Keto Diet - Intro

Welcome to Simply Fat Fueled!

Simply said: The Ketogenic Diet is a low-carb high-fat diet. What does that mean? It means you can lose weight without starving yourself and use your own body fat as energy (hence "fat fueled").  

If you're like me, you've done the research, tried to wrap your head around it all, and have more questions than answers...How many carbs can I eat? What do I set my macros at? What are macros? How much fat do I have to eat? Do I need carbs for energy? On and on and on....and trust me, I know how difficult it can in the beginning. 

I first discovered the Keto diet about 2 years ago and spent the next several months researching the "correct" way to do the diet - without actually starting the diet! I was afraid of the amount of fat I needed to eat. Confused by macros. Worried about the infamous keto flu and come to find out...I was over-thinking the entire process! I wish I had just started the diet and worked out the kinks along the way. The reality is, you're going to make mistakes.  Especially in the beginning. So the best advice I can give someone thinking about starting the keto diet is to just START! 

I fell of the wagon for the holidays and restarted the diet this past week so the entire beginner experience is fresh in my mind. My goal is to document my experience along with what I'm eating from week to week and answer some of those lingering questions along the way. Full disclosure - I hate cooking! So don't expect to see fancy meals but I will document what I eat. I'm also tracking body weight, body fat percentage and body measurements each week and will share those with you guys as well. I'm tracking my food on MyFitnessPal (find me at SimplyFatFueled) and setting my macros at 75-80% Fat; 15-20% Protein and 5-10% Carbs - I'll go into more detail on macros and how to set your macros on MyFitnessPal in a later blog. I'm aiming to reach 20% body fat and will be tracking my body fat percentage using the super accurate **sarcasm** Fitbit Aria. The Aria does give you a rough estimate of your body fat percentage but I've literally seen the body fat percentage fluctuate an entire percent within minutes of stepping on the scale. If you don't have an Aria (or other brand of scale that gives a body fat %), no worries! You can do a simple google search for body fat percentage and there are several images that show a body type and what the body fat percentage looks like. When comparing, I clearly fit within the 30-35% image. So the Aria isn't that far off.

Below are my current body stats at Day 1:

Height: 5'7"
Starting Weight: 151 lbs
Body Fat %: 34%
Waist: 32.5 inches
Hips: 40.5 inches
Chest: 35.5 inches
Thighs: 23 inches  

Stay tuned for my next blog: The Keto Flu

Leave any questions in the comments below and I'll either answer directly or incorporate your question in a future blog post. 

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