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How Much Weight Can You Lose on Keto?
One of your most vital goals in your ‘ketogenic diet’ journey is how quickly you can shed those extra pounds.
Since each human body functions differently, it’s hard to get a mathematical answer.
This article, however, will help unearth the average weight-loss rate for most keto dieters. You could also benefit from tips for effectively losing weight, and best practices to evade errors during your keto regime.
Keto Diet: Some Basics You Should Know
A keto diet runs your body on a process called ‘ketosis’ – wherein your body burns fats - instead of carbs for energy. This is why your keto diet comprises high amounts of fat, tolerable amounts of protein, and substantially low levels of carbohydrates.
Usually, the keto diet practices the following macronutrient ratios:
- Calories from protein – about 20-30%.
- Calories from healthy fats (omega-3 fatty acids, avocados, olive oil, coconut oil, and grass-fed butter) - about 70-80%.
- Calories from carbohydrates - 5% or less (which adds to about 30 to 50 grams of total carbs per day).
Weight Loss on a Keto diet
Every individual body operates on a different level, this means not everyone will lose weight at the same rate. Your keto diet results differ depending on the following four key factors.
1- Your General Health
You might be wondering how come a keto diet is so technical! That fact is, a keto diet is a scientific novelty designed to achieve specific weight-loss results.
It could be that you are currently overweight, your overall energy level isn’t optimum or you suffer from thyroid problems. You may even have insulin resistance or other blood sugar abnormalities. Your metabolic state may be far from ideal.
Did the above questions make you cringe a little? They might have.
The good news is - given the right resources and lifestyle changes - your body can resolve most of its internal issues. If for instance, you have hormonal or metabolic issues, the process might be slower than expected - but that is fine - as long as you are headed in the right direction.
2- Your Body Composition
Going on a keto, unfortunately, will not magically make your weight issues disappear. You have to take everything into perspective. Key factors such as your muscle mass, and BMI (body weight to height ratio) will play a critical role in your keto weight-loss regime.
3- Your Lifestyle
The quality and quantity of your exercise and your individual eating habits determine how quickly you lose weight. Are you eating clean keto foods like plant-based fats and oils, and omega-3 fatty fish? Are you exercising adequately? Your daily energy expense relates directly to how efficiently your body burns fat and loses weight.
4- Your Personal Fat Adaptation Period
If you are used to a regular American diet, your body may have not had a chance to operate on ketones. Hence, your transformation time would naturally be longer.
Set Yourself Up for Weight Loss Success
Before you set on the keto weight-loss journey, it is critical to get your basics right. Substituting a high carb standard American diet to a Paleo or a low-carb diet isn’t enough to activate ketosis, unfortunately.
On keto, your body has to totally operate on ketones, else that extra fat will stay in-burnt, and you won’t lose that weight.
Common Keto Weight Loss Mistakes
It could be that you vigorously tried keto – with a fair share of diligence and self-discipline - but somehow things haven’t worked out so far.
Maybe some of your food choices are a culprit or your lifestyle habits aren’t up to the mark. Below are some common weight-loss errors along with their handy basic action plans.
Error #1: Not Being In Ketosis: Too many carbs
This one may seem clear– it is very common to exit ketosis without even realizing it. Tracking your ketone levels gives you much-needed clarity.
Basic Action Plan:
- Don’t stop tracking your ketones. An excellent way to keep your ketone levels up is by staying in touch with your ketones.
- Decrease carb intake. It's best to keep an eye on your daily carb consumption to avoid excessive intake.
- Increase your fat intake. Make sure your meals and snacks are abundant in healthy plant and animal fat.
Error #2: Not Looking Out For Hidden Carbs
Some foods have more carbs than you think. Unwanted carbs can put you over your daily carb limit and put a halt to your weight loss efforts.
Basic Action Plan:
- Eradicate processed foods. Manufacturers may market them as “healthy foods”, but processed foods almost always contain sneaky carbs. You are always better off eating whole foods.
- Ditch artificial sweeteners. Artificial sweeteners create a whole lot of sugar imbalances, raise your insulin levels and hence affect ketosis. If you crave for a sweetener, opt for high-quality honey, dates, or jaggery (traditional non-centrifugal cane sugar).
Error #3: Not checking how your body responds to certain dairy types
You may be tolerant to lactose or casein, but you could still have issues digesting dairy products. Some dairy — like yogurt and whey protein — can raise insulin levels and throw you out of ketosis.
It’s best to go figure yourself whether certain types of dairies are a good ‘fit’ for your body.
Basic Action Plan:
- Measure your ketone levels. Using a blood ketone meter, you can measure your ketones levels before and after consuming dairy to see how your body reacts.
- Opt for only high-quality dairy. Aim for organic or pastured dairy products only such as grass-fed animal products.
Error #4: Too much calorie intake
If you are starting out on a keto journey or have been on one already, you’ll know that a high-fat diet keeps you full, but it is still possible to consume more calories than you need.
Basic Action Plan:
- Follow your calorie intake. Didn’t see a substantial weight loss even after several weeks? You could use a keto calculator to track your calories.
- Eat your nuts in proportion. Many nuts are keto-friendly, still, you wouldn’t want to consume them out of proportion. Nuts are high in calories and it's best to measure calories while having them as snacks.
- Do not eat less than your body needs. While a shortfall in the diet is necessary, eat too little, and you lose the keto benefits because of the resulting metabolic damage.
We wish you all the very best for your keto weight-loss journey. For more resources on the keto diet and keto diet plans, visit our website.
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