I lost 25 percent of body weight in about a year and would say: for two weeks, do keto like a fast that lets you eat tuna, sardines, turkey, chicken, pure beef, pure pork, some eggs, a cup of salad greens and a little cheese and cream each day.

Ignore people who tell you to binge on allowed foods for fun. Only binge even on tuna or turkey just to keep yourself from truly going off diet.

Stick as much to water or seltzer as possible.

If possible, assume you have sensitivities you don't know about. Start with one type of protein food you don't normally eat a lot of on day one, plus plain lettuce, then add other foods one at a time, with at least half a day between new foods, to see if any make you itch.

After two or three weeks, start adding in yogurt, vinegar and other probiotics.

Start adding sugar-free coffee, tea, etc. one beverage type at a time after two weeks, or after you get past the terrible cravings stage, if that lasts longer.

Add white wine back toward the end of adding sugar-free beverages back.

Why: you're trying to be in ketosis, and mobilize ketosis to reset your hunger levels and cut calorie intake without you counting calories.

But you're also interfering in a war between gut microbes that we barely understand. Some may be making you give them carbs or alcohol. You want to know how much you want alcohol after you've ketoed out slavemaster microbes before you start giving into their demands for wine. Maybe you really love wine, but maybe you'd be happy with a lot less, or none, if keto cleans out the slavemasters.

Also, because you're interfering in a war you don't understand, you may energize microbes that will suddenly make you more sensitive to alcohol or other foods and beverages.

I think a good way to prepare for any serious diet is to watch Babylon 5 and see that the show creator was probably thinking about what happens in your gut when you go on a diet when he came up with the arc.