A keto meal plan is your key to success on the ketogenic diet. Knowing which foods to eat (and which to avoid), meal prepping, and following a ketogenic guidelines will help you reach your macro goals and stay in ketosiss.
This guide offers a sample one-week keto meal plan — perfect for your first week on keto. Feel free to follow it to the letter or tailor it to your individual goals.
Before you dive into the meals, review how to calculate your macros and which foods are keto-friendly. This will set you set you up for success after your initial week on the keto diet.
Which Version of Keto Should You Follow?
Why do you want to start a ketogenic diet and follow a keto meal plan? Do you want to finally lose the stubborn excess body weight you’ve been lugging around? Are you looking for better mental clarity and more energy? Or will you be using a ketogenic diet for more specific health benefits, such as lowering your blood sugar, blood pressure, or decreasing your risk of type 2 diabetes?
Your approach to keto will differ depending upon your individual goals. Below are a few common keto objectives, and the keto diet
type best suited for accomplishing each.
For Fat Loss and Overall Health: Standard Ketogenic Diet
The standard ketogenic diet (SKD) is the most common approach to keto, and the most highly recommended method for beginners. Those who follow SKD are typically looking to achieve weight loss or fat loss. You might also be looking to improve certain symptoms related to depression and mental health, inflammation, and cholesterol levels.
The basic rules for SKD are:
Limit your carb intake to 20-50 grams of net carbs per day
Consume moderate amounts of protein
Consume high amounts of fat
An intake of 30 grams of net carbohydrates or less will typically induce ketosis.
For Improved Workout Performance: Targeted Ketogenic Diet
The targeted ketogenic diet (TKD) is ideal for maintaining exercise performance, and therefore best for athletes or those who maintain a high activity level. How does it work? TKD allows for glycogen resynthesis without interrupting ketosis for extended periods of time.
To follow TKD, use these guidelines:
Consume 25-50 grams of carbs per day
Consume highly digestible carbs 30 minutes to one hour prior to exercise
Consume high amounts of fats and moderate amounts of protein
For Bodybuilders or Athletes: Cyclical Ketogenic Diet
The cyclical ketogenic diet (CKD) involves alternating days of strict keto and high-carb consumption. For example, a week on CKD would involve eating 20-50 grams of carbs for five consecutive days, then eating a high-carb diet (over 100 grams per day) for two days.
For Those Who Need More Protein: High-Protein Ketogenic Diet
If you lift four times or more per week, you might require more protein in your keto meal plan. While the standard ketogenic diet typically limits protein intake to 20% of total calories, the high protein ketogenic diet (HPKD) allows 35% of total calories come from protein.
To follow HPKD, try this:
Consume 35% of total calories from protein
Consume 60% of total calories from fat
Consume 5% of total calories from net carbs
Calculate Your Macronutrients
Macronutrient ratios are very important on a ketogenic diet. You’ll eat plenty of healthy fats and protein, while your total carb intake will be kept to a minimum. The macro ratios on a low-carb, high-fat diet typically look like this (for simplicity’s sake, the following percentages are based on the standard ketogenic diet approach):
High fat: 70-80% of your calories
Moderate protein: 20-25%
Low carb: 5-10%
Start by using our keto macro calculator here to help you determine what and how much of each category to eat based on your specific body composition and lifestyle.
You’ll have a rough estimate of how many grams of fat, protein and carbs your meals need to cover over the course of one day.
Plan Your Meals
Now that you’ve calculated your macros, pick one day each week to sit down and and create your keto meal plan for the next seven days. Your first week on the keto diet is covered below, but after that you’ll want to check the
recipes on the Perfect Keto add them to your repertoire so you’re never bored.
If you stumble on a recipe without a macro count, you can enter the ingredients in a diet app like KetoDietApp or MyFitnessPal to get the macros and calorie count of any meal without any complicated math equation.
If you come across other recipes you’d like to use, follow the keto diet cheat sheet at the end of this guide or use the keto diet foods list to map out your keto meal plan. Before you go grocery shopping, consider downloading the Perfect Keto grocery list.
When organizing your keto meal plan for the week, consider the following:
How many people in your home will be eating the meals? (This will determine how many servings you need to make.)
Do you want to make enough for leftovers the next day?
How do you want to structure each day? Do you plan to eat breakfast every morning? Or will you fast through. breakfast and only eat lunch and dinner?
Once your meals are planned out, make a shopping list with the ingredients you’ll need for each meal and head out to the store.
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