I read about bulletproof coffee–you know, the coffee with butter? Haven’t heard of it? Well, you haven’t google enough diet related stuff on the internet. The idea of this coffee is to stimulate metabolism with caffeine and increase your fat intake so you can come into ketogenic state which is the goal of a ketogenic diet.
A lot of people testified that they have lost weight, felt healthier and stronger and all other shit loads of greatness when they did a ketogenic diet. However, what most people don’t know is that ketogenic state, or ketosis (the result of ketogenic diet) doesn’t come by through merely increasing fat intake or drinking bulletproof coffee. It comes with a process. And if you do it correctly, the rewards will blow you away, like it did me. Or it may not! Sorry to burst your bubble. Like what i’ve said many times over, different strokes for different folks!
Ketogenic Diet worked for me, it may not work for you. Or it may be perfect. And here’s how i did it.
1.) Research.
Sounds boring as f*ck but you got to do it. I researched articles online from keto websites to anti-ketogenic diet forums and concluded that, “Fine. I will give this a try.”
I can’t list all my readings here, but this article from bodybuilding.com is my favorite because it’s easy to understand and has all info needed on starting out keto.
Word to the wise, ketogenic diet is everything but easy in the first week. So if you’re on your second week and nothing seemed challenging or hard–i will explain this later–you might not have successfully adapted your body to fat for fuel. And if you don’t get into that fat for fuel state, you might gain weight!
2.) Know your macros and calorie limit
Calorie Limit:
Easy. Look at your BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate), meaning your calorie usage if you were doing nothing. (i have a smart scale and it tells BMR so i based it on that). If you’re sedentary, like you have zero time for exercise and you sit at the desk 75% of the time, then simply base your calorie limit on that figure. If you want to lose weight, just deduct from that figure and don’t eat exceeding that. If you exercise regularly then stay on that figure or increase it. Its up to you. Just don’t decrease too much as you may weaken your metabolism and you’ll end up weak and fat!
For your macros, just base it on your max calorie limit and then some multiplication and division. Example:
Calorie max is 1,500
- Carbohydrates 10%= 1,500 x .1 = 150 / 4 = 37.5 grams (carbohydrates has 4 calories per gram)
- Protein 20% = 1,500 x .2 = 300 / 4 = 75 grams (Protein has 4 calories per gram)
- Fat 70% = 1,500 x .7 = 1,050 / 9 =116.7 grams (Fat has 9 calories per gram)
Meaning, you can only eat a maximum of 37.5 grams of carbohydrates; 75 grams of protein and 116.7 grams of fat. Nothing more! See, told you ketogenic diet is not a walk in the park!
Now that you have all these figures…
4.) Simplify your Meal Plan
And the key to simplification is understanding. And understanding takes time, but here’s what i understood.
- Carbohydrates is freaking low! And if i want to make this work i have to accept the fact that the only carbs i am going to eat for at least a month are green leafy veges and nothing more. No fruits, no root crops and NO BREAD! At least for a month, then i can maybe eat my weekly dose of fruits and complex carbs every weekend in moderation in my second month– when am keto adapted. That is how i did it.
- My protein is limited to 1 cup of meat and one egg. It can be fish and beef.
- For my fats, i simply add more olive oil to my green salad, drink bulletproof coffee, ate some bacon, add some cheese, and avocados and egg and choose full fat and full cream when it comes to dairy. I don’t have too much dairy aside from the butter I put on my bullet proof coffee because it (dairy) is expensive here in the Philippines!
- I do not eat peanuts as it tend to make me gain weight. And i do not know why.
4.) Monitor. Every. Thing.
That sounds harsh, but i can’t emphasize enough how super important monitoring is. If you read the “4 Hour Body” by Tim Ferris you’ll see what i mean. One phrase that got me is, “Do not fly blind.” Because i have been exercising for almost 2 years, did some diet that worked, but i couldn’t get a decent result because i was not monitoring anything! I just based it on how i look on the mirror which can be very frustrating since physical results take time. And we always get bored with time, don’t we? Hence our motivation dwindles and we turn to the french fries because they look like fun.
Items you got to monitor:
- Weight
- Body fat
- Daily Calorie Intake
- Macros (Fat, protein carbs)
If you’re not willing to count your calories or your macros, then don’t do keto diet at all.
So how do you successfully monitor these guys?
The easy answer is simply to buy a smart scale that tells body fat, muscle mass, BMR, BMI, water, and weight. So you got Body fat and weight crossed out from your list above.
And to count your macros and calories, download food diary apps!
And that’s it!
You can adjust. We don’t have the same BMR and activity level right? And we don’t have the same goals.
My tip is to monitor you weight and body fat daily. Others advice against this because it gets people demotivated and have them end up quitting. But then again, different strokes for different folks!
I monitor my weight daily because it tells me how the food i ate and the exercise i did directly affects my weight. And i am not the most organized human being and i need some semblance of a habit to make things work. And monitoring daily, easily becomes a habit for me compared to a weekly weighing. Different strokes for different folks!
By the way…
I had a nasty keto flu on my first week. My advice is to just drink a bowl of bone broth. And please choose the real thing, not the cubes because, it’s not only healthier, its more effective (for me) and more delicious. 🙂
And don’t quit. Hahaha! Your body is just changing gears from glucose energy source to ketones. And you’re definitely gonna be dehydrated from the depletion of glycogen so…drink up!
Hope this was helpful and if you love what you read, kindly like, share and subscribe! 🙂 Feel free to comment down below too.
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