Our main goal here is to stay pretty simple at first. In my eyes, simplicity is key for someone that is just starting out on a low carb diet. You don’t want it to be a difficult transition (kitchen-wise) because it will be hard just to get rid of your cravings in the beginning. You don’t want to spend too much time cooking and slaving away to make meals.
Leftovers will be another thing we will take into consideration. Not only is it easier on you, but why put yourself through the hassle to cook the same food more than once? Breakfast is something I normally do leftover style, where I don’t have to worry about it in the morning, and I certainly don’t have to stress about it. Grab some food out the fridge, pre-made for me, and head out the door. It doesn’t get much easier than that, does it?
Breakfast.
For breakfast, you want to do something that’s pretty quick and tasty, and of course – gives you some leftovers. I suggest starting day one on the weekend. This way, you can make something that will last you for the entire week (or close to it). The first week is all about simplicity with flavor. Nobody wants to be making breakfast before work, and we’re not going to be doing that either! We’ll focus on making flavorful breakfasts that you can either make in a pinch or have leftovers for the week.
There’s a variety of low-carb options so that you can have an idea of a generic week on a ketogenic diet. If you want to add more variety, feel free to browse our breakfast recipes for more ideas. You can replace any of the breakfasts in the plan with recipes of similar nutrition.
Lunch.
We’re also going to keep it simple here. We’re mostly relying on salads that you can make the night before if needed. You can portion out the salad and dressing/components separately beforehand and grab-and-go in the morning.
The salads will be mostly a bit of protein with leafy greens. This helps with our micronutrient intake and will help tremendously with fat intake while keeping it low-carb. You can also add spices and seasonings to your salad to your liking. Just be careful about onion and garlic powder, but most other spices in small amounts have negligible carbs.
Dinner.
Dinner will mostly be casseroles with cooked-in vegetables, so no side dishes required. Casseroles are great on a low-carb, ketogenic diet because you get so many leftovers. It’s not uncommon to see recipes that take quite a long time to make, so when you can save a little time by eating leftovers, it makes a world of difference. Simply stick them in the fridge, reheat as needed, and you have dinner in little to no time at all.
Sides and snacks.
As a general rule of thumb, it’s best to keep snacking to a minimum in order to keep insulin spikes to a minimum.
P.S. No dessert for the first week. Studies show that cravings will be significantly reduced when you skip out on sweetened items for a while.
Week 1 Weekly Macro Averages
| CALORIES | FATS (g) | CARBS (g) | FIBER (g) | NET CARBS (g) | PROTEIN (g) | |
| Day 1 | 1570.2 | 123.1 | 31.1 | 12.1 | 19.6 | 85.2 |
| Day 2 | 1360.7 | 105.9 | 31.4 | 8 | 23.4 | 63.1 |
| Day 3 | 1570.2 | 123.1 | 31.3 | 12.1 | 19.6 | 85.2 |
| Day 4 | 1493.8 | 125.8 | 31.8 | 9 | 22.9 | 66.4 |
| Day 5 | 1651 | 134.1 | 24.5 | 7.3 | 17.6 | 91.3 |
| Day 6 | 1442.7 | 106.4 | 29.3 | 7.5 | 21.9 | 83.3 |
| Day 7 | 1584.3 | 138.8 | 38.2 | 12.8 | 25.9 | 58.8 |
| WEEK TOTALS | 10672.7 | 857.1 | 217.7 | 68.7 | 151 | 533.4 |
| DAILY AVERAGE | 1524.7 | 122.4 | 31.1 | 9.8 | 21.6 | 76.2 |
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