Eight weeks remained until the wedding, and Monica was determined to look well in that outfit. Even though Cinderella’s stepsisters went to great lengths to fit into the glass slipper, this didn’t quite feel like the glass-slipper moment.
Although being a bridesmaid was less demanding than being the bride, Monica would still be prominently featured in wedding photos, which would last a lifetime.
The strategy was straightforward for those eight weeks: starve. Monica acted in this manner. Even though she frequently experienced headaches, mood fluctuations, and food cravings, she persisted. Monica was resolved to squeeze into her dress come what may “or death,” as her husband now quips “or hell or high water.”
She was eventually able to fit into the outfit despite feeling ill, exhausted, haggard, and depressed. She was content that she got into her outfit even if she wasn’t entirely happy with how she appeared in the pictures. The goal was accomplished!
The weeks that followed the nuptials flew by. She started eating again, which made her feel better, but she was concerned about how her weight would change. She had surpassed her prior weight in a matter of months, as she had half anticipated.
She added as she sat in my office, “Living by starving is no way to live life at all.” There must be a way to reduce weight without harming oneself.
I told her that there was. It is known as the Keto Lifestyle diet, as you are aware.
AT THE OUTSET, EXPECTATIONS
As your body releases its stored sugar and water during the first week of the Keto Lifestyle diet, you can anticipate losing roughly four pounds overall. Thereafter, you should typically lose one to two pounds of fat per week.
The burn rate may typically be increased to two to three pounds of fat loss per week if you add in fifteen to thirty minutes of activity each day (five days per week). I’ve even seen people on the Keto Lifestyle diet really improve their exercise and lose a pound of fat every day. Although I don’t often advise it, knowing that it is possible gives me hope. But I advise most people to lose one to three pounds of fat every week gradually and steadily.
In terms of anticipations, you can look forward to the following:
- Cravings for food: In most cases, cravings for food won’t occur since your insulin levels have been brought down to the point where you no longer experience insulin spikes or the associated food cravings.
- Appetite control: Since being in the Keto Lifestyle causes your appetite to disappear, you can typically anticipate complete appetite control.
- Abdominal fat: In general, you can anticipate burning mostly abdominal fat.
- Mental acuity: You can typically count on being alert, centered, and rational.
Increased energy: You may typically anticipate feeling energized. Your body uses fats as fuel in the Keto Lifestyle, which is a vast improvement over the previous energy source your body used, which was glucose. Be prepared to have more energy than ever because the fuel supply is practically endless.
Better overall results: You may often anticipate a rise in good HDL cholesterol, a fall in bad LDL cholesterol, a decrease in triglycerides, and decreases in blood pressure and blood sugar levels. Additionally, inflammatory markers like CRP (C-reactive protein) typically fall. And the weights’ numbers? These also diminish. For women, it is typical to gain one to two pounds during their period, but it is typically due to fluctuating hormones and fluid retention, which means it is temporary. (I advise weighing just once per week, not every day.)
Other signals that you are in the Keto Lifestyle include sensations of joy, youthfulness, appetite control for five to eight hours between meals, less anxiety, improved sex drive, faster recovery from rigorous exercise, and much more.
If you’re like the majority of people, you’re probably thinking, “Good to know, but how quickly can I enter the Keto Lifestyle?”
The brevity of the response is: it depends on your body.
To enter the Keto Lifestyle and start producing trace quantities of ketones (0.5â5 millimolar on pee test strips), which indicate that your body is burning fat, it typically takes two to five days. Your body can need one to two weeks to complete it. It has taken nearly three weeks for some of my patients to enter the Keto Lifestyle who are extremely insulin resistant and carbohydrate sensitive, or who have pre-diabetes, type 2 diabetes, or who are quite overweight. Rarely, some people must reduce their daily carbohydrate intake to just 10 grams in order to join the Keto Lifestyle.
However, the Keto Lifestyle usually becomes a reality for most individuals between days two and five, but don’t worry your body will eventually conform. Continue consuming the meals that put you in the Keto Lifestyle, and soon you’ll be smack in the middle of it. It will occur. Believe me. It must happen.
By day two or three, most people start to notice a slight increase in their ketone levels, and by day five, they are usually well into the Keto Lifestyle. I’m confident that you will succeed. Although being in the Keto Lifestyle is a wonderful sensation, watching the fat disappear is much more fulfilling and enjoyable.
IT IS TRUE.
The fat-burning zone can be maintained for as long as you like.
If you consume too much protein, too little fats, or too many carbohydrates, you will inevitably leave the Keto Lifestyle. Simply monitor your ketone levels and modify your diet as necessary, and you will remain in the Keto Lifestyle if you follow the plan. In the worst-case scenario, do not blame yourself or feel bad if you happen to leave the Keto Lifestyle for whatever reason, whether intentionally or unintentionally. Normally, reentering the Keto Lifestyle only takes two to three Keto meals (or twelve hours). Remember that you will normally be in mild ketosis after fasting for around twelve hours at night.
The good news is that you can continue burning fat in the Keto Lifestyle for as long as you’d like.
HOW THE FOOD APPEARS
The foundation of the Keto Lifestyle diet is a low-carb, high-fat, and moderate-protein intake. This amounts to a ratio of 70% lipids, 15% proteins, and 15% carbohydrates from green vegetables. We’ll now dissect the strategy and demonstrate how it works in practice.
The very low carb consumption of 20 grams per day is where the Keto Lifestyle diet starts. You can gradually increase that carb intake after four to eight weeks until you find your KCL (Keto Carb Limit) level, the point at which you are aware of exactly how many carbs your body requires to maintain health and prevent weight gain.
Of course, if you want to continue burning fat at a consistent rate of one to three pounds per week, you can continue eating 20 grams of carbs each day for as long as you choose. You can increase your carbohydrate intake till you reach your KCL number once you have reached your optimum weight. From there, you can walk without gaining any of the weight you dropped while being balanced and healthy.
What does that look like in the real world, you’re presumably asking.
Starting the Keto Lifestyle diet resembles the following:
MEALS
Of course, there will be variations in the three main meals on the Keto Lifestyle diet, but they frequently look like this:
Breakfasts include two to three eggs with two teaspoons of grass-fed butter (or, even better, one tablespoon each of grass-fed butter and olive oil) and slices of avocado, or coffee with one tablespoon each of MCT oil powder or MCT oil and avocado oil.
Lunches: A large salad with a dressing of three parts extra virgin olive oil to one part apple cider vinegar, along with a serving of protein like tuna salad with eggs, celery, and onion or chicken salad with olive oil or avocado oil mayo. If desired, you can also add onion juice, garlic, or blended avocado.
Dinners should include a dish of protein, such as steak, shrimp scampi, or wild salmon, along with steamed vegetables with 2 tablespoons of butter or olive oil (or 1 tablespoon of each). Note: If you are worried about having high cholesterol, use more olive oil and less butter.
Each meal contains:
- Essential fats (between 2 and 3 tablespoons of healthy fats every meal for women, and between 3 and 4 tablespoons for men)
- Proteins that are required (3 to 4 ounces for women each meal and 3 to 6 ounces for men per meal)
- Green vegetable carbohydrates are essential (approximately 2 to 6 cups of salad and 1 to 2 cups of cooked vegetables daily)
For mid-morning or mid-afternoon snacks, consider a handful of nuts, celery with one to two tablespoons of cream cheese or almond butter, or a single slice of cheese. Once you are in the Keto Lifestyle, snacks are typically unnecessary and could hinder your weight loss.
You want snacks that are high in healthy fats and proteins. But be careful some nuts, particularly cashews and peanuts which are technically legumes rather than nuts have more carbs than others, and too many carbs will force you to leave the Keto Lifestyle regardless of where they came from.
BEVERAGES
You should consume about 8 ounces of water several times per day, preferably before or after meals. This is not a diet where I bury myself in food so I won’t feel hungry. What prevents hunger are the fats and the proteins. As necessary, sip on water. I advise drinking filtered, alkaline, or spring water.
Other libations include tea, coffee, and a few high-quality nut milks. Use sweeteners for beverages with caution. Here is where a lot of folks unintentionally fall off the Keto Lifestyle diet. To sweeten coffee and tea, use stevia or monk fruit (lo han guo), either in liquid or powder form. Although erythritol and xylitol are acceptable sweeteners, stevia is the least expensive and most accessible. Avoid any artificial sweeteners, agave nectar, liquid syrups, honey, and sugar.
IT IS TRUE.
Your body produces more ketones when you eat fats, and more ketones mean faster fat burning.
SUPPLEMENTS
Finally, a multivitamin and a few vitamin supplements will need to be a part of your Keto Lifestyle diet food intake. According to the NHANES survey from 2005 2006, at least half of the US population consumes insufficient amounts of magnesium, and the majority of individuals have low levels of vitamin D. As a result, a good multivitamin and vitamin D supplement will typically give your body the vitamins and minerals it needs. (If you are postmenopausal or older than fifty, select a multivitamin without iron.)
The majority of people in the US have insufficient levels of omega-3 in their blood, but taking fish oil or krill oil capsules can fix that.
Some people might additionally require an additional lipase-containing enzyme supplement, particularly if they experience loose stools or diarrhea while following the Keto Lifestyle diet. The digestive enzyme for fats is called lipase. An enzyme supplement is beneficial since many people over the age of fifty-five are unable to produce enough pancreatic enzymes.
And typically, that is it. Yes, there are more details in the upcoming blog articles, but for now, this quick list of foods and drinks provides a general idea of what to expect from the Keto Lifestyle diet.
You won’t typically go over the recommended daily limit of 20 grams of carbs if you stick to the foods and beverages mentioned above. As a result, you will spend the entire day and night in the Keto Lifestyle and burn fat.
This is fantastic, by the way!
BEING ABLE TO ENTER THE KETO LIFESTYLE
Many questions always come up while working with patients who are prepared to enter the Keto Lifestyle in order to shed pounds or treat a disease over the years. Every query is worthwhile, however here are a few that I have gotten. I hope they are the inquiries you were hoping to make.
Why set the upper limit of 20 grams of carbs at first?
The 20 grams of carbs per day limit is typically low enough to initiate nutritional ketosis, a state in which the body uses fat as fuel rather than glucose. The optimum KCL (Keto Carb Limit) range for most people is between 50 and 75 grams, therefore 20 grams is a low enough amount to activate the body’s fat-burning mechanisms. You wouldn’t gain or lose weight if we started with 50 grams of carbohydrates and your KCL is 50 grams of carbohydrates. You want to finally arrive at this particular spot, but only after you have reached your optimum weight.
How long can I remain in a ketogenic state?
Stay for however long you like. Once you have reached your goal weight, gradually increase your carbohydrate consumption until you notice that you are going in and out of ketosis. Your KCL number is this. Generally speaking, maintaining your KCL number means stopping weight growth.
How do I maximize this?
You can reduce your protein intake to 5 to 10% of total calories, increase your fat intake to 80%, and reduce your carbohydrate intake to 10% of nutritious green vegetables if you want to lose as much weight as possible. You might burn one pound of fat per day if you combine Keto coffee with 20 to 30 minutes of high-intensity interval training (on a bike, treadmill, elliptical, or with weight lifting) three to five times per week, especially if you skip breakfast. Do not begin with high-intensity interval training if you have not been on a regular exercise program (if you are over 45, undergoing a stress test or EKG before starting high-intensity training would be good).
Skip breakfast and have one or two cups of Keto coffee instead. This organic, single-source coffee is likely to be mold-free and contains 1 tablespoon of MCT oil powder or MCT oil, 1 tablespoon of avocado oil, or 1 tablespoon of grass-fed butter. It will put you in the Keto Lifestyle, and you won’t typically feel hungry for three to five hours (you can add stevia or 1/2 teaspoon of dark chocolate to taste). After that, consume meals from the Keto Lifestyle for lunch and dinner to speed up your metabolism. I prefer MCT oil powder over MCT oil because MCT oil powder typically does not result in diarrhea when consumed in excess. You will enter the Keto Lifestyle when using either type of MCT oil to burn fat.
What if I accidentally leave the Keto Lifestyle?
Simply enter again. You are often back in the fat-burning range in a day or less (about twelve hours).
What if I repeatedly enter and exit the Keto Lifestyle?
It appears that you need to make a small adjustment. Though it could possibly be too much protein or not enough fats, my best bet is that you are consuming too many carbohydrates. Consider your carbohydrates first, followed by your proteins. It wouldn’t harm to consume a little more fat, and to make sure that it’s split 50/50 between saturated and monounsaturated fats.
How can I check the level of my ketone?
Your ketones will often measure between 0.5 and 3 millimolar when you are in the Keto Lifestyle, but between 0.5 and 5 millimolar is also beneficial. Use urine test strips to check your ketone (acetoacetate) levels for the first month; after that, a ketone breath analyzer or blood ketone monitor will do the trick to check your acetone or beta-hydroxybutyrate levels, respectively. You may buy either online, but I recommend a ketone breath analyzer like the one produced by Ketonix.
How can I determine whether I’m in the Keto Lifestyle?
You are in the Keto Lifestyle if you are burning fat, have no appetite or cravings, are losing weight, or can detect ketones in urine, breath, or blood using a ketone monitor or analyzer.
Do I need to track my caloric intake?
You shouldn’t have to keep track of your calorie intake. Simply stick to the suggested menu items, and you should be good. There are instances when you’ll need to count carbohydrates to make sure you stay under the 20-gram daily limit, but even that step might not be necessary if you largely adhere to the suggested foods and serving sizes.
What if I get peckish throughout the day?
The majority of the time, when you feel hungry during the day, you are not consuming enough fats. Increase your intake of fats by using cheese, almonds, or grass-fed butter. Watch the carbs! (If you are hungry because you pushed yourself out of the Keto Lifestyle, that may be the result of eating too much protein or carbs.)
IT IS TRUE.
Eating cereals, wheat, and potatoes raised the risk of heart disease, according to a 16-year study conducted in 42 European nations. The reason wasn’t dairy.
Can I still consume dairy?
If you want dairy, go ahead and eat it (my wife enjoys jalapeño cream cheese with celery sticks), but it is preferable to use small amounts, around 4 ounces each day, or alternate days. Instead of milk, use heavy cream (preferred) or half-and-half, both of which have 1 gram of carbs per 2 tablespoons. Overall, if you consume a lot of dairies, it can be challenging to remain in the Keto Lifestyle and under 20 grams of carbs. Additionally, a lot of my patients are either sensitive to or allergic to dairy, so it’s usually preferable to switch dairy every two to four days rather than eating it every day. I normally consume cheese and butter in equal portions with either olive oil or avocado oil, which keeps my HDL levels high and my LDL levels low.
Is chocolate still available to me?
Absolutely! In fact, I advise doing it. Dopamine is a joyful chemical that makes you feel good, suppresses your appetite, and improves blood flow to the brain. Dark (85% cacao) low-sugar chocolate or dark chocolate with stevia in stead of sugar increases dopamine levels. Take a few squares once or twice day. The primary saturated fat in dark chocolate, stearate, raises HDL cholesterol while having little impact on LDL cholesterol. I typically have two tiny squares of dark chocolate for dessert every night.
How much protein is being discussed?
One gram of protein should be consumed for every kilogram (2.2 pounds) of body weight:
- 113 grams, or around 38 grams every meal, for 250 pounds
- 80 grams, or around 27 grams every meal, for 180 pounds
- 70 grams for 150 pounds, or roughly 23 grams per meal
On your plate, that’s roughly three to four ounces of protein twice a day for women and three to six ounces twice a day for men. Proteins like eggs, fish, chicken, or steak typically contain 7 grams of protein per ounce. This quantity will aid in preventing hunger and typically keep you in the Keto Lifestyle. If you consume too much protein, your body will start to turn it into glucose and you will leave the ketogenic state.
Is there any bread that I can eat?
It is advised to stay away from all breads, with the exception of a few specialist varieties like seed bread, which offers about 1 gram of carbohydrates per slice. Remove grains, breads, pasta, starches, potatoes, corn, rice, oats, and cereals for the time being. For instance, one cup of pasta has 44 grams of carbohydrates, which is more than enough to cause you to leave the Keto Lifestyle for the entire day. Additionally, the daily maximum of 20 grams of carbs is normally found in one slice of whole-wheat bread.
How can I reduce my stress?
Stress causes an increase in cortisol, which in turn can cause adrenalin to be released, which in turn can raise blood sugar levels. You might be forced out of the Keto Lifestyle by it. If you’re feeling pressured, have fun, laugh, seek counseling, take a break, or work out.
Must I eat three meals every day?
Some individuals may just require two meals every day. It is entirely up to you whether you choose to eat only one meal each day and drink Keto coffee (which contains MCT oil powder or oil, avocado oil, and grass-fed butter). You can choose how frequently to eat as long as you are consuming the required amounts of lipids, proteins, and carbs from green vegetables and are staying in the Keto Lifestyle. Generally speaking, you lose less weight when you eat more snacks. While MCT oil rarely does, MCT oil powder occasionally does.
IT IS TRUE.
Saturday morning is the greatest time of the week to begin the Keto Lifestyle diet.
How much physical activity is needed?
You may stay in the Keto Lifestyle by exercising. Additionally, it quickens weight loss, increases energy, burns fat, builds muscle, and revs up your metabolism, which results in enhanced fat burning while you’re at rest. According to science, 3,500 extra calories must be burned each day in order to lose one pound of fat, therefore if you exercise more than usual, you will lose an additional pound of fat each week. This may often be achieved with five days of vigorous walking for 20 to 30 minutes each. You will lose one to two pounds every week by being in the Keto Lifestyle. The amount of fat lost every week increases to two to three pounds with exercise.
Is there a unique way to prepare all of this nutritious food?
It’s crucial to use low heat when cooking. There are less health benefits as a result of the food becoming more denatured, oxidized, and destroyed at higher temperatures. Never use polyunsaturated fats (such as soybean, corn, or grape seed oil) for cooking. Ghee, grass-fed butter, avocado oil, or coconut oil are the greatest cooking oils. Use a lower heat for broiling or grilling, and be careful not to burn or scorch the meat. Steamed or sautéed vegetables are preferred. Use a slow cooker, bake at 320 degrees or lower, and avoid using a microwave to cook meals. Poached, soft-boiled, or over-easy eggs are all fine options. Use low heat for scrambling eggs to avoid oxidizing the yolk.
How quickly will my cholesterol values change?
Three to four months after beginning the Keto Lifestyle diet, I advise you to get a lipid panel test done. You should obtain an NMR Lipo profile to determine which LDL numbers are elevated if your LDL numbers do not considerably improve. However, there is typically a noticeable improvement within three to four months: LDL readings are typically somewhat higher, triglycerides are typically significantly lower, and HDL is typically higher. In most cases, the harmful pattern B LDL cholesterol is reduced while the good pattern A LDL cholesterol is typically elevated.
How much will all of this cost me?
Given that fats make up 70% of the diet, it will probably be less expensive than you expect. Although we don’t consume a lot of proteinâ10 to 15 percent of the diet it is the most expensive component. Green vegetables make up the remaining 15% and are also rather affordable. Overall, the Keto Lifestyle diet is quite cost-effective. Even money savings are possible.
Ahead of the pack
Now that you’re prepared, start the Keto Lifestyle diet. I hope that now that you are aware of what it looks like and what to anticipate, your questions have been resolved.
The specific meals, the quantity of each, even the menu options, are all on the way.
It’s important that you are prepared.
Remember that leaving the Keto Lifestyle diet can only be done for one of three reasons: insufficient fats, excessive protein, or excessive carbs.
So that’s it. You won’t have to worry about calorie tracking as long as you follow the Keto Lifestyle plan because you will be exactly where you want to be in the fat-burning mode.
So, sit back and take it easy.
