The most beneficial level of fat to consume on a ketogenic diet is a range unique to each person. It's best to consider your total caloric target and then determine your fat macros from there.
The general target on a ketogenic diet is to eat 75% fat, 15% protein, and 5% carbohydrates. However, a variety of health and lifestyle factors can impact the best keto-based macros needed to achieve your personal goals.
More than obsessing over fat intake as is the case in most any other diet, commit to a new mindset around the true purpose of food as fuel more than a source of comfort and determine the best times to consume specific foods based on your energy needs.
Asking how much fat to eat on a ketogenic diet begs the mention of the significant mindset shift required to succeed on a ketogenic diet.
Our mental assumptions about fat aren't our fault, though, the 'powers that be' taught us to fear all forms of dietary fat.
Don't get us wrong; the ideal amount of fat to eat does come into play in your keto protocol, especially if the goal is to release body fat or build lean muscle mass.
However, the most critical elements to consider when consuming fat is eating high-quality fats, especially from whole-food sources, and only eating until satiated.
Why Eat a High-Fat Diet?
The most obvious reason to eat high-quality fat is that it's delicious, but the health benefits of enjoying healthy fats are as formidable as quality fatty food's undeniable flavor.
Whether fish seared in the best quality grapeseed oil and grass-fed butter, along with a bouquet of fresh herbs and kosher salt, or whipping up the delightful and intriguing treat that is the avocado and chocolate mousse—high fat is the best approach to stay feeling full while burning body fat.
Here's a list of the most common benefits to eating fat as opposed to carbs for fuel and benefiting from the metabolic state of ketosis:
- Effortless appetite suppression
- Increased rates of initial weight loss
- Elevated rates of abdominal fat loss
- Significant improvement in triglyceride levels
- Notable increases in HDL ('good') cholesterol levels
- Reduced blood sugar and better-regulated insulin levels
- Helps lower blood pressure
- Prevents metabolic syndrome
- Improved LDL ('bad') cholesterol levels
- Provides therapeutic benefits for many neurological disorders (e.g., epilepsy, autism, Alzheimer's disease, dementia, et al.)
Using Fat for Satiation
If we had to guess, desire and will are only a portion of what's required to achieve and maintain weight-loss success.
If eating becomes a battle between an ideal dress size, or image of yourself, and a voracious appetite due to drastic caloric restriction, and subsequent spikes in cravings, long-term success is unlikely.
Now, flip the scarcity and starvation model for weight loss reinforced to the masses for years about how to lose weight and consider embracing an incredibly practical approach that banishes hunger and tastes so good that you'll wonder why you waited so long to begin.
While much chatter for the past couple of decades asserts that eating fat makes you fat, thousands of our dedicated and successful Konscious Keto warriors beg to differ.
It's incredible to witness thousands of like-minded people just like us finally connect with the dietary approach that changes everything for the better, without sacrificing anything.
So many moms, sisters, friends, teachers, and others have connected with us to share their journey as they follow our proven keto weight-loss systems. Honestly, the testimonies have been amazing!
Many of our committed keto enthusiasts have found a viable and enjoyable approach to sustainable weight loss for the first time with the low-carb, high-fat, ketogenic diet, and we love nothing more than hearing each and every success story.
The opportunity to learn more about those who have achieved overwhelming levels of success within the Konscious Keto community is part of what drives us to bring you the best quality products and information available to aid you in your keto journey, as well.
May a story shared on our exclusive Facebook group resonate with your journey and serve as a point of inspiration. Link up with us here.
Increase Fat as Your Body Fat Decreases
Eat fat, get fat, was once the mantra, and then came the keto protocol and the canceling of so many outdated and incorrect dietary guidelines that were keeping us sick, fat, and unnecessarily dependent on long-term care to manage chronic conditions.
Again, this area is nuanced and will vary from person to person. Once in ketosis, your body primarily relies on fat for fuel. So, the body will deplete ingested forms of fat and then move to stored body fat to burn for a bioavailable form of premium energy.
Continue to release body fat, consume more healthy fat, especially preceding intense activity, and this approach may prove helpful to keep performance levels high as you lean out without the need for excessive exercise.
Our bodies can derive energy from endogenous body fat, fat on our bodies, or exogenous forms of healthy fat that we consume.
So, if you've dropped weight, especially if you're exercising frequently, possibly accelerating fat loss, you may need to increase fat consumption to stay satiated and energized.
Why Am I Not Losing Weight?
A stall in weight loss could be the result of many factors. Although eating an abundance of fat on a ketogenic diet is the goal, consuming fat to the point of creating a caloric surplus can cause a weight-loss plateau.
Although a high-fat diet that omits carbohydrates is a virtually effortless approach to lose fat, please keep in mind that a caloric deficit to produce weight loss is still required.
Concentrate your macros toward consuming the highest quality forms of carb-free fats and protein within your budget and then rely on the appetite-suppressing effect of ketosis to curb overall food intake.
A weight-loss stall can feel frustrating and even isolating, but many keto dieters face the same challenges on the plan, and we've helped them overcome the most common setbacks people face.
We've dedicated a detailed article outlining the most common reasons why people face weight-loss stalls or plateaus on keto.
Click here to read the entire article.
When to Eat a High-Protein Keto Diet
A standard ketogenic diet suggests eating a moderate amount of protein. But elevating protein consumption can prove beneficial when eating alternative versions of a ketogenic diet—especially for athletes or a woman who's pregnant or breastfeeding.
Also, when eating a ketogenic diet and very active, or lifting to amass lean muscle, adding additional protein portions to your diet can help with bulking up and recovery.
Plus, if pregnant or breastfeeding, additional protein can act as a fantastic brain and muscle-building agent for mom and baby.
Get This Keto Weight Loss Meal Plan
There are a variety of approaches to the ketogenic diet, and it's essential to identify which works best for you.
After coaching and rejoicing with thousands of folks who have trusted the Konscious Keto meal plans, we are confident that we can assist anyone looking to change their life while following a ketogenic diet.
We've put together a quick quiz that provides a personalized keto weight-loss meal plan for all our folks looking to get started on keto.
Click here to access your customized meal plan.
Designed to Satiate Your Cravings
Don't believe the hype of the past two decades; fat is fantastic. Eating a high-fat, low-carb diet is even, again, shown to help naturally suppress the appetite and aid in effortless weight loss after all.
Plus, the formerly popular idea that fat makes you fat is so far from the truth. Eating high-quality fat is not what many coming from a Western eating style would deem healthy.
Still, it is an excellent way to create or maintain a lean physique, along with providing many other health benefits.
Most diets are hard to maintain because they require drastic calorie restriction, force us to eat foods we don't like and operate at a snail's pace in terms of results on the scale.
In contrast, the foods encouraged on a ketogenic diet are filled with healthy and satiating fats and are never, ever, boring.
Here are some of the best keto-friendly foods to add to your low-carb, high-fat, diet to make sure your taste buds and satiety catered to:
- Grass-fed butter
- Cheese
- Heavy cream
- Bacon
- Grass-fed beef
- Fish and other seafood (e.g., salmon, monkfish, lobster, shrimp, crab meat, mackerel, et al.)
- Dark leafy greens (e.g., spinach, kale, mustard greens, etc.)
- Mushrooms
- Zucchini
- Cucumber
- MCT oil
- Ghee
- Grapeseed oil
- Avocado oil
Calorie-Controlled for Weight Loss
Eating a lot of fat is essential on a ketogenic diet, but creating a caloric deficit, especially if you want to lose weight, is equally important.
The bonus we get with the ketogenic diet is that the healthy fat we get to consume every day naturally makes us eat less without even trying.
Starting keto is such an excellent time to eat at will and enjoy lots of fatty food. Counting calories is best for some, especially if bingeing is an issue.
Still, most find they lose weight initially by simply removing carbs and adding in a variety of keto-friendly foods while eating intuitively.
However, if you find the scale stalling or are otherwise not seeing desired results on keto, you may want to return to the stricter form of counting calories and weighing food until things start moving in the right direction again.
Accountability in Stress-Free Meal Ideas
Eating well while minding ketogenic guidelines is a matter of importance on the minds of most followers, especially when getting started and becoming fat-adapted.
While weighing food and pre-packaging perfectly-portioned meals is a way to stay accountable regarding caloric intake. Still, this effort is unnecessary for most once adjusted to the eating protocol and well fat-adapted.
It's kind of pointless to cheat when you have a solid meal plan loaded with delectable and low-carb meals, and there is an idea at your fingertips within your customized meal plan for every craving you could imagine—that tastes as decadent as it's a high-carb counterpart.
The ketogenic diet is loaded with so many dietary options to enjoy, and we suggest trying them all!
Stick to a customized meal plan tailored to achieve your goals, eat high-quality fat and protein, and limit the carbs and refined sugars, and you'll soon discover the ideal fat macros to support your personal health goals.
Sources
- Zulpa, A. (2016). The Ketosis Diet: Ketogenic diet tips made simple. Newark, DE: Speedy Publishing.
- Ashworth, G. (2019). She does keto: the complete ketogenic diet for women. Berkeley, CA: Rockridge Press.
- Noll, M. (2016). Ketogenic diet dos and dont's for beginners: how to lose weight and feel amazing. Lexington, KY: Mathew Noll.
- Baker, S. (2019). Keto diet for beginners intermittent fasting Mediterranean diet 3 in 1: essential and definitive weight loss guide for women and men, new mini healthy habits, ketogenic lifestyle, and reverse disease. Place of publication not identified: publisher not identified.
- Baker, S. (2019). Keto diet for beginners intermittent fasting Mediterranean diet 3 in 1: essential and definitive weight loss guide for women and men, new mini healthy habits, ketogenic lifestyle, and reverse disease. Place of publication not identified: publisher not identified.
- Abbasi, J. (2018). Interest in the Ketogenic Diet Grows for Weight Loss and Type 2 Diabetes. Jama, 319(3), 215. doi: 10.1001/jama.2017.20639