The Complete Beginner’s Guide to the Ketogenic Diet

This comprehensive beginner's guide to the ketogenic diet will give you the history, science, theory, how-to and practical tips to get started on your ketogenic diet journey. The keto way of eating is pretty simple as a daily practice and has a lot of benefits. It can greatly impact your overall health and wellness, but there is plenty of misinformation and myth about the keto diet. This keto guide will help you weed through the keto myths, facts and hype before you begin.

Knowledge is power and there is going to be a lot of that in this article! We’d really love for you to read the whole guide, but just in case you have a specific question you’d like answered, here is a table of contents linking to each section on the keto diet so you can easily navigate to the answer you seek. We also have a free Getting Started with Keto Resource Guide that keeps things simple, the 21 Day Fat Loss Kickstart: Make Keto Easy, Take Diet Breaks and Still Lose Weight book releasing in April and two cookbooks to help you keep keto quick and delicious!

If you find a question related to keto we didn’t answer here, please let us know. We’ll do our best to find an answer for you. We’re committed to doing everything we can to support your personal health and wellness journey.

We will keep this page up to date, offering the most comprehensive keto guide available!

Keto Diet Frequently Asked Questions Table of Contents:

Why Should You Start the Ketogenic Diet?
What is the Real Danger to Your Health, Sugar or Cholesterol?
Why the Pharmaceutical Industry Wants You to Believe Fat is Bad
Does the Ketogenic Diet Cause High Cholesterol and Do We Care?
What is Ketosis?
History of the Ketogenic Diet
Theories of Weight Loss
How Can a Beginner Get Started with the Ketogenic Diet?
How Can a Beginner Get Started on the Keto Diet: What are Macronutrients and Micronutrients
Getting Started on the Keto Diet: Sugar in Disguise
How Can a Beginner Get Started on the Keto Diet: Carbs in a “Healthy” Diet
Getting Started on the Keto Diet: What is a Carbohydrate?
Practical Guidelines for the Ketogenic Diet
What Does Eating Keto Mean?
What is Lazy Keto?
What Can You Eat on the Keto Diet?
What are the Benefits of Being in Ketosis?
How Much Weight Can You Lose on the Ketogenic Diet?
Is the Ketogenic Diet Good for Quick Weight Loss?
What is the Keto Flu, Symptoms of Keto Flu and How to Prevent It?

COMING SOON:

How Much Weight Can You Lose on the Ketogenic Diet?
Does the Ketogenic Diet Have Negative Side Effects?
Is the Ketogenic Diet Dangerous?
What is the Difference Between Nutritional Ketosis and Ketoacidosis?
Who Should Be on the Ketogenic Diet?
Can the Ketogenic Diet Cure Diabetes?
What is the Difference Between Following Low Carb and Following Ketogenic?
Is the Ketogenic Diet Different for Men and Women?
What are the Best Sweeteners for a Ketogenic Diet?
Is Keto Good for Athletes?

Keto Guide: Why Should You Start the Ketogenic Diet?

My journey down the rabbit hole that is the ketogenic diet began with watching two documentaries. The first was “That Sugar Film” and the second was “Statin Nation.”  While neither of these documentaries are specifically related to the ketogenic diet, both call out the true evil culprit here and that is: SUGAR.

Disclaimer: Links below may contain affiliate links, which means we may get paid a commission at no additional cost to you if you purchase through this page. Read our full disclosure here.

Watching these two documentaries was followed by reading “Cholesterol Clarity.” The combination of all of this information led me to weeks of research focused on cutting sugar out of my diet and eventually to the keto diet.

Suffice it to say, the short answer to why you should start the ketogenic diet is that sugar is evil. I don’t say that lightly. Sugar does so many bad things in your body and is not actually necessary for survival.

I know you may not believe that statement now, but the purpose of this comprehensive guide is to share with you all I’ve learned over the last year, offering supporting research and documentation so you can come to your own conclusion.

A reminder that I am not a doctor or licensed to give nutrition advice. Just a very good researcher that’s been interested in my own health and wellness for over 25 years. Please consult a health professional if you have concerns about your health or diet.

What is the Real Danger to Your Health, Sugar or Cholesterol?

For years we’ve been told that saturated fat was the enemy, but by now you’ve surely heard that the sugar industry paid off scientists to vilify saturated fat. In November 2016, JAMA Internal Medicine published a case study stating that the link between sugar and coronary heart disease (CHD) was emerging as early as the 1950s.

However, in 1965 the Sugar Research Foundation (SRF) sponsored a research project that was published in the New England Journal of Medicine. It said that fat and cholesterol were the dietary cause of coronary heart disease (CHD) while downplaying the role the sugar plays in CHD.

At the time, the role and funding by the SRF was not exposed.  The JAMA article states,

“Together with other recent analyses of sugar industry documents, our findings suggest the industry-sponsored a research program in the 1960s and 1970s that successfully cast doubt about the hazards of sucrose while promoting fat as the dietary culprit in CHD.”

And the cost to the sugar industry to take the blame from sugar and place it on saturated fat? Just $50,000 in today’s dollars to create a population of Americans who now struggle with obesity and diabetes due to our ridiculous, not based on science, government dietary guidelines.

Fat is actually very good for you and necessary for good brain and body functioning. The body actually makes cholesterol on it’s own and is necessary for the functioning of our cells.

According to Harvard Medical School, dietary cholesterol is only about 20 percent responsible for your cholesterol numbers. Your liver and intestines make the other 80 percent of cholesterol required for healthy body function.

Just don’t want to believe that sugar is the real enemy? Check out this New York times expose from September 2016 after finishing this article.

Why the Pharmaceutical Industry Wants You to Believe Fat is Bad

The pharmaceutical industry has a vested interest in making sure the American public continues to believe that saturated fat is bad for your health. There is actually no link between coronary artery disease and cholesterol.

The more Americans that have cholesterol that is considered high, the more statins they can sell. Watch the Statin Nation documentaries for more on that.

The cut off for “high” cholesterol use to be 250, now we’re down to saying total cholesterol over 200 is high. Not only that, prescribing statins has become the standard of care. If you have cholesterol over 200 your doctor will likely discuss taking a statin despite the awful side effects of brain fog, joint pain, muscle aches, liver damage and get this, higher blood sugar or even diabetes!

An article published in the BMJ Open in June 2016 found not only is high LDL not associated with coronary heart disease, but people with high LDL cholesterol actually lived LONGER. Ninety-two percent of them folks…that’s a strong number.

That’s right. Mind blown. It basically goes against everything we’ve been taught believe about nutrition and eating fat. Based on my experience with my own doctor, they’re all still being taught that saturated fat and high cholesterol is bad, even with evidence now emerging to the contrary.

Researching Outside Interests that Impact Our Dietary Guidelines

I’ve heard a couple of interviews with investigative journalist Nina Teicholz, author of the New York Times Best Seller, The Big Fat Surprise: Why Butter, Meat and Cheese Belong in a Healthy Diet. It’s on my reading list, and if you read this article this far, it should be in yours too. She goes into much more detail about saturated fat and how the American nutrition guidelines are hurting us. This book also serves as a great keto guide.

Her book is the result of a nine-year obsession with reading every research paper about fat she could get her hands on. Her conclusion is based on her research of an outsider with no vested interest in exposing bad science beyond her own health.

In fact, she was so outraged, she started the Nutrition Coalition to lobby for nutritional guidelines based on science, not the interests of the food and particularly breakfast industry.

Thank goodness the Canadians are trying to go in the right direction with their dietary guidelines. Perhaps that will convince the U.S. to follow suit.

Canadian physicians are lobbying to have the 2018 Health Canada nutrition guidelines updated to include the latest science. Dr. Harper wrote an op-ed piece for the Vancouver Sun stating that there are 2600 Canadian physicians successfully treating disease with a low carb, ketogenic diet.

They also said the current Canadian dietary guidelines are flawed. The high-carb, low-fat diet pushed so heavily by both the Canadian and American governments has never actually been validated by science.

Keto Guide: Does the Ketogenic Diet Cause High Cholesterol and Do We Care?

There is a lot of discussion in the keto diet community regarding cholesterol. The threat of increasing cholesterol on a keto diet scares a lot of people away, especially beginners. Beginners on a keto diet are often told their cholesterol will go up with eating saturated fat. Of course, all of those scare tactics based on old and flawed science. However, for some people that may have had a particularly unhealthy diet before, full of refined sugar, their cholesterol goes down, sometimes by a lot.

Triglycerides, in particular, tend to go down on the ketogenic diet. While the jury is still out on whether we should actually care about our cholesterol numbers in relation to overall health. However, most in the keto community will agree that triglycerides going down is a very good thing.

Although we know some of the science is flawed regarding high cholesterol, health and coronary artery disease, the Cholesterol Clarity book made a good case for triglyceride numbers still being important.

According to the Mayo Clinic,

“Although it's unclear how, high triglycerides may contribute to hardening of the arteries or thickening of the artery walls (atherosclerosis) — which increases the risk of stroke, heart attack and heart disease. Extremely high triglycerides — for example, levels above 1000 mg/dL (11.29 mmol/L) — can also cause acute pancreatitis.”

High triglycerides are caused by sugar and excess calories, so a ketogenic diet should help keep this number low. Many people following the ketogenic diet have triglyceride numbers under 100, which is considered very good by current medical standards.

What is Ketosis?

Ketosis is a metabolic state in which the body uses fat as its primary fuel source. This fat can either come from your own body or from the foods you eat. When glucose (sugar) is in short supply in the body, the liver starts to break down fat and converts it to ketones to use for fuel instead.

Ketones are preferred fuel for your brain. Of your required daily energy, the brain consumes about 20 percent. There is a pretty big myth out there about needing to eat 130 grams of carbs per day for your brain to function. Some articles about the “dangers” of ketosis try to lead people to believe carbs are necessary for brain function.

Your body actually does need some amount of carbohydrates per day to function. However, your body is capable of producing all of the carbohydrates it needs from protein through a process called gluconeogenesis. This is why it’s possible for humans to live solely on meat if desired or survive long periods of starvation.

Ketosis is Evolutionarily Adaptive

Ketosis is a critical evolutionary process. If our bodies did require consuming carbs every day, the brain would quickly shut down after a couple of days without food once it had burned through the body’s storage. Fortunately for early humans who did not have access to food like we do in the modern world, the brain and body are quite happy to run off of ketones as a result of converting fat instead.

While your brain will use some carbohydrates each day, it actually prefers to use ketones.

Some argue carbs are the body’s preferred fuel source since your body will always burn carbohydrates first when available. However, that’s mainly because diets have changed so much over the years. Babies are actually born in a ketogenic state and before breakfast foods and snacks became the norm, people were in and out of ketosis much more often.

Think about it, the access to food, especially processed food, has significantly changed the way and what we eat. And our bodies just aren’t equipped to deal with all of the excess carbs. That’s a huge part of why we’ve seen such a dramatic rise in obesity and type two diabetes.

History of the Ketogenic Diet

The ketogenic diet first became popular as a means of controlling epilepsy in the 1920s. Doctors discovered that by shifting the body into a state of nutritional ketosis, they were able to reduce the number of seizures in epileptic patients. At that point there was not keto guide to using the diet for anything but seizure cnotrol.

The therapeutic version of the ketogenic diet for epilepsy is quite strict with a 4:1 ratio of fat to carbohydrates and protein. Unfortunately for healthy individuals looking to use the diet for its other benefits, there isn’t nearly as much research about the effects on the body.

The Keto Diet for Epilepsy

Early research on the ketogenic diet included participants quite different than the general population. Studies were conducted on children with severe epilepsy, often not treatable by other methods. To keep the research consistent, the children were fed a meal shake, which was later found to be deficient in key micronutrients.

All this means is that the results of these early studies should not be extrapolated to the general population. Articles that criticize low carb and ketogenic diets often cite the negative side effects reported in these kinds of studies as a reason the average person shouldn’t choose the ketogenic way of eating.

According to a June 2018 study in the Open Access Journal of the International League Against Epilepsy on ketogenic diet therapies (KDTs),

“For many years, KDTs were started and implemented mostly based on anecdotal experience, individual institution (or country) practice, as well as chapters and books on the subject.6, 7, 8 The classic KD was initiated historically in a hospital after a fast (over 2–3 days or until children became ketotic) followed by a gradual introduction of calories over a 3‐day period. Children were then discharged and seen periodically in the clinic for medical and nutritional follow‐up. Laboratory monitoring, KD modification, and methods of discontinuation were handled primarily by dietitians with little scientific evidence to justify each center's approach.”

Keto Guide: Theories of Weight Loss

Calories In, Calories Out

Since many people are attracted to the keto diet with promises of losing a lot of weight, let’s look at the two main theories of weight loss.

Let’s start with the calorie. In the early 1800s, French physicist Nicholas Clément introduced the term. It’s defined as the heat needed to raise the temperature of one kilogram of water from zero to one degree.

However, the idea of calories being related to weight loss is a relatively new one. In 1918, American physician Lulu Hunt wrote Diet & Health: With Key to the Calories. The book almost instantly became a bestseller and the idea of calorie counting to lose weight became mainstream. Strange to think a unit of measure that is about raising water temperature would be applied to human metabolism, and yet, that’s what happened.

Calorie counting is accepted as the standard now. If you want to lose weight, eat less and burn more calories through movement and exercise to create a caloric deficit. And yet plenty of people do this and don’t lose weight. That’s because human metabolism is affected by dozens of hormones and is much more complex than heating water.

In fact, long-term calorie restriction may have more negative consequences than previously thought. A 2016 study on the Biggest Loser contestants, published by Obesity found that a slowing of metabolic processes may persist long after severe calorie restriction has ended.

Calorie restriction is completely different from fasting. The body's metabolic processes during fasting versus calorie restriction are completely different. Learn more about the benefits of fasting in our science-backed article.

Hormonal/Insulin Theory of Weight Loss

The other theory of weight loss that is gaining more traction as low carb and ketogenic ways of eating become more popular, is the insulin theory.

Whenever you eat anything, there is at least a very small insulin response. Fat generally produces a minuscule insulin response. Meat produces a minimal insulin response and carbohydrates create the greatest insulin response.

The insulin theory proposes that people have trouble losing weight because their body is constantly being flooded with insulin that signals the fat cells to store body fat. In the absence of insulin, the body is not signaled to store fat.

Because the standard American diet laden with sugar, carbohydrate and eating frequently between meals, over time, the body loses its ability to regulate insulin. Insulin deregulation can result in obesity, elevated blood sugar and with increasing frequency, type two diabetes.

Minimizing insulin release through low carb and keto diets as well as cutting out snacks, allows the body to have greater periods where it is not releasing insulin, thus not signaling the body to store fat.

Keto Guide: How Can a Beginner Get Started with the Ketogenic Diet?

Getting started with the ketogenic diet is pretty simple, but not necessarily easy. Beginners on the keto diet are often overwhelmed and don't know what to believe or where to start. There is really just one “rule” to get into ketosis. Eat less than 20 grams of carbohydrates per day and you will be in a ketogenic state in 24-48 hours.

As with any way of eating it's also helpful to practice mindful eating and get coaching if necessary. Being clear about your goals for both life overall and your health and makes it easier to commit to a new way of eating. It's also a lot easier if you have a properly stocked pantry. Check out our pantry essentials post to learn more about the types of food you may want to have around.

However, this process isn’t easy because your body may be literally addicted to sugar and carbohydrates. In addition, our processed food supply contains a ridiculous amount of added sugar, making it challenging for people not used to reading labels and counting carbs.

The actual number of carbs required to keep you in ketosis is actually slightly different for each person based on the health of your metabolism and activity level. To keep it simple though, under 20 grams of carbs a day will put you in ketosis. If you’d like to find out your exact carb tolerance, you could do some experimentation with the amount of carbs consumed and the level of ketosis by testing your blood, but this really isn’t necessary.

However, if you do want to test your ketones and blood sugar to learn more about your personal tolerance, we really like the Keto Mojo and it's 15 percent off through this link.

What are Macronutrients and Micronutrients?

Before we dive into ketosis and eating to achieve a ketogenic state, let’s make sure we’re all on the same page regarding macronutrients, micronutrients and what each does for the body.

Macronutrients are protein, fat and carbohydrates. Of those three, only the first two are necessary for the body to function. As we mentioned before, the body is capable of manufacturing sugar through a process called gluconeogenesis, so actually consuming carbs in the diet is not necessary.

Micronutrients include vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and other compounds found in food that don’t provide energy.

Not everyone is totally sure what a carbohydrate even is and sugar is hidden in nearly all processed foods we eat. According to Slining and Popkin, 74 percent of our packaged food contains added sugar, often in the worst form of corn syrup. ¹ Use of caloric and noncaloric sweeteners in US consumer packaged foods, 2005-2009. ²

What is a Carbohydrate?

Some still get confused about sugar and carbohydrates. This might be one of the most important parts of any keto guide is to define sugar and carbohydrates. Think of sugar as a type of carbohydrate. Some people think of refined sugar or table sugar as somehow worse than “just carbs,” which would include rice or whole wheat bread. One is not better than the other. Whether it’s table sugar or a piece of whole wheat bread, your body treats them the same way with a release of insulin.

To understand how wheat is “actually sugar” try putting a piece of bread in your mouth and let it sit there. Eventually, you will taste the sugar/glucose on your tongue as enzymes in your mouth begin to break down the carbohydrates.

Carbohydrates include many types of foods including starches, fiber and sugars. Many low carb dieters don’t count fiber wince it can’t be absorbed by the body.

This practice of subtracting fiber from carbs produces a number we call “net carbs.” For example, a 100 gram serving of avocado has eight grams of carbs including six grams of fiber. This results in a net carb number of two.

The keto community debates counting total carbs versus net carbs. If you are relatively insulin sensitive, keeping net carbs at 20 will likely work for you. If you are more insulin resistant, you may need to keep total carbs at 20 to stay in ketosis.

Sugar in Disguise

There are many different names for sugar, 61 to be precise! Some of the more common ones to look for on labels are sugar, corn syrup, sucralose, dextrose, fructose, lactose, etc. Many of these sugars are found in foods labeled as  “natural.”

Want to make sure you avoid sugar? It can be difficult with so many names to remember, but you can download our list of sugar names now. Keep it on your smartphone to be easily accessed when shopping.

Even though natural foods may contain some micronutrients, it doesn't mean it's good for you or keto friendly. Examples of high carbohydrate natural foods include potatoes, rice, grains and other starchy items. All of these foods contain an amount of carbohydrates that would be very difficult to include in a ketogenic diet.

Keto Guide: Carbs in a “Healthy” Diet

So back to how to get started as a beginner on the ketogenic diet. It’s much easier to ease into this way of eating than to go cold turkey. Many people don’t even realize how addicted to carbs they are until they start to cut them out. Even if you don’t eat excess sugar, you’ll find the standard American diet has a lot of hidden carbs.

Let’s take a look at the typical day in the standard American diet. For a “healthy” breakfast we have a cup of whole grain cereal, Cheerios for example, with 2% milk (because fat is bad) and top this with a banana. This so-called healthy meal has 53 grams of carbohydrates! Over twice the amount of carbs you would need eat for the entire day to be in ketosis. And we’re still just at breakfast.

Add to your healthy breakfast, a healthy lunch of a grilled chicken sandwich and an apple and “light” dinner of fish and brown rice with a sweet potato. These meals add approximately another 120 grams of carbohydrate, for a daily total of over 200 grams of carbohydrates. On the ketogenic diet, you would be eating 90 percent fewer carbs than this example. This day doesn’t even include any snacks, which have become so pervasive in the standard American diet.

In a now unavailable pdf, the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services reported that 200 years ago, Americans ate about two pounds of sugar per year. By 1970, we were eating 120 pounds of sugar each year. Now, we’re up to 152 pounds each year. That’s 3 pounds each week. When you look at it in those terms it’s hard to ignore that we are eating WAY too much sugar.

According to Healthline, in 1999 Americans were consuming 155 pounds a year and now slightly less. While it's almost impossible to find the exact number, we know that worldwide sugar consumption and production is rising and has an ill effect on health.

Practical Guidelines for Beginners: The Ketogenic Diet  Guide

Ease into the ketogenic way of eating by reducing obvious carbs and sugar in your diet.

Eliminate these items completely: soda, bread, pasta, potatoes, added sugar, milk and fruit. I know. Fruit is a hard one for a lot of people because it is “healthy”…yes it does have vitamins and micronutrients, but it also has a lot of sugar which is a no-no if you’re trying to get into ketosis. Click here to see some of our favorite keto friendly products.

After eliminating the foods listed above for two weeks, begin tracking your macros (macronutrients). We’ve already identified these as protein, carbs and fat. The ketogenic diet is actually a moderate protein diet which surprises a lot of people. You actually will receive the majority of your calories, 65-80 percent, from fats.

There are a lot of trackers out there, some of the most popular are My Fitness Pal, Lose It! and more specific to keto, Carb Manager. Personally, I’ve been using Spark People for over 10 years. It has a great community, allows you to add custom items and recipes and tracks net carbs.

What is the “Keto Flu”?

Keto flu comes up a lot in the online space when people first start this new way of eating. You’ve been a sugar burner for years so it’s not surprising that it takes our body some time to switch gears to a new metabolism. 

When your body is learning fat metabolism there are lots of processes in the body that need to upregulate before things balance out. The transition lasts about two to three weeks can be tough if you don’t take steps to mitigate it. The main thing that needs to be addressed is electrolytes. 

Your muscles store three grams of water for every one gram of glycogen. As your body depletes the glycogen stores in your muscles since you’re no longer eating carbs that excess water gets flushed out of your body. Sodium goes out of your system along with the water which can cause cramping, headaches and a general feeling of malaise.

Fortunately, keto flu is easy to combat with a high-quality electrolyte. You’re looking for one that has a significant amount of sodium, potassium and magnesium and is sugar-free. This rules out most grocery store brands. However, there are usually some decent ones at Whole Foods. 

Another product that is useful (though not necessary) in the transition are exogenous (outside the body) ketones. These are ketones you can drink until your body has fully upregulated the processes necessary to make enough endogenous (inside the body) ketones. There are plenty of them on the market that can't even be used by your body. If you decide to use these, please read my review of exogenous ketones.

Pro Tips for the Keto Diet:

Until you are accustomed to eating keto, put what you plan to eat in your tracker first before you actually eat it. This will ensure you don’t accidentally eat something you think has low carbs but is actually way too high to keep you in ketosis.

Keto Rules

Here are the top three “rules”  in this keto guide to follow for a successful ketogenic diet. These can vary slightly on an individual basi but these are perfect to follow when you're just starting out.

Eat 20 grams of carbohydrates or less
Prioritize protein. For optimal body composition, aim for .8 to 1.2 grams of protein per pound of ideal body weight.
Enjoy dietary fat to satiety. Fat is not a goal. If you have fat to lose on your body, it will be used for fuel.

What Does Eating Keto Mean?

Some people will say they’re “eating keto” which really just means they are severely restricting carbs. They may or may not actually be in ketosis. They also may not strictly adhere to eating low carb all the time.

There are so many variations of eating low carb and keto and it all comes down to what your goals are and what works for you. Cyclical keto, targeted keto and weekday keto are all variations to eating keto all the time and still striving to be in ketosis at least part of the time.

All of our recipes are geared towards eating keto and will fit in to a day where you're eating less than 20 carbs.

What is Lazy Keto?

Lazy keto refers to the practice of eating very low carb food and not tracking macros. Many people take on lazy keto after the initial period of simply reducing the obvious carbs. This method of keto eating typically works best for people who have a lot of weight to lose or aren’t trying to lose weight at all.

When you’re near a goal weight that includes a body fat level of less than 20 percent, you’ll typically need to track much more closely to achieve the last few pounds and lower body fat percentages.

Keto Guide: What Can You Eat on the Keto Diet?

Theoretically, anything. The saying “if it fits your macros” is quite popular in the keto community, especially for beginners. For example, you wouldn’t typically think of a donut as a keto food. Yet many donuts have “only” 20-30 carbs. If you are very active or if all you ate all day was a donut and meat, you may technically still maintain ketosis after eating a sugar-filled dount.

However, there are some potential negatives to this strategy. You’re still eating wheat and refined sugar, both of which should be minimized in your diet for many reasons. Plus, you’re missing out on eating low carb vegetables and nuts you could have eaten instead which provide good fats, fiber and micronutrients.

Eating a donut may also cause sugar cravings. This could potentially derail your diet because you move on to donut two or three. Or after a major surge of insulin after the donut, end up ravenous and overeating even more later.

Keto friendly foods that are actually healthy and not a dount include meat, fish, cheese, nuts and green leafy vegetables. Some of our favorite keto meals include Keto Carne Asada, Hot Buffalo Wings and Creamy Blue Cheese Dressing.

What are the Benefits of Being in Ketosis?

Being in ketosis has a lot of benefits. People report having much greater mental clarity, reduced hunger, weight loss and body recomposition. Other positive results from the keto diet include better athletic performance, reversal of high blood sugar and diabetes and improved mood.

How Much Weight Can You Lose on the Ketogenic Diet?

How much weight you can lose on the keto diet depends on a lot of factors. However, most people tend to have some significant initial water weight loss. Each gram of carbohydrate stored in the body holds on to three grams of water. Excess water tends to be eliminated once carbs are eliminated, resulting in a drop on the scale.

After initial water weight loss, most people experience a relatively “normal” and healthy weight loss of one to two pounds per week. People with a lot more to lose will tend to have higher weight loss numbers, especially in the first few months of the diet.

How much weight you can lose with keto is like any other diet. It is highly individual and dependent on the commitment level of person, metabolism, exercise and many other factors.

Is the Keto Diet Good for Quick Weight Loss?

Many people think of the keto diet as some kind of magic bullet. It is very encouraging in the beginning because as described above, most people shed a lot of water weight once they quit eating carbohydrates.

In reality, keto is like any other diet. It works to the extent you adhere to it. That being said, it is a lot easier to stick to than other diets. Despite being “restrictive”, most people find that the amount of fat eaten on the ketogenic diet makes for a much more satisfying way of eating.  The typical low fat, high carb, standard American diet is not nearly as appealing.

Since fat and protein produce a greater feeling of satiety, people tend to naturally eat less on the ketogenic diet. In addition, without all the insulin spikes and resulting rebound hunger, most people find they are much less hungry. Lack of hunger and greater satiety allow people to more easily stick to the diet, eventually resulting in weight loss.

Does the Ketogenic Diet Have Negative Side Effects?

Many articles reporting on the ketogenic diet in the peak of its hype, reported negative side effects. Bad breath, constipation and poor sleep are often reported as side effects of the keto diet.

All of these are easily avoidable and usually temporary as your body adapts to a new way of processing nutrients.

Answers to the following questions coming soon! Click here to subscribe to our newsletter and be informed when this article is updated.

Is the Ketogenic Diet Dangerous?
What is the Difference Between Nutritional Ketosis and Ketoacidosis?
Who Should Be on the Ketogenic Diet?
Can the Ketogenic Diet Cure Diabetes?
What is the Difference Between Following Low Carb and Following Ketogenic?
Is the Ketogenic Diet Different for Men and Women?
What are the Best Sweeteners for a Ketogenic Diet?
Is Keto Good for Athletes?

1. Ng, S.W., Slining, M.M., & Popkin, B.M. (2012).
2. Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, 112(11), 1828-1834.e1821-1826.