7 Day Keto Meal Plan for Weight Loss

- Written by Crystal Schlegelmilch on February 20th 2016

The ketogenic diet is a low carb, moderate protein, and high fat diet that research suggests may be effective in preventing epileptic seizures, treating diabetes, and promoting weight loss. Unlike, say, the Atkins diet, a ketogenic or "keto" diet doesn't depend on a list of allowed or forbidden foods, nor does it advise increasing the amount of carbs you consume from one stage to another. Instead, it focuses on finding the ideal ratio of macronutrients to create ketosis in the body, and to maintain this ketosis to manage disease and control weight.

Since a ketogenic diet can be beneficial for those looking to lose weight, we have put together a 7 day ketogenic meal plan for weight loss to make it a little easier to get started (or to keep going!) In case you're new to keto, though, let me give you a brief explanation of how it works.

What is ketosis?

During digestion, carbohydrates are broken down into glucose, the usual source of energy for the brain and central nervous system. When there is not enough glucose available due to low carbohydrate consumption, the body must find an alternative energy source and breaks down fat for energy instead. This process produces molecules called "ketones" which serve as the body's new fuel. "Ketosis" is the name given to the state in which the body has an increased level of ketones in the blood.

How many carbs on a ketogenic diet?

A ketogenic diet often has the following macronutrient breakdown: 60-75% calories from fat, 15-30% calories from protein, and 5-10% calories from carbs. Typically, consuming less than 50 grams of carbohydrates per day is enough to achieve ketosis, but some studies on the effectiveness of ketogenic diets have further limited daily carbohydrate consumption to less than 20 grams of carbs daily.

Some keto followers take the Atkins approach and concentrate on net carbohydrates, that is, grams of total carbohydrate minus grams of fiber. This is a somewhat controversial approach, since the term "net carbs" is happily used (and likely abused) by food manufacturers to create an array of products rich in total carbohydrates, but low in net carbs. If you avoid such processed foods, though, net carbs could be a good solution for you. (Note: we have nothing against the occasional convenience food. Quest bars? My guilty pleasure.)

Our Keto Meal Plan

For our ketogenic diet meal plan, we do not exceed 20 grams of net carbs per day, and total carbohydrate ranges from 23-36 grams.

The calorie counts are on the low side, between 1300-1700 calories per day. Though this could be effective for a keto meal plan for weight loss, you can always increase your portions if you need more calories, so long as you stay in ketosis by monitoring your macronutrient ratio and especially your total carbohydrate intake.

To see this reflected in your spoonacular meal planner, simply duplicate the item you are eating more of, assuming you plan on eating two servings instead of one. If you are just increasing the amount slightly, you can always upload the recipe yourself with the exact amounts you used to get the new nutritional information.

If you know you can tolerate a higher carbohydrate intake and stay in ketosis, you are also welcome to add the occasional glass of dry red wine or 85-90% dark chocolate.

This meal plan features keto recipes from several websites and blogs. To give you an idea what to expect, here are the dinners for the week:

Monday	Cream Cheese Stuffed Chicken Breasts from Jan's Sushi Bar
Tuesday	Zucchini Boats Stuffed with Pork from My Zucchini Recipes
Wednesday	Easy Skillet Feta Chicken from Kraft Recipes
Thursday	Sauteed Gulf Shrimp with Feta Cheese and Lemon Butter Sauce from Running with Tweezers
Friday	Roast Chicken with Arugula Tomato Salad from MyRecipes/Sunset
Saturday	Grilled Steak with Spicy Chimichurri Sauce from Fork Knife Swoon
Sunday	Grain-Free Meatloaf with Tomatoes, Fennel, and Flax Seed from Kalyn's Kitchen

To see the complete keto meal plan, open the preview.

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We also tried to use ingredients more than once to keep your shopping list from getting out of control and to minimize food waste. For example, some of the leftover cream cheese from the stuffed chicken breasts will be used later in the week for cream cheese pancakes. The crab salad stuffed avocados come up twice, so you aren't stuck with leftover crab salad or a half of an avocado (in case you're cooking for one.) We haven't managed this for every ingredient, so we recommend using our recipe search engine to help you find keto recipes with your leftover ingredients, such as keto recipes with fresh cilantro, for the following week.

If you decide keto isn't right for you, you might also check out our Paleo meal plan or our 1500 calorie meal plan for weight loss.