Adele Baker - Keto Meal Plan: Beginners Guide to a Ketogenic Diet & Lose Weight In 30-Day Cooking Delicious Recipes

As you learn more about keto-friendly foods and get used to ketogenic living, itll be easier for you to understand what and how much you should be eating. Heres a crash course in what your daily macronutrientscarbs, protein, and fatshould look like.

Carbohydrates (5% to 10%)

Each persons carb tolerance is different. Your challenge is to find your ideal carb intake. As you begin your keto diet, start with a low level of net carbs to ensure you quickly enter ketosisthe state in which your body produces ketone bodies. A good goal would be about 20 grams of net carbs per day. You can purchase a blood ketone meter (or urine ketone strips, which are less accurate) that will allow you to measure your ketones after about two or three days of sticking to your new low-carb lifestyle. Start adding net carbs (about 5 grams each week) until you can detect only a very low level of ketones or none at all. This is usually the quickest, most reliable way to discover your net carbs limit. You can find blood ketone meters and urine ketone strips via online retailers, such as Amazon.

Protein (15% to 30%)

The amount of dietary protein you need can be determined by your body weight and activity level. People who are physically active have higher protein requirements than those with sedentary lifestyles. A more accurate estimate, especially for people with high body fat, can be found by calculating protein intake from lean mass, which is determined as total body weight minus body fat.

Consuming enough protein is good for preserving and building muscle mass, but eating excessive amounts of protein are likely to put you out of ketosis because your body will convert excessive protein into glycogen.

How Many Grams of Protein per Day?

If your weight is in pounds, then multiply it by 0.6 to get the minimum amount of protein in grams you should eat each day. For the maximum amount, multiply your body weight by 1 (i.e., the same numeral as that of your weight but in grams). If your weight is in kilograms, then just multiply it by 1.3 or 2.2 to get the same range. Although this rule applies to the majority of people, protein requirements for athletes are higher. Make sure you eat at least the minimum amount of protein to prevent loss of muscle tissue during the diet. In general, the more active you are, the closer you should be to eating at your upper limit.