4 Keto Diet Rules: Guidelines to Follow the Ketogenic Diet

What are the keto diet rules? Well, there aren't technically any rules, but there are definitely guidelines that we can follow to get the most benefits. That's what we're going to cover below.

Keto Diet Rules and Guidelines

1. Cut the Carbs

The first one is cutting the carbs. When getting into a state of ketosis, the number one thing you have to think about is reducing your carbohydrate intake. Generally, reducing your carbs to 50 grams or less per day is going to be a great place to start.

Next, you can iterate up or down depending on how you are personally responding. Some people will be able to get into ketosis with a little bit higher carbs versus others who may need a little bit lower carbs. Start with about a total of 50 grams per day, and move up and down as you go.

2. Protein Intake

The next thing to think about is protein intake and making sure that you're getting enough protein throughout the day. This is one of the biggest mistakes that I see people make when they're transitioning to a ketogenic or low carb diet—they reduce their protein too much.

We want to make sure that you're getting adequate protein throughout the day, because we know protein is super-super important for many different reasons:

• Making sure that you're staying satiated throughout the day
• Helping you maintain your muscle mass.
• Protecting your longevity

There are plenty of reasons why protein is critical—these are just a few of them.

When determining how much protein you need throughout the day, there are a few different ways we can go about this:

1. Think about it in terms of body weight. If you're on the leaner side, and you know you don't have much body fat, a good place to start is about .8 to 1 grams per pound of body weight in protein per day.
2. If you have higher body fat or have more weight to lose, think about your protein intake based on your height. You would take your height.
3. Think about how many meals you're eating, and think about getting one to two-fifths of your protein intake into each of those meals. If you're eating three or four meals a day, one to two-fifths size of protein is going to be a good general guideline to follow.

Once again, one of the biggest mistakes I see is neglecting protein. When you first start low-carb or ketogenic diets, we want to make sure you're getting adequate protein throughout the day. This supports all the processes that protein is important to.

3. Healthy Fats

The next thing to think about is getting enough healthy fats throughout the day. However, it's a fine line. Another mistake that I see people make is thinking that they need to consume tons and tons of fat throughout the day. They add sticks of butter to their coffee and tablespoons of oil.

You don't need to do that.

A little bit goes a long way. We want to make sure that you're consuming enough healthy fats to fuel yourself throughout the day to get enough energy to help ease the transition into ketosis—by utilizing fat for fuel. Don't overdo it.

Think about getting enough mono and unsaturated fat from things like avocados, olive oil, olives, and things like that.

Some saturated fats—like butter, coconut oil, and fat from meat—will be your main sources to focus on. Ideally, you want to avoid the more processed fats. For example, avoid vegetable oils, factory-made fats, packaged goods, and the like.

Fats are super, super important to make sure you're getting enough throughout your day. But we definitely want to make sure you're not overdoing it.

4. Water and Electrolytes

Last but not least, you want to make sure that you're replenishing water and electrolytes throughout your day. This is another big mistake that I see a lot of people making— not getting enough hydration throughout the day.

Drink water, and also electrolytes—mainly sodium, potassium, and magnesium. Sodium is probably going to be the most important one that you want to make sure you're replenishing. Add salt to your food and use electrolyte powder in your water to sip throughout the day.

That's going to be super important because when we transition into a ketogenic diet, or when we reduce carbohydrates in our diet, our body actually tends to release a lot of water. And with that water, it's going to take sodium with it. If we're not replenishing that sodium and also replenishing the other electrolytes like magnesium and potassium, we are going to feel like crap. Make sure that you're replenishing sodium mostly from salting your food and maybe adding some salt to your water.

You'll get most of your replenishment of potassium and magnesium from your food. Make sure that you're getting a good variety of whole foods throughout your day. You can also supplement with an electrolyte powder.

If you're interested in an electrolyte supplement to take, I really love Ultima replenisher. I use this to make electrolyte jello and electrolyte gummies—cherry pomegranate is probably my favorite flavor, but they do have a ton of flavors out there that taste really good.

Another brand that I like is Element. Or if you're looking for a pill form of electrolytes, Perfect Keto has a capsule form or pill form that you can just take with water.

Magnesium Intake

In terms of magnesium, if you're eating a whole foods diet, like I said before, you should be pretty good at getting enough magnesium throughout the day. But if you really want to optimize that, it might be beneficial to add a magnesium supplement at the end of the day.

We know that in our current world that we live in, we have the soil that our food grows in, it tends to be a little bit depleted in minerals. Replenishing magnesium can be super important, especially if you are noticing that you're having more muscle cramps, or if you're having a little bit of a harder time winding down at night.

Supplementing with a magnesium supplement at night can be beneficial. Get an absorbable form of Benghazi, magnesium that your body can actually absorb and use. There are tons of different types of magnesium out there. Magnesium glycinate, magnesium citrate, and magnesium triflate—those are a few of the top ones that I would recommend in terms of their bioavailability or basically just your body being able to absorb them and utilize them. So that's something to think about.

Keto Diet Rules in Conclusion

Thanks so much for watching. If you want to learn more about keto diet rules, nutrition, fitness, or metabolic flexibility, you can check out our website metflexlife.com. There you can find our podcast, Netflix and chill our nutrition and exercise programs, our latest blog posts, free recipes, and much more.