How a Ketogenic Diet Works

A ketogenic diet is unique in that it is usually a drastically different macronutrient approach - very high fat and very low carb - designed to force your body to rely on more fat for energy than sugar. This process of switching to fat (or ketone bodies) for fuel is called ketogenesis, and the state of being in ketogenesis is called ketosis.

Step 1 - Determine Your Fitness Goal

Before going into any diet, the first step should always be identifying your “why” or your primary goal - this will establish your dietary needs and guide your focus moving forward. As well as how you can determine if your hard work is paying off.

There are four main reasons why someone would consider changing up their eating, and not all of them are a great fit for keto.

Weight loss

Muscle Gain

Improved Performance

Improved Health

Weight Loss

Weight loss or fat loss is the most common reason why someone would consider trying keto. If this is your goal, maintaining a calorie deficit is your number one agenda. And your progress can be measured by seeing the number on the scale decrease or by adjusting your body composition, which can be assessed using any body fat analysis tool.

Muscle Gain

Muscle gain is essentially weight gain and is not always the ideal starting place for everyone. Moreover, a ketogenic diet may not be the best diet for building muscle, given the beneficial role of carbohydrates in training, and muscle recovery. But that doesn’t stop everyone, and some people will see results. Achieving more muscle will require you to focus on extra calories, training and macronutrient balance. And to accurately measure your progress, a body composition test is required.

Improved Performance

Fat can be an abundant and valuable source of energy that many athletes would like to tap into. This is precisely why keto is also used to increase performance in endurance athletes and those who do not require consistent explosive power or frequent high-intensity training. Nutrient timing and adequate fueling is the primary focus of this goal, and performance progress can be measured through fitness goals or assessing metabolic efficiency.

Improved Health

Improving health is not always a primary goal of keto dieters - unless health is improved as a result of losing weight. This is because a keto diet is fairly restrictive, and getting high amounts of vitamins and minerals (micronutrients) can be challenging. If you are looking to keto to improve your nutrition, nutritious food choices should be top of mind. Progress towards this goal can be measured through biometric testing (health assessments).

However, emerging research continues to look at the potential benefits of low carb and keto diets for individuals with diabetes.

Step 2 - Calculate Your Daily Calorie Goal

Once you’ve identified your main health and fitness goal, the next step is to calculate how many calories you need to eat a day in order to lose weight, gain weight, or maintain your weight.

The easiest way to do this is with an online calorie calculator or by downloading a fitness app that uses your age, height, weight, gender, and fitness level to estimate your daily needs.

Learn more about how many calories you burn each day.

Learn more about how many calories you need a day to lose weight.

Learn more about how many calories you need a day to gain weight.

Step 3 - Calculate Your Keto Macros

While it is your calorie control that has the largest impact on your weight, understanding your keto macros is still pretty fundamental to your success. Especially if you are trying to get into ketosis, hitting your carb goal each day is crucial.

Use our keto macro calculator to help you get started.

The keto diet is designed to follow strict macronutrient targets, including high fat and extremely low carb intake. For most people, this breakdown looks something like the following:

70% of calories from fat

25% of calories from protein

5% of calories from carbs

However, the exact ideal macro ratio for you can be dependent on your fitness, metabolic efficiency, and other individual considerations.

Step 4 - Plan Your Keto Menu

Now you're ready to start planning your dream keto menu. But before you start loading up on bacon and cheese, there are a few things to consider when it comes to your food choices.

The nutrition and quality of the foods you eat are still important for your overall health and wellbeing. Additionally, choosing more nutritious foods may help with energy levels, mood, and potentially cravings - helping you stick to your ketogenic diet longer.

What to Eat on a Keto Diet

Keto emphasizes higher fat intake and little carb intake. This can make meal planning challenging since a large number of high carb foods are not considered keto-friendly - like grains, breads, starchy veggies, and fruits.

Additionally, carbs tend to be the bulk of most people's diets - meaning you have to find a keto alternative or change the way you think about meals in general.

Some of the best staples for any keto diet should include healthy carb substitutes. Many veggies work great for this, like:

Cauliflower rice

Mashed cauliflower

Portobello mushroom "buns"

Spaghetti squash

Zucchini noodles (or "zoodles")

Lettuce wraps

Help keep your nutrition in check, have the bulk of your keto diet should consist of nutrient-rich low carb veggies, quality proteins, and healthy fats to ensure you are getting the right balance and overall good nutrition to keep you going.

Net Carbs Explained

As you start to understand the nutrition behind your food choices, you’ll probably start to realize that nearly ALL plant foods contain carbohydrates. Instead of forgoing all of the valuable plant-based health foods, there’s a little diet hack you can use.

Keto doesn’t mean carb-free. And not all carbs are created equal. When counting your carbs on keto, you should also be looking at how much fiber you eat.

Fiber is a type of carb that is not easily absorbed by the body (meaning it won't affect blood sugar levels or insulin the same way sugars do). It can be subtracted when looking at controlled carbohydrate intake.

Total daily carbohydrate intake - fiber intake = Net carbs

how to calculate net carbs (2)

Choosing more plant-based foods that are high in fiber is not only important for digestion and overall nutrition but can even help you manage your carb intake on a keto meal plan.

Consider tracking your daily net carbs over total carbs to include more nutrient-dense fruits and veggies, while still maintaining your keto macro goals.

Step 5 - Stick to Your Keto Goals

Planning a keto menu is only half the battle; your progress is the result of consistency. Meaning, you’ve got to stick to your diet plan for more than a few weeks.

But sticking to your diet is not based on sheer willpower, as much as it is developing healthy habits and routines that allow you to be successful. This includes making healthy decisions easier and adding some friction to less healthy habits.

It also isn’t required for you to be perfect on your keto diet for it to be effective. It is possible to have a keto cheat day or go off course and still see progress. As long as you stick to your calorie goals consistently, and keep working at it.

It can be really helpful to learn how to make SMART goals and build better habits to support all your hard work.

Use a Keto-Friendly App

You can also hold yourself more accountable by tracking macros and calories every day. By logging your daily food and beverage consumption, you will not only know if you are hitting your nutrition goals, but will also learn more about your daily habits and where you can make changes.

Get the Trifecta app to get custom keto diet recommendations and to get started on tracking your fitness and keto macros every day.