Three Things to Do Before Starting Keto

Seeing as we are now coming up to 3 years on keto, it’s a good time to look back and see how we should have started. For us, we found out Bill had to do keto for his health, and we just kind of jumped in with both feet. So, we watched a couple of videos and away we went. We made it, but there were a lot of tough times. Ideally, you want to consider everything before you jump in. Here are three things you should do before starting keto to put you on a path for success.

First Thing to Do Before Starting Keto

Research, research, and more research. Figure out how keto works. That means getting a handle on the science behind how it works. If you’re like us, and are not scientists, this is going to take a while. That’s okay. Don’t get frustrated, just find an explanation that you understand and work from there. We bought some keto books, watched videos on YouTube, and found some documentaries.

You also need to know the benefits and risks to keto in order to make a good decision for you. The benefits are numerous – weight loss, increased energy, and keeping your sugar levels stable are just a few. There are lots of reasons to do keto. But, you should also look at the potential risks. There are many doctors who do not prescribe keto as a healthy alternative. Yours may be one.

It’s important to talk to your health professionals and determine what your particular risks may be. I suggest getting some bloodwork done before you start keto so you have some baseline numbers. Then, after about 6 to 9 months, have another set of bloodwork done to ensure your numbers are going in the right direction.

The Work Behind Starting Keto

Also included in the research phase of starting keto is learning about macros and how to track them. Your macros (or macronutrients) include fat, protein, and carbs. Learn how to keep track of them with your calories to figure out if you are eating the right things to get you into ketosis and stay there. For keto, your fat needs to be between 70-75% of the calories you take in. Carbs need to be no more than 5% of your calories. You can learn to do this by hand, or you can use a phone app.

Finally, you need to learn how to read nutritional labels. This seems very straight forward, until you start talking about net carbs and how fiber plays into everything. Unfortunately, at first, you need to read every label and figure out if it will fit into your keto eating plan. As you become familiar with everything, this gets easier and you will find the brands that work best for you.

Planning Before Starting Keto

How do you eat so few carbs when we learn from a young age that we need them to function? It can seem very overwhelming. Before you get started, plan a week of meals in advance. Figure out your meals and any snacks and drinks to make sure you are without your macro numbers. This will help you in the first week when you are going through the keto flu and your body is switching from burning carbs to ketones. Your brain is going to be a little fuzzy that first week. The less math you have to do the better!

Where do you find meal ideas? We used Pinterest a lot at first. Once you put together a few meals, you can then gradually add to them to expand your menu. We post recipes on this blog every Saturday that you can try out. We also have some recipes in our keto workbook that’s for sale on our store page.

Buying groceries for the first week of keto is going to be pricey. You’re going to need more expensive items like butter and whipping cream. You’ll also likely need to buy some baking supplies, such as almond flour and sweetener. Having a meal plan helps with the cost, as you know exactly what you need to buy and how much of it.

Get Your Mind Together Before Starting Keto

You need to get your brain onboard and wrapped around how this can work. How many times I thought to myself, “I need to lose weight.” Every time, I failed. You need to dig deeper than that and really figure out the why around starting keto. We started keto so Bill would live a healthy and full life. That’s the motivation, and that’s what keeps us going when we face with the valentine’s day treats at work, or the Chinese food buffet friends want to go to. If my goal was just to lose weight, I would have slid backwards long ago.

If your goal is to lose weight, look at why you want to do that. Do you want to take your kids to Disney and not worry about fitting on the rides? Do you want to increase your energy so you can play with your kids? One of our motivations is to be able to travel more comfortably on a plane. Our trip to Mexico was so much more comfortable without the embarrassment of asking for a seatbelt extender, and not having the arm of the seat digging into our sides.

No matter what your motivation, keep it close to you at all times. Make Pintrest boards or a piece of art you hang in your kitchen. Or, be like us and start a blog. All of you keep us very accountable for what we eat and how we prepare our food!

Wendy