Entering ketosis and staying there can accelerate fat burning. The faster you get into ketosis, the faster you can start losing weight.
The ketogenic diet has been confirmed by many medical experts and millions of people around the world for its positive impact on overall health.
The benefits of the keto diet include weight loss, improved brain cognition, maintaining hormone balance, treatment or prevention of various diseases (such as diabetes and epilepsy) and delaying aging.
In the traditional high-carbohydrate and low-fat diet, our body has always used glucose as an energy source, where most of the glucose is converted from ingested carbohydrates.
If you eat too many carbs, your body will convert the excess glucose into fat and store it for later use.
The keto diet strictly controls the intake of carbohydrates. When your body does not have enough glycogen to “generate the power”, it will start to use stored fat for energy in order to survive.
In other words, your body changes from burning sugar to burning fat. At this point, your body enters a natural metabolic state called ketosis, and you will start to lose weight.
How Long Does It Take To Achieve Ketosis
The answer is: it varies from person to person.
Everyone has different physical conditions and metabolic levels, so their responses to the new diet are also different.
For example, some people only eat 20 grams of carbs a day and it is still hard for them to get into ketosis. Conversely, others can get into ketosis with 100 grams of carbs intake.
Generally speaking, it is easier for young people to lose weight than it is for middle-aged and elderly people.
People with a high weight base have more obvious weight loss effects than those with a lower weight. People who exercise regularly lose weight faster than those who sit still all day.
Our body has always used glucose as fuel. It takes time to adapt and convert it to burn fat for energy. We cannot expect it to “change track” within a day. In general, this conversion takes at least two or three days or even a week.
One thing to remember is that once you enter ketosis, there is no guarantee that you will always be in it.
If you occasionally burst into carbohydrates or get used to strength training and need to add appropriate carbohydrates, your body may exit ketosis.
How To Quickly Get Into Ketosis
There are several ways to help you get into ketosis as quickly as possible.
1. Strictly limit carbohydrate intake
On a keto diet, your intake of carbohydrates should be limited to 20 grams. If you are an athlete or exercising heavily, you can increase it to 100 grams.
To get into ketosis quickly, the best way is to control your carbohydrate intake as much as possible. A large reduction in carbohydrates can speed up the body’s process of converting metabolism.
Some people worry that ketosis is bad for their health. In fact, ketosis is a natural metabolic reaction that occurs when the body breaks down triglycerides into fatty acids and uses them as fuel.
Carbohydrates are not necessary for our survival, so we can safely reduce them to a minimum. [*]
When the carbohydrates in your body are not enough to be converted into glucose to provide energy, your liver will convert more stored glycogen into glucose and use it to keep blood sugar levels stable.
Once the stored glycogen is used up, the liver will mobilize your stored fat to compensate for the lack of glucose.
Therefore, the less carbohydrate you eat, the faster you can mobilize fat reserves and the faster you will enter ketosis.
2. Increase the intake of high-quality fats
Another important part of the ketogenic diet is high-quality fats.
When starting a keto diet, you should increase your intake of high-quality fats as much as possible.
Eating enough healthy fats can help you enter ketosis smoothly. Generally speaking, the proportion of fat should reach 70-75%.
Since fat accounts for a very large proportion of the diet, it is important to choose healthy foods.
Good fats include coconut oil, MCT oil, avocado oil, extra virgin olive oil, grass-fed butter, animal fats, etc.
However, there is one thing you need to be aware of: fats are high in calories. They may affect weight loss. In addition, if you consume too much fat, your body will give priority to using foreign fats before burning its own fat, especially after you enter ketosis.
Therefore, when it is determined that you have entered ketosis, you should appropriately reduce your fat intake to accelerate fat burning.
3. Eat more coconut oil and MCT oil
Among all healthy fats, coconut oil and MCT oil can significantly increase blood ketone levels, especially MCT oil.
MCT is a fat extracted from coconut oil called medium-chain triglycerides. Unlike most fats, MCT can be quickly absorbed and directly enter the liver. Then, it can be used immediately for energy or converted into ketones.
In addition to the four types of MCT, coconut oil is also rich in lauric acid. Some studies have shown that fat sources with higher lauric acid content may produce longer-lasting ketosis.
Another effect of adding coconut oil or MCT oil to your diet is to reduce the adverse reactions caused by a ketogenic diet, such as fatigue or upset stomach.
4. Eat enough and moderate protein
To quickly enter ketosis, in addition to the intake of low-carb and high fat, the right amount of protein is also the key.
Protein provides the liver with amino acids that can be used to produce glycogen and then uses it to make new glucose.
This glucose is used to provide energy for some organs and cells in the body. These cells and organs which cannot use ketones as fuel are red blood cells and part of the kidney and brain.
If protein intake is excessive, it will also increase the blood glucose content. Therefore, the right amount of protein can ensure the best effect of a ketogenic diet for weight loss.
In addition, weight loss usually leads to the loss of muscle and fat, so supplementing enough protein can help maintain muscle mass.
Some weight loss studies have found that on a ketogenic diet when the protein intake is 0.55-0.77 g/lb (1.2-1.7 g/kg) body weight, ketosis can be induced and maintained.
The method of calculating protein intake in a ketogenic diet is:
Ideal body weight (lb) X 0.55 to 0.77, or ideal body weight (kg) X 1.2 to 1.7.
For example, if your ideal weight is 130 pounds (59 kg), your daily protein intake should be 71-100 grams.
5. Increase activity
During exercise, the body consumes glycogen reserves. When you eat a high-carbohydrate diet, your body will break down the carbs into glucose and convert them into glycogen.
If you strictly limit your carb intake, the glycogen reserves in the body will be reduced. In order to maintain normal body function, your liver will increase the ketone body, which is used as an alternative fuel to provide energy for the muscles.
A study found that under low blood ketone levels, exercise increases the rate of ketone production. In other words, maintaining proper physical activity can increase blood ketone levels helping you to enter ketosis faster.
However, in the early stages of the ketogenic diet, it takes some time to adapt as the human body changes from sugar metabolism to fat metabolism. Thus, there can be some discomfort, including fatigue.
Therefore, strenuous exercise, such as running and strength training, should be reduced at this stage. However, you should not sit still all day. You can use less strenuous exercises instead, such as yoga, walking and stretching.
6. Try intermittent fasting
Intermittent fasting (IF) has health benefits, including weight loss, lowering blood sugar levels and improving insulin sensitivity.
If combined with a ketogenic diet, IF can help you enter ketosis faster, accelerate fat burning and reduce weight.
Studies have shown that when the fasting window exceeds 16 hours, the blood ketone level begins to soar and your blood ketone concentration increases with the prolonged fasting time.
Click here to find out How To Do Intermittent Fasting Correctly.
If you follow these 6 methods, you get into ketosis faster and start to burn fat more quickly.
