The hardest part of any diet, or any planned change to your eating habits, is keeping them going. It’s all too easy for old habits to find their way back in and, before long, you might be eating much like you were before. The greater the change, the harder you might find it to pull off, and the keto diet is one that some might find a more difficult change.

If you’ve started on a keto diet, here are a few tips that might help you stay on that straight and narrow, making it easier to achieve the goals you’ve set out for yourself.

Image – CC0 License

Keep the basics in mind

If you want to stay on a keto diet, you need to be aware of more than just what foods you can eat and what you have to avoid. You need an understanding of the fundamentals of ketosis. Ketosis is when the body starts to burn fat for energy instead of carbs, which it tends to burn first. As such, the key is to make sure that you’re keeping your carb consumption low.

Keep checking your macros

When you’re doing a keto diet, it’s not necessarily essential to track your calories. Instead, what you want to keep a closer eye on is your macros and, in particular, you want to be tracking your net carbs. For ketosis to take effect, you need to eat fewer carbs in your diet, after all. By tracking the number of carbs that you eat, which can be done with just about any nutrition tracking app, you can see when they start to rise again. Keep a list of the foods you eat per day and it becomes easier to see which of your eating habits is pushing things and what you can do to eliminate it.

Don’t forget to get that extra fat

We have been brainwashed as a generation into believing that fats in foods are evil, and to avoid them as best as possible. Some nutritionists think it’s why we eat too many carbs and too much sugar as an alternative. You need to get out of the habit of avoiding fats. Have your meals with a drizzle of olive oil to add that extra fat (and some flavor) too and this cheese sauce is amazing and keto, too. Not only does it make sure that you are managing your macros and eating enough, it helps your keto meals taste better too.

Close the book on “cheating”

Cheating on diets happens. Some diets can even build “cheat days” into them. With keto diets, that’s not an effective strategy. If you get out of the process of ketosis, it will take time to get back into it again, you’re not going to see results immediately. As such, if you have cheated or had a cheat day, now is the time to call it off. There’s nothing wrong with feeling a little regret about falling off the wagon but don’t keep beating yourself up about it or feel like you have to justify it. Just course correct and keep moving.

Don’t feel like you have to eat an entire steak for every meal

The keto diet is not a carnivore diet. First of all, you can still have vegetables, just make sure that you’re getting low-carb vegetables. Cruciferous greens like cauliflower, kale, spinach, and broccoli are going to be a godsend. You don’t need to increase your protein intake too much and, what’s more, keto diets tend to suppress your appetite so you’re not going to feel like eating as much. If you feel like you have to force yourself to eat more meat, it’s easy for your motivation to start slipping away.

Don’t let yourself get dehydrated

When your body is in ketosis, it tends to excrete more, meaning you’re losing more fluids. If you’re not careful, this can lead to dehydration, which will make you feel all kinds of terrible. A lot of people will think that symptoms like headaches, tiredness, and general uneasiness are a result of the keto diet but, usually, they are just dehydrated. You need to up that water intake. High water-content veg like cucumber and avocado can help with that.

Regardless of what dietary changes you are making, it will be essential for you to work on your own self-discipline. The tips above can make it easier but it’s important to recognize that it’s never quite “easy,” even with a little help. But that only means that it’s worth it.

Contributed Post.

If you like what you’ve read here, please let others know of this post, blog, and site.

And thanks for reading!  🙂