How to Stick to a New Keto Diet in the New Year

One of the most popular New Year’s resolutions is to stick to a new diet. Many people choose to try out keto. Unfortunately, any sudden change is hard. Research suggests that 80% of New Year’s resolutions fail.

The truth is, dieting is hard. It doesn’t matter whether you choose keto, paleo, or another diet. You will have to endure a new lifestyle for months before you see any real changes to your body. But with the right preparation, you can set yourself up for success.

We put together a list of tips for helping you stick to a new keto diet. You will be more likely to succeed if you:

• Get rid of the carbs.
• Learn how to cook a few keto meals.
• Get used to meal prep.
• Stay on top of sleep and exercise.
• Prepare for the keto flu.
• Plan ahead for social occasions.
• Give yourself a treat now and then.

Get rid of the carbs

What makes keto special is its total lack of carbs. This serves a useful biological purpose: ketosis.

Normally, your body burns carbohydrates to make energy. But when it runs out of carbs, it burns fat instead. When your body is burning fat instead of carbs, this is called ketosis, and it is what helps you lose weight.

If you eat just a little bit of carbs, however, this will break ketosis. Your body will stop burning fat.

Before you do anything else, make sure you have no bread, pasta, rice, or even flour in the house. And absolutely no donuts! If you have any carbs at all, you will be tempted to eat them later.

If you live with other people, it is important to check in with them first to decide how to move forward. One option is to have a separate “carb pantry”, just for roommates.

Learn to cook a few keto meals

Keto food is hard to find in most restaurants. You will have to cook most of your meals yourself. And if you don’t know how to cook a single keto meal, you will give up before you even get started!

Thankfully, the internet is chock full of tantalizing keto recipes. Many of them use ingredients like cauliflower or zucchini to mimic rice or pasta. We have a few recipes of our own on our website.

Get used to meal prep

The best way to prepare for keto is to prepare your meals in advance. Then you won’t have to do any extra thinking, or give in to cravings when you feel hungry.

Meals can be prepared up to a week in advance, and stored in tupperware. Lots of pre-made schedules already exist online.

Stay on top of sleep and exercise.

Your physical well-being is largely determined by diet, sleep, and exercise. That means your keto diet is just one third of the equation.

Making sure you get adequate sleep and exercise will help your body to adjust to the new diet. It will also ensure you have more energy to resist cravings during the day.

Prepare for the keto flu.

Newcomers to keto often experience a nasty surprise: the keto “flu”.

The keto flu is not a real flu. You cannot spread it to other people, but it does hurt. The keto flu is the natural result of your body adjusting to a very different way of functioning.

Common symptoms of the keto flu include:

• nausea
• fatigue
• headaches
• vomiting
• diarrhea

The good news is, the keto flu doesn’t last very long. Most cases last a few days, and rarely will it last longer than two weeks.

If you make it through the keto flu, congrats! It may be the biggest obstacle on your way to enjoying the keto diet long term.

Plan ahead for social occasions

Getting together with friends and family is great, except when none of them eat like you. Thanksgiving, traditionally carb-laden, is a notable problem.

To plan ahead, let your family and friends know that you are on a new diet and cannot eat carbs. You may find yourself bringing your own food along, or munching on vegetable side dishes.

Give yourself a treat now and then

Dieting is hard, but that’s no reason not to enjoy yourself. A little dessert will help to curb cravings. But be sure to keep it keto- most traditional desserts are filled with carbs.

There are many options for keto dessert. You could make your own, from specialty flours and sugar alternatives. You could simply eat a little bit of fruit. Or you could enjoy pre-made keto desserts, like ours. Our products are made from keto friendly ingredients like almond flour and stevia.

Shifting to a new diet is always hard. But with the right mindset, and enough preparation, you can succeed. Just be sure to stay away from those donuts, cakes, and pies!