30 Day Ketogenic Diet Plan

Hey guys! So I know you’re all looking for something that’s easy to follow and I set out to make something that’s exactly that. A full one month meal plan of the ketogenic diet, the breakdown, the overview, and of course – the meals. Included are all recipes, all breakdowns of final macros, and the daily breakdown of what you should be eating.

Tips Before Starting

Some people don’t believe in counting calories on a ketogenic diet, but I am one of the few that does.

For most normal people, the amounts of fats and protein will be enough to naturally keep you satiated and naturally keep you in a calorie deficit. Though, the average American is not always normal. There’s tons of hormone, endocrine, and deficiency problems that we need to take into account.

That said, it doesn’t always allow you to lose weight when you are consuming more than your own body is expending.

“Macros” is a shortened version of macronutrients. These are the “big 3” – fats, proteins, and carbs. You can use a calculator to find out how much or how little of each you need in order to attain your goals. You can find the calculator on the navigation bar of the site!

A lot of people take their macros as a “set in stone” type of thing. You shouldn’t worry about hitting the mark every single day to the dot. If you’re a few calories over some days, a few calories under on others – it’s fine. Everything will even itself out in the end. It’s all about a long term plan that can work for you, and not the other way around.

I wanted to put it out there that I made this meal plan specifically with women in mind. I took an average of about 150 women and what their macros were. The end result was 1600 calories – broken down into 136g of fat, 74g of protein, and 20g net carbs a day. This is all built around a sedentary lifestyle, like most of us live. If you need to increase or decrease calories, you will need to do that on your own terms.

To increase calories, it’s quite easy – increase the amounts of fat you eat. Olive oil, coconut oil, macadamia nuts, and butter are great ways to increase fats without getting too much of the other stuff in the way. Drizzle it on salads, slather it on vegetables, snack on it, do what you need to do to make it work in your favor!

To decrease calories, you will have to think about what you need. Most likely, you will need less protein as well. So, keep in mind the portions of sizes of meals. Decrease them as you need to, or see fit.

Last, but certainly not least, is sticking to the diet! Ketosis is a process that happens in your body. You can’t just have “that one” cheat meal. If you do, it can hamper progress for up to a week before your body is back in ketosis and normally functioning again.

You want to keep your cheats to none. Be prepared, make sure you’re eating what you need to be satiated (“full”), and make sure you’re satisfied with what you’re eating. If you have to force yourself to eat something, it will never work out in the end. This is just a guideline on how you can eat on a ketogenic diet, so you’re very welcome to change up what kind of foods you eat!

Meal Plan Introduction

I tried to scale the recipes as best as I could in this meal plan, but not every recipe will be scaled, and some recipes will give leftovers. Make sure you look a few days ahead in the meal plan, as some leftovers are used. Freeze things if you have too much leftovers. You can always re-use this food later on!

Some of the food, for example the Not Your Caveman’s Chili, is used in the first week and then again in the last week. You could use the same batch you cook in the first, which not only saves you energy and time, but also saves money. Just freeze it and bring it out to defrost as needed.

I initially intended to keep the net carb count around 20 a day, but it ended up working out even better than that. The 28 day average for the net carbs is 11.2g Net Carbs per day. The total carbs, on average, is 19.6g per day. Even if you’re not counting net carbs, this would be a great way to quickly get yourself into ketosis.

Although I wanted to get as close to the macros as I could, I was off by a little bit. The 28 day average across all days comes out to 1597 Calories – broken down into 136g Fats, 19.6g Carbs, 8.4g Fiber, 11.2g Net Carbs, and 74.9g Protein.

I get many questions about intermittent fasting, the health benefits, the weight loss benefits, and the like. People normally use intermittent fasting for both the energy and mental clarity it can offer. But it’s not just good for that. It can offer breakthroughs of plateaus and even benefits in nutrient uptake in exercise. We go more in depth to intermittent fasting in Week 3 and 4, so keep your eyes peeled!

Now, Week 1’s shopping list is going to be long. I have to make the assumption you have nothing in your house. Many of the items are common items that most people will have already. These are all staples in my everyday cooking for keto, and should be considered an investment for your health. Once you have all of the items from week 1, there won’t be too much else to buy.

As you move on to Week 2 and beyond, take a look ahead. Some of the items you bought in Week 1 will need to be restocked. Whether it’s beef, chicken, or some kind of vegetables. In fact, you’ll be going through a lot of spinach on this meal plan – so make sure you keep your pantry restocked!

The last thing I suggest doing is buying the speciality items prior to needing them. Normally some of these items you can only find online, and by the time you need them, you’ll actually have them. There are no speciality items used in Week 1 for that reason. Make sure you order what you need and have it by the time you need it.

Below, you can find links to the products that I use regularly (and in the meal plan):

Get the 30 Day Ketogenic Diet Plan

Since this is my full-time job, donations really help me keep afloat and allow me to post as much to the website as I do. I really appreciate any donation you want to give, but you can change the price yourself. I’ve added in $15 as the suggested price. I think that’s a very fair price considering other websites are charging in the hundreds of dollars, and I’ve seen what they are like on the inside.

I have put a lot of work into this and revised it many times, but if you want it for $20, $0 or $15, feel free to put whatever you want in the amount! You can always download it for free and if you agree that the quality is worth paying for, come back and give a small donation to help me keep doing what I’m doing.

* You will receive the PDF digital files.

Week 1 & What to Expect

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 to just get rid of your cravings.

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?

The first signs of ketosis are known as the “keto flu” where headaches, brain fogginess, fatigue, and the like can really rile your body up. Make sure that you’re drinking plenty of waterand eating plenty of salt. The ketogenic diet is a natural diuretic and you’ll be peeing more than normal. Take into account that you’re peeing out electrolytes, and you can guess that you’ll be having a thumping headache in no time. Keeping your salt intake and water intake high enough is very important, allowing your body to re-hydrate and re-supply your electrolytes. Doing this will help with the headaches, if not get rid of them completely.

If you need to, drink water with a sprinkling of salt in it. Just keep drinking water (I recommend 4 liters a day), and keep eating salt. It will help, trust me. If you’re worried about high blood pressure and salt, don’t be! Recent studies show that the sodium intake and blood pressure are not as correlated as we so once believed.

Breakfast.

For breakfast, you want to do something that’s quick, easy, tasty, and of course – gives you leftovers. I suggest starting day 1 on a weekend. This way, you can make something that will last you for the entire week. The first week is all about simplicity. Nobody wants to be making breakfast before work, and we’re not going to be doing that either!

Lunch.

We’re also going to keep it simple here. Most of the time, it’ll be salad and meat, slathered in high fat dressings and calling it a day. We don’t want to get too rowdy here. You can use leftover meat from previous nights or use easy accessible canned chicken/fish. If you do use canned meats, try to read the labels and get the one that uses the least (or no) additives!

Dinner.

Dinner will be a combination of leafy greens (normally broccoli and spinach) with some meat. Again, we’ll be going high on the fat and moderate on the protein.

P.S. No dessert for the first 2 weeks.

Week 2 & What to Expect

Wow, week 1 is over. I hope you’re still doing well on the diet and have found it pretty easy breezy to keep on track with everything!

This week we’re going to be keeping it simple for breakfast again. We’re going to introduce ketoproof coffee. It’s a mixture of coconut oil, butter, and heavy cream in your coffee. If this repulses you – and I know some of you are saying “WHAT?” – just put some trust in me!

This concoction is not as strange as it sounds. Butter, after all, is made out of cream. So when you blend the oil, butter, and cream together it just adds a decadent richness to your coffee that I am quite sure you’ll really like!

Breakfast.

For breakfast, we are going to change it up a bit. Here’s where we introduce ketoproof coffee. Now, don’t get me wrong – I know some of you won’t like it. If you’re not a fan of coffee, then try it with tea. If you’re not a fan of the taste (which is very rare), then try making a mixture of the ingredients by themselves and eating it like that. So, why ketoproof coffee?

• Fat Loss. Plain and simple, the consumption of medium-chain triglycerides (MCT) has been shown to lead to greater losses in adipose tissue (fat tissue), in both animals and humans.
• Fats! Do I even need to explain this one? Eating fat has been shown to lead to greater amounts of energy, more efficient energy usage, and more effective weight loss. Not to mention, it’s the main component of this diet.
• More Energy. Studies have shown that the rapid rate of oxidation in MCFAs (Medium Chain Fatty Acids) leads to an increase in energy expenditure. Primarily, MCFAs are converted into ketones (our best friends), are absorbed differently in the body compared to regular oils, and give us more overall energy.

Feel free to add sweetener and spices to this if you’re not the biggest fan of the taste. Cinnamon, stevia, vanilla extract. Whatever you’d like to make it great tasting. You can even switch up the taste each and every day so you don’t get bored!

If this is your first time drinking ketoproof coffee, I suggest taking 1-2 hours or so to drink it down. Normally when people have a large exposure to coconut oil and they’re not used to it, it can make them go to the bathroom quite often. Make sure you build a tolerance to coconut oil before drinking it within a 20 minute time frame.

Lunch.

We’re still keeping simple here. We can incorporate more meat from the previous night of cooking into each lunch we do. Green vegetables and high fat dressings (or vinaigrettes) are key. Making sure to balance out the fats with the amounts of protein is very important.

Dinner.

Dinner, again, will be pretty simplistic. Meats, vegetables, high fat dressings are the center of our life. Maybe even a slathering of butter on our vegetables since we’re getting friskier. Don’t over think things in the first 2 weeks; simple is success.

P.S. No dessert for this week either, but we’ll be delving into that next week!

Week 3 & What to Expect

This week we’re introducing a slight fast. We’re going to get full on fats in the morning and fast all the way until dinner time. Not only are there a myriad of health benefits to this, it’s also easier on our eating schedule (and cooking schedule). I suggest eating (rather, drinking) your breakfast at 7am and then eating dinner at 7pm. Keeping 12 hours between your 2 meals. This will help put your body into a fasted state.

In a fasting state, our bodies can break down extra fat that’s stored for the energy it needs. When we’re in ketosis, our body already mimics a fasting state, being that we have little to no glucose in our bloodstream, so we use the fats in our bodies as energy.

Intermittent fasting is using the same reasoning – instead of using the fats we are eating to gain energy, we are using our stored fat. That being said, you might think it’s great – you can just fast and lose more weight. You have to take into account that later on, you will need to eat extra fat in order to keep out of a starvation mode state.

There are a number of benefits shown that come from intermittent fasting. Some of these include blood lipid levels, longevity, and the much needed mental clarity.

If you find that you can’t do a fast, then no big deal. Go back to week 1 and experiment as you see fit. You can eat what you want as long as it fits into your macros.

This is where things start to get more fun – less to worry about, more deliciousness to cook!

Breakfast.

We’re going full on fats with breakfast, just like we did last week. This time we’ll double the amount of ketoproof coffee (or tea) we drink, meaning we double the amount of coconut oil, butter, and heavy cream. It should come to quite a lot of calories, and should definitely keep us full all the way to dinner. Remember to continue drinking water like a fiend to make sure you’re staying hydrated.

Lunch.

No lunch, oh no! Don’t worry – the fats from the morning should keep you feeling energized and full all the way through lunch. Normally people start hitting a wall at first at around 2pm, so make sure you have plenty of water to drink, drink, and drink.

Dinner.

Well, dinner is staying the same. Meats, vegetables, and fats are almost always going to be the dinnertime norm. But don’t worry – we’ll mix in some bread-y type things!

And guess what, we get to eat dessert this week! Woo! We’ll be creating some low carb and great tasting treats that will reward you ever so much for doing the fasting. Sweets, treats, and losing weight – lucky us, right?

Week 4 & What to Expect

This week we’re getting stricter with our fasting. We had a full week of intermittent fasting and now we’re going to skip breakfast and lunch. Water is our BEST friend here! Don’t forget that you can drink coffee, tea, flavored water, and the like to get your liquids in. Keep drinking to make sure you’re not thinking about your stomach. It MIGHT start growling, just ignore it – your body will adjust with time.

Now, if you’re the kind of person that can’t fast then you can go back and follow week 2 again. That’s no big deal. Though fasting does take some time for the body to get used to, so I suggest putting your best efforts into it. Not only are the health benefits fantastic, the self-control that you gain from doing so is really a great thing.

This is by far my favorite week because it most closely resembles how I eat on a daily basis. I normally set a window of 6 hours for myself to eat in. From waking up until 5pm, I fast. After that, I am open to eating until 11pm. This is where the real fun begins. Eating copious amounts of food and being full all the way through the next day.

You get to start experimenting more with dessert and dinner. You get to snack as you please inside your window and best of all – you get to eat that protein laden chicken that you’ve been missing so much of!

Breakfast.

We’re fasting! Black coffee if you’re a caffeine addict like me. Tea, if you are not into the coffee so much. Tea can add great health benefits like coffee also. Some of the great benefits of green tea are:

• Polyphenols – These function as antioxidants in your body. The most powerful antioxidant in green tea is Epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), which has shown to be effective against fatigue.
• Improved Brain Function – Not only does green tea contain caffeine, it also contains L-theanine, which is an amino acid. L-theanine increases your GABA activity, which improves anxiety, dopamine, and alpha waves.
• Increased Metabolic Rate – Green tea has been shown to improve your metabolic rate. In combination with the caffeine, this can lead up to 15% increased fat oxidization.

Lunch.

Water, water, and then some more water. You don’t get to eat lunch and you don’t get to eat breakfast. So make sure you keep yourself VERY hydrated. It’s imperative here that you do a good job with your hydration. Remember – I recommend 4 liters a day.

Dinner.

Lots and lots of food with dessert to cover the bases! Dinner is a fantastic time for me. I suggest breaking your fast with a small snack, then after 30-45 minutes eat to your hearts content. Normally I need 2 meals to get to my macros, and I think you’ll need to do the same.

Week 5

This is where we have to depart! Sorry to say but you’re on your own. You should have plenty of leftovers that are frozen, ready, and waiting! I know a lot of you out there have trouble with timing and are busy people – so making sure that some nights you make extras to freeze is important. All those leftovers you have in the freezer? Use them up! Create your own meal plan, at first using this as a guide, and then completely doing it yourself. Once you get the hang of it, it’ll be a sinch – I promise you

Get the 30 Day Ketogenic Diet Plan

Since this is my full-time job, donations really help me keep afloat and allow me to post as much to the website as I do. While I do really appreciate any donation you want to give, you can enter $0 in the amount given to download it for free! I’ve added in $5 as the suggested price. I think that’s a very fair price considering other websites are charging in the hundreds of dollars and I’ve seen what they are like on the inside.

I have put a lot of work into this and revised it many times, but if you want it for $5 or $10 or $0, feel free to put whatever you want in the amount – I have no hard feelings! You can always download it for free and if you agree that the quality is worth paying for, come back and give a small donation to help me keep doing what I’m doing.

* You will receive the PDF digital files.

Create Your Own Keto Diet Plan!

You can use my plan as a guideline to help you create something that fits into your life and schedule. Keep in mind that hitting your daily macros is the most important thing when it comes to dieting.

Keep in mind that should usually never go above a 15% calorie deficit (to lose weight) or surplus (to gain muscle).