How I Survived My First Week of Keto (Low Carb Ketosis) - The first few days of a diet are the most important ones. I, like many others, have a hard time staying motivated and focused on a new diet and tend not to stick to one. Here are my 5 tips on how I survived week 1 of the ketogenic diet for beginners - the longest "diet" I have ever lasted on! Love seeing the results!
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As the week started to come to an end, I thought many times if I wanted to share this kind of post or not. Should my blog be only about recipes? Is this type of post a little too personal? In the end, I thought what the heck, just write that darn post. I'm sure I am not the only person who is wondering how the heck does one survive the first week of keto or any diet.
Dieting isn't fun; dieting is HARD. It's blood, sweat, tears hard for me. I can never stick to a diet and every time I start one I always fail and end up "cheating". Either I wasn't enjoying the type of food on each particular diet, or the diet was boring, or I didn't see enough progress to keep chugging along.
If you have read my blog for any amount of time, you should know I like quick meals that pack a big punch of flavor. Over an hour of prepping for the meal is a no-go with me. The longest prep snack I have made since being on keto was a mixed berry whip with approximately 15 minutes of prep time. Not too bad.
So far I have lasted a FULL WEEK, and I am the happiest I have been in a long time. My energy is starting to come back, the food is fantastic, and I am down 6 pounds! And I forgot to mention, I am not starving!! I am satisfied and eat when I want to. I love not having to watch the clock and eat every 3 hours or so.
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So here are my tips on how to survive your first week on keto (low carb ketosis):
1.) Meal Plan - My first week I was so lost. I did a lot of research before beginning this new journey, but it was still so different and trying to reteach your brain new tricks. Fat is good. Bacon is good for you. It was on a Thursday when I sat my big ole bum down and started to meal plan. I used a plain notebook that is considered my "food journal"; however, I never use it besides to meal plan. I browsed Pinterest like a mad woman and looking for recipes to make. I didn't want to worry about developing recipes for something I hardly knew anything about! I found way too many that I loved and on the menu they went. I, of course, forgot that there is only two of us in the house and planned way too much.
2.) Store Enough Water In The Refrigerator - Before I started the keto diet, I didn't drink enough water. In fact, I didn't drink much for anything, and that's not okay. Everyone says you must drink at least 100 ounces of water a day. Man, that's a lot of water! The first day was hard, and I went to the bathroom every 5 minutes. I like to separate my water into to different bottles a 32 ounce and a 24 ounce. When I am drinking one, the other one is in the refrigerator. Do it however you like, but just remember always to have fresh, ice-cold water on hand. It makes it much easier to tolerate.
3.) Stay Busy and Keep Focused - I am a food obsessed person. I would say almost borderline addiction. I think about food every single day. It's hard not to with running a food blog! To keep my mind busy, I have to keep myself busy. It's not too hard to keep myself busy because the amount of energy I have again is incredible; I finally feel like a 26-year-old again! Most say not to worry about the scale numbers, but, for me, I have to to succeed. I need to see that it's working, or I give up and grab a donut.
4.) Weigh Yourself Every Single Day - As stated above in the previous paragraph, it goes against what everyone says, "Do not weight yourself every day. The scale isn't as important as your measurements. Blah. Blah." If I do not weight myself every morning after waking up, then I have ZERO motivation. So if you trouble with seeing a number and motivation, please do yourself and weight yourself every single morning. It will keep you chugging along.
5.) Purchase All Necessary Items and Ingredients Before You Start - With my research, the first two important items I ordered were ketone test strips - the exact ones I ordered. The ketone test strips are important when first starting out to see if you are in low carb ketosis. Low carb ketosis is when raised levels of ketones are present in the body. The ketone test strips test to see if they are any ketones in your urine. Any trace amount of ketones detected from the test strips means you are ketosis.
The other product I ordered as well is Morton lite salt. For a low carb keto diet your body needs extra sodium and with the foods we eat we do not get enough potassium. Without enough sodium or potassium, your legs will cramp. Trust me on this! My first few days my legs were cramping so bad without the lite salt.
Hi Chelsea,
My name is Harriet and I have just recently been reading about the Keto diet. I was browsing through recipes and stumbled across your spicy buffalo baked cauliflower and then started browsing your site and saw your blog on how your survived your first week of keto. I haven't yet started to eat fully keto, and I'm not sure as to why I haven't other than I may be concerned with the health aspect of eating a diet without carbs. I have been a "yo-yo" dieter prett much all my adult life and I just want to be able to find a eating plan that I can stick to. Any helpful tips, other than what you mentioned in your "how I survived my first week of keto" blog.
Hi, Harriet! So glad you are on the journey to better health. So far the Keto diet has been the only diet I have ever stuck to for longer than a week. I started February 22nd of this year and still going strong.
A couple of other tips I would recommend, if they are possible is having the entire house eating the same way. My hubby is a little overweight, not by much, and doesn't eat healthily - junk food (chips, candy, etc.), and it's been hard for me to watch him enjoy it. If you have a sweet tooth, I recommend checking out Fat Bomb recipes on Pinterest. I have tried a few and enjoy them! If you want to use a sweetener, I also highly recommend Swerve. You can grab it on Amazon for $12 or so. I also started to purchase True Lemon packets for my water, and I am in love!
Are you counting your macros? Every day I log what I consume in My Fitness Pal, and that helps to see where my macros are at for the day.
That's all I can think of right now. I hope that helps! Please share any tips you find helpful, as well. You can always e-mail me at [email protected]! Best of luck! 🙂
Chelsea, I have the same problem outdo sticking to a diet. I eat out of boredom and have to stay busy. I know I am a foodaholic. I love to cook and eat. Sometimes I feel like giving up but I know I cannot. I have fibromyalgia and when I ear sweets and too many carbs I hurt. I am going t try your method and see how it works. Thanks so much for sharing your journey and receipes. I will let you know how successful I am.
Im the same sweets and carbs makes my fibro flare so im trying this too
Hello Jean. Sorry to hear you also have Fibro. I'm on day one. Would you say you've seen improvement with your Fibro symptoms?
I like your tip about the lite salt - I also take Power paks ( a healthier version of Emergen C) - they help replace your electrolytes. I got them at the local food co-op - or health food store.
Thanks for the tips!
I am starting Keto later this week (before the new year but still part of my resolution!) and I am a bit nervous about being prepared; I am not much of a food planner AT ALL. I also have a vegetarian daughter (which makes this hard)
I am definitely excited to get started - and I am ordering the keto test strips and salt!
I tried many low carb recipes in order to lose weight but without exercises and a balanced lifestyle, we never gonna meet our goals. Thank you for the tips ... I will try to apply few in my life.
Thanks for this info! I'm starting Keto Diet in 2 days, have been researching & looking for quick, easy recipes. Can't wait to try the Easy Crockpot Chicken Stew.
Thanks so much for this blog, I'm trying some of your recipe and this particular post was extremely helpful to me. I've been trying this Keto idea that I have resisted even looking into for many years. Since my low fat, higher carbs plans have clearly not worked out for me I am 100% in. I have lost 4 lbs in about 5 days, I know that won't continue but I appreciate your honesty in this post. So far I don't feel deprived, I have more energy which is helping me meet my step goals earlier in the day which then helps me beat my step goals burning more calories. It's all going so well 🙂
Hi - My friend recently started being a rep for Keto 'drink mixes' ... not sure if there is an actual company name.
Do you use anything like that or simply follow the food diet?
I wouldn't use any drink mixes, just stick to the keto diet you should be good!
Thank you sooo much for your tips. I have been on keto for a week now and the weighing scale is going only up, including today, the seventh day of keto. I am pretty sure that I ate not more than 20 g of carbs per day and I cannot say that I ate huge quantities of food (except for the first day). It is very hard and I am worried that maybe keto will not help me lose weight. After how many days have you noticed you began to go down in weight?
I have been off Keto for a little bit, but getting back onto it next week. Keto is something you have to commit and keep at it, and you shouldn't gain weight unless your macros are incorrect. Losing weight is different for every person, but I seem to lose water weight quickly. Have you tried joining any keto groups on Facebook, Liliana?
My first 4 days on Keto and i'm in ketosis :). I feel like this is a "diet" I can live my life with! I have always failed, always.
This is the first time I feel motivated, not deprived and excited!
Your site is totally amazing and helpful! THANKYOU ????