Keto Diet for Beginners: Meal Plan to Burn Fat

Keto! Ketones! Ketosis!... The ketogenic diet can be so confusing for beginners. Learn what it means here and achieve your goals in 2024 with our guide to the keto diet for beginners. Lose weight and start eating well with our printable 7-day keto meal plan pdf with 25+ delicious healthy keto recipes.

Table of Contents

• Starting A Ketogenic Diet
• The Keyword: Ketosis
• The Basics of Keto
• How Carbs Affect Your Weight
• The Power of Keto
• Intermittent Fasting and the Keto Diet
• Different Types of Ketogenic Diets
• Foods To Avoid on Keto
• Foods To Eat on Keto
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Final Thoughts
• 7-Day Keto Meal Plan PDF
• Ready to start your Keto Diet?
• Take A Quick Quiz
• 💬 Reviews

Starting A Ketogenic Diet

Preventing weight gain during this time of the year is one thing, but is it even possible to lose weight after over-indulging during the holiday season? Yes!

Lose weight and stay lean with our 7-day keto diet plan. Unlike many fad diets, the keto or ketogenic diet is more of a lifestyle. The diet does not set rules to starve yourself, eat a cup of vegetables, or drink some juice to lose weight.

It is not a taxing diet that will ask you to exert immense control and cut off all the food you like in exchange for fruits and vegetables. The keto diet does not require you to starve for days at a time, either.

Instead, the diet will help you understand how your food habits have turned bad over the years and what you can do to regain optimal health. You will learn that all your excess weight exists not only due to overeating and not exercising.

The Keyword: Ketosis

In the ketogenic diet, ketosis is the keyword. It is a metabolic process where your body uses stored fat instead of glucose for energy.

With this diet, you can easily lose weight by burning off stored fat. Ketosis is a natural state in the body that you induce by consuming more fats than carbohydrates.

Your body will always try to adapt to how you feed and treat it. When you consume more fats, it will automatically start using them for energy in the ketosis state.

Your liver will produce more ketones, and fat will be the main energy source instead of glucose. As the body requires more energy, it will utilize the fat stored around it. At this point, you will see a difference in the appearance of your body.

The Basics of Keto

When you start the keto diet, there are important points to keep in mind to effectively push your system into ketosis.

First, you must restrict your net carbohydrate intake to around 20 grams or less per day.

The diet is strictly low carb, or it won’t work.

You don’t need to cut out fiber since it is required for your body, but reducing carbs in your diet will make a huge difference and help you lose weight through ketosis.

You also have to control your protein intake and keep it moderate but higher than your carbohydrate intake.

Usually, you should consume around 0.5 to 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight daily.

So, if you weigh 150 pounds, you consume 75-150 grams of protein daily.

Keep the amount moderate since protein can also be converted to glucose by the body, which will hinder the process of ketosis.

The most important part of the keto diet is to include a lot of fat, as it will help you eat a full meal and stay satisfied until the next one.

Energy from a carb-loaded diet gets burned off easily, leading to hunger and binge eating.

Eating more fats will be a more sustainable way to check your eating habits and force your body into ketosis.

This will help you lose a lot of weight. Don’t develop a habit of snacking too often.

Many keto snacks are available to suit your diet, but it is better to focus on the main meals and only snack a couple of times each day.

Eating unnecessarily and untimely is a bad habit that will slow down ketosis and make you gain weight.

Snacking is one of the worst habits of the modern-day diet and is caused due to the thousands of products easily available around us.

Don’t buy a ton of snacks when you visit the supermarket because this will make it harder to resist at home.

Whether you are on a diet or not, it is important to stay hydrated all day.

When you first start the keto diet, drink more water than usual.

To burn off fat faster, add exercise to your daily routine.

Physical activity has many benefits to the body; it promotes longevity, helps prevent many diseases, and helps you stay fit.

After a while, try adding intermittent fasting to your routine. This effectively increases ketones in the body and accelerates the process of weight loss during ketosis.

Also, make sure you get sufficient sleep. A good night’s sleep is crucial for the body to maintain good health.

Poor sleeping habits can lead to issues such as blood sugar imbalance, increased stress hormone secretion, etc.

Also, lack of sleep will leave you tired and unwell the following day.

Bad sleeping patterns also slow down ketosis and promote bad eating habits.

Midnight snacks might sound fun, but they are not a healthy choice, especially if you want to lose weight.

Suppose you are not an athlete or do not participate in extremely demanding sports. You generally do not need supplements during the ketogenic diet, as it is not recommended unless necessary.

It’s better not to waste a ton of money on any products claiming to increase your weight loss rate. Just stick to the diet, and it will work for you.

Remember to consult your doctor to see if any underlying medical conditions may make the keto diet unsuitable.

Don’t rush into any diet at the risk of your health. Different things might work for different people.

If they give you the green light, you can start the keto diet and lose weight as soon as possible!

How Carbs Affect Your Weight

Question: Name a food that tastes "oooh so good" but is bad for you. Do donuts come to mind? A bag of potato chips? A greasy slice of pizza? What about a Snickers bar? Wherever your food pleasure lies, chances are that it is steeped in sugary carbs.

According to Harvard, the average American adult, child, and teenager consumes 17 teaspoons of sugar each day. That's almost 54 pounds of sugar per year! Back in the early 1800s, the average American sugar intake was only 4 to 6 pounds per year. Man, how times have changed.

With all being said, how do carbs affect your body weight? The answer to that is... water weight. You can thank glycogen for this. Glycogen is a form of glucose stored in the liver and muscle tissues, and the primary dietary source of glucose is carbohydrates. Medical science shows that every 1 gram of glycogen carries 3 to 4 grams of water. Research has proven that a high-carb intake increases glycogen levels while a low-carb intake reduces it. So, If you take into account that the average man can store up to 15 grams of glycogen per kg of body weight, that’s enough to make a huge impact on the weight scale, particularly if he consumes a copious amount of carbs.

Wait, so body fat is not a factor?

Yes, body fat is definitely a factor. In fact, ever since people started consuming more carbs (sugar), the U.S. obesity rate has risen. The number of U.S. citizens who are categorized as obese has nearly doubled over the past 30 years. Do you see the correlation now between body fat and carbs? If not, there is one more piece of information I would like to share.

In addition to being stored in the liver and muscle tissues, glycogen is stored in fat cells. This is the same glycogen that holds 3 to 4 grams of water. By lowering carb intake, you deplete your regular stores of glycogen, which shows as weight loss on a scale. This is the reason an obese person who follows a low-carb diet will always lose more weight versus a slimmer person; they carry more fat cells (each containing water-holding glycogen). So, if an obese individual decides to follow the ketogenic diet, they are bound to drop a substantial amount of weight.

However, there's much more than the low-carb part of the diet which makes weight loss a reality. Let's look at some of the benefits of a ketogenic diet below.

The Power of Keto

1. Keto Helps You Lose Weight

Numerous studies have touted the weight loss benefits of a low-carb diet. The keto diet enhances this benefit. How so? The low carb intake makes your body produce ketones in the liver to be used as energy (called ketosis), a byproduct of burning body fat. Reducing carbs allows the body to use glycogen buildup within your fat stores as fuel, resulting in weight loss. This effect is doubled when you burn glycogen by exercise.

Let me say this about weight loss...

When people say they want to lose weight, they typically mean they desire to lose body fat. However, you could lose weight by losing muscle mass and water weight as well. Most diets have you losing all three. In case you didn’t know, losing muscle mass is rarely a good thing. Unlike high-carb diets, keto burns body fat along with the water weight within it. When in a state of ketosis, the body begins to utilize fat for fuel. In addition, moderate protein intake protects your muscle tissue from being used as fuel (a process called Gluconeogenesis). How sweet is that!

While the ketogenic diet is a superb weight loss tool, that’s not the biggest health benefit it elicits.

2. Keto Helps Lower Risk of Developing Chronic Diseases by Improving Cholesterol

What do type-2 diabetes, stroke, and heart disease have in common? They are all chronic diseases that the keto diet can help prevent. One study conducted on an obese individual who followed the ketogenic diet for 24 weeks resulted in significant risk 2 reductions in chronic diseases by weight loss, decreased levels of triglycerides, LDL cholesterol (the bad cholesterol), and blood glucose, and increased levels of HDL cholesterol (the good cholesterol).

Being that heart disease, diabetes, and stroke are three of the leading causes of death in the world, it is phenomenal to have a diet combat them. Keto eliminates processed, refined carbs that have been linked to several diseases, including obesity, heart disease, and type II diabetes. In fact, the development of type-II diabetes is strongly attributed to continuously eating high glycemic foods (e.g., whole grains, bran, germ) that spike your blood sugars. Another chronic disease that correlates with those other three is high blood pressure.

3. Keto Lowers Blood Pressure

High blood pressure (HBP) is one of those diseases that gets swept under the rug in terms of how lethal it is for a person’s health. That’s why it has been dubbed the “the silent killer.” If left untreated, high blood pressure can lead to:

Be aware that these aren’t symptoms of high blood pressure. High blood pressure is a symptomless disease for most people, except in most rare cases, known as hypertensive crisis. If you or your family
have a history of high blood pressure, following a low-carb diet may be a godsend. Medical researchers tout low-carb diets like keto as an effective method to reduce blood pressure. If you take high blood pressure medication, please consult with your doctor first before trying this diet out.

One way that people develop high blood pressure is by eating too many refined carbs over a lengthy period of time. The reason most people consume so many refined carbs is due to how poorly they satisfy their appetite.

4. Keto Prevents Binge Eating

The number one reason most diets fail long-term is because they leave people hungry as heck! They allow the consumption of low-satiety foods such as white potatoes, rice, and bread. Eating these foods eventually leads people to unfollow their diet and eat every calorie under the sun (aka binge eating). That’s not the case with the ketogenic diet. Research illustrates that a high-protein, low-carb diet reduces hunger and lowers food intake. In addition, the amount of dietary fat you’ll consume will leave you very satiated.

Another problem about most other diets is they’re energy zappers. That’s not the case when you go "keto."

5. Keto Boosts Energy Levels by Boosting Brain Power

Who doesn’t need more energy in this hustle and bustle world? Following a ketogenic diet helps many individuals gain more energy to perform their day-to-day activities. The main reason for this is that ketones replace glucose as the brain’s fueling source. When
carbs are eliminated or minimized; ketones provide up to 70% of the brain’s energy needs; this boosts mental focus and alertness throughout the day.

Another interesting fact is that ketones keep people who go through prolonged periods of starvation (e.g., coma patients) alive. Then again, it makes sense, considering that intermittent fasting works well in conjunction with the keto diet.

Intermittent Fasting and the Keto Diet

The main reason you are reading this article is because you’re interested in losing weight; that’s understandable. With that said, using intermittent fasting (IF) along with the keto diet maximizes weight loss. IF is a term for an eating pattern that cycles between periods of fasting and eating. Like the keto diet, several studies have shown IF to be an effective weight loss method as well as reducing the onset of chronic diseases such as type II diabetes. That’s why it makes sense to use IF in conjunction with the ketogenic diet.

These are the 3 most popular IF methods:

• Eat-Stop-Eat: This involves fasting for 24 hours once or twice a week.
• The 16/8 Method: This method involves skipping breakfast and restricting your daily eating period to 8 hours, for example, from 12 pm to 8 pm; afterward, you “fast” for 16 hours in between.
• The 5:2 Diet: On two non-consecutive days of the week, only eat 500-600 calories. You eat normally for the remaining 5 days.

Of these three methods, elements of the 16/8 Method work best with the keto diet. At the end of this article, you will see a 7-day keto diet meal plan. You can use this meal plan with intermittent fasting by eating your meals on a 16/8 schedule.

For example, eat your first meal at 11 am, second meal at 3 pm, last meal at 7 pm, and snacks somewhere in between. By combining IF with keto, you will:

1. Burn more body fat
2. Have more energy as you start your day
3. Reduce chronic inflammation
4. Improve brain function
5. Thoroughly cleanse toxins from body cells

Utilizing IF and keto together helps you lose unwanted inches off your waist. Like a Friday the 13th movie, there are several versions of the keto diet. Here are the four most popular ones.

Different Types of Ketogenic Diets

1. Targeted ketogenic diet (TKD): This version is where you can consume carbs during a workout.
2. Standard ketogenic diet (SKD): This version focuses on a high-fat, moderate-protein, low-carb diet. It typically contains 75% fat, 20% protein, and only 5% carbs.
3. Cyclical ketogenic diet (CKD): This version involves periods of higher-carb refeeds, such as 5 ketogenic days followed by 2 high-carb days.
4. High-protein ketogenic diet: This version is similar to a standard ketogenic diet but includes more protein. The ratio is often 60% fat, 35% protein, and 5% carbs.

While embarking on this keto diet journey, below are the foods that you need to ignore, like a spam phone call.

Foods To Avoid on Keto

• White potatoes
• Alcohol
• Bread, pasta, tortillas, and other foods that contain gluten.
• Condiments such as ketchup, soy sauce, and barbecue sauce contain sugar, artificial ingredients, excessive salt, or gluten.
• Corn (including popcorn, cornbread, and popped corn chips).
• Foods that contain high-fructose corn syrup or trans (hydrogenated) fats.
• Foods that contain sugar, artificial sweeteners, or soy.
• Fruit juice (even 100% fresh!).
• Grain-based foods (e.g., wheat, barley, rye, cereal, oatmeal).
• Jams, jellies, pancake syrup.
• High-sugar dairy products (e.g., ice cream).
• Salty processed snacks (potato chips, popcorn, pretzels, nacho chips, crackers, popcorn).
• Sugary processed snacks (cakes, cookies, cupcakes, candy).
• Sweetened drinks such as fruit punch, lemonade, and soda.

Foods To Eat on Keto

Now that you know what foods to avoid, here are the foods (along with snacks and supplements) that you can enjoy.

Meat, Poultry, and Fish

Note: If possible, choose meats and poultry that are organic, grass-fed, free-range, hormone-free, and antibiotic-free.

Vegetables

Choose fresh, organic vegetables such as:

Other Food Items

Herbs and Spices

Choose fresh, organic vegetables such as:

Supplements

Frequently Asked Questions

Final Thoughts

While there are other effective diets out there, the ketogenic diet is one that should have you losing inches faster than Usain Bolt.

Have you tried the ketogenic diet? If not, are you thinking about trying it? Below is a complete 7-day meal plan to get you started. Which type of keto diet will you choose, and did you enjoy the recipes? Please share your experiences and/or leave a comment below! I can't wait to hear from you.

7-Day Keto Meal Plan PDF

Each day includes recipes for breakfast, lunch, snacks, and dinner. Feel free to mix and match your favorite recipes if you prefer certain ones over others.

Also, it would be best if you used our keto calorie calculator to calculate your daily calorie intake requirements.

This will help you decide how many portions of each meal you need to eat and whether or not you need to add more snacks.

Check out the recipes listed for Monday to Sunday, or get the printable meal plan in PDF format with all the recipes sent straight to your email by filling out the details below.

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Saturday

Sunday