Nathan’s Keto Crash Course

Let’s get fat-adapted, baby!


Step 1: Write about your “why”

The first step in any life change is to decide to make that change in the first place. Why do you want to make a change? What exactly do you want from this change? What are you willing to give up? What are you looking to gain? How does this change align with other areas of your life? What would your life look like if you don’t make this change and just continue on your current path?

I suggest taking 10 minutes and writing in a private journal about why you’re looking to change up your lifestyle. I’d also recommend writing about what it would mean to you to complete your goal. For me, it was about finally revealing to myself and the world the body that I’ve always known was there, but hidden under years of neglect and passivity. What is your goal? How will you feel if you achieve it? Get in touch with these thoughts, as they will be your main propellant in the next steps.

Step 2: Do your research (subscribe to /r/keto)

For me, it’s always a plus to research something before taking action. For Keto, there is a wealth of information out in the world for you to peruse.

Really what’s valuable at this stage is to ingrain within yourself the belief that this will work. Check out the Keto subreddit and read folks’ success stories (there are a lot of them). Read about fat-adaption, about electrolytes, about glycemic response and glycemic index. Get all up in there and make yourself at home. Like with anything, there are many people that have blazed a trail ahead, and you can use their experience to your benefit.

For those that don’t have the time to dive deep right now, I’ll give you the broadest strokes possible here:

  • Carbs are bad for the body and if eaten in excess, like in the Standard American Diet (SAD), carbs can contribute significantly to an increase in body fat and a reduction in insulin sensitivity (a pre-diabetic condition).

  • Keto works by putting your body into ketosis, which changes your body’s source of energy from carbs and sugar to fat.

  • You get into ketosis by limiting your carb intake to under 20 grams of net carbs (total carbs - dietary fiber) per day.

  • As long as you stay in ketosis, your body will use its stored fat as energy, burning it off.


Step 3: Arm thyself

Okay, so we’ve written down why we want to change and what we’re willing to give up. We’re stocked up on information and are ready to pull the trigger and start our new lifestyle. Let’s get to it!

Learn your macros

One of the first steps is to get granular about what your macronutrient goals should be. Keto functions by the means of both calorie restriction and carbohydrate restriction, but there’s more to it. What’s really going on is a delicate balance of overall macronutrients that bring about the metabolic state of ketosis, which is the main proponent of weight loss. In order for things to go right, your macros must be in balance.

To get an idea of what your macro goals should be, use the TDEE/Macro tool here: Keto Macro Calculator

Once you get your macro goals, write them down somewhere, or even better, configure a food-logging app to help keep track. MyFitnessPal is the predominant food-logging app out there today, but I prefer Carb Manager because of its built-in net carb calculations (whereas MyFitnessPal doesn’t subtract fiber from total carbs).

Note: it’s also good form to recalculate your macros every 3 months or so as you lose weight.

Decide how you’ll track progress

It’s critical to track progress when moving towards a new goal. However, everybody’s different, and the scale might not be everyone’s favorite tracking method. That’s cool, there are many ways to measure success.

For my progress-tracking I chose a digital bathroom scale and the Happy Scale app. I felt motivated to see numbers get smaller, but the scale can be both a source of motivation and positivity as well as of demotivation and negativity. That’s why it’s important to keep a running average as your source of truth when it comes to the scale. Happy Scale is an app that helps to average out daily weigh-ins so your perception of your weight isn’t so wildly thrown off by one heavy day or one light day. If you use a scale to track progress, don’t do it without Happy Scale, or at least a spreadsheet that keeps track of your 7-day average.

Otherwise, your clothes can be a great indicator of progress if you’re feeling wary about the scale. Pants fitting looser, shirts becoming too big, anything that shows you that it’s working can be helpful. Maybe even leaning into taking pictures of yourself at regular intervals to see the progress over time. Trust me, you’ll want some kind of record to gawk at when you’ve reached your goal.

It’s important to be honest when tracking. If you don’t log what you’re eating, how will you know if you’re missing the mark? If you’re not logging your weight accurately, how will you know if it’s working? Just be honest with yourself when tracking so you can know when to make changes to the plan if need be. Without the honesty, you’re flying blind, and you are robbing yourself of a valuable learning opportunity. After all, when you’re “cheating” on a diet, you’re the only one getting harmed.

Throw away (or eat) the carb content in your home

When I started Keto, I found it important to just go full-on, immediate change. Knowing myself, I knew that if there were sugary things in my pantry, I would be too tempted. So I threw out all the food in my home that didn’t align with my new dietary regime. Yes, it’s a waste of money, but it’s worth it to purge your home of the food that’s holding you back. If you can’t stomach the financial implications, then just eat the rest of the carbs in your home and don’t replace them once they’re done.



Step 4: Keto-fy your kitchen

Now that you’ve decided your target macros, thrown out your carby foods, and armed yourself with a food-tracking tool and a method of quantifying progress, you’re ready to go get your food.

This is actually the easy part, because of the nutrition facts on each package of food at the store. Remember, you’re trying to hit lower than 20g of net carbs per day, so it’s in your best interest to stock up on either carb-less or low-carb foods. That way you can eat freely without worrying about kicking yourself out of ketosis.

Plan a trip to the supermarket and leave yourself plenty of time to read a bunch of nutrition labels. If it’s low-carb, grab it! Here’s what my typical haul looks like:

  • Deli meat, smoked sausages, poultry, steak, rotisserie chicken

  • Different forms of cheese; string cheese, parmesan, american cheese, cheese crisps

  • Almonds, almond butter, pecan butter

  • Salad greens, avocados, peppers

  • Eggs, heavy cream

  • Keto-friendly protein bars (a lot of these use sugar alcohols, which can also be subtracted from the total carbs in the net carbs calculation), really dark chocolate

  • Chicharrones, gluten-free crackers (for that crunch factor)

  • Coconut oil, full-fat dressings like blue cheese, ranch, caesar, butter

I find it important to feel like I’m spoiling myself with the foods I buy. After all, if eating on Keto is drudgery for me, then why would I continue? If I didn’t like the food, I’d just give up and go back to carbs. I’ve spent time in the supermarket just looking at labels and figuring out which foods I like and can eat on Keto. Have your own little exploration! You’ll hit your stride with a little trial and error.




Step 5: Trust the process

Once you’ve done all the above, it’s time to just do the work. Trust me, it’ll work, you just have to keep at it and not lose faith. You won’t lose weight overnight, but as you continue to track your macros and your weight every day, you’re going to notice that you’re making progress.

Over the span of my Keto journey, I’ve lost 80 pounds (so far), and have really enjoyed cutting carbs out of my life. Without carbs, I find I don’t really get hungry as often. I find that I have more energy. And most importantly, I feel more comfortable in my body. Enjoy the process! You’ll always remember this positive step you chose to take for the sake of your body and your health.

Trusting the process is all about pushing forward despite the natural reservations one might have about the potential for success. It will work if you want it to. If you’re not seeing the scale move, trust the process. If you hit a setback, trust the process and get back to it.

And to speak to setbacks, I’ve had many moments in which I’ve eaten something that I knew was loaded with sugar or carbs, kicking myself out of ketosis. The natural inclination at that point is to immediately feel ashamed, feel regret, feel like a failure, and I’ve been there. But what’s most important is not one item here or there, it’s the composition of the majority of the food you’re eating. If you’re eating Keto for the whole week and then have a cupcake at a friend’s party on the weekend, that’s really not going to make a dent in the trend line, if you will. Just enjoy the cupcake and at the next opportunity, just get back on the Keto train. Don’t beat yourself up, you’re only human.

The most important thing to remember when it comes to setbacks is that you can bounce right back. If you’ve broken Keto, don’t beat yourself up over it. Just get back on Keto and trust the process.




Remember, you can do this! And if you have any questions along the way, feel free to reach out to me. I’ll try and answer your questions as best I can.