Losing weight is hard work I know first hand. Many people struggle with this issue all their life. Some people can lose weight but then it comes right back. Some will lose it and then gain more back, while some can’t even lose any.
The keto diet has resolved this problem for a lot of people. The reason why? The keto diet gets your body into the ketosis state which is a state where your body burns fat instead of sugars. In this article I am going to give 10 tips on the absolute fastest way to get into ketosis or how to accelerate ketosis .
In a highly simplistic explanation – when you eat food your body takes all the sugars (carbohydrates, unprocessed flours, breads, regular sugar, juice, fruits etc) and uses the sugars for energy. It can only process so much sugar at one time so the excess sugar gets stored as fat for later.
And when this happens our body always uses the sugars for energy and never get to the fat burning stage.
With a keto diet again at a very simplistic level or high overview – we avoid or reduce our carbohydrate intake and eat more fats. And with this our body turns into a fat burning machine.
With the keto diet our carb intake should be around 20 -50 grams a day (50 being on the high side), our Protein intake should be about 20-25% of our food, with Fats taking up the remainder 70 to 75%.
If this is the first time you are hearing this I’m sure you think it is very odd. We have to eat 70 – 75% fat to lose fat? How can that be?
When in the Keto state we are not getting carbohydrate/sugar spikes since we are not eating much carbs so therefore our body only has one option and that is to burn fat.
Our bodies need something to burn for energy and if there are no carbs or limited carbs coming in then our body only has one choice and that is to use the fat in our cells as energy.
So when we are eating fats our body realizes it no longer needs to store fat in case of emergencies.
And when it makes this realization it then goes ahead and uses or burns fat for energy. This is a huge benefit for the keto diet.
Some diets call for calorie restriction to lose weight. When this happens the body is like hey looks like we are running out of food we better go into survival mode, we better store fat to be safe.
With a keto diet this is a huge benefit. Since you do not have to reduce calories your body doesn’t have to go into survival mode but you are still able to lose weight.
So with that all being said we know we want to get into a ketosis state to give ourselves the best opportunity to burn fat and lose weight. The next question should be:
How can we Accelerate Ketosis
1. Fasting is The Number One way to get into ketosis
If you are fasting you are obviously not bringing any carbohydrates or sugars into your body. So once it burns through all the carbs it then moves on to fat stores.If you have already started the keto diet one way to shred fat even faster is to add in Intermittent Fasting (also known as IF ).
Intermittent Fasting (which is a whole other topic that we can discuss) has a few different options but for this we will go with the 16/8 plan. This is where you don’t eat (hence the word fast) for an extended period ( in this case 16 hours) and then for the remainder portion of time you can eat (in this case 8 hours)So you can look at this in two ways.
1) Since you are eating a keto diet and because of this you have been training your body to burn fats – so now when your body gets its hands on fats it is ready to burn them and when you are fasting you just enhance the fat burning.
2) If you are just starting Intermittent fasting will get you to the keto state double time. Your body will burn all its carbs and excess sugar. Then once it gets through that it will start working on the fats. Generally speaking it takes about 12 hours to burn through the carbs and sugars in your body. Then after that it gets to work on burning fat.
2. Regular Exercise Plan
If you currently are not working out it can be a lot to start exercising and going on the keto diet at the same time. However if you are trying to get max benefits quickly- exercise is the answer.
When you are just starting out you might want to do a 30 minute walk in the morning before you eat to get your blood flowing and metabolism going. If you can’t do a morning walk try to find 30 minutes sometime during the day get this done.
3. Add MCT Oil ( medium chain triglycerides or medium chain fatty acids) to your diet.
MCT oil mainly comes from coconut oil (and can come from palm oil also). This became popular through Bulletproof Coffee – its an ingredient you can add to your coffee that doesn’t change the taste. You can also add it really to any other meal. Just mix it in. It helps keep your body in the keto state.
4. Reduce Carbohydrates to even less than the 20 grams.
If it isn’t obvious so far that the real key is to reduce your carb intake then I haven’t done a great job explaining it yet.
Keeping carbs to a minimum forces your body to burn fat since there is no sugar to burn.
5. Up the Amount of Protein you Eat
At least do this in the beginning to give you that extra push to get into the keto state. Salmon is a great option. Not only does it have the protein but it has some good fats and omega 3’s as well.
6. Increase High Quality Fats.
As I mentioned at the top of this article with the keto diet you are going to want to increase your fats. But not any ol fat will do. You will want to eat the high quality fats such as avocado,eggs,olive oil, Grass fed butter or ghee.
7. Make Smart Choices when eating out
It can be harder to do this when you go out to eat. But it is the one place that can throw you out of ketosis quickly. So the best bet is to make the smart choice which is go with no carb options or order protein style options.
Tacos without the flour tortillas (make it a burrito bowl), or get the burger protein style. Or order the fish on veggies instead of rice.
8. On the more Advanced Side of Things - Use Exogenous Ketones
There are 3 types of ketones that you and your body run on. Acetone, Acetoacetate and beta-hydroxybutyrate. See I told you this is more advanced.
For this article and right now you don’t really need to know this or use this – but I wanted to include it if you wanted to explore even further.
But for now beta-hydroxybutyrate is the type of ketone that you can benefit from since it flows in the blood which your body can use to get you into a ketosis state faster and it is the one used in supplements.
You can learn more about exogenous ketones here: https://perfectketo.com/exogenous-ketones-supplement-ketones/
The next two are not technically going to get you into Keto any faster but having patience and a plan will definitely help you stick to your goals
9. Plan Your Meals in Advance
Set yourself up for success and you do this by preparing your meals or meal plans in advance. If you have it written out and make the shopping list ahead of time you’re more likely to stick to your plan.
If you create the correct shopping list and stick to it you will have the healthier more keto like foods in the house and then you will make the meals that are keto.
10. Last but not least you have to Be Patient
Like with any other long term goal such as losing weight and getting healthy it doesn’t happen overnight.
And because of this you have to be patient. Trust me this will work if you stick to it especially if you stick to the tips above.
Hopefully you stuck with me there and now you have 10 no fail tips on the absolute fastest way to get into ketosis. Some are easier than others, and if you are just starting out feel free to pick the ones you think are easiest. Anything you do to get closer is going to better than doing nothing – am I right? I think I am (at least with this one).
I’d love to hear from you on how you are doing on your keto diet and if you have any other tips you think I should ad here.
