Yes, you Can Lose Weight Quickly!
It’s going to take at least four weeks of dedication, but you can do it!
Finding the lifelong eating plan that allows you to maintain a healthy weight can take a lot of trial and error. Sometimes it can take years of trying different diets, fad diets, paid meal plans, etc. to figure out what works personally.
The plan we’re talking about here is a short term plan for quick weight loss, but it can be adjusted and modified for a lifelong plan of weight management after your initial weight loss.
There are many different approaches you could take to make weight loss happen. This is just what worked for this bread, cake, dessert, pasta, veggie, chocolate and fruit loving mom. The plan is low carb, also known as Keto. Like many other carboholics, I was able to lose a substantial amount of weight on this diet eating plan and keep it off.
Whether you want to slim down for summer or better manage your health, a low-carbohydrate diet can help. Limiting the number of carbs you eat has been popular for years, especially lately with the “keto diet.” Since carbs are nutrients that affect blood sugar the most, reducing them can help care for health conditions as well as lose weight.
What is the ketogenic diet?
People on a ketogenic diet eat a very small amount of carbohydrates, a moderate amount of protein and a high amount of fat per day. This means that the body burns fat as its main source of fuel and breaks it down into ‘ketone bodies’ (or ‘ketones’) in a process called ketosis.
People on a ketogenic diet usually eat only 20 to 50g of carbohydrates per day. As an example, and don’t leave after hearing this, 50g of carbohydrates is equivalent to 2 slices of bread and a banana.
When you hear about the ketogenic diet, you might wonder is it as good as people say it is for losing weight? The answer is, YES, the keto diet can be a great way to lose weight relativity quickly and improve your life and well being.
While a ketogenic diet can be fast and effective in the short term, it can be hard to maintain because it’s very limiting. This means a large number of people tend to drop out of the diet, contributing to unhealthy, ‘yo-yo’ dieting behavior. The key to maintaining a healthy weight in the long-term is finding an eating pattern that you can sustain over time.
Research into low-carb plans has shown that low-carb diets, specifically ketogenic approaches, induce rapid initial weight loss, due partly from water loss, but luckily rapid fat loss occurs with adherence to the low carb approach.
The way to initiate low-carb is through a rapid phase of 2 to 4 weeks, with 20 to 50 gms of carbohydrates to induce nutritional ketosis.
A great way to insure success with your keto weight loss journey is arming yourself with plenty of knowledge and resources such as:
- Lots of online research
- Watching YouTube videos for recipes and tips
- Learning how to use apps like carb manager
- Using a digital scale, watching the numbers drop can be very motivational.
- Reading good keto books:
What is a ketogenic diet?
The Keto diet is a way of eating that is low in carbohydrates, moderate in protein and high in fat. The goal is to send your body into the state of “ketosis” through what you eat.
Testing to see if your body is in ketosis:
The body enters ketosis when it no longer has stores of glycogen sugar and carbs to fuel its energy needs. With carbs and sugar out of the way, the body starts to burn fat instead. This is what makes the keto program a good way to lose body fat.
A well-formulated ketogenic diet, besides limiting carbohydrates, also limits protein intake moderately to less than 1g/lb body weight. This is to prevent the production of glucose in the body via gluconeogenesis. However, it does not restrict fat or overall daily calories.
People on a ketogenic diet initially experience rapid weight loss, up to 10 lbs in 2 weeks or less. This diet has a diuretic effect, and some early weight loss is due to water weight loss followed by a fat loss. Interestingly with this diet plan, lean body muscle is largely spared. When in a nutritional ketosis state, hunger pangs subside, and an overall reduction in caloric intake helps to further weight loss.
What are some Keto diet benefits?
Like other diets, keto offers weight loss; however, the keto diet comes with several additional benefits.
- Weight loss: Without a doubt, weight loss is the primary benefit of a successful keto diet regimen. It works because it forces the body to burn its fat reserves to power its metabolism. When the body is deprived of carbs, it enters a state of ketosis. Blood sugar and insulin levels fall when that happens. As the body taps the energy in fat cells, they release considerable quantities of water, making for some great weight loss. The fat cells are then able to enter the bloodstream and make their way to the liver, where they are turned into ketones for energy processing. As long as your diet allows you to stay in a caloric deficit, you get to enjoy the weight loss benefits of the keto diet.
- It takes the edge off your appetite: When your diet isn’t heavy on carbs, you’ll find that you don’t crave as much food as before. Many people who are on the keto diet are able to also easily practice intermittent fasting. They are simply not as hungry as before.
- Improved ability to focus: When you choose a regular diet that puts carbs into the body, your brain has to deal with the rise and fall in sugar levels that happens as a result. Inconsistent energy levels can make it hard for the brain to focus. With the keto diet, however, the energy source is constant and consistent. The brain is better able to stay focused.
- You feel more energetic: When you are on a regular diet, your body is always on the verge of running out of energy. You need to constantly eat and refuel. However, with a keto diet the body taps its fat reserves, a nearly unending energy source. The body is then able to maintain constant energy levels throughout the day. The result is you end up feeling a lot more energetic.
- An amazing Keto diet benefit is it helps fight diabetes: When you suffer from Type II diabetes, your body experiences high levels of insulin. Since the keto diet takes excess sugar from your diet, it helps stabilize A1c counts, and reverse Type II diabetes.
- Improved levels of good cholesterol: HDL cholesterol helps get rid of the body’s bad cholesterol reserves. When you’re on keto, your body’s triglyceride levels fall and your HDL cholesterol levels rise.
- Lower blood pressure: There is growing evidence that reducing sugars and starches (carbohydrates) in the diet can improve metabolic syndrome and hypertension.
- Recent studies have shown that acne, cancer, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, polycystic ovary syndrome, and Alzheimer disease may improve with ketogenic diets.
With the keto diet the daily goal is approximately 55% to 60% fat, 30% to 35% protein and 5% to 10% carbohydrates. Specifically, in a 2000 kcal per day diet, carbohydrates amount up to 20 to 50 g per day.
History of the Keto Diet
Russel Wilder first used the ketogenic diet to treat epilepsy in 1921. He also coined the term “ketogenic diet.” For almost a decade, the ketogenic diet enjoyed a place in the medical world as a diet for pediatric epilepsy and was widely used until its popularity ceased with the introduction of anti epileptic medications. Recently the ketogenic diet has had a resurgence as a rapid weight loss diet which has shown to be quite effective in the short term.
Cautions and Side Effects of the Keto Diet
The most common short-term side effects of ketogenic diet include a collection of symptoms like nausea, vomiting, headache, fatigue, and dizziness, sometimes referred to as keto flu. Some other side effects can be bad breath, insomnia, difficulty in exercise tolerance, and constipation. These symptoms resolve in a few days to a week or more. Ensuring adequate fluid and electrolyte intake can help counter some of these symptoms. The keto diet can also be associated with complications that lead to emergency room visits for dehydration, electrolyte disturbances, and hypoglycemia. People suffering from diabetes and taking insulin or oral hypoglycemic agents can suffer severe hypoglycemia if the medications are not appropriately adjusted before initiating this diet.
A ketogenic diet can be followed for a minimum of 2 to 3 weeks up to 6 to 12 months. Close monitoring of renal functions while on a ketogenic diet is imperative, and the transition from a ketogenic diet to a standard diet should be gradual and well controlled.
A ketogenic diet should always be followed in consultation with your doctor to ensure that you get the right amount and types of fats, fiber and vitamins, as well as minerals like calcium, magnesium, iron and potassium.
It is important to remember that people have different needs, and that no single weight-loss diet suits everyone. A keto diet may be an option for some people who have had difficulty losing weight with other methods, but if you choose to go on a ketogenic diet, it’s best to do so under the supervision of your doctor.
The keto diet can change a person’s life, it did for me, and it is an easy diet program to begin. All it takes is the willingness to give it a shot.
Low carb keto snacks
Keto Almond Joy Macaroons only 1 Net Carb