Did you know that the keto diet started as a therapy for epilepsy? Even better, the diet that only became popular in the last few years has been around since the 1920s, and we didn’t know about it.

Everything about the keto diet is unconventional, starting from its dietary plan and up to its extraordinary results. So if you want to join the keto club, you’ll need some kind of guidance to start.

Here’s how to start the keto diet in eight steps.

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When starting any diet, you need to ensure that it’ll work. Otherwise, you’ll get disappointed after seeing the non-moving scale, and you may be discouraged to continue. If you follow these tips, your keto diet will hopefully show you the results you want.

How to Start Keto Diet in 8 Steps

To achieve ketosis, the first thing you should do is reduce your carbs intake. Many people fall into the trap and cut off carbs altogether, but that’s a pretty bad idea. You still need carbs for the diet to work, especially from veggies. 

So to start, you can limit your daily carb intake to 0.7 ounces for two weeks. After this phase, when ketosis is achieved, you can start adding small amounts of carbs into your dietary plan. It’d be good to calculate the net carbs in this phase because those are the only carbs you’ll need.

To reduce carbs, you can start swapping in low-carb ingredients. For example, you can cook pasta using zucchini noodles instead of regular ones.

Step 1: Decrease Carbohydrates

When you reduce your carb intake to 0.7 ounces a day, you need to eat plenty of veggies to get the essential minerals and vitamins. Try to choose vegetables with a high content of fiber and low content of starch.

You can have broccoli, kale, mushrooms, peppers, asparagus, or spinach. These veggies won’t only help you lose weight and provide you with the needed vitamins, but they’ll also prevent hunger pangs. Fibers are generally excellent stomach fillers, and they’ll keep you from feeling hungry.

Step 2: Eat a lot of Veggies

In keto diets, you need to replace your daily carb intake with healthy fats. Nearly 60% of your daily calories are carbs. When you reduce them, you need to put in healthy fats instead.

Some examples of healthy fats are avocado oil, olive oil, and coconut oil. There are also fish, cheese, nuts, and eggs.

Step 3: Add Healthy Fats to Your Diet

Although most weight-loss diets are enough alone, working out in parallel with the diet will show you better results. With keto diets, in particular, working out is a good idea to help you achieve ketosis faster. When you do, you’ll be able to adjust to the low-carb style much easier.

If you want to understand how your body achieves ketosis, it needs to get rid of glucose first. When you work out, your body gets rid of the glycogen stored inside much faster, turning all the fats into energy.

All that said, it’s worth noting that a keto diet may make you feel fatigued at first. So, try to ease into your workout plan.

Step 4: Start Working Out

Generally, low-carb diets cause your body to get rid of water faster. As a result, you need to drink more water to compensate for the lost amounts. Not drinking enough water can cause constipation and sugar cravings, which you want to avoid during the keto diet.

Besides drinking water, you also need to have enough salt in your food to get all the needed electrolytes. You should add broth to your dietary plan as well.

You can try drinking 6—8 glasses of water daily, depending on how much your body can handle. If you have a tough exercising session, or it’s particularly hot on that day, you can always drink more.

Step 5: Drink More Water

When you’re on a keto diet, you need to make sure your liver is getting enough amino acids. That way, you’re sure it’s capable of making new glucose for your bodily functions. Remember that your red blood cells and kidneys can’t use up the ketones for fuel, so your liver needs to provide them with enough glucose. 

Aside from that, not consuming enough protein will cause you to lose a lot of muscle mass. As you know, muscles aren’t easy to develop, so make sure at least 20% of your keto diet is protein.

Step 6: Make Sure You’re Having Enough Protein

While on a keto diet, you can’t drink everything. You can have coffee and tea all you want, but make sure to avoid sweeteners. If you absolutely need a sweetener, stay off sugar. 

You can add some milk, but make sure it’s in a little amount. If you drink multiple cups a day, try not to add milk at all because it may add up and compromise your diet. Of course, Caffe lattes and similar drinks are out of the question.

Step 7: Be Careful What You Drink

The keto diet isn’t the same as any other diet. With regular diets, you can get away with a greasy burger once a week or with a cheat meal when you absolutely need it.

With the keto diet, making the wrong decision will cause a setback, which you don’t need. You’ll need to avoid all starchy and sugary foods, including pasta, bread, potatoes, and rice. All other foods high in carbs are also off the menu.

Try to avoid processed foods, too. It’d be better to replace them with keto-friendly foods. You can base your diet on poultry, fish, meat, and eggs.

Step 8: Avoid All Sugary and Starchy Foods

The keto diet may be a bit challenging to follow because it includes some major changes in your lifestyle. However, it shows good results in a short time, which is your priority for your weight loss plan. As long as you avoid the non-keto foods and stay within your calorie limit, you’ll hopefully see the results you want shortly.

How to Start Keto Diet