Newbie - Best Approach to Meal Planning for LCHF/Keto
caharris7
Posts: 14 Member
I am just about ready to start a LCHF/Keto eating plan (I'm now on Paleo/Whole30) and I've read Keto Clarity and LOTS of Blogs. I think I'm ready to make the leap, but...I'm a bit overwhelmed with how to meal plan. When you started this way of eating, how did you go about planning your weekly meals? I do use MyFitnessPal now, but what's making me nervous from starting is..."where's a good place to start with my meals". I'll make myself crazy with Macro counting, so is there an easier way to just....get started? A website with some good sample meal plans and shopping lists? Or is it just to jump in with 2 feet and track your carbs to < 20 and low protein and the rest fat and make up the meals as you go??
Any help on just how you started that first week would help!! I tend to eat the same breakfast/lunches so I'm sure I can make this easy but any shopping lists or meal plan ideas would be awesome!
Any help on just how you started that first week would help!! I tend to eat the same breakfast/lunches so I'm sure I can make this easy but any shopping lists or meal plan ideas would be awesome!
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I just went with meats, cheese, eggs and low carb veggies (like spinach), with some snacks like avocado or nuts. I just added a bit of extra fat to some of my cooking and that was it.
No need to get macros right with every meal. As long as carbs are low (below 15g per meal), try to get your basic proteins and fill in the rest with fats. It takes a few days to get a good pattern going, but it falls into place quickly.
For example, If I was having tuna and celery for lunch I would log it before eating, then I might notice that fat was low so I would add a tablespoon of mayo. If you are unsure, try prelogging your meal and then adjust it if it is way off. Give yourself some wiggle room though. My carbs would vary between 5 and 40g with most days being close to 20g carbs. The other macros varied too.
Try not to worry. It will all work out. To be honest, for me, thinking about starting keto was a lot harder than actually doing it.
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Ditto @nvmomketo. There was a learning curve; I figured things out somewhat as I went.0
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You could try dietdoctor.com they have a good place to start on there0
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I started at 50g carbs per day and that was a lot to wrap my head around - eating fat was mind blowing. I just ate what I liked, but the full fat versions. I dumped ALL grains. I kept some fruit. Over the course of the next 18 months, I've tightened up my macros and here's last week's numbers:
Sun Mar 19
C 137 = 20g = 6%
F 709 = 101g = 69%
P 564 = 81g = 25%
Net calories/day = 1103
Total calories/day = 1485
You're welcome to add me as a friend to see what I'm eating. Best of luck, this is such an incredible lifestyle for me, I hope you love it too!0 -
I'm very new to this way of eating (just over 2 weeks). I eat a lot of salads (always loved spinach salads) and meat/cheese roll-ups for lunches. For dinner I saute vegetables with a meat in the same pan usually. I've done eggs and bacon for dinner as well. It's not too hard, just got to get away from the 3 course meals are necessary thinking. I don't eat breakfast at all for just over a week now, I'm just not hungry anymore since I started drinking my bullion with coconut oil and butter.0
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Hope you find Keto works for you! I am a few month on Keto now. It is definitely becoming more routine and second nature, but that took time. The first weeks I focused on balancing electrolytes, dealing with the reduced energy and experimenting with carb levels. I also had to mentally deal with eating so much fat! It honestly feel weird at first.
Now that those issues are behind me, it's just living life in Keto. I plan ahead each morning, I usually plug in my daily menu to review and adjust. I don't want to get in trouble halfway through the day, and I do want to make sure I get my nutrition too. Same with the shopping list, I try to pre plan a few days out.
I always include a salad or raw veggies every day, usually lunch. I fatten it up with a few of these: hard boiled egg, cheese, nuts, diced meat, avocado, and ranch dressing.
Breakfast was usually a fat protein green smoothy, but lately I've been doing the 16/8 intermittent fasting so I may now skip the shake or make a small one for an afternoon snack. (16/8 and Keto work really well together once you feel the normal hunger pangs have drastically reduced). I also may have my first 'meal' with a fat coffee blended where I add whipping cream, cacao, vanilla and a bit of truvia. This drink makes a great little meal and suppresses the appetite for me.
Dinners are usually simple and really good, a meat and green veggie with a cream or butter sauce. Italian cream sauce over pork, chipotle cream sauce over cod...etc. I'll snack on cheese, nuts, or plain gerek yogurt with fruit too.
When I want to get creative there are so many great recipe sites for LCHF! Over all, this is some of the best food I have eaten on any on any plan. I especially love making cauliflower cream cheese mash. Yum!
See you around!0 -
I jumped in with both feet. I went from counting calories and trying to eat what I thought was healthy to staying under 20 g of carbs. I'm going on 6 weeks now. I logged my foods prior to eating just to make sure I was doing things right and adjusted MFP to get the percents I wanted to keep track of. Luckily I never had any of the fog or low energy people talk about. It might have helped that I was already a salt fiend and had started working out again as well. I almost feel like I am being naughty slathering butter all over my steak, or eggs, or hamburger meat, etc. I feel so much more satisfied now than ever before and don't feel like I'm hungry all the time. This is a new way of life for me!0
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I found this website to be really helpful when I started keto, it has free menu plans for several weeks and loads of recipes for meals & snacks: http://www.ibreatheimhungry.com/?s=keto+meal+plans0
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I just went with meats, cheese, eggs and low carb veggies (like spinach), with some snacks like avocado or nuts. I just added a bit of extra fat to some of my cooking and that was it.
No need to get macros right with every meal. As long as carbs are low (below 15g per meal), try to get your basic proteins and fill in the rest with fats. It takes a few days to get a good pattern going, but it falls into place quickly.
For example, If I was having tuna and celery for lunch I would log it before eating, then I might notice that fat was low so I would add a tablespoon of mayo. If you are unsure, try prelogging your meal and then adjust it if it is way off. Give yourself some wiggle room though. My carbs would vary between 5 and 40g with most days being close to 20g carbs. The other macros varied too.
Try not to worry. It will all work out. To be honest, for me, thinking about starting keto was a lot harder than actually doing it.
You are SO right, just starting is making me nervous, but I know once I get a plan mapped out and get organized and just start, it will get much easier. I LOVE your idea of logging you meal first and then seeing what you need to add. I can even just have what I'm having now and remove my carbs, and then see how it flushes out first in MFP and fill with fats til I hit my %. That actually really helps me a ton!0 -
KarlynKeto wrote: »I always include a salad or raw veggies every day, usually lunch. I fatten it up with a few of these: hard boiled egg, cheese, nuts, diced meat, avocado, and ranch dressing.
Dinners are usually simple and really good, a meat and green veggie with a cream or butter sauce. Italian cream sauce over pork, chipotle cream sauce over cod...etc. I'll snack on cheese, nuts, or plain gerek yogurt with fruit too.
See you around!
KarlynKeto! I can DO that! I love salads and have one pretty much every night, so I can keep that and just remove my fruits and add fats instead. I like to keep things simple, so I can just plan out 1 week and then go from there. Thanks!!0 -
I found this website to be really helpful when I started keto, it has free menu plans for several weeks and loads of recipes for meals & snacks: http://www.ibreatheimhungry.com/?s=keto+meal+plans
Too funny! I was actually on this site last night. I follow her on Instagram and she has some of the best ideas for food, and all are pretty easy. This is a good start!0 -
I'm 18 months into this and the biggest challenge for me has been learning to eat due to hunger and not the clock. I generally come home from the gym and have a snack around 11am, so I don't have much of a lunch.
The other thing I've learned is that I naturally gravitate toward protein, so it's not like I need to plan it in my menu - it just happens. Because of this, I make sure breakfast is heavier on the fat or I may overdo protein by the time dinner is done.
I use my macros as guidelines - if I am really hungry at 9pm, I will eat a snack and possibly go over calories or fat grams. If I am not hungry, it's fine to come in UNDER calories and all macros. I now know that my body may be hungrier the following day and I will respond then.0 -
Go through the meal thread that's on here, lots of ideas on what people eat in there!0
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I just went with meats, cheese, eggs and low carb veggies (like spinach), with some snacks like avocado or nuts. I just added a bit of extra fat to some of my cooking and that was it.
No need to get macros right with every meal. As long as carbs are low (below 15g per meal), try to get your basic proteins and fill in the rest with fats. It takes a few days to get a good pattern going, but it falls into place quickly.
For example, If I was having tuna and celery for lunch I would log it before eating, then I might notice that fat was low so I would add a tablespoon of mayo. If you are unsure, try prelogging your meal and then adjust it if it is way off. Give yourself some wiggle room though. My carbs would vary between 5 and 40g with most days being close to 20g carbs. The other macros varied too.
Try not to worry. It will all work out. To be honest, for me, thinking about starting keto was a lot harder than actually doing it.
You are SO right, just starting is making me nervous, but I know once I get a plan mapped out and get organized and just start, it will get much easier. I LOVE your idea of logging you meal first and then seeing what you need to add. I can even just have what I'm having now and remove my carbs, and then see how it flushes out first in MFP and fill with fats til I hit my %. That actually really helps me a ton!
Do make sure you increase sodium to 3000-5000 mg once you start or you'll end up with low electrolytes (aka keto flu) with headaches, fatigue, muscle aches or spasms, and brain fog. Adding broth as a snack or even a teaspoon of salt in water will help make it an easier transition. It sounds like a crazy amount, but it helps. (It took me a couple of weeks of feeling poorly before I would do it. LOL)0
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