The keto diet has gained immense popularity over the last couple of years. Thousands of the people who have tried it have made videos and written articles saying how effective it is and how being in ketosis helped them shed the excess fat effortlessly.
In this article, we’ll look at 5 pointers that you should be aware of before you start on a keto diet. Let’s see what they are.
1. It’s NOT a diet, it’s a lifestyle
It may seem contradictory to hear this. After all, everyone keeps referring to it as the keto ‘diet’. Yet, being on a keto diet is more of a lifestyle change.
You’re now burning ketones for fuel instead of glucose. Once you’re in this state, you’ll feel healthier, more energetic and much better overall. Ketones are a much cleaner fuel source for the body.
Contrary to popular belief, the ketosis is safe in the long-term too. Once your body is keto-adapted, you can be on it as long as you want.
2. Increase your fat intake… then decrease it
Initially, when embarking on the keto diet, you’ll want about 75 to 80% of your calories to come from fat. Your diet will be very high in fat and you’ll want to consume not more than 20 grams of carbs.
The reason for this is that you’re trying to train your body to burn fat for fuel. Extreme measures are necessary to put your body in ketosis.
Once you’ve reached ketosis and been on the diet for about 2 weeks or so, you can drop your fat consumption to about 70 percent of your daily caloric intake.
3. Use intermittent fasting for best results
The keto diet when combined with intermittent fasting is extremely powerful for weight loss. Not only will your appetite decrease but being in a fasted state for 16 to 20 hours, will keep you in ketosis and put the body in fat burning mode for most of the day.
You may wish to start off slow with the intermittent diet and aim for a 16 hour fast and an 8-hour eating window. As you progress, you can try to increase your fasting window to 18 hours or even 20 hours.
The longer the fasting window, the better the results. Just ensure that you’re meeting all your caloric requirements for the day.
4. Will exercise help?
During the first 4 to 5 days of your keto diet, it’s best to relax and take things slow. You may go for a 30-minute walk or so but avoid high intensity training.
After your body has adapted to the keto diet in a week, you may get back on track and exercise as normal. Do note that while ketosis can cause weight loss, being on an exercise regimen will help to accelerate your progress and bring you results much faster.
5. Don’t obsess over calories
The keto diet and intermittent fasting are highly potent. You won’t need to obsess over calorie numbers and so on. While it’s good to have a rough idea of how many calories to consume, you’ll not need to track things down to the last calorie.
If you’re trying to lose weight, just aim for a 400 to 500 calorie deficit daily and go about your day without worry. The keto diet will still shred your fats off.
Keep this 5 points in mind when adopting the ketogenic diet and you’ll discover how effective the diet is at aiding in fat loss and boosting your overall health.
