I’ve heard a lot of my friends exclaim in excitement: “I swear Keto works like a miracle! I’ve lost so much weight in no time!!” Is that true? I thought. Have we finally found the holy grail of weight loss, and one which does not involve burpees? So, I Googled. While there were millions of testaments from people across the globe, narrating how the popular keto diet has changed their lives around, I was still not totally convinced. Just to be sure, I did some more digging, and chatted with a few nutritionists, asking them about the diet and the process that apparently leads to losing weight super fast. Here’s what I learnt –
1. Each body is different
The ketogenic diet – generally speaking – is 75% fat, 20% protein, 5% carbohydrates. But remember, your daily carb intake can vary from 20 grams to 50 grams per day, depending on how your body processes carbs. There’s no magic number of carbs that’ll get you into ketosis. If you’re not losing weight or unable to get into ketosis at 50 grams, keep dropping your carb macros until you achieve the results you want.
2. Expect the Keto Flu – It’s normal
The ‘keto-flu’ is a flu-like feeling that hits some people in the beginning of the keto diet. This can happen for two reasons – As your body switches from carb-burning to fat-burning, your brain may run low on energy, leading to nausea, headaches, and grogginess – Or, you’re dehydrated and low on electrolytes because the keto diet causes you to urinate more frequently. Whatever the reason, don’t stress, as it’s completely normal for this to happen, if you’re new to the diet. The keto flu is actually a sign that you’re headed in the right direction.
3. Slow and steady wins the race
You’ll hear keto success stories where weight starts to melt off almost immediately. Those cases are typically associated with people who have lots of weight to lose. In general, the more weight you have to lose, the faster it’ll come off at the beginning. Another thing to keep in mind is that slow and steady weight loss is healthier, more sustainable, and more likely to stay off. So always remember to be patient with yourself!
4. You might lose muscle mass
Diets that are low in carbs are known to promote muscle loss. Eating carbs leads to the body’s production of insulin, which further leads to muscle growth. While on keto, we cut out carbs almost entirely, and since our muscle glycogen stores are depleted easily, we end up with very little energy and find it hard to push ourselves to do a powerful workout.
5. You’re allowed to drink alcohol
Most alcoholic drinks are a low-carb dieter’s worst enemy. But that doesn’t mean you have to give up drinking entirely if you’re on a keto diet. Dry wines and light beers fall into the low- or no-carb category – you can have them as long as you drink responsibly. You won’t lose weight if you spend all your calories on booze.
