Many people think that they’re following a keto diet, yet are adding in foods that are tripping them up.
The biggest challenge is not in eating enough fats but in reducing carb and protein intake sufficiently to get into and maintain ketosis.
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The problem with eating too much protein is that your body has the ability to convert amino acids into glucose in a process known as gluconeogenesis.
Yet, eating too much protein is just one of 5 newbie keto diet mistakes that prevent people from achieving the state of ketosis.
1. Too Much Protein
In order to produce ketones, you need to follow a diet that is high in fat but moderate in protein.
When you eat too much protein, your body will convert the excess into glucose.
This will happen if you are making foods like chicken, turkey, and low-fat beef and pork the mainstays of your meals.
In order to curb your protein intake, opt for the fattest cuts of meat.
Eat chicken with the skin on, and consciously try to cut back on your protein intake.
As a guide, you need to keep your protein intake less than 0.9 grams per pound of body weight.
So, if you’re a 130-pound woman, you will want to keep your daily protein intake to less than 117 grams.
2. Relying on Urine Ketone Sticks
Your goal on keto is to get into a state of ketosis.
So, how do you know if you have chained that goal?
You use keto testing strips.
Keto testing strips are an effective way to tell if you’re n ketosis at the beginning of your keto journey.
However, after about a month of being in ketosis, the kidneys will adapt to and excrete fewer ketones after about a month of being in ketosis.
After that, you will only see a trace amount of ketones in the urine.
Yet, most people continue relying on keto strips to let them know if they are staying in ketosis.
This is a mistake – once you are fully keto-adapted, keto strips will not give you an accurate depiction of how you are doing at burning fat for fuel.
As a result, keto strips can kill your enthusiasm just at the point when your body is really starting to ramp up for the fat loss.
Once you have made the switch to a fat-burning energy system, your body will rely on a specific ketone - beta-hydroxybutyrate – as its main fuel source.
But keto strips don’t measure for beta-hydroxybutyrate.
During the changeover process, the body relies on the ketone acetoacetate, which is the ketone body that is measured in urine.
Then, as ketones become your primary source of fuel, acetoacetate gets converted to beta-hydroxybutyrate.
The result is that your kept strips will no longer turn to the magic purple, and you will stress that you are doing something wrong!
The bottom line here is to stop using keto strips after the first month.
Just stick to the game plan – very low carb, moderate protein, and high fat – and you WILL remain in keto.
3. Not Eating Enough Fat
When something has been ingrained into you your whole life, it can be extremely difficult to get past it.
That is definitely the case when it comes to eating fat.
Contrary to what you’ve been taught, dietary fat will not clog your arteries or make you fat.
The truth is that eating more fat is one of the best ways to stave off hunger and cravings, especially for carbohydrates, when you are going low carb.
To make a success of the keto diet, we all need to get over our fear of fat.
Don’t feel guilty about chowing down on the fat that surrounds your steak.
Plow into that delicious skin that’s covering your roast chicken.
And eat more butter, coconut oil, sour cream, full-fat cheese, avocados, full-fat Greek Yogurt, and whipped cream.
There is no limit to these foods!
4. Over Eating
Let’s consider the first basic principle of nutrition . . .
In order to lose body fat, you need to burn more calories than you consume each day.
In order to gain muscle weight, you need to consume more calories than you burn each day.
This principle is known as the Law of Energy Balance.
Now, this law may seem like common sense.
Yet, this is the reason that so many people are unable to reach their fat loss goals, even on the keto diet.
They are sticking to their high-fat, moderate-carb, and low-fat macronutrient plan, but the fat loss just isn’t happening.
The reason?
They are ignoring the Law of Energy Balance.
Simply put, they are eating too much.
You see, even if you are eating the foods, if your balance exceeds your output, your body has no choice but to put on weight.
Calorie control is the missing ingredient.
A lot of so-called healthy eating experts promote the idea of eating five, six, or even seven times per day.
You should not be doing that on the keto diet.
When you begin producing ketones and burning body fat for energy, it is quite easy to feel full and satisfied eating just a couple of meals per day.
Once your body becomes keto-adapted, you will stop feeling hungry because your body has a readily accessible store of energy in the form of stored body fat.
If you eat beyond the body’s requirements, you will use more of the fat from food than the fat from your body for energy.
You will also be taking in more carbs and proteins, with the possibility that they may throw you out of ketosis.
To overcome this keto newbie mistake, you have got to get out of the programmed eating trap (breakfast, lunch, dinner) and really start listening to your body.
That means only eating when you are hungry.
A related issue has to do with plate size.
We have been conditioned to finish off what’s on our plate.
The problem is that the size of the average dinner plate has gotten one-third bigger in the last thirty years.
It’s no surprise that the rate of obesity has skyrocketed during that same time period.
The solution is to use smaller dishes and smaller utensils.
It may sound a little goofy, but if you have children, use their bowls, forks, spoons, and cups.
If you eat with smaller utensils, you will eat between 25 and 40% less food – that’s a whole lot of calories.
If you are eating something out of a packet, tip it out and place it on a napkin. That way, you won’t feel as if you have to finish the packet off.
5. Not Stabilizing Blood Sugar
Most people can relate to controlling their blood sugar with diabetes.
Yet, keeping tabs on your blood sugar count is the best way to assess how you're going hormonally on the keto diet.
It is way more effective than using keto sticks long term.
You can pick up a blood glucose meter at any pharmacy or order one online here.
If you are sticking to the keto regimen of low carbs, moderate proteins, and high fats, you will show a fasting blood sugar count of between 70 and 80 grams.
As your blood sugar level goes down, your ketone production will increase.
So, what’s the most important thing you need to cut out to bring down your blood sugar levels?
Ironically, it’s not sugar. Grains are the worst offenders in triggering blood sugar.
That is why you MUST completely eliminate grains from your life.
Those low-carb types of bread simply won’t cut it.
To bring down your blood sugar levels, you have got to go cold turkey!
Avoiding Keto Mistakes Cheat Sheet
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