What does Keto mean?
Ketogenic diets are all the rage right now, and there’s a good reason why.
Ketogenic diets are a way to eat that is high in fat, moderate in protein and low in carbohydrates. The goal of keto is to get your body into a state of ketosis which will help you lose weight, improve mental clarity and decrease inflammation levels. What more could you want?
This diet has been used for decades to treat epilepsy in children and adults, but now we have learned how to tweak it for fat loss. A ketogenic diet can also be helpful for people with Alzheimer’s disease and cancer and can reduce the risk of heart disease.
Ketosis, Ketogenic and Ketones… huh?
- Ketosis is a metabolic state that your body goes into when it doesn’t have enough glucose to fuel it
- Ketones are what your liver produces when you are in a ketogenic state (ketosis), they are also the preferred fuel for many of our cells
- Ketoacidosis is not ketosis. It happens when people with diabetes have high ketones and high blood sugar at the same time.
How does keto work for weight loss?
A keto diet can be used as a tool for weight loss because it has been shown to decrease hunger levels, lower the need for insulin, and even lead to reductions in blood sugar levels.
The diet involves lots of processes, but very generally speaking, if you keep your carbohydrate intake under 20 grams per day, your body will get into ketosis and you will produce ketones.. Normally, your body uses carbohydrates (carbs) as fuel for energy, but we can teach your body to use ketones and body fat as fuel instead.
How do you lose weight on keto?
The basic plan of using keto for weight loss is this:
- Eat low carbs to get you into ketosis (this can take anywhere between 1 day and a few weeks)
- Then wait for your body to slowly switch over from using carbs as it’s fuel source to using ketones instead. This can take days, weeks or months depending on your health.
- Once your body has learned to use ketones and fat as it’s fuel source, you can adjust your macronutrients to use your stored body fat for fuel instead!
Now notice that I said “slowly” and “wait”? Yes, you can lose weight fast in keto, but if you do it’s probably going to be water weight or muscle. You only want to lose fat and we can’t realistically lose more than around 0.5 to 1kg of fat per week.
When done properly, this will not be a super fast weight loss diet. Your body has been running on one system for years, it’s going to take weeks or months to change over to a new system. The good news is, this new fuel system will serve you for the rest of your life!