You’d be hard pressed to find someone who isn’t experimenting with the keto diet. The meal plan has become popular among celebrities, lifestyle bloggers, and everyday people, like us. The keto diet, short for ketogenic, involves eating foods that are low in carbohydrates, moderate in protein, and high in fat that is meant to put the body in a metabolic state called ketosis. Ketosis occurs when the liver produces ketones, which then become the body’s main source of energy rather than from carbohydrates.

There are plenty of ways to stay motivated on a low-carb diet, but it will take some work and planning to be successful:

1. No more carbs and sugar
The main component of the keto diet is to cut out certain food groups, including their healthier versions. Foods to avoid include sugar (including substitutes like maple syrup and agave), fruit, starchy vegetables, legumes, and whole grains. Following a keto diet for diabetes has shown to reduce blood sugar levels in patients.

2. Foods to eat
It may feel very limiting to cut out the above foods, but there’s plenty of healthy foods that can make up for what you can’t eat. A keto diet should include plenty of meat, fish, eggs, vegetables like leafy greens, broccoli, cauliflower, cheese, butter, avocado, stevia, nuts, and saturated fats.

3. Keeping track
While you can dive right in and try the diet, it is recommended to first calculate your macronutrients, or macros for short. This will help you determine the amount of protein, carbs, and fat that you need to eat in order to lose weight while keeping in mind your age, height, weight, and activity level. Sound confusing? There’s plenty of online calculators to help with the math portion of this diet. The next thing followers of this diet measure are your ketones. This ensures that you are on your way to achieving ketosis and the best way to measure this is through urine strips and blood sugar monitors.

4. Making the keto commitment
The keto diet is a very strict meal plan that requires preparation and commitment. Enjoying a cheat meal during this plan can confuse the body and can cause weight gain. It is advised to look at this diet as a lifestyle instead. A commitment to the keto diet has even shown to curb seizures in those suffering from epilepsy and some pediatric epilepsy syndromes respond very well to the meal plan, while most adult epilepsies do not have the same effect.

5. Stay hydrated
The keto diet causes followers to lose water weight, especially in the first week of adhering to the plan. It’s imperative to drink more water than you are used to. Additionally, this is one of the few diets that will ask followers to increase their salt intake, which will help you body retain more water and prevent dehydration.

6. Exercise
Since the pounds tend to drop rather quickly with this meal plan, it’s important to remember to stick to a regular exercise routine. Keto’s best results are a result of combining diet with exercise.