What Is Ketosis and Can It Help Me Lose Weight?

Diet fads often come and go. The best fads explode onto the fitness and dieting scene, they make a lot of money for whoever started the trend (and anyone that takes advantage of it) and then a scientist or two will come along and tell everyone that it’s all a waste of time. Despite a mix of positive and negative testimonies about the diet, it will eventually phase out of popularity to make way for the next big diet. Occasionally, the same diet will be brought back with a different name, brand or even approach to once again be recycled into a money-making machine.

It’s a cynical way of looking at the modern diet plan, but it’s also the truth. Dieting has become a race to find the newest and strangest trends, and ketosis is the latest to rear its head. However, with it being based on scientific fact and being backed by proper research, can it actually help you lose weight, or is it yet another passing trend? Let’s find out.

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What is a Keto Diet?

A keto diet is known for being a low-carb diet and it’s not unlike the Atkins diet or the Paleo diet. When you eat a lot of carbs, your body naturally produces two chemicals: glucose and insulin. Glucose is converted into energy, which is why you’ll hear people say that carbs give energy to the body. Insulin is what processes the glucose and carries it around your body. Since the glucose is being used as the main energy source in a balanced diet, fats aren’t needed and are stored for when your body really needs them

A keto diet uses ketosis to burn this fat instead of using glucose from carbs. Ketosis is a natural process that the body goes through when food intake is low. During ketosis, your body produces ketones which are used to break down fats. The goal of a keto diet is to manipulate the way your body reacts to food in order to achieve a state of ketosis so that your body burns fat instead of glucose for energy.

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Achieving Ketosis

When combined with regular exercise, ketosis can help you burn body fat and lose weight. However, it can also help you control your blood sugar levels and even improve your focus during stressful situations. Ketosis can be achieved with strict diet plans, but here are some general tips to help you switch to a keto diet:

• Limit carbs – as a low-carb diet, it’s important to limit the number of carbs you take in. It’s recommended that you stay below 35g of carbs in a single day.
• Limit protein – too much protein can restrict ketosis, so try to limit your protein intake to around 0.7g of protein per pound of body weight. You can use a keto calculator to help you restrict both your carb and protein intake.
• Drink lots of water – water helps to keep you hydrated and also control hunger levels, making it essential for weight loss on a keto diet.
• No snacks – snacking can stall weight loss when you’re trying to achieve ketosis, so avoid it as much as possible.
• Fasting – putting your body into starvation can be dangerous, but it helps achieve ketosis. Do not attempt to fast without proper guidance or medical supervision if you are new to it.

So can ketosis help you lose weight? Absolutely, but only once you’ve done sufficient research and learned about how it works. It’s a diet based on facts and scientific evidence, so it’s not a fad that will disappear anytime soon.