There is so much information on keto out there. I truly think that it can be very intimidating if you don't know what you are doing so that's why I wanted to write this keto diet for beginners post and give you a free keto meal plan to get you started on the right foot.
I discovered the low carb way of eating about 10 years ago so for me, low carb has always been and most likely always will be how I will eat. Fast forward to now, and I have successfully lost over a total of 80 pounds with low carb/keto.
Like I said, there is a lot of information on keto for beginners that can be very confusing. So I think it is important to find what works for you and what is sustainable for you so you can stick to the keto diet long term.
I will give you some guidelines below and also a free keto meal plan that is actually how I eat every week so you do not want to miss that!
Disclaimer - I am not a doctor so please take all of this information and consult your doctor before proceeding. I have found through a lot of clients that doctors are becoming much more aware of how beneficial the keto diet is for weight loss and improving type 2 diabetes. I also recommend to get a second opinion if your doctor tells you that low carb is unhealthy.
What is the difference between low carb and keto?
This is a very common question and you see above I have thrown around both terms. The definitions of these terms vary by source, but both mean restricting carbohydrate containing foods. Keto is usually defined as eating 20 grams of net carbohydrates per day and low carb would be 20 - 50 grams of net carbohydrates per day.
A lot of diehard keto people, or keto police, as they are often called, would tell you that you have to eliminate all foods that have sugar (and it's many forms), soy, milk, and gluten in the ingredients list. This can be very overwhelming for people because all of a sudden, your list of approved foods has shrunk substantially.
Take bacon, for example. Almost all bacon has sugar in the ingredients but it is very keto and low carb friendly as it has almost no carbs. Another example would be plain Greek Yogurt as it is made from milk, and keto friendly breads as they contain gluten.
A lot of people would tell you that things like low carb tortillas (because they contain gluten), soy sauce (because it has soy), tomatoes, and onions (vegetables with higher carb counts) are not keto.
These are personal decisions and you can choose to fit them into your daily keto or low carb targets if you want.
Keto does not mean gluten free, soy free, or sugar free. It strictly means that you eat under 20 net carbs per day.
What foods are keto or low carb friendly?
For a keto diet for beginners, I always suggest focusing more on your net carbs for the day than focusing on each individual ingredient on the food label. Once you get really comfortable eating keto or low carb, then you can decide for yourself if you want to eliminate every food that has a form of sugar, gluten, milk, or soy in the ingredient list.
This isn't a comprehensive list, but here is a good start for keto and low carb friendly foods:
Good vegetables for keto: salad greens, zucchini, small amounts of acorn, pumpkin, and butternut squash, Brussels sprouts, broccoli, cauliflower, asparagus, green beans, cabbage, celery, bell pepper, mushrooms, eggplant, artichoke, garlic, olives, small amounts of onion and tomato
Good fruits for keto: small amounts of berries, avocado
Nuts, seeds, almond flour, coconut flour, sugar free sweeteners (you can see my recommended brands here: https://www.amazon.com/shop/influencer-49853997
Good fats for keto: any fat is good for keto as it is zero net carbs.
Any meat or eggs
Any cheese, cream, half and half, sour cream, plain greek yogurt.
And if you ever wonder if something is low carb or keto, just look at the food label.
What are net carbs?
Net carbs are the total carbohydrates of a food with the fiber and sugar alcohols subtracted out. So for example, 1 medium banana has 24 net carbs (27g carbs - 3g fiber):
- 105 calories
- 27 grams total carbohydrates
- 3 grams fiber
- 14 grams sugar
This would not be very low carb / keto friendly as it would consume most of your days carbs.
How do I use keto or low carb to actually lose weight?
A lot of people just starting keto or low carb think that just choosing to stay within their daily carb goals means they are going to lose weight. This may be true for some because keto friendly foods are very satisfying and you typically eat less.
Eating fewer carbs regulates your hormones and blood sugar. Blood sugar highs and lows signal hunger. When we eliminate the blood sugar swings, we typically eat less. You can see this result was found in this study conducted on 10 obese individuals with type 2 diabetes.
But if you find yourself eating keto or low carb and still not losing weight, you may want to pay attention to how much you are eating. I do this by tracking my intake on the My Fitness Pal or Carb Manager app.
Should you choose a keto or low carb diet plan?
The easy way to answer this question is to think about what foods you really love. Whatever you choose, it needs to be something you can do longterm. Don't pick keto if you love to eat lots of fruits and vegetables and cannot imagine eliminating most of them from your diet. If this is you, I would stick to low carb and keep each meal under 15 net carbs.
Are you the type who doesn't really care for many vegetables (because let's be honest, are you eating a lot now?). Then maybe keto is for you.
Either way, you are going to be eating much better than you did before keto or low carb and I hope we can all agree...flour and sugar should be greatly restricted from everyones diet.
So don't think if you're not doing keto you are not getting all of the benefits from a low carbohydrate diet. You are doing what is sustainable for you and that is so incredibly important. What good is a diet if you can't stick to it?
And always remember, keto or not, you have to be in a calorie deficit to lose weight. If after a month of eating keto or low carb you still didn't lose weight, you were not in a calorie deficit.
What's a calorie deficit?
"A caloric deficit is any shortage in the amount of calories consumed relative to the amount of calories required for maintenance of current body weight." - Wikipedia
Free keto meal plan
Now I have for you a handy dandy 1 week free keto meal plan that you can print out and follow. You can follow it below or you can download it here. When you choose to download, you get a printable menu and shopping list!
Why this meal plan works - it's simple. We think we want a lot of variety each week until we have to cook it all!
This meal plan is around 1200 calories per day. This leaves room for coffee and a nice snack if you desire one.
I recommend having on hand the following items for easy prepping:
- kitchen scale - weighing your food is imperative for accuracy
- equal sized containers for easily dividing out food.
Before the start of the week, carve out about an hour to make your cinnamon donut muffins and prep your chicken thighs for the salads. I put all of the boneless skinless chicken thighs on a sheet tray, season them however sounds good, and bake them at 375F for about 20 minutes or an internal meat thermometer reads 165F. I let them cool and then dice them up. When I'm ready to make a salad, I weigh out 4 ounces of chicken. Most boneless skinless chicken thighs are around 2.5 ounces after being cooked.
You can choose to prep everything in one day or you can wait to prep the dinners during dinner time.
If one of the recipes is something you think your family would eat as well, I would double it.
I hope you liked this keto diet for beginners and free keto meal plan! Let me know in the comments below if you followed it for a week and what worked for you to lose weight with keto!
Dawn says
Is avocado oil the only oil you use in Keto? What else is acceptable?
jenniferbanz says
You can use whatever you like. I just prefer Avocado oil
Dawn Grant says
You say it's Keto/ low carb but I'd like strictly low carb recipes Please help. Thank you
Connie Coble says
I have been doing low carb almost a year but I like your plan. It isn’t as strict as some who think you have to fast for days and drink ketones. I am on this journey to get healthy. And I’ve lost 45lbs and I continually lose inches even when the scale turtles. I’m happier than I have been in forever. I could not lose weight because I hadn’t tried low carb.
Antonia says
Hello,
I am excited for this new chapter in my life.
Monica says
I have been watching your videos and have tried several recipes. Can’t wait to try this challenge. I feel so much better cutting out the sugar I was addicted to.
Linda Burns says
Jennifer, thank you for all.your hard work. You are so kind to try to help us with this Keto life style. This is a new way of life.
I love your recipes, thank you again.
Susan says
What do you recommend for snacks while following this first week?
jenniferbanz says
I like to just snack on a little cheese or salami or I choose a keto friendly protein bar.
Dinna says
Hi. You said you drink diet sodas. How many diet sodas do you drink and what kind?
jenniferbanz says
2 or so a day. Usually Diet Coke or Coke Zero
wendy says
I am new to keto. Thank you for taking the time to do all of the blogs!
Rich says
Thank you so much for caring enough to give this information without cost in these trying times. God Bless You Jennifer.
Jackie Kirby says
Excited to try this. Going to be challenging because I’m out of town 3-4 nights a week. Do you have any tips for people who are away from home so much?
jenniferbanz says
You can find something keto or low carb at just about any restaurant. Just yesterday I had a power bowl at Taco Bell. I ordered it without rice or beans and it came out to 7 carbs
Shannon says
I love your recipes. I love how you have inspired me to go on this journey myself.
Michele says
I have followed you on FB for ages and I love your recipes.
You look amazing.
Thank you so much for sharing your recipes.
Susan says
Love your recipes and inspiration
Trish Sucher says
Love to have your copy of free keto meals. Love following u on Facebook
Mary Ann Krask says
Thank you Jennifer for helping so many of us eat healthier with your great recipes!!! Just made your blue cheese dressing to go with your Buffalo chicken tenders. Delish! I was getting so bored with the thought of chicken again until I came across your inspiration. Thanks so much!!!
Lisa Hall says
I love your recipes! I’m making some of my favorites this week
Angie says
Starting today!!! Ive been following you on FB for a while, just the other i noticed the address on your email. I live really close to you!!! This is not my first time trying keto/low carb. Weekends are really bad for me. I cannot ever stick to it. Just found out i may have diabetes so i will try my hardest to stick to it this time and i plan to use your other recipes for my family's breakfast and dinner. And i hope to meet you in person one day soon so I can tell you how well i did 🙂
Sylvia and Ken says
Not sure I like the same meal over and over but after reading the comments below and talking with my wife regarding many failed diets, we are going to give it a try. And in one week from today we will comment on our results. 🙂
Carrie Chamberlain says
Can’t wait to discover more!
Melissa Hoehler says
Love this information
dolargroup says
This is very informative, thanks
Viviana says
This is actually great. your page just showed up on my facebook feed and I started liking your recipes. I decided to try your 7 days meal plan. I think it's great to just eat the same thing every day. I'm busy, have a small child and working full time. I don't have time for lots of meal prep. My partner and child eats non keto. so preparing 2 meals every day wasn't susteinable. I tried keto before getting pregnant and it worked for me. and after having my daughter I wasn't able to follow any meal plan. so hard.. thank you again Jennifer 🙂
Jamie Lewis says
I have been watching you prior to your weight loss and wish I was where you are in the process. Congratulations! You look great! I am starting your meal plan. I agree, the more prep with lots of different recipes can be hard and pretty soon I give up. This one is just what I needed and I hope you will consider doing more. Good luck with the race.
Akela D says
This is day 2 for me, this morning I made a batch of the keto donut muffins, and that first bite, I smiled! They are SO GOOD! And mind blowing they are KETO! Thank you for sharing all your hard work with us!!!
I admit when I saw the Free 7 day Plan had my book and pen ready... I saw I could memorize it right away. I was perplexed, but agree, you are absolutely right! I don't have time to prep 7 days of DIFFERENT meals all day long. This made it simple and easy! And it's just 7 days.. for now! Helps us to get the mindset in place and setting ourselves up for success!
Thank you again so much!
Linda says
So if I am on the keto diet to lose as much weight as I can in a month, is that like 1200 calories? I see the 20 grams of carbs, but how much meat can I consume with the veggies and still lose weight? I do not cook with recipes, just a meat and veggie girl. That being said I get a bit confused when I start reading all the recipes. just how much meat and how much veggies to lose? of is it just the carbs that count? I am so confused, can you tell. Thanks for your help.
anwitasinha says
Great!!
anwitasinha says
nice one!!
Arica says
It’s the same meal every day. I thought there would be a variety. Thank you but I’ll buy a book of recipes
jenniferbanz says
Yes, as this is free so when you actually pay money for something, you can expect more. But, I want everyone to realize that when we choose a meal plan with lots of variety and a different recipe each day, studies show we get overwhelmed and end up quitting the plan by the end of the week.
Kim Ahlmann says
I think that you are right on the money Jennifer.
I am going to try the meal plan because you have made it so simple and with great preparation tips too!
Thank you for sharing all that you do!
Rosemary says
Interesting. This is a very boring repetitive meal plan. I’m not a sweets for breakfast person....I eat bacon and eggs. I guess I was expecting something totally different after the yummy desserts etc you do on FB. I have been on keto for 8 weeks this Saturday. I lost 16 lbs in 6 weeks. For the last two weeks I have not only not lost, I have gained a lb. very frustrating. Any ideas of how to get back into losing?
jenniferbanz says
Eat a boring repetitive meal plan 😉
Rosemary says
OK, just shut my mouth Jennifer 😂. Never afraid to admit when I am wrong - I decided to give this Plan a try. Forget what I said above.....I think I was just foolishly disappointed because there wasn’t more of your great desserts on this plan 😊. Before I felt like I was prepping and or cooking all day long. I am only on day two but am so enjoying that other than steaming a veggi for dinner my cooking is all done the first day - awesome! Love the muffins, pizza and will have stroganoff for dinner tonight. I will report back at the end of my 7-Day Challenge, but lost 1 lb the first day, after being on a plateau, yes!
anwitasinha says
nice article
Deb says
This is so encouraging! Thanks so much.
Jessica Aragon says
keto meal plan please!
jenniferbanz says
Hi Jessica, the link for the meal plan is in the text. If you are interested in more meal plans, you can find out more here: http://www.livelifeketo.net
Kim Jackson says
I have seen people say that this won't work for those who do not have a gallbladder. Is that true?
jenniferbanz says
Those without a gallbladder have to play by ear ow much fat they include in their diet since that is up to each individual. I have heard if several people who follow keto without a gallbladder with no issues.
Rene L Miller says
Jennifer: I'm 63 and lost my gallbladder several years ago. I'm now deciding on whether I am going keto. I have never heard that people have a hard time losing when there is no gallbladder. Is this really an issue? If so, please be honest with me; I will deal with it. If I can lose by eating keto in any fashion, I will be happy. Any words of encouragement here? So, if I follow you bite for bite, I will lose? Thanks.
jenniferbanz says
The gallbladders function is to secrete bile into the intestines to digest fat. This shouldn't effect how you lose weight
rezzan Goncu says
This is very informative, thanks
Pati Martinez says
Meal plan
Sonj Helms says
Is keto ok for prediabetic
Rene L Miller says
Not only is it okay, you'll most likely lose the prediabetes! Good luck.