Weight loss is on everyone’s mind. Whether it’s your New Years’ Resolution, or you want to fit into those high school jeans again, or you would just like to feel good about yourself, everybody’s got their reasons for losing weight.
Keto is a great way to do that. It is a lifestyle that you can sustain, includes a variety of delicious foods, and products geared toward keto eating are sold at all major retailers and can even be shipped right to your door.
What I’m driving at is, this is a lifestyle choice that will help you drop those excess pounds, eat delicious foods, and it’s easy to follow thanks to the availability of products and the support you can get from our website.
All you need to bring is your willpower and your desire to really do this.
Let’s discuss why weight loss on the keto diet is real and achievable.
Why Keto for Weight Loss?
Following a keto diet is a good plan for folks with diabetes or folks that have tried other diets and found they didn’t work out.
Keto emphasizes a low carb diet that offers effective weight loss when followed closely. It can also lower blood sugar to a level that would not require the use of medication. In some instances, a ketogenic diet could reverse type 2 diabetes.
Systemic inflammation could also be a thing of the past for you if you were to follow a keto diet closely. As we know, inflammation is not good for you, so reducing it would only make you feel better.
Other low carb diets are loaded with animal proteins, but the keto diet is different because it focuses on telling the body to burn up stored body fat instead of utilizing sugar as its primary fuel source. Upon the breakdown of this body, fat in the liver in place of glucose, ketones are produced.
How to Make It Work?
Okay, listen closely and listen up:
The secret to weight loss is taking in less calories than you burn.
You have to stick with the program closely.
You cannot eat keto-friendly foods in large amounts and expect to lose weight.
I was once one of those people who wanted the fastest way out of being fat. Spoiler alert: Losing weight takes time. It’s not going to happen in a week. Quick weight loss is RARELY sustainable.
Now let’s talk about the formulation of your keto diet.
How to Eat: Formulating Your Keto Diet
As with any eating plan, you need to find the right balance of macros. Carbs, fats, and proteins are all macros. In order for the body to begin burning its fat instead of glucose, we have to achieve a perfect balance.
You are going to eat a lot more fat on this diet than on other diets. You are going to be consuming anywhere from 60 to 75% of your daily calories in dietary fat and 15 to 30% of your calories in protein. The remainder will be devoted to consuming carbohydrates.
Trans fats should be avoided as a whole. They are highly processed and are heated up to a level at which free radicals inside the body are created. This poses a cancer risk. They are contained inside hydrogenated oils, which are part of packaged, processed convenience food and snacks.
Be sure to read labels closely as you shop and remember that whole foods are best.
What To Eat and Buy?
Part of what makes the keto diet so great for weight loss is the foods you get to eat. And boy, is there ever a variety! When I first started, I felt deprived, but after learning from various websites and getting some cookbooks in my arsenal, I realize there is no such thing as deprivation on the keto diet.
Even the snacks we get to eat are a treat- try any of the Perfect Keto bars for a fun workday snack or fun on the go snack.
Let’s talk about the way to get your carbs.
Carbs: How to Get Them?
Cauliflower, arugula, kale, zucchini, and peppers are great methods by which to get your carbs. You want to work your way down to about 20 carbs a day for two weeks and try to sustain it for 6 weeks. It helps your body adjust to its new way of doing things as it burns up fat.
Foods to Enjoy
- Berries
- Avocados
- Carrots
- Olives
- Above ground veggies
- Vegetable Oils (I love olive oil)
- Plain yogurt and cottage cheese (2 or 4% fat)
- Lean Red Meat
- Cheese
- Pork
- Poultry
- Eggs
- Seafood and Fish
Foods to Avoid
- Bread
- Pasta
- Corn
- Cow milk
- Added sweeteners such as honey, sugar, agave
- Legumes and dry beans
- Rice
Upon reaching the state of ketosis, you will reap the benefits. And listen to this: You will have to take a break from ketosis! I will discuss that a bit later on. It’s necessary to keep the lifestyle sustainable.
Keto Diet Challenges
There are huge challenges with ANY diet, but the keto method is especially challenging. There are a few reasons why this is the case. By talking about them now, you can know what to look for and how to overcome it.
- You have to eat differently than everyone else. I’ve been packing up my food and taking it with me to family get-togethers for a while now.
- Your body is going to feel bad the first few days as it gets used to life with low carbs. As your body shifts to burning fat in place of glucose, you are going to feel run down and tired; this is known as the keto flu.
- Social situations are a bear. When I first started, I was ready to finally drop that weight. I happily packed my food up and got ready to meet my friends. They all told me to “live a little,” “Eat the pizza with us,” “One slice won’t hurt,” and I wanted to tell them to leave me alone. For how popular the diet is, many people think you are depriving or starving, which is not the case!
- You might feel a bit sad at first because you have to temporarily say “goodbye” to some foods. But remember, this is just a fleeting feeling. You will feel LOTS better taking control of your health and well-being, so don’t be down!
Keto Diet Mistakes: How to Avoid ‘Em
- Be mindful of your fats. On keto, we absolutely are taking a low carb, high-fat approach to eating. It does not mean adding fat to every meal. One common thing I see newbies doing is adding butter to coffee. This is nice at the start of your lifestyle because it helps you slowly move away from high carb foods, but don’t continue this once your body is used to ketosis. Stay in tune with your body for hunger cues. Do you still feel hungry after eating? The chances are that the meal contained inadequate amounts of fat or proteins. A keto meal, when done right, leaves you feeling satisfied for a long time.
- Ketosis Is Not Permanent. Follow the ketogenic diet so you can get to a state in which your body utilizes fat and glucose for fuel. Once in a while, you need a break. This is where you will add one serving of whole grains, unprocessed, to your food intake every now and again, so your body doesn’t have to be in total ketosis. If you stay in ketosis for a very long time, you become fatigued, suffer from nausea, and can even develop muscle aches.
- Nutritional Ketosis Is Best: Having high ketone levels is not the key to doing well on this diet. You want a ketosis level of 1.5 to 3.0 mol/L when tested on a blood ketone meter. You will get there as a result of eating well-planned meals that help you get to your next meal without symptoms like nausea, inability to work out, irritability, or insomnia. Having higher ketone levels indicates you have more Ketones circulating in the blood but do not mix this up with fat-burning, which is the keto diet’s primary goal.
Ketoacidosis vs Ketosis
Ketosis is a normal body response that occurs when somebody eats a low-carb, high-fat diet. Meanwhile, ketoacidosis is not. The latter occurs in folks with diabetes when blood glucose is high; the term for it is hyperglycemia. A person cannot put themself into ketoacidosis as they can with ketosis.
When you are in ketosis, the body utilizes stored fat for fuel. This creates acid build-up, which are ketones, in the blood. A person following keto closely aims to do this because the body uses fat for energy and not carbs. This happens when there is simply not enough glucose to burn, so the body instead turns to fat.
Do you have dry mouth, the urge to go to the bathroom more, and feel thirsty? This is because the body is getting rid of electrolytes and ketones. Drink plenty of water, as much as your body wants. Keep a bottle nearby.
Meanwhile, ketoacidosis happens most often in folks with diabetes. This happens when there is a serious lack of insulin activity, and it is dangerous. A medical emergency is created due to the large shift in the acid-base balance of the human body.
The muscle function and nervous system can be depressed thanks to acidosis, and a person could fall unconscious. Complications associated with the condition include hypoglycemia and brain swelling. Cardiac arrest or kidney failure may also arise.
As a result, it is necessary for the body to take breaks from ketosis from time to time.
Conclusion
Thank you for exploring why keto is excellent for weight loss. In summary, keto is ideal for weight loss because it is sustainable, delicious, uses stored fat, and because the world has become very keto-friendly over the years. Good luck and stick to it!