I Tried the Ketogenic Diet for 30 Days and Here's What Happened

As a rule, I shy away from extreme diets or eating regimens. Atkins? Never heard of them. Whole30? Wholly not going to bother with it. Paleo? Some things are better left in the history books.

However, the simplicity of the ketogenic (keto for short) diet plan appealed to me, and I was looking to lose some weight ahead of a wedding I was attending.

Find out what happened when I decided to limit carbs for 30 days, including how I did it, my successes, my challenges, my results and my lifelong takeaways.

Read More: Ketogenic Diet 101: A Beginner's Guide

How I Did the Keto Diet Plan

Four things that really helped me get started were:

• a goal
• a plan
• focusing on carbs only
• having a friend for accountability

I started the keto diet about one month before the wedding with the goal of losing 10 pounds. Since a low-calorie diet can produce up to a 2-pound weight loss per week, 10 pounds over four weeks didn't feel extreme. If the keto diet plan was as great as had been touted, I thought 10 pounds would be easy.

Before I started, I spent several weeks researching the diet, following keto-focused Instagram accounts for inspiration, and creating a plan (see our healthy version of a keto meal plan). I would soon learn this last part was the most important thing for my journey.

I used an online keto calculator to set a goal for calories, carbs and fat. I mostly followed the suggestions, with the exception of fat. The calculator suggested over 200 grams of fat each day. That's tough to hit without loading ghee into my coffee or swigging some coconut oil before lunch. Can it be done? Absolutely. I just couldn't get there. For me, the focus was on reducing carbs. I let the other pieces just fall into place.

I also asked a friend to join me as an accountability partner. She had tried the keto diet before with good success, so having a guide for my myriad questions was a big help. It also helped keep me on track.

My Biggest Challenges on the Keto Diet Plan

Featured Recipe: Bacon-Wrapped Chicken with Roasted Zucchini

Eating only 20 grams of carbs a day is hard.

The keto diet plan is a high-fat and low-carb (HFLC) diet. I would actually describe it as extremely low-carb—you're allowed to eat just 20 g in a day. Some people on keto follow a net-carb plan (you can subtract the grams of fiber from a food's total carbs) which allows you to eat more carbs in a day. For my 30-day diet and for the sake of simplicity, I stuck with total carbs.

As a rule, I aimed for 20 g each day: 2 at breakfast, 5 at lunch, 3 for snacks and 10 for dinner. I found that if I aimed for 20, I'd land under 30. That was successful enough for me.

The key to hitting my number was to plan, plan, plan. I worked out all three meals, condiments and snacks on the weekends. If I knew what I was having ahead of time, I found managing the infrequent cravings and hunger pangs easier. I can't stress enough the importance of planning for a keto diet.

The food is repetitive.

I ate a lot of bacon, cheese, eggs and meat (steak and chicken mostly). For a person whose eating philosophy is typically more plant-based and whole-food-focused, eating processed pork products every morning was definitely a big change.

This can be a very low-calorie diet.

Keeping your carb count near 20 g reduces your calorie consumption too. Carb-heavy foods are some of the most calorie-dense foods we eat, mainly because we eat a lot of them. If you cut carbs, you dramatically reduce your possible calorie intake. (See the 30 best low-carb foods.)

Some days, I struggled to get over 1,200 calories. For my goal of 1,800 calories, I fell short almost every day. That's enough of a calorie deficit to produce weight loss, even without the low-carb count.

I came down with "keto flu."

The "keto flu" is a term you'll see on keto blogs and forums. It was a real event for me, but not everyone will experience it.

As your body breaks through the carb cycle and enters ketosis (where you rely on ketones, instead of carbs, for energy), you may experience fatigue, mental fogginess and even irritability. My "keto flu" only lasted a day, and I never experienced the symptoms again once I passed it. (Learn more about the sneaky side effects of the keto diet, including some of those flu-like symptoms).

My Biggest Successes on the Keto Diet Plan

Featured Recipe: Soy Sauce Eggs

I beat my weight loss goal.

While I set out to lose 10 pounds, I quickly surpassed my goal. I lost 10 pounds within three weeks and hit 15 pounds two days before the wedding.

It's important to remember that when you are on a low-carb diet of any type, you will lose several pounds in the first few days. That's because your body is dropping water weight. When I returned to typical eating over the wedding weekend, I gained 4 pounds because when I started eating carbs again the water weight returned.

I had more energy (but not every day).

While on the keto diet, I had so much energy, and I didn't experience the typical mid-afternoon energy slumps. Gym time was a bit of a challenge. Without carbs, your body has to burn fat for energy, which some days will leave you feeling drained during a workout. That's OK. Stick with it, and try again tomorrow.

I learned to be very creative in the kitchen.

Eating at a restaurant and keeping your keto status is almost impossible. (After the third time that you ask the server to hold the onions from your chicken fajitas, you'll just want to never go into a restaurant again.) Luckily, I consider myself an adventurous cook and love trying new recipes.

Of course, with a keto plan, your ingredient list is dramatically shortened. I scoured blogs, Instagram, Pinterest and other sources for reliable recipes, then put my thinking cap on and came up with several dishes I really enjoyed.

Write the recipes down, use a meal-tracking app like MyFitnessPal to record the ingredients and determine if a recipe works for you. It takes a bit more work than an average meal plan, but it's worth it.

I eat less sugar now.

You can't eat sugar on the keto diet, and most of the no-carb sugar substitutes don't work for me.

This isn't to say that my cravings simply went away. In the first few days, cravings for a peanut butter cup, soda or even just a banana were strong. (Here's when having an accountability buddy really helps.) When you go back to typical eating, you might find (as I did) that many foods you ate regularly are now just too sweet to finish.

Read More: I Gave Up Sugar for 30 Days—Here's What Happened

Lifelong Takeaways from My 30 Days on the Keto Diet Plan

I won't be staying on a keto diet meal plan for the long term—I can't eat that much bacon anymore—but I expect I'll return to it several times a year. If nothing else, my monthlong experiment helped me eat less sugar and refined carbs.

The keto diet is not for everyone. Certainly, if you have blood sugar issues or a history of heart disease, you should not try this diet without a doctor's supervision. However, if you're in good health and are looking for a weight loss jump-start, the keto diet might be the opportunity you've been looking for. I just hope you really like bacon.