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Having easy go-to rules or hacks always makes things I am working on easier. I wanted to come up with some for the Keto Diet. These are the best ones helping me me out in my journey. Top Keto Rules: Eat Your Veggies: 7-10 cups per dayIntermittent Fasting: Have a eating windowExercise / Sweat: Get into Ketosis faster and lose the fatEat at home / Home Cook’in: Save money and know what’s in your foodSurround yourself with Keto Foods: Have an out for those temptationsUse a Meal Plan: Those who fail to plan, plan to failEat More Fat / Best Fats: The good, the bad and the mightyProtein Intake: 3 to 6 ounces per mealEat Till Satisfied: You should be satisfied after a mealTrack Your Macros: Track your caloriesGet Enough Salt: SodiumEat Fermented Foods: Get your probiotics The Keto Diet is not hard. These rules will help you achieve your goals. Let’s discuss them in greater detail. Eat Your Veggies- Eating a lot less carbs is one of the key components of the Keto Diet. People don’t think to add vegetables to the plate. Vegetables are full of vitamins and minerals. Generally speaking you want to avoid the root veggies i.e. carrots and potatoes. I recommend getting 7 to 10 cups of vegetables a day. So what are some good vegetables to eat? Cauliflower, cabbage, avocado, broccoli, spinach, asparagus, brussels sprouts, green beans, zucchini, and kale. Veggies are also a great way to get your fat on the Keto Diet. Those veggies taste good cooked in butter, roasted or sauteed in avocado oil, coconut oil, lard or ghee. Or you could make a nice cream sauce with any or all of these: cream cheese, cheese, and/or heavy cream. Dipping veggies in salad dressings or other dipping sauces can also add fat. Olive oil also tastes good on your salad. Just beware of getting too much fat, if you have plenty of excess weight that needs to come off. Let your body burn the excess fat, instead of the extra dietary fat. Eat just enough that you don’t feel hungry. Intermittent Fasting- The idea with Intermittent Fasting is to have an eating window. When starting out this window could be from 10:00 am to 6:00 pm. This is an 8 hour eating window. I recommend starting this slow. Start by pushing breakfast back an hour, for a week or so. Then push it back another hour. Pretty soon you are at 10:00 am. Your body will adjust. As you get used to the new eating routine, keep pushing back the eating time. You may be able to get to a 4 hour window. Some people only have one meal a day. Intermittent Fasting helps you get into ketosis by burning up the carbs you have consumed in other meals, burning fat for fuel. There are benefits with Intermittent Fasting as well. It triggers Autophagy. When the cells undergo autophagy, non-essential parts like damaged proteins are recycled and invading microorganisms and toxic compounds are removed. Autophagy is playing a pivotal role in stopping the aging process, reversing disease, and preventing cancer. Another benefit is Mental Clarity Your brain is a huge consumer of energy, and fat is a great source of fuel for it to run on. You will not undergo the swings in blood sugar from a carbohydrate rich diet. A great benefit is Physical Fitness. A study found that a single 24-hour fast increased human growth hormone (HGH) by 2,000% in men and 1,300% in women. HGH has a vital role in building muscle. By boosting your levels, you will have a big impact on your physique. Exercise / Sweat- Don’t skip the Exercise! If your goal is to lose weight and get fit this will supercharge your results. The Keto Diet can be mentally hard to stick with with all the cravings that can come. Exercise can help you become keto-adapted faster and help you lose fat. It is alright to start slow and work your way up. Walking is a great exercise to get going with. Add some body weight exercises in like pushups, situps, squats and lunges. After a time you could add some large compound exercises like deadlifts, standing overhead presses and pull-ups and bent-over rows. I also like HIIT workouts. I started on a treadmill running for a minute, then resting a minute for a total of 20 minutes. 10 minutes of running. Eat at home / Home Cook’in- It can be hard to find a keto meal at a restaurant. It is becoming easier. Restaurants add to oil or sugar just to make their food taste good. Eating at home you have control over the ingredients in your food. You can make sure you are getting your 7 to 10 cups of veggies. You can add those spices you love as well. Surround yourself with Keto Foods- When starting on the Keto Diet you are going to have cravings pop up. You will smell a co-workers lunch or see a food ad and that is going to trigger that craving. When that craving hits, a great option to have is having a fat bomb close by to get you through. Only have keto foods in your house or where you are at. Hunger can make it much easier to cheat. It is such a strong motivator. Use a Meal Plan- If we fail to plan, then we plan to fail. Having your meals planned out ahead of time, be it a week or a month, is a great way to have foods on hand that you can turn to when hungry, avoiding the temptation of cheating. A good idea for traveling is to have snakes, pre-made meals, and search out keto-friendly restaurants. Eat More Fat / Best Fats- On the Keto Diet fat is your friend. You want around 6 ounces a day on a 2,000 calorie diet. Since it takes longer to digest, it makes you feel full faster and longer. But not all fats are the best for you. When it comes to fats avoid eating to much trans fat. Healthy fats, Omega-3’s, 6’s and 9’s, are the ones that you should focus most of your fat intake. Easy ways to add fat to the diet are to add cheese, salad dressing, or nuts. You can also eat coconut oil or mct oil or olive oil. Focus on Monounsaturated fats. Protein Intake- Don’t get confused the Keto Diet is not a high protein diet. You really only need 3 to 6 ounces of protein per meal. If you consume too much protein, it will be converted into glucose, which will kick you out of ketosis. Also too much protein is hard on the kidneys. Don’t skip the protein either, as it helps to maintain muscle mass, prevent injury and promotes longevity. It is a necessary component of any diet. Eat Till Satisfied- You should be satisfied after a meal. Most of us will move from eating whenever to eating only when you feel hungry and to eat to your satisfaction. This can be rough and tough at first, after years of eating whenever you wanted. But hang in there. You can do it! The cravings and hunger pangs go away with the Keto Diet. Track Your Macros- I found it helpful to track what I was eating each day. I used MyFitness Pal and really liked it. I had a calorie count and could set goals, and keep track of my progress. I also like Cronometer app. This has more specific macro and micronutrient tracking. These to apps let you know what you are consuming and give you the info you need to start losing weight. Get enough Salt- With a change in your diet most likely from a high processed food to a Keto Diet, you will be getting a lot less sodium from added salt. On a high carb diet our bodies keep the sodium due to higher insulin levels. Look at add an additional 3 to 5 grams of sodium from the foods you are eating or the use of pink salt. 2 grams of sodium is equal to 1 tsp of pink salt. Eat Fermented Foods- These foods are great for fiber and adding probiotics to your diet. Kimchi, sauerkraut, or pickles. These make great choices and are low in carbs. My favorite is sauerkraut! Related Questions- How can I make my Keto work faster? Minimize your carb intake, Start eating Coconut / MCT Oil. Start exercising. Start intermittent fasting. Get 3 to 6 ounces of protein per meal. Test your ketone levels and make any adjusts you need to. How much can you lose on keto? Within the first 30 days of a Keto Diet you can expect to lose 10 pounds or more. You will lose mostly water weight. There is no good way to predict how much or how quickly you will lose those pounds. There are just to many variables.