Wondering how to lose weight fast keto?
Research shows that keto is a powerful tool for helping you achieve and maintain your weight loss goals. The keto diet requires you to cut down on the carbs and increase your fat intake. This doesn’t mean that the keto diet is natural – it’s unnatural and can be difficult to follow because you will be cutting down on so many different food groups.
Although there are many approaches to the keto diet, the core principle is the same:
Restrict your grams of carbs to a maximum of 50g per day to induce a process known as ketosis.
Do it right and you could lose weight rapidly on keto. In this article, we will take a look at why keto works and what tips (and tweaks) you can follow to achieve your weight loss.
How Ketogenic Diets Lead to Healthy Weight Loss
The body has ‘contingency’ plans in the form of multiple metabolic pathways to increase the likelihood of survival in the event that it loses access to food. The keto diet is about transitioning to a low-carb, high-fat diet to force the body to use fat for energy. This metabolic process is known as ketosis and it results in the buildup of acids in the body. The ketones are released into the bloodstream to fuel the body’s cells, including muscle cells and our brain.
However, not all cells in the body can use ketones for fuel. Some cells will always need sugar for their energy. For example, the liver cannot use ketone as fuel because it does not have the enzyme called beta ketoacyl-CoA transferase.
The Difference Between Losing Weight and Fat
There is a big difference between losing weight and losing fat on keto.
You will experience rapid weight loss in the first week of the keto diet (due to calorie deficits) – a trend that is common to almost all types of meal plan. Most of this weight is water weight. The water weight comes due to stored glucose. Transitioning to a keto diet results in the depletion of stored glucose, along with any binding water.
In fact, every 1 gram of glycogen carries about 3 grams of water. This means that if you lose enough glycogens, you could lose up to 2 kilograms on the scale. The weight loss can vary depending on your size and water loss.
The moment your glucose stores are renewed, all that water weight will begin to return, resulting in weight gain.
There are tips that you can use to increase the speed at which you lose weight on keto. Some of these tips are obvious (such as counting your calories) but there are certain tweaks you can use to get quicker results. Let’s get down to brass tacks.
How to Lose Weight Fast Keto – Tips You Should Know
The trick to losing weight fast on keto is to stick to tried and tested macronutrient ratios, these are: 5% carbs, 25% protein, and 70% fats. You can tweak the ratio to 10% carbs, 20% protein, and 70% fats. Keep experimenting to find out the ratio that works best for you. Just make sure to not exceed 50g carbs per day and you should be good to go.
Remember, the goal is to use more grams of fat so that the body doesn’t use energy from glucose as its primary form of energy source.
Track Your Carbs
This is the main rule of the keto diet: restricting carbs.
Carb restriction keeps your insulin levels low, and the insulin signals the liver to make more ketones by burning fat. But there is more to keto than burning fat. It is also about stabilizing hormones like ghrelin and neuropeptide Y that are responsible for hunger. The less hungry you feel, the less likely you are to overeat, and the easier it is to lose weight.
Tracking carbs is easier said than done because it is found everywhere – in sauces, salad dressings, and vegetables. Carbs can sneak their way into your diet and you may not even know it. This is why you should carefully read food labels and calculate the net carbs from other macros.
Here’s a rule of thumb: if you are getting 10% of your daily calories from carbs (usually 20 to 50 grams, depending on your total calorie intake), you should start cutting back. Use a carbohydrate calculator to get on top of your carb intake. For proteins, stick to 1.6 grams of protein per kg of your body weight.
Don’t Eat Between Meals
We know it’s tempting to eat between meals and ‘reward’ yourself for sticking to your diet plan. But if you are trying to lose weight fast on keto, then you should stop it. Eating between main meals is bad because it can increase your calorie intake – including carb intake. This also applies to keto-friendly foods!
We recommend combining keto with intermittent fasting and eating once every 24 hours. There are several benefits of eating this way, weight loss being one of them.
Don’t ‘reward’ yourself with more food in between your major meals.
Cut Out on the Dairy
While there are low-carb dairy foods out there, we recommend removing this food group entirely – this applies even if you are not lactose intolerant. Eating more dairy foods can cause you to retain more water (increases bloat) and carry more weight around that will prevent you from achieving weight loss.
We’re not saying you have to give dairy foods entirely. However, if you are trying to lose weight fast – with the keyword being fast – then you should cut out the dairy. Keto can be a restrictive diet. This way of eating is more difficult to follow – but as the old saying goes – nothing ventured, nothing gained.
Keeping Electrolytes Balanced
Switching over to keto will make it critical to maintain a healthy electrolyte balance. Electrolytes such as sodium, magnesium, and potassium will become critical in the earliest stages of keto. This is because you are more likely to urinate more during ketosis. An important electrolyte that is lost through urination is magnesium.
Magnesium is an important energy mineral that plays a crucial role in helping the body burn fat and lose weight. The easiest way to prevent the shortage of magnesium is by drinking enough water. You can never drink enough water in the day, especially when you are working out and following the keto diet. It is recommended to take multivitamins that include magnesium in your diet. Or you could prioritize foods that are high in magnesium such as avocado, chard, and almonds.
Focus on Eating the “Right” Veggies
No one is denying the health value of vegetables. But the keto diet is very clear on cutting down on carbs and many vegetables contain too carb-heavy. These include corn, peas, squash, potatoes, and others. The carbohydrate consumption from all these veggies will add up and you could miss the mark for ketosis.
Your best option is to research low-carb veggies that will help you keep your carb intake on the low end. Some good options include zucchini, leafy greens, sprouts, cauliflower, and cabbage.
Increase Your Fiber Intake
While the main focus of the keto diet is on carbs, fatty foods, and protein, you should also incorporate adequate amounts of fiber. Make sure to prioritize fiber-rich foods that are low in carbs but high in fat, such as avocado, squash, and nuts. Fiber will play an important role in preventing constipation by increasing the weight and size of your stool.
Fiber is also useful in improving cholesterol levels, blood sugar levels, digestion, and colon health.
Don’t Binge on Artificial Sweeteners and Comfort Foods
The keto diet removes most traditional sugars, honey, and sugar because of their high carb counts. An alternative to sugars is artificial sweeteners because they deliver sweetness while keeping your carb count low. This doesn’t mean that you should incorporate them in your diet. =Artificial sweeteners do the exact same thing that regular sugars do – which is a sharp increase in your insulin spikes and preventing ketosis.
De-stress
Get away from the hustle of big city life and connect more with nature to alleviate your stress levels. Stress is not good for your health and it can influence your ability to lose weight. Extremely high levels of stress are even worse because they create cravings for food – usually junk food and sweets. These foods will drastically increase your calorie intake – and carb intake – and that means having to start the cycle all over again.
In some cases, stress can also causes the body to produce more cortisol: a stress hormone that leads to more body fat and makes it harder to lose weight.
So try to identify your stressors and minimize them.
Exercise
Since your goal is to increase the weight loss rate on keto, it may not be a bad idea to start working out and increase physical and aerobic activity. Get a gym membership and start lifting weights – just don’t go too heavy because you will experience a loss in strength as you lose the weight.
Muscle hypertrophy is incredibly useful in body recompositioning and fat loss. Having more muscle increases your metabolic rate, allowing you to burn more calories while at rest. However, it is extremely difficult to gain muscle while you’re losing weight. This is why it is recommended to maintain muscle mass as you lose fat. Again, this can be done with the help of weight training. Just don’t expect to break any personal records – or even going near them.
While you’re at it, consider incorporating a combination of low and high intensity cardio activities into your workout. Physical activities such as biking, jogging, and rowing are great at burning more calories and can be especially useful for starting keto. If nothing else, going for a simple walk outside is great at burning more calories and de-stressing.
Hire a Nutrition Coach
If you have the budget for hiring a coach, then this should be the first thing you should do.
With so many online guides and YouTube tutorials out there, it is easy to believe that we can do everything on our own. But the truth is that we may not be able to objectively identify problems in our dieting approach. Moreover, it’s difficult to stay accountable when you don’t have someone else tracking your progress.
We believe that a coach is the fastest way to get the weight loss results you want. A coach will provide you with a custom dieting plan based on your lifestyle, weight loss goals, and other factors.
Here are a few things to consider when looking for a coach:
- Ask them for their credentials: Most health coaches online are not formally trained on nutrition and may not be qualified to provide advice. Look for someone who has a degree in nutrition.
- Do they practice what they preach? You would expect nutrition coaches to look their best because they have knowledge and experience. They’ve also struggled to lose weight and are familiar with the struggles of keeping it off. Hire a coach who empathizes with your weight loss journey.
- Look for online reviews. Have they helped other people achieve their weight loss goals? The more positive reviews they have, the more likely they are to help you on your journey.
Wrapping Up – How to Lose Weight Fast Ket
So there you have it, a detailed guide on ‘how to lose weight fast keto’. Keep in mind that your end goal is to reach ketosis. You can use urine tests to detect the presence of ketones in your body. Make sure to experiment and see what works best for you. It is highly recommended to consult with a healthcare provider first to see if the lifestyle change is good for you.
Your healthcare provider will look at any medical conditions or chronic conditions before making recommendations.
If you’ve had great results with keto and our tips helped you on your journey, leave a comment below and let us know!
