Keto diet is one of the most effective diet plans for weight loss. Many people follow its religiously and do not approve of any side effects or bad about it. But, not many people know about how to start a keto diet for weight loss. Here is a step by step guide to starting a keto diet plan.
This article is dedicated to people who are fans of the keto diet. And it covers step by step procedure to start a keto diet for weight loss.
What is keto diet?
Ketones are another source of energy for the body apart from glucose. It is often referred to as clean energy.
Ketones are produced when body starts using fat for energy and not glucose.
We all are trained to use glucose for our energy needs right from the childhood. Sugar, carbohydrate, proteins etc all when consumed convert to glucose.
Protein will take time to become glucose and the conversion might be less. It depends on how much protein your body and muscles use after consumption.
Ketosis is the process when body starts producing ketones. You can monitor ketosis with the help of urine strip test.
How do you start a keto diet?
It is important to note that starting keto diet is easy but reaching ketosis require patience. Don’t expect your body to start producing ketones in a day or two of keto diet. Have patience and follow the given steps.
Step 1 -Be mentally prepared
Keto diet requires patience. You cannot enter ketosis quickly. Your body requires time to switch over to using ketones as energy source. So patience is a virtue in keto diet plan and therefore, we kept it at the first position.
Step 2 – Reduce carbs 10% per week
As I have already mentioned that you should not overdo things to begin the ketosis process in your body. Let your body adapt to changes.
The best thing you can do is to reduce 10% carbs per week. Because for a keto diet the total carb intake for energy requirements should not be more than 5%.
And, you just can’t cut carbs by 95% in a day, nor your body can adapt so quickly.
So the best tactic is 10% carb reduction and 10% fat extra. By 10 % here i mean the energy generated.
For example if you get your energy of 1800 calories per day with the following combination
Carbohydrate: Fat: Proteins = 80%: 10 % : 10%
Then
Change it to
Carbohydrate: Fat: Proteins = 70%: 15 % : 15%
And keep making this change until you reach a level that should look like this
Carbohydrate: Fat: Proteins = 5%: 25 % : 70%
Step 3 – Take a break
It is important that you take a break after the third week. I would spefically stress this point because your body needs hell lot more time to adapt. And excess fat diet is not practially possible to manage on a day to day basis.
So take a break of one week on the fourth week. But, remember don’t over do it. The ratio should look something like the following
Carbohydrate: Fat: Proteins = 60%: 25 % : 15%
Step 4- Fifth week and ahead
Follow the step 2 again and then take a break after three weeks. Keep repeating this for next 4 months. 3 weeks gradual increase and then 1 week break.
Step 5 – After 4th month
After this period your body will be well trained to use ketones and glucose both efficiently for energy. You can then keep an alternative keto diet week. That is one week on keto diet and the next week on normal diet.
But, during the entire period do not forget the basic concept of balancing calorie intake and calorie burned. Even during keto diet if you consume extra energy it will ultimately be stored in your body.
The only big benefit of keto diet plan is that even if you accumulate some extra energy in the form of fat, a small calorie cut for next few days will remove all that fat.
Can I do exercise during keto diet?
Yes. There is no reason to stop exercise or aerobics during keto diet.
Rather, exercise or walking or for that matter any type of aerobic exercise will only help burn the extra glycogen stored in your liver. This will only start the process of ketosis earlier.
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