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11 Keto Friendly Recipes for Weight Loss!

As much as I love how EASY keto cooking is (I just have to remember, 50/50 meat/veggies!), it can be hard to come up with CREATIVE recipes for weight loss.

It’s easy to adapt to the keto diet, because all you have to remember is, “Okay, I’m going to put some fish…pork…beef…chicken…eggs…with some romaine lettuce…broccoli…onions…spinach…green beans…” and be liberal with your healthy fats while cooking!

But, as wonderfully EASY as that is, the “rotation” and substituting in/out of the same exact foods over and over can get a little boring.

Obviously there are a GAZILLION possible combinations and unique recipes for keto-friendly foods that would take you to flavor-town and totally knock your socks off, but I think the honest reason that some people get “bored” with keto is that, our brains are naturally a little “lazy” in that we like to fall into a routine of doing the same thing over and over, including when we cook!

I mean, we know that our baked salmon with garlic, and roasted brussel sprouts, is something we know how to cook…we know that eggs and bacon is always a good choice…BUT by getting into certain habits with our grocery shopping and our cooking, and by eating the same 10 – 15 things all the time, are we risking getting bored of keto??

I think the risk is there, and that’s why I’m giving YOU 11 awesome recipes for weight loss!

I hope that these soup, stew, chili, dessert, smoothie, lasagna, casserole, keto burger, etc. ideas will help you spice up the taste and texture of your keto diet (literally!) because it gets boring just frying/grilling up the same stuff and throwing it on a plate!

So, let’s get Keto Kreative...

1. Lasagna

I have two recipes for this, cabbage lasagna and eggplant lasagna. I know some of you are making side-eye at me right now, but just look for yourself!

www.abbyklife.com/eggplant-lasagna/

www.abbyklife.com/cabbage-lasagna/

One of my absolute favorite things about keto is using healthy items as a base, and then fatty but still healthy toppings that are so flavor packed, it doesn’t matter what your foundation is, because you won’t taste it! SNEAK healthy things into your diet!

2. Smoothie

The same logic applies for a HFLC smoothie. With my avocado smoothie, you get a whole fruit-full of monounsaturated essential amino acid goodness!! But you’re probably not game to just blend up an avocado and drink it straight, and that’s why I add drops of EZ-sweetz for taste, and whipping cream for texture. Not to “cover up,” but to ENHANCE.

3. Casserole

Another GREAT way to expand your keto options is by taking any dish, your favorite dish, and modifying it to be keto-friendly. From zucchini/butternut squash noodles instead of regular pasta…

…to low-carb-cheese to make green bean casserole keto-friendly…sometimes just one tiny tweak to a dish makes it keto-approved!!

4. Soup

If you don’t want to get bored always eating the same things (whether you’re on keto or not!) switching up textures is always a good idea!

Instead of eating your meat and veggies dry, consider a savory soup like my Broccoli Keto Soup that combines broccoli, onions, egg whites, and chicken broth, all seasoned with your favorite aromatic spices!!

This is the best way to do keto when you’re sick, too!

5. Burger

The only thing better than biting into a delicious, juicy burger is how many ways you can make them! After all, there are high-class restaurants that serve nothing but a bunch of different creative, exotic burgers! From deciding on provolone, cheddar, Monterey, to whipping up a homemade Southwest sauce or chipotle mayo…bacon…guacamole…caramelized onions…Yum…

Heck, you don’t even have to use beef! Try ground turkey or andouille sausage. Oh, and don’t do bread buns!

6. Chili

This talk about ground beef has got me thinking about chili, too! Perfect Keto’s recipe recommends packing in “bonus healthy stuff” when you’re making keto chili, like by adding bone broth. Their recipe uses avocado oil AND two types of chili powder!! Almost as ingenious as my recipes, but not quite! šŸ˜‰

7. Stir Fry

Now let’s leave Latin American cuisine and go east. Most of us, including me, love love love Asian food, but darn that rice for being so carb-dense. But that doesn’t mean going out for Chinese has to be limited to a monthly treat…just follow my lead!

The meat, veggies, and soy sauce are all keto-friendly, so all we need is a rice alternative. A recipe with cauliflower rice got 5 stars here. Even better, when you do your own homemade version of takeout, YOU get to control the amount of salt.

8. Pizza

Looks good, doesn’t it? In fact, pizza is just soooo good that most of us on keto are already aware of the just-as-awesome ways to make keto pizza, because otherwise we might go crazy!

Cauliflower bread for the crust is one option, because as we just saw above, cauliflower can be used as a substitute to de-carb just about anything in the world of bread, rice, pasta and potatoes (cauliflower mashed potatoes are THE BEST!). You can even make cauliflower waffles! Don’t forget the blueberries.

…Oh, yeah, we were talking about pizza crust. Another great option that might get you a little closer to that familiar crumbly-crunchy texture is Fathead pizza crust. Basically, cream cheese and regular cheese, an egg, and almond flour!

But, again, I wouldn’t be surprised if keto pizza was already a staple of your keto diet!!

9. Snacks

“Keto snacks” are usually pretty…simple, which is fine. If you’ve watched any “weekly meal prep” videos, you’ve probably seen a lot of egg whites, blueberries, veggie tray items…and maybe some dark chocolate!

But what if you want to have a little more fun with your snacks, and maybe even do some prepping?

Well, one easy solution is to just “complicate” those simple snacks a little, with fun combos and tasty spices. For example, my Egg Fat Bombs add creamy avocado cut into cubes, spring onions, and mayo, so now you’ve got more of a scramble! So much better than just eating your egg whites by themselves. Food should taste good!! And I’ve got a deviled egg recipe, too! These are great recipes for weight loss.

If you want to incorporate some meat and cheese here, but still want a simple finger food, try my ham roll ups! A quick broil on the skillet and they’re good to go. I added baby spinach and tomatoes to my roll-ups, but there are infinite combo options!!

10. Burrito

There are infinite options for what you roll up in a burrito, too. My beef burritos are half the price of Chipotle’s and, like I said, it’s so much better to feel in control of your macros and your fresh, natural ingredients when you’re doing the cooking yourself.

For my beef burritos, I decided to go all-out and break out the New York Strip, top sirloin! After shredding the beef, I added BBQ sauce for an awesomely tangy take on the classic burrito!

11. Dessert

And, lastly, what’s for dessert??

Chocolate balls! These things are similar to chocolate fat bombs, but I use coconut cream for a thicker, yet still melt-in-your-mouth consistency. These only have four ingredients, so not only are they really simple to make, but you could put them in the “snack” category if you wanted to. šŸ˜‰

If you a) want something a bit more complex and/or b) don’t like chocolate, I have an awesome holiday (or any day!) cookie recipe using Swerve to sweeten.

The cookies are layered with some yummy ooey-gooey buttery icing too…your family will love these cookies and they’ll have no idea that you used one of your recipes for weight loss!

 

Posting great keto-friendly recipes is one of my favorite things to do!

As focused as I am on the Keto Reboot, I wanted to make a helpful guide on WHAT TO EAT once the Reboot is over.

…And I wanted to post some amazing recipes, which you’ll see all over the rest of my website. šŸ™‚

Want to see me MAKING this stuff, so you can get inspired to do the same? I’ve got some great cooking videos over on my Youtube channel.

 

The Down Low on Keto! Keto Diet Plan for Beginners

The keto diet might SOUND intimidating and complex, but it’s totally not! Let me help you out with my keto diet plan for beginners.

It seems as though every time you turn around, thereā€™s another diet trend promising to miraculously transform your body in some revolutionary new way.

Getting bombarded with so much info makes it hard to tell the difference between the fad of the month and a legitimate nutritional plan with lasting value.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve heard of the ā€œketoā€ or ketogenic diet before, and maybe you’ve quickly discarded the term into the trend pile without realizing what it is and how it works…

Because, the keto diet isnā€™t a fad at all. In fact, thereā€™s nothing like its unique ability to promote the burning of stored fat for fuel, except for maybe intermittent fasting…

 

What is the Keto Diet?

The core concept behind a keto diet is, training your body to burn fat as its primary source of energy instead of storing it away for later.

Sounds simple enough but is it really that easy?

Following a keto diet plan for beginners means that you are consuming foods that are primarily high in fat and low in carbohydrates.

I know, fat is bad and you need carbs for energy, right?

It may sound counterproductive to increase the amount of fat you eat in order to burn more fat but according to research and the experiences of thousands of people who have tried the keto diet, it works better than most could ever imagine.

 

How does it work?

To better understand how a ketogenic diet works, it helps to have a bit of knowledge how your body processes food and turns it into usable energy.

In a more traditional diet, your body relies heavily on carbohydrates to create the energy that it needs to get you through your day. Whether youā€™re pushing through a heavy workout or simply digesting a meal, your body needs energy.

When you eat foods that are high in carbohydrates your body converts those carbs into glucose, which your cells then burn as fuel. The downside to this is that if you fail to burn up all those carbohydrates, your body saves them for later in the form of fat.

The Keto Diet is designed to alter how your body creates energy, starting with changing the foods that you put into it!!

A high-fat, low-carb diet will trigger major changes in your metabolic process. By dramatically reducing the number of carbs you eat, youā€™re forcing your body to go looking for another source of fuel.

With no carbohydrates to be found, your body begins to burn off fat stores in order to create the energy it needs. If you stay consistent with a high-fat, low-carb diet, you can teach your body to burn fat more efficiently over a short time!

Actually… here… this might help explain…

 

Keto Blues (Argh!)

If you’re just a keto baby starting to transition to a keto diet plan for beginners, you’ll proooobably experience a short period of fatigue, irritability, and mental fogginess.

The ā€œKeto Bluesā€ can last for a few weeks as your body adjusts to this new method of creating energy.

Initially, the lack of carbs in your system will leave your body feeling as though it has no fuel to burn. It can take a little time for this lack of gusto to go away, as your body adapts and learns to naturally convert fat into usable energy!

But once you have a chance to adjust and become ā€œketo-adapted,ā€ you’ll have more energy than ever before!

Even a monthly Keto Reboot is enough…But here’s where you’ll find more information on that…;)

 

Common Mistakes

For most people, switching to keto means making major changes in what they eat and how they think about food…

To begin with, it just seems wrong to increase the amount of fat in your diet when youā€™re trying to get healthy or lose weight. Weā€™ve been conditioned to believe that fat is bad and in order to lose weight we have to cut fat out of our diet entirely.

Following a keto diet plan for beginners isnā€™t quite as simple as just cutting carbs entirely and increasing your fat intake. Many people turn to fatty proteins such as eggs, nuts, meat and fish to increase their fat intake. While these are all great sources of healthy fats, adding too much protein will actually decrease the effectiveness of the ketogenic diet!!

Remember, the goal is to burn fat for energy.

If thereā€™s an excess of protein in your system, the body will turn to protein for fuel rather than the fat you want it to burn. To prevent this, be sure to utilize oils and butter when cooking as an easy way to add more fat to your diet without overloading on protein!

 

Benefits of the Ketogenic Diet

The growing popularity of the keto diet isnā€™t happening by accident! Whether you’re a serious athlete or just trying to maintain a healthy lifestyle, it has many effects you can benefit from:

Decreased Appetite

When switching to a high-fat, low-carb diet, most people find themselves struggling with hunger less often than they have on a more traditional diet. When you reduce your intake of carbs, you naturally decrease your appetite.

Also, foods that are high in fat will leave you feeling more satisfied than the average ā€œdiet foods.ā€ You’ll naturally start to eat less and feel much better about it.

Weight Loss

This one may sound obvious, but most diets donā€™t do this as well as you might think. Once youā€™ve trained your body to use fat for energy rather than carbs, youā€™ll begin to burn fat much more efficiently…This causes you to not only burn dietary fat, but start melting away stored fat as well.

The combination of reducing carbs and burning stored fat for fuel leads directly to surprisingly effortless weight loss.

Lower Insulin Levels = Higher Fat Metabolism

When you ingest food that is high in carbs, your body starts converting it into sugar as soon as it enters your system.

In order to process that sugar into usable energy, an immune response signals insulin to be released. You may not realize it, but high levels of insulin in your blood stream will actually slow down your metabolism!

On the keto diet, by reducing your carb intake, youā€™re also reducing the amount of insulin released into your blood. These lowered insulin levels allow your body to burn fat more efficiently and increase your fat metabolism.

 

Maybe a high-fat diet sounded like a ridiculous concept to you, at first…

…but the ketogenic diet has been proven effective time and time again. While it takes some major changes and a stern commitment to push through the initial energy drought, the payoffs are well worth it!!

Once your body has time to adapt to using fats as its primary source of fuel youā€™ll begin to burn fat more efficiently and start shedding those unwanted fat reserves.

Because a nutritional plan thatā€™s both high in fat and very limited in carbs is such a foreign idea to most of us, it can be helpful to surround yourself with knowledgeable and supportive people, like the Abby K Life Community!

And remember, researching a meal plan with suggested foods can be very helpful when starting out, but itā€˜s always best to ask your doctor first! And also, youā€™ll experience the best results from the keto diet when you combine it with regular exercise and healthy life choices. šŸ™‚

The keto diet certainly isnā€™t for everyone, but if toning your body while eating bacon and cheese sounds good to you, maybe itā€™s time you gave it a try!!

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