Let’s be honest: If your idea of planning your meals means picking the fastest drive-thru lane, you’re going to have a hard time on a ketogenic diet.
That’s because getting and staying in ketosis requires a bit of calculation and planning up front to score maximum wins long term.
To find success on a ketogenic diet, planning is key. This guide will teach you how to create a 7-day keto diet meal plan to fit your needs and macro goals all while staying under 1,900 daily calories.
To help you create the best meal plan for your body, we’ve broken down our guide into four easy steps:
Now that you know what to expect, let’s jump right in.
1. Set Your Goals
Why do you want to start a ketogenic diet, anyway?
Do you want to finally lose that stubborn excess body weight you’ve been lugging around? Are you looking for better mental clarity and more energy?
Are you hoping a low carb diet can lower your blood sugar and cholesterol levels?
Are you focused solely on shredding fat and building muscle or do you simply want better overall health?
Whatever your reasons and intentions, think about the results you’re hoping to achieve on keto. Now write them down and post them somewhere you can see every day.
Remembering why you started will make it easier to stick to your keto diet plan along the way.
2. Calculate Your Macros
Macronutrient ratios are everything on a ketogenic diet.
Start by using our keto macro calculator here to help you determine what and how much of each macronutrient 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. This will make it easier to plan your meals.
Today’s guide keeps your daily calories topped at 1,900.
But if you learn your macros are different, check out our keto menu plan for staying under 1,600 daily calories.
3. Plan Your Meals
Based on your daily macros, pick one day each week to sit down and plan out your meals for the next seven days.
It’s a chore worth doing once instead of thinking about what to eat every single day.
We have your first week on a keto diet covered today, but after that you’ll want to check our new recipes and add them to your repertoire so you’re never bored.
All the recipes we share list the macro breakdown so you don’t have to calculate anything complicated.
If you stumble upon a recipe without a macro count, just enter the ingredients into a diet app like Senza or MyFitnessPal and you’ll have the macros and calorie count totaled for you.
And guess what?
We’ve included a cheat sheet in this guide so you can plan your ketogenic diet meals around the right foods ASAP.
To start, it helps to figure out which meals you’ll have each day. When you list them out on a sheet of paper, think about:
- How many people in your home will be eating the meals (i.e., How many servings will you need to make?)
- Whether you plan to make enough for leftovers for lunch the next day
- How you want to structure each day (Do you plan to eat breakfast every morning, or will you just have lunch and dinner most days?)
Once your meals are planned out, make a shopping list with the ingredients you’ll need for every one and head out to the store.
4. Start Cooking
You have your meals planned. You have your ingredients.
Now you’ll need to decide if you want to prep and cook most of your meals on your day off and store them for easy grab ‘n go during your hectic work week, or prepare each meal the day you plan to eat it.
Consider what fits your schedule and lifestyle most and work around that. Anything else will just be too difficult and trick you into giving up.
While making any new change can seem overwhelming at first, having a plan in place will set you up for success in the long run.
So let’s check out a sample 7-day ketogenic diet menu plan now.
Sample 7-Day Keto Menu Plan Under 1,900 Calories
We’ve got you covered for seven days of meal planning so you’ll have inspiration come breakfast, lunch, dinner and dessert time.
The example macros are set for a single person who is eating:
- 1,900 calories per day
- 96 grams of protein
- 25 grams or less of carbs
- Around 160 grams of fat
Your macros may be a bit different so feel free to mix and match meals from different days to fit yours.
While you don’t have to hit these numbers exactly every day, you should try really hard to get close to your limit carb intake (think: less than 5g deviation), otherwise you can get kicked out of ketosis.
Going over your fat macro (within reason) will not kick you out of ketosis but it will make it harder to lose a lot of weight fast.
You don’t have to worry about eating too much protein. It’s a myth that protein kicks you out of ketosis. Eat as much protein as you desire.
You’ll find a bit of wiggle room in our 7-day menu plan to give you the ability to customize your day without going over your macros.
Using our healthy keto snack list and paying attention to how your body feels when you have more/less of each macro will help you adjust accordingly.
So let’s check out a week of eating on a keto menu plan:
DAY #1 MEALS
BREAKFAST
Macros
Fat: 31g
Protein: 1g
Net carbs: 1g
Calories: 280
LUNCH
1 serving Slow Cooker Taco Soup topped with 1 tablespoon sour cream
Macros
Fat: 31.5g
Protein: 29g
Carbs: 7g
Calories: 421
SNACK
1 Low-Carb Acai Almond Butter Smoothie
Macros
Fat: 20g
Protein: 15g
Carbs: 6g
Calories: 345
DINNER
1 serving Keto Gyro with Creamy Tzatziki
Macros
Fat: 32g
Protein: 31g
Carbs: 5g
Calories: 437
DESSERT
1 Perfect Keto Chocolate Mousse
Macros
Fat: 14g
Protein: 17.5g
Carbs: 6g
Calories: 248
Macros for the Day
Fat: 128.5g
Protein: 93.5g
Carbs: 25g
Calories: 1731
DAY #2 MEALS
BREAKFAST
1 serving Keto Brunch Spread
Macros
Fat: 38g
Protein: 17g
Carbs: 3g
Calories: 426
LUNCH
1 serving Chicken Caesar Salad
1 serving Jalapeno Parmesan Crisps
Macros
Fat: 25.5g
Protein: 35.5g
Carbs: 9.5g
Calories: 421
SNACK
1 hard-boiled egg
1 oz. cheddar cheese
Macros
Fat: 14g
Protein: 13g
Carbs: 0g
Calories: 192
DINNER
1 serving Lemon Herb Low Carb Keto Meatloaf
1 serving Keto Creamed Spinach
Macros
Fat: 44g
Protein: 36g
Carbs: 6g
Calories: 506
DESSERT
1 serving Easy No Churn Keto Ice Cream
Macros
Fat: 48g
Protein: 0g
Carbs: 4g
Calories: 400
Macros for the Day
Fat: 158.5g
Protein: 95g
Carbs: 26.5g
Calories: 1824
DAY #3 MEALS
BREAKFAST
1 serving Easy Keto Breakfast Tacos
Macros
Fat: 29g
Protein: 20g
Carbs: 2g
Calories: 360
LUNCH
1 serving White Turkey Chili
Macros
Fat: 31g
Protein: 29g
Carbs: 5.5g
Calories: 388
SNACK
1 oz. macadamia nuts
Macros
Fat: 21g
Protein: 2g
Carbs: 1.5g
Calories: 204
DINNER
1 serving Superfood Meatballs
2 cups romaine with ½ serving MCT Powder Garlic Dressing
Macros
Fat: 30.5g
Protein: 32g
Carbs: 5.5g
Calories: 422
DESSERT
1 serving Low Carb Decadent Keto Cheesecake
Macros
Fat: 49g
Protein: 12g
Carbs: 7.5g
Calories: 517
Macros for the Day
Fat: 160.5g
Protein: 95g
Carbs: 22g
Calories: 1891
DAY #4 MEALS
BREAKFAST
1 serving Bacon, Egg & Cheese Breakfast Casserole
Macros
Fat: 38g
Protein: 43g
Carbs: 2g
Calories: 437
LUNCH
1 serving Mushroom Bacon Skillet
2 cups romaine topped with ½ serving Creamy Lemon Keto Vinaigrette and 1 tablespoon chia seeds
Macros
Fat: 23.5g
Protein: 17g
Carbs: 11g
Calories: 400
SNACK
Macros
Fat: 20g
Protein: 3g
Carbs: 3g
Calories: 207
DINNER
1 serving Cheesy Broccoli Meatzza
Macros
Fat: 24g
Protein: 32g
Carbs: 7g
Calories: 375
DESSERT
1 serving Chocolate Mint Keto Ice Cream
Macros
Fat: 15g
Protein: 2g
Carbs: 2g
Calories: 155
Macros for the Day
Fat: 120.5g
Protein: 97g
Carbs: 25g
Calories: 1574
DAY #5 MEALS
BREAKFAST
Macros
Fat: 40g
Protein: 25g
Carbs: 3g
Calories: 500
LUNCH
1 serving Shrimp Stir Fry with Baked Cauliflower Rice
Macros
Fat: 25g
Protein: 25g
Carbs: 9g
Calories: 357
SNACK
Macros
Fat: 34g
Protein: 2g
Carbs: 2g
Calories: 198
DINNER
1 serving Roasted Chicken Stacks
½ cup zucchini noodles topped with ¼ cup shredded mozzarella cheese
Macros
Fat: 30g
Protein: 41g
Carbs: 8g
Calories: 461.5
DESSERT
1 serving Keto Brownies with Peppermint Crunch
Macros
Fat: 18g
Protein: 5g
Carbs: 4g
Calories: 205
Macros for the Day
Fat: 147g
Protein: 98g
Carbs: 26g
Calories: 1721.5
DAY #6 MEALS
BREAKFAST
1 serving Keto Power Breakfast with Green Sauce
Macros
Fat: 27g
Protein: 10.5g
Carbs: 7g
Calories: 305
LUNCH
1 serving Low Carb Keto Chili
Macros
Fat: 23g
Protein: 35g
Carbs: 5g
Calories: 359
SNACK
1 serving Keto MCT Matcha Fat Bombs
Macros
Fat: 7.5g
Protein: 0g
Carbs: 0g
Calories: 65
DINNER
1 serving Crispy Skin Salmon with Pesto Cauliflower Rice
Macros
Fat: 51g
Protein: 34g
Carbs: 10g
Calories: 647
DESSERT
1 Keto Collagen Chocolate Smoothie
Macros
Fat: 49.5g
Protein: 14g
Carbs: 2.5g
Calories: 500
Macros for the Day
Fat: 158g
Protein: 93.5g
Carbs: 24.5g
Calories: 1876
DAY #7 MEALS
BREAKFAST
1 serving Keto Oatmeal
Macros
Fat: 44g
Protein: 31g
Carbs: 1g
Calories: 584
LUNCH
1 serving Lemon Chicken Avocado Boats
Macros
Fat: 26g
Protein: 26g
Carbs: 9g
Calories: 356
SNACK
1 servings Chocolate Sea Salt Peanut Butter Bites
Macros
Fat: 11g
Protein: 3g
Carbs: 1.5g
Calories: 122
DINNER
1 serving Nutritious Keto Cheeseburger Soup topped with 2 tablespoons sour cream
Macros
Fat: 32g
Protein: 25g
Carbs: 3.5g
Calories: 409
DESSERT
2 servings Chocolate Chip Keto Cookies
Macros
Fat: 36g
Protein: 9g
Carbs: 4g
Calories: 382
Macros for the Day
Fat: 149g
Protein: 94g
Carbs: 19g
Calories: 1853
If you presently use your kitchen more for storage than sauteing, all these recipes may seem intimidating. Don’t let them scare you.
Start out making one or two new recipes a week, eating the leftovers and then trying two new ones to see what you like best.
We won’t tell anyone if you copy our 7-day keto menu plan for the whole month. But you’ll want to switch out certain components so you never feel limited or bored.
Now You’re Ready To Start Your Keto Life
Whatever your reasons for wanting to start a ketogenic diet, you’re more than prepared to crush your new keto life with today’s guide in your back pocket.
Once you figure out your macros, it’s all about finding low carb foods you like to meet your goals. Use our 7-day keto menu plan to start and then take advantage of our cheat list of approved keto foods to create your own delicious meals.
Toss in a few high-quality supplements to boost your health and fat burning potential and you’ll be well on your way to fast weight loss and higher energy levels in no time.