/Disheartening if Targets Aren’t Met

While having target goals can be a huge motivation when they’re being met, they are just as equally disheartening when you are unsuccessful. This can add an additional level of stress to your life that may be more harmful than helpful. If you know that you’re going to be upset about not reaching a daily goal there are two options; don’t set a daily goal by avoiding your macros altogether or set a more achievable goal.

Maybe you decided to stick to 20 g of carbs a day, but you have been regularly eating 40 g and have physically been feeling good. Adjust your target macros to 40 g and be happy rather than repeatedly feeling disappointed that you’re not reaching a target that just doesn’t work for you. If you decide you do need to go down to 20 g, slowly work your way down by setting a series of goals that decrease your carbs incrementally each week until you’ve reached 20 g.

Relying on Numbers vs. Your Body’s Signals

It is easy to get caught up in the number game of tracking your macros. It can become almost an obsessive game for some to the point that they are not paying attention to what their body is telling them. If your body is telling you that you’re full but you still need to eat another 300 calories today, don’t go have a snack just to meet your macros. Alternatively, if you have hit your calorie count for the day but it’s 4:00pm and your stomach is rumbling, go have a low/zero carb snack and save yourself the discomfort of going to bed hungry.

Individualize Your Pros and Cons

Everyone’s pros and cons are going to be unique. I hope this provides you with a useful starting point for your own list. Keep in mind that the previous points are based on personal experiences. Take some time to sit down and weigh out your own pros and cons to determine whether or not counting macros will help you to accomplish your goals.

Click on this free pdf download below for a printable checklist that contains additional pros and cons as well as areas for you to add your own pros and cons.

About two years ago my boyfriend and I had come across the ketogenic diet. We both knew we needed to lose weight. I was also at the point that every time I ate a meal my stomach would be upset for hours. I was clearly in need of a major diet change. At first the keto diet seemed too good to be true. Just eat bacon and bunless burgers and we’d lose weight and feel better than ever? How could it be possible? We did hours and hours of research, reading books, reading websites and watching YouTube videos. After what seemed like years of learning every possible detail (it was actually only months) we knew we had to try it. What did we have to lose? It couldn’t hurt us to at least cut some sugar out of our terrible diets. In January of 2019 we decided to try it out. With our love and addiction of carbohydrates, how were we supposed to suddenly stop eating all the carbs that had become staples in our diet?

There are two ways to start a keto diet: easing in and going cold turkey. Easing into a keto diet allows you to slowly decrease your carb intake over time. Going cold turkey is just what you woukd expect, pick a day to start and go all in from day one. Deciding which method to choose will depend on your own personality, what role your family will play and your daily routine.

It’s easy to decide you want to lose weight right now. If all you’re looking to do is lose a few pounds and go back to eating whatever you want then obviously just jump right in. However, if you’ve done all your research and decide you want to test out a ketogenic lifestyle for a considerable amount of time, then I believe you should take some time to make this decision based on what will work for you. This step will be crucial in your success.

Working With Your Personality

If your personality is anything like mine you’re going all in. I’m 100% obsessive about anything new and I absolutely thrive on pushing myself to the limit. When I learned the difference between easing in and going cold turkey my mind was set! For me it was just a matter of how.

I understand everyone has a different personality. For most people this decision is going to take a bit more self reflection. You may need to ask yourself a few questions and take some time to come to a decision. After all, the committment to eliminate carbohydrates, the foundation of most people’s diets, would be considered a huge hurdle in anyone’s life.

Here are a few important questions you should consider:

• Do I need to give myself some time to slowly cut out certain foods?
• Can I drastically limit my portions of carbohydrate dense foods without overeating?
• Am I mentally/ emotionally struggling with the idea of eliminating carbs and/or increasing fat?
• Is it going to be difficult (financially or emotionally) to throw/give away food that I have already purchased?

If you answered “No” to all of these questions going cold turkey may be ideal for you. If you answered “Yes” to any of these questions, easing into a keto diet is going to make it easier for your diet to be successful. People are so different so it’s hard to lump everyone into two categories like this. You know you better than anyone else. After some self evaluation and reflection make a decision based on what you think will be the most sustainable method for you.

Family Influences

If you’re single and living alone then this step is not going to be a significant one and you can skip right ahead to creating a plan. If you have a significant other and/or children living with you it is going to be important to get an idea of how your ketogenic diet is going to affect not only your life, but your family’s as well.

I was fortunate to have my boyfriend beside me every step of the way through all my keto challenges and successes. Having that support has been absolutely critical for me.

This doesn’t mean that your family needs to start keto because you do. However, the encouragement of your family is going to have a major effect on how you plan on getting started. If you know your partner is going to be positive and encouraging as you sit down for “spaghetti” dinner with your zuchini noodles, then it’s going to make it much easier to just jump in and go for it. On the other hand, if you’re afraid you’re going to sit down to eat and have they will try to hand you a basket full of bread to dip in your tomato sauce you might have a challenge sticking to an all-in decision.

Another huge factor is watching your significant other and children eating all the foods you wish you were eating. I can tell you from experience that once you get fat adapted and you feel great on your keto diet you won’t even give a second glance to that mound of mashed potatoes beside your daughter’s roast beef and gravy. In fact, once I was in ketosis and feeling great I looked at those mashed potatoes and felt disappointed having let her eat all those carbohydrates.

No matter how strongly you feel about the benefits of ketosis, when you first start out you will without a doubt look at those mashed potatoes and want nothing more than to reach across the table and shovel them into your mouth. You may even go to bed that night thinking about how much you wished you just had a little scoop. You can practically taste them. It seems absolutely absurd if you’ve never experienced going into ketosis for the first time, but the addiction to carbohydrates is a real thing. Considering how you’re going to handle watching your family eating the carb loaded foods you’re craving is essential in deciding how quickly to ditch the sugar.

Your Daily Routine

If you’re busy working all day then come home and run the kids to various activities and you rely on fast food four times a week, going cold turkey will present you with more of a challenge than someone who routinely cooks most of their meals at home. Most restaurants, especially fast food establishments, take some thoughtful planning when you’re on the keto diet.

If you eat any of your meals anywhere other than your own home (and plan on continuing to do so once you start keto) you are going to want to seriously consider easing yourself into a keto diet or ensuring that you have done some in-depth research on what you’re going to eat from your local eateries. To succeed be prepared to order low carb before you walk in the door.

Creating a Plan

You’re one step away from making a final decision! The very last step is to make a customized plan for each of the getting started methods. Following through with your decision is only going to work if you consider some of the major details of how each plan will play out. This is like a rough draft. You won’t be able to plan out every tiny detail, but you can get a good grip on the bigger picture of which plan you believe will be more suitable in your life. Here’s a few tips on how to get started for each method:

Easing In

This is the most customizable option. Here are the major factors to decide on for now:

• How long will you take to transition from your old diet to a full ketogenic diet? This could be days or weeks or even months. Remember that even a tiny step in the right direction is still getting you closer to your end goal.
• What is your daily carb intake end goal? Most people shoot for under 30 g of carbs, but you may be shooting for under 50 g or even under 10 g daily.
• How will you decrease your carbs? For some people this may be to start eliminating certain types of foods. For example, week #1 cut out all added sugars and week #2 cut out all grains, and so on until you’ve eliminated all carb dense foods. From there you can fine tune the portion sizes of your healthy food to meet your target carbohydrate levels. Other people choose to just slowly decrease their portions of whatever carbohydrate they’re eating to fit within their target macros that day.

Cold Turkey

Quitting the carbs cold turkey is a very dramatic and definitive way of starting. It’s far less planning and therefore far less time. Here’s the plan:

• Go do a bit of keto friendly grocery shopping. Get yourself some healthy fats, a few different types of meat, your favourite vegetables, eggs and if you’re planning on eating dairy some full fat dairy products.
• Go home and go through every food item in your home and separate every non-keto friendly food.
• Restock your shelves with your new keto friendly groceries.
• From that point on only eat keto friendly food.

At this point I’m sure you’re wondering what to do with all that food that’s not keto friendly. That’s completely up to you. If the rest of your family is going to consume those items just put them in a separate cupboard or in a special drawer. If your family isn’t going to eat these items then remove them from your home. Give the food to family members or if it’s unopened give it to a local food bank.

Now that you have visualized what each of the plans will look like it’s time to begin. Figure out your plan, pick a date and start!

Don’t Overstress About Your Plan

It’s great to have a plan but remember to stay flexible with your plan. Always keep your end goals in mind when starting out. This will help keep you on track. If it’s your first time starting keto you won’t be able to foresee all the bumps and glitches along the way to your success and that’s ok.

If you decide to ease in and find that the temptation of keeping the carbs laying around is just too much switch to cold turkey. Alternatively, if you go cold turkey and find yourself binging on an entire box of cookies by the third day because you just couldn’t survive without sugar, maybe try easing in. The fact is that no matter how much information you have or how prepared you think you are everyone’s body and mind reacts differently and usually unexpectedly to eliminating carbs. You’ll only know what works for sure by getting started!