7 Tips for Keto Diet Adherence

The biggest criticism detractors of the ketogenic diet make is this: Even though it works, it’s too difficult to stick to. Therefore, everyone ultimately is destined to fail.

Despite the twisted thinking that if you don’t stay on a diet forever you have “failed,” we don’t want you to “fail” if you don’t have to. Here are some tips for insuring ketogenic diet adherence (a must-read for sugar tooth types looking to lose weight):

1. Change your mindset immediately: This is a fun diet where you can load up on all that delicious food once accused of being bad for you. The keto diet works by starving your body of glucose (sugar) thereby forcing it to burn carbohydrates stored in fat. In this way, while you do have to pretty much give up sugar, you can eat lots of yummy fatty foods (even bacon). This is a keto diet adherence tip we can all get behind!

2. Review a comprehensive list of acceptable keto diet foods before you even begin the diet. Then, when you’re ready to go, stock up on foods you know you like to eat but are within the parameters of keto diet adherence. It’s critical you stick to the diet those first two weeks to set ketosis in motion. Once that happens (usually after the first two weeks) the pounds will begin to drop off.

Some people get through the first two weeks eating bacon, eggs, and cheese. Others go for turkey taco meat and cheese. Eventually, you will get sick of those “first two weeks” foods and will need to get down to business and shake things up to maintain ketogenic diet adherence.

That said, two weeks in you should begin to notice weight loss, so motivation will be easier than you might think.

3. Plan fun recipes far in advance, and only buy ingredients at the store for those recipes. Blow your budget on keto foods, leave no extra money for tempting candy, pastries or pop (or soda, or Coke, or whatever you call sugary drinks where you live).

You can find low-carb and ketogenic diet recipes all over the Internet. Also try diabetic cookbooks. Diabetics have been living life with no sugar for a long time. They’re go-to experts.

4. Count carbs, not calories. This is a simple tenet of the diet. However, sometimes people slip up or get fooled by labels. When at the supermarket, and you wonder, is it (on the keto diet) or isn’t it, focus on the carb content—not the calories. There is no hard and fast rule for losing weight on the keto diet, but people who stick to 20 grams of carbohydrates per day or less tend to lose weight the fastest. Always read labels and keep that in mind.

5. If you’re ready to get serious, give away all the candy, cookies, breads, and other bad foods in your pantry. You can’t have them anymore. Really, this is no different from an alcoholic admitting they are powerless over booze. Declare powerlessness over sugar!

6. Make goals general but actionable (a declaration for better health, for example). Writes one dieter to another on a Reddit thread: “I choose to put good fuel into my body for the same reason I no longer smoke or binge drink or do drugs—I have specific health goals I want to achieve. These goals don’t involve a particular number on the scale. They are things like—I want to be able to walk into a clothing store and find clothes that fit. I don’t want to be fat and have any more health problems.”

7. Rethink whether a “cheat day” for cookies (or cocktails) with the girls really is worth it. Seriously. This is going to sound a bit 12-step, for better or for worse. But, it makes sense: You don’t give a smoker a cigarette as a reward after he’s kicked the habit. That’s the philosophy of Gary Taubes, author of “Good Calories, Bad Calories, and Why We Get Fat.”

Food for thought. Pun intended.