One of my favorite YouTubers tried the Keto diet for one week and made a video documenting her experiences. She experienced extreme tiredness, headaches, and not feeling well in general. Throughout the video I noticed several key mistakes she made during the process causing all of these symptoms.

Keto sometimes can be complicated. Here is a list of the things you should focus on when first starting out!

• Drink plenty of water! This is KEY
• Clean out your house of any non keto friendly foods
• Eating out is very difficult. Stick to eating at home for the first month or so.
• Always have a quick keto snack on hard when first starting out! I don’t recommend making snacks a consistent occurrence once getting used to keto though. Every time you eat, your body spikes your insulin and this can hurt you if you have insulin resistance.
• Get enough sleep – Take Magnesium if you are having trouble sleeping. This was my lifesaver.
• Get most of your carbs from vegetables – You still need all of your nutrients!
• Not eating enough fat. If you don’t eat carbs and you’re also not eating fat, that is not keto, that is starvation.
• Use a tracking app, like MyFitnessPal or CarbManager
• Invest in a food scale. I thought I could get around this one but you need to track things in detail so a scale was necessary. I just picked up a cheap one from Wal-Mart.
• Increase your salt intake. This is to replace your sodium electrolytes.
• I personally did not count calories for the first couple of week to get used to the ketogenic lifestyle. It was easier than I thought to eat less because of how full fat makes me feel.
• Don’t drink diet soda or have low-carb grains
  • Some people’s ketosis will not be affected by these things but most will. I would drink Diet Coke as a “cheat meal”. It never kicked me out of ketosis but I knew the aspartame would hurt me in other ways.
  • Low carb wraps and other products may have a low net carb counts but eating grains will go against your ketosis! No type of grain is considered ok on the keto diet. This is called a Low Carb, High Fat diet (LCHF)
• Cook in large doses and meal plan! This will become a staple of your new life.
• Oh, and did I mention WATER? 😉

I wish this information was available when I started keto. I hope this help you with your journey!

Happy Ketoing!

Are there any tips you think I missed? Did you also struggle with these on keto?

Leave a comment below!

See also:

How Much Water Do I Have to Drink on Keto?

What is Keto? – Beginning Your Journey

Keto Sweeteners – Good vs. Bad

Top 10 Easy to Understand Health Benefits of Keto

The Importance Fatty Acids on Keto

Simple 1 Week Meal Plan for Beginners