Have you been wondering, “How does keto weight loss work?” or “How can you combine your workout with a low-carb diet to achieve your fitness and weight loss goals? The good news is that people have been achieving weight loss from working out while on a keto diet, but it is important to keep to some guidelines to see good results.
Combining workout with a keto diet can be a bit challenging at first because your body relies mostly on carbohydrates for energy, especially when following an intense workout session.
But by adjusting to fuel yourself differently, you might reap some benefits, including weight loss and fat loss. The keto diet contains a reduced amount of carbs. And when your body uses up the carbs in your diet, it often goes into ketosis to burn fats for energy.
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What Benefits Do You Get from Working Out in Ketosis?
Here are four benefits you can enjoy from combining your workout with a keto diet:
- More fat burn: As you work out, your body burns both fat and carbs for energy. So it doesn’t matter if you’re low on carb, your body quickly switches to your fat stores, and this supports more fat burn and weight loss.
- Less fatigue: Working out while on keto diet reduces your chances of suffering fatigue. This is unlike the post-exercise fatigue that you experience with carb loading.
- Regulation of blood glucose level: As your body uses fat as its main source of energy during your workout session, it supports a moderate blood glucose level. But when you rely on carbs, you might experience fluctuations in blood glucose levels.
- Faster muscle recovery: You tend to recover faster after working out while in ketosis. This might be because you’re burning your fat sores, and not carbs, as your primary source of fuel.
What Kinds of Exercise Can You Do While on a Keto Diet?
Many people experience decreased performance when combining high-intensity anaerobic workouts with a ketogenic diet. Well, this is not surprising because our muscles rely mainly on glycogen – a product of carbs – to function during activities that require high energy in short bursts.
Luckily, you can now raise your ketone levels to kickstart ketosis faster and boost your energy levels during workouts.
While on keto diet, you can strive to build up to 3-5 times weekly, incorporating a combination of weight and cardio training.
You may do moderate to low-intensity exercises, such as cycling, jogging, swimming, or circuit training. These exercises help keep your heart rate working at about 70% of its maximum potential to burn fat.
Useful Workout Tips or Guidelines on Keto
Here are some useful guidelines to help you get the best from working out while on keto:
Choose smart carbohydrates and watch your protein intake
Most people on a keto diet keep their carb count under 20-35 g/day. However it is important to choose smart carbs and time some of these carbs if you’re going to be on a workout plan to achieve weight loss.
You should consider eating 25-50 g of digestible carbs within 30 minutes of working out. This way, your body uses all the glucose for energy and doesn’t disrupt ketosis.
Also, to protect your muscle, you need to be very mindful of the protein you consume. A general rule of thumb requires that you consume between 0.6 g – 0.9 g of protein per pound of body weight daily on a keto diet.
So if you’re weighing 150lbs, for example, you should be consuming between 90 mg – 135 mg of protein to maintain your muscle mass.
However, it is important that you balance your meals with different proteins to reduce burnout. Some good sources of protein to include in your diet include beef, fish and shellfish, eggs, and chicken.
Drink plenty of water and get adequate rest
Increasing your water intake is important if you’re working out on a keto diet. Water helps prevent dehydration and electrolyte imbalances.
Your body also needs time to recover in between your workout session. So, ensure you take days off to get plenty of rest. This helps your body recover and build strong muscle tissues.
So Can You Achieve Weight Loss by combining Workout and Keto?
The simple answer is “YES” – Although there are claims that the keto diet can have a negative toll on performance, this diet can be modified to maintain your performance level. In fact, you can now supplement to raise your ketone levels and help your body get into ketosis fast.
Just like keto can be tweaked to suit vegans and vegetarians, it can also be tweaked to boost your energy, increase your performance, and reduce your hunger/cravings, thereby supporting weight loss.
You can try incorporating a variety of low intensity and steady state activities, such as yoga, jogging, biking, rowing and more into your keto diet routine to lose weight faster and build strong muscles. You can also try high intensity workouts when you combine with exogenous ketones.