keto diet

If you don’t have the right mindset coming in, there’s a high chance you are going to fail with your keto diet.

To be fair, if you are mentally unprepared for your weight loss journey, you probably will fail with most other diets. Don’t think that this is limited to keto.

Your lack of mental preparation may mean that you may have certain emotional vulnerabilities which can translate to you getting off your keto diet sooner rather than later.

Thankfully, there are certain strategies that you can use if you have the right mindset. Having the right “weight loss mindset” is essential. It is non-negotiable. There is no getting around it. This is why I suggest that before you go any further, review Chapter 5 thoroughly.

With that said, here are some key strategies that would help you transition to a keto diet and stick with it.

Quick Note

Transitioning to keto is actually easy. Seriously.

When you’re beginning any kind of diet, you would be pumped up. You would be excited about getting started because you know that it benefits a lot of people. You have seen the results other people got so you can’t wait to try it yourself.

Getting started is not the problem. Getting pumped up, getting excited, and getting ready are all awesome. The problem is sticking to it.

This is why you need the right mindset and the right meal plan strategies. Please focus on the following.

Focus on Fatty Food that Fits Your Taste

One of the most commonly recommended high-fat foods for people starting out on keto is avocado. Well, it’s easy to see why avocado is a “usual suspect.” It is high in fiber and it’s loaded with fat. What’s not to love?

The problem is, if you don’t have a particular taste for avocado, it might seem like you are nibbling on a piece of wax. It takes some getting used to. Most people usually mix avocado with something else. Either they turn it into guacamole and enjoy it with Mexican dishes, or they turn it into some sort of ice cream.

Now, you know that on a keto diet, you cannot enjoy regular ice cream. This snack is loaded with sugar and milk, which has lactose. So, you’re stuck with a plain avocado.

There is a workaround to this. Focus on fatty foods that already have the taste profile you already prefer. In other words, stick with what you know.

If you already prefer certain foods like pork rinds or other oily, salty snacks, then load up on them. This is no time to acquire new tastes. The secret to transitioning to keto and sticking with it successfully over a sustained period of time is displacement, not replacement.

When you are trying to discover a new taste or trying to readjust your taste buds to accommodate new tastes, you are replacing. Don’t fool yourself into thinking that you are displacing your old meal plan. No. You are replacing. Bad strategy.

Sooner or later, something will get knocked loose and you will go back to your old eating habits. The better approach is to focus on fatty food that already fits your taste.

The good news is, we already have these. A lot of people who are not on a keto diet think that these are guilty pleasures. They think that they only should eat these dishes or snacks from time to time.

Well, when you switch over to a keto diet, your wish is fulfilled: you can eat those items pretty much every day. Isn’t that good news?

Focus on fatty foods that already have the taste profile you desire.

Shoot to Feel Fuller for a Longer Period of Time

When you eat anything throughout the day, eat strategically. Say to yourself, “When I load up on this type of food, is it going to fill me up for a longer period of time?”

If you don’t know what I’m getting at, think about the times when you used to eat apples as snacks. Sure, apples are light snacks, they’re loaded with vitamins, but sooner rather than later, you’re going to get hungry again. This is due to the fact that apples have sugar.

Now, if you replace apples with chocolate bars or candy bars or cookies, the same thing applies, but on a worse scale. You find yourself snacking throughout the day because of your blood sugar’s roller coaster ride.

Once you switch over to a keto system, be strategic about what you eat. When you displace that apple with, let’s say, a teaspoon of cream cheese, you feel fuller longer because the oil in your system is processed by your body differently. Your body sends different hunger signals to your brain and vice versa when you’re eating fatty foods.

This is why it’s crucial that you be as strategic as possible in your snacks. Instead of just grabbing anything to snack on, eat macadamia nuts. Those things are loaded with oil and your body can definitely tell. You feel fuller for a longer period of time.

Eventually Cut Out All Soda

By “all,” I mean all.

A lot of people are thinking, “Well, I can go on a keto diet and cut out regular soda and hang on to diet drinks.” These are soft drinks that are advertised as zero calories.

Well, first of all, they are not zero calories. Under US labeling guidelines, they contain few enough calories that they can be passed on as “zero calorie drinks.” But they are not zero calories.

Also, recent studies have shown that people who drink diet colas actually have a shorter life expectancy. I know, it’s shocking. It definitely shocked me. In fact, I got so stunned I swore off all sodas across the board.

It doesn’t matter whether they are regular soda loaded with sugar, or high fructose corn syrup and other nasty junk, or they are the zero-calorie or low-calorie variety, I’m completely off them. And I suggest you do the same.

I understand that if you drink a lot of soda, it’s going to be very hard to go cold turkey. Believe me, I can empathize. It took me a few false starts myself to finally get off the soda train.

This is why it’s a good idea to follow one of the principles that I have laid out in Chapter 6: displace, do not replace.

In accordance with this piece of advice, eventually, cut out all soda. The key here is “eventually.” This means that you have to start today.

It doesn’t have to be bold. It doesn’t have to be dramatic. You’re not trying to impress anybody, you’re not trying to be a hero, but you have to start today and gradually cut down.

If you do it gradually, it’s actually much easier than you care to realize. But if you were to go cold turkey, that’s going to be a little bit of a problem because of the dynamics that I have described earlier in this book.

Your body will put up a fight. Your body is used to doing things a certain way. Your body has grown accustomed to certain patterns, and believe me, it’s going to push back.

Sooner or later, you will find yourself doing the same things as before. Before you know it, you will be eating the same stuff as before.

So, don’t do things that way. There’s no need for some sort of black and white change.

Again, you’re not trying to impress anybody. You’re not trying to put on a show. Instead, you want to adopt something that will stick.

Eventually Cut Out Grain-Based Snacks

Let me be completely honest with you. One of the biggest hassles with adopting a keto diet involves snacks.

A lot of the snacks available out there are grain-based. It doesn’t matter what you’re into. Maybe you’re into corn chips, corn flakes, puffed snacks, rice cakes, potato chips, the whole nine yards.

When you look at the common laundry list of snack items in the United States and elsewhere, they have one common denominator, for the most part. I am, of course, talking about grains.

It doesn’t matter whether that grain is rice or corn, or it involves a starchy vegetable like potato. They’re all loaded with starch. They’re all off limits to you if you switch to a keto diet.

This is why it’s a good idea to eventually cut down on grain-based snacks as you load up on fatty nuts like walnuts or macadamia.

Peanuts are off limits. Peanuts are not going to get you to where you want to go as far as your keto diet is concerned. Stick to high fat “bombs” like macadamia and walnuts.

This is a little bit tricky because, normally, macadamia nuts and walnuts are often packaged with chocolate or something sweet. You’re going to have to make the adjustment to these nuts in their pure form.

The good news is that you probably already have a taste for them if you have had macadamia and walnuts as part of some sort of mixed nuts package. Load up on these.

Slowly Cut Out Milk-Based Snacks

Milk is a very touchy subject for a lot of people. A lot of individuals switching over to keto can easily make do without soda. Many are able to make the transition to a grain-free snack system with very little resistance. The problem is, once they try to cut out milk and dairy-based products, that’s when they get a little antsy.

This is why I suggest that you slowly cut down. I’m not talking about eventually, I’m not talking about a fast withdrawal system, but just slowly cut out milk-based snacks and meal items.

It really all boils down to pacing yourself in line with your changing tastes. This is definitely not something that you can rush.

Keep the meal plan strategies above in mind. Make sure you try all of them. If you’re having a tough time with one, keep at it.

Again, there’s no need to be a hero. There’s no need to just take one giant leap. You’re not trying to prove anything to anybody.

What’s important here is that you’re able to stick to the changes that you have made. A little bit of incremental change can go a long way.

Some people adjust very quickly. Others need a little bit more time. Just figure out which one you are and just stick to the plan of action.

Eventually, your body will get used to it. Eventually, your taste buds will adjust.

I don’t know many diets you’ve been through, but let me tell you, if you don’t have the right mindset, chances are you’re not going to succeed. In fact, if you’re like most people, your experience will fit a very familiar pattern. First, you’re all excited about the diet and sure enough, you follow the directions very closely.

Thanks to your careful dietary guidelines, and your eager compliance, you start losing a lot of pounds. So far so good, right? This keeps up for maybe a few more days or even a few more weeks. But sooner or later, the pounds start coming back.

Next, things go from bad to worse. You start gaining more weight than when you began your diet. Isn’t the whole point of going on a diet to lose weight? Sadly, most diets are gateways, believe it or not, to additional weight; talk about a frustrating situation.

The reason why people go through this all too familiar tragic pattern is because they don’t have the right mindset. It doesn’t matter whether you are trying to adopt the keto diet, the paleo diet, the Atkins diet, the Ornish, or any other loss program, without the right mindset, you are playing the game to lose.

At the very least, you should adopt three basic mindsets that will ensure keto diet success.

Mindset #1 : Assume that you can do it

It’s very easy to get excited about the testimonials included in many diet books. You look at the before-and-after pictures and you and you get all pumped up. Please understand that a lot of those pictures are exaggerated. In fact, a lot of books that are very shady even use photoshopped pictures.

I know it’s shocking. I know that it’s hard to believe that people would actually do that, but they do. So a little bit of skepticism goes a long way. Still, don’t just focus on the fact that the diet can work for other people. Instead, wrap your mind around the possibility that the diet can actually work for you.

That’s right, you personally, individually. If you can’t understand that, and if you can’t accept the likelihood of a certain weight-loss program waiting for you, then you’re making things much harder on yourself. It’s like trying to play basketball and trying to put the ball through the hoop.

If in the back of your head you’re saying to yourself, “Other people can shoot really well, but not me,” what do you think will happen? You’re shooting accuracy will go down. You’re sabotaging yourself. You’re making things unnecessarily harder on yourself.

This is why it’s really important to assume that you can achieve success with the keto diet. Not the case study pictures, not the people giving testimonials, we are talking about you. If you can’t make this assumption, then it’s going to be a rough road ahead for you.

Mindset #2 : Begin with what you have

One common reason why people fail with diets is because they think that they have to transform into a completely different person. Alternatively, they believe that their circumstances or their situations need to change so dramatically so as to ensure success.

When people think along these lines, they’re basically just giving themselves excuses for either not trying, or for expecting bad results. Believe me, I can understand why people do this. If you have been let down by diet after diet, it’s very easy to become jaded.

In fact, in many cases, it’s very easy to expect failure. After all, you’ve gone through the familiar process of initially losing weight, and then getting it all back. It becomes an old story, and it’s only a matter of time until your heart gets broken again.

This is why you think that you should change everything that you can possibly change, to lay the groundwork for ultimate success. Again, you’re making things unnecessarily harder on yourself. It doesn’t have to be like this. You don’t have to move heaven and earth to create optimal conditions.

You know why? Conditions are never perfect. There will never be a time when your circumstances will be just right for you to ensure success. You’re going to have to take that risk. You’re going to have to begin with what you have.

It doesn’t matter what discipline level you have. It doesn’t matter what else is going on in your life. It doesn’t matter whether you feel good about yourself. All that matters is that you are ready, willing and able to begin with what you have and assume that this will work for you.

Mindset #3 : Enjoy your food according to rules you choose

Another key “pillar” for keto diet success involves the issue of control. A lot of people fail with diets because they think that they are putting some sort of dietary straitjacket on themselves. For instance, they don’t normally like a certain taste, but since they’re switching over to a new diet, they force themselves to like a certain range of flavors.

Let me tell you, it’s only a matter of time until your old self rears its ugly head. It’s only a matter time until you go back to how you normally eat. This is a very frustrating situation. It’s as if you are doing really well, and you’re making all these changes, and all of a sudden your old self pulls you back. You end up where you began.

This is why it’s really important to focus on enjoying your food. This is not an ordeal. This is not some sort of punishment. This is not some sort of situation where you feel that you are denying yourself. Instead, the keto diet should be a celebration of taste. It all really boils down to enjoying your food according to keto rules.

You have to first choose the keto rules. You have to first choose to go on the diet, and then you select based on your existing tastes. There’s no need to become somebody else. There’s no need to change your taste buds. There’s no need to go through any of that. Instead, allow yourself to enjoy the flavor range that you are already enjoying.

Now here’s the thing, even if you have a sweet tooth, you’re going to have to minimize that. That’s the only change, but for everything else, whether you like sour foods, salty foods, or definitely fatty foods, you should be fine. But as long as you manage your sweet tooth, you should be okay.

Keep atop the mindsets above if you want to be successful with the keto diet. I’m not going to lie you and say that you can adopt these mindsets overnight. After all, the way you see things, and the way you expect things to play out, have been with you for a long time. You’ve grown accustomed to thinking about food a certain way.

But if you change your mindset according to the 3 key pillars above, adopting the keto diet will become easier, and it is more likely to stick.