The first month on a diet can be challenging. Your food is changing, your body is changing, and you may even be going through some general life changes. While the long-term results are always worth it, it may be difficult to see beyond the challenges you will experience in the short term.
To get you through these transitions, having a guide like this one is always a good idea.
But this guide is not just for beginners. Whether you are a keto veteran and have just gotten too busy with work or family, or you need a hand planning your low-carb meals, this guide will definitely work for you.
In this guide, you will get to know the benefits of doing keto for a month, the drawbacks, the foods to eat and avoid on the diet, a free shopping list, and a sample day’s menu for your ketogenic monthly meal plan.
This is a diet plan where you eat healthy high-fat and low-carb foods for 30 days or a month.
In this one month, you commit to doing away with all high-carb foods and maintaining a strict ratio of macros. The macro distribution on a ketogenic meal plan usually looks something like this:
For most people, this means limiting net carb consumption to 20 to 50 grams per day.
Easier said than done! For context, one medium Golden Delicious apple has 18.9 g of net carbs. This means that about 3 apples are enough to go over your limit for carbs in a day.
Staying within your daily limits of each macronutrient will allow you to get into a state of ketosis. When your body has no carbs to burn for energy, it resorts to fat. The fat is broken down into substances known as ketone bodies. When these ketone bodies accumulate in the blood, you enter a state known as ketosis.
Yes, not eating bread is hard. However, with the many benefits low-carb diets have, you will be over it in no time.
Unlike a lot of popular diets, the benefits of low-carb diets have been proven in many scientific studies several times over. Some of these benefits include:
The best part about the ketogenic diet is that you do not have to wait years to experience these benefits. If you strictly follow a low-carb meal plan for 30 days, you can get to see these changes for yourself.
To say that keto will be a breeze would be a lie. Many days, especially in the beginning, will not be easy to get through. Some of the challenges you can expect are:
To make your 30 days on the diet easier, here are some tips you can use.
The first food group to be cut from a ketogenic diet is obviously carbs. Very high-carb foods that do not belong on a ketogenic diet include:
Keto is not just about eliminating carbs from your diet. It also encourages reduced consumption of highly processed foods even though they are low carb. There is a wide variety of processed ketogenic foods available on the market like:
Now that you know which foods will not feature on your diet, it is time to think about those that will. While on keto, your focus should be on high-fat moderate-protein foods. Most importantly, they should be whole and minimally processed.
The foods you can enjoy are:
If your diet is going to change, so is your shopping list. To help you stick to your diet, you will need to stock up on food that is keto-friendly. Those you can stock are mostly dry foods and freezer-friendly foods.
Freezer-friendly foods include:
Dry foods for your pantry include:
For your regular shopping trips, you will get more fresh foods like:
You might need some inspiration to plan out keto meals for a month. This is why we have prepared this sample day of meals for you to fit in your 30-day ketogenic plan and menu.
Calories: 1,806 | Macros: 23.4 g net carbs, 86.4 g protein, and 120.6 g fat.
If you are still confused by what this experience will be like, read on as we answer some of the questions you may have.
After one month on keto, you can lose up to 20 lb. On average, most people lose about 10 lb depending on many factors like starting weight, how many calories they are eating, and how low-carb their diet is.
After 1 month on keto, you should be able to see a significant change in your weight. In addition to fat loss, you may notice other changes like:
Yes, it does.
Whether your goal is weight loss, blood sugar control, or seizure control, the 30-day ketogenic program will likely work for you, but every person is different. Keep in mind that it is important to speak with your doctor first.
For better results, it is advisable to continue the diet for longer, but you should see results within the first 30 days of keto.
While it is best to make more permanent changes to your diet, there is nothing wrong with doing a ketogenic diet for a short while.
This can especially be beneficial for those with blood sugar control issues. Short-term keto can help them improve blood sugar control and they can either choose to stick with the diet or go back to a simple whole food diet.
This diet is not suitable for individuals who are pregnant or breastfeeding or those with a history of eating disorders. Otherwise, unless contraindicated by a doctor, most people can do a 30-day keto meal plan. Those that would highly benefit from it include overweight people, those with high blood pressure, poor blood sugar control, seizures, and high cholesterol. Check with your doctor before changing your diet.
After you’ve followed this diet for 4 weeks, it’s time to plan out keto month 2. You can repeat some of the meals and snacks that became fast favorites, but also try new recipes and different ingredients. This will keep things interesting and provide a wide variety of nutrients.
Since planning your monthly meals is easier the second time around, you may have extra energy to focus on additional healthy habits, like exercising.
Looking for less of a time commitment? Here are some alternatives:
