Mood stabilizer Ketone bodies that are formed in as a result of ketosis helps in stabilizing the neurotransmitters. Serotonin and dopamine are essentially worked upon, which contributes to the mood enhancement feeling in an individual that has taken up the ketogenic diet.
Aids digestion- If you have trouble in digesting food it improves gut health.
Relief from heartburn Individuals suffering from GERD can heave a sigh of relief as these symptoms disappear fully. It has been observed that people taking grains and sugar based food items at night are prone to heartburn. So, eliminating sugar or having less sugar in the body helps you to do away with the problem of heartburn or GERD.
Lose Stubborn Fat-abdominal fat and fat surrounding the organs can be hard to lose with just calorie restriction. Keto diet is very effective at burning away stubborn belly fat.
Triglyceride readings improve One of the most significant achievements of adopting ketogenic diet is that as the carbohydrate level of consumption is minimized, the triglyceride levels also drop significantly. Triglyceride level: HDL is a marker of heart disease and should be monitored carefully at regular intervals.
Clearer thought process There are times when our thought process becomes hazy and we are not clear about our objectives and goals. It is during this phase that we tend to suffer from depression, anxiety, and tend to imbibe all negative thoughts. This negative attitude is reflected in our behavior and health. If you have adopted keto diet, it wont be long when you will have a better mindset and better ability to take decisions and judge.
Better sleep patterns Studies and research has also proved that with this kind of diet plan, there was marked improved in sleep patterns in individuals that had problems in sleeping and the ones that suffered from problems related to sleep apnea.
Better managed blood pressure If you are used to eating high carbohydrate food items, over a period of time, you will find out that your blood pressure is gradually escalating. However, for the effective control of blood pressure, switch over to a ketogenic diet, which controls blood pressure in a remarkable manner. It might also happen that your GP will suggest that you reduce the number of medicines you are taking to control blood pressure.
Improved joint coordination As we grow older or if we strain our muscles and joints too much, it is quite likely that we end up injuring ourselves and eventually the joints become stiff and painful. You can do away with these troubles if you start living on a keto diet.
But what about the other benefits of Ketogenic Diet, other than trimming down your weight you ask?
A Ketogenic diet directly helps to increase the level of fat burnt throughout the whole day through exercise and daily activities
Increased Awareness- people often report increased awareness and mental acuity while following this diet.
A Keto Diet will cause the body to consume a significant amount of protein, consequently promoting the weight loss of the body.
When the body is restricted from consuming Carbohydrates, the calorie intake will also lower down further contributing to weight loss.
A process called Gluconeogenesis will kick in as well which will cause the body to burn even more fat.
Decreased appetite. Speaking of burning fat, A Ketogenic diet will also help you to Suppress your Appetite, so you wont have to go out and eat now and then and bulk up, even more, fat. Fat is a more satisfying fuel source and ends up leaving you feeling fuller for a longer period of time. If weight loss is your goal, a decreased appetite can help you successfully achieve your calorie deficit goals
Ketogenic Diet Plan
What is your health and fitness goal? Weight Loss? Cutting fat? The meal plan should be designed based on your motivation and desired outcome.
If your goal is weight loss, its as simple as entering a state of ketosis and maintaining a calorie deficit. However, if you dont enter ketosis, or fail to maintain ketosis, weight loss goals may be compromised. You must enter ketosis, maintain that metabolic state, and in order to have successful weight loss with Keto. This means eating a diet high in fat, moderate in protein, and low in carbohydrates. For cutting fat and maintaining your weight, its as simple as entering and maintaining ketosis and maintaining a calorie balance.
Calorie Deficit Explained
The weight loss, weight gain, and weight maintenance formulas are simple. It comes down to calorie intake vs calorie expenditure (energy needs)
Weight maintenance: Calorie intake=Calorie expenditure
Weight gain: Calorie intake> Calorie expenditure
*Weight loss: Calorie intake <Calorie expenditure*
Macros Explained
You hear people at the gym tossing the word back and forth like a kettlebell. Macro. Macro this, macro that. What exactly is it?
Macros stand for macronutrients. You hear people at the gym tossing the word back and forth like a kettlebell. Macro. Macro this, macro that. What exactly is it? Your macros are the daily intake of the three main nutrients that affect weight and your overall health, which are fats, protein, and carbohydrates. Fats have 9cals/gram, proteins and carbs have 4cals/g.
Fat = 9cals/g
Protein = 4cals/g
Carbs = 4cals/g
Fats are 90% keto, which is why theyre such an efficient fuel for your body to use on a daily basis. Fats enter your body, are processed in the liver, and break down into various components your body needs to stay in top shape, such as glycerol. The remaining 10%, in case youre wondering, is a little bit of anti-keto glucose (10%) that happens when fats break down.
Carbs are completely anti-ketogenic. They break down into sugar (glucose) and consequently raise your blood sugar and your insulin levels, which translates to (unwanted) fat storage.
Proteins are approximately half-ketogenic, somewhere around 45%. The remaining percentage is broken down into glucose and raises insulin levels.
All of these macros have a different effect on how your body uses food, whether efficiently as an energy source, or for storage (fat) in case of perceived emergency. Maintaining a balance of these macros is all-important not only to the ketogenic diet, but also to overall health. Macros are metabolized (read: burned) in the furnace of our bodies, becoming the fuel that drives us through life. So we need to know about macros in order to prime that furnace (the scientific term for your furnace is metabolic path. Just think of each of these macros as being a kind of highway to health.)
Macro #1: Fats.
Fats are used by your body to make repairs on damaged muscles, organs, cells, tissues, etc. You consume them, theyre processed in the liver, and they circulate in the form of glycerol or other important fatty acids, acting as body repairmen.
Macro #2: Carbs.
Carbohydrates are a pre-ketogenic persons energy supply. They become glucose (sugar), which the body then uses for a boost. Unfortunately, that sugar rush releases insulin, which stockpiles glucose in the forms of both glycogen (a different kind of sugar) and fat cells. The ketogenic diet is designed to minimize carb consumption and maximize burning of glucose, glycogen, and fat. On this diet, your body is becoming far more efficient at processing.
Macro #3: Protein.
Macro #3: Protein.
Through complex biological processes, proteins are broken down into amino acids. These amino acids break down into further compounds and become the basic building tools our body needs to repair itself after the strain of daily life (or hard workouts.) Amino acids facilitate connections between neurons in our body and brain. Ingest an overt amount of protein and it becomes stored as glucose which, as weve seen already, is sugar that the body will then rely on for energy.
Macro Counting
Counting macros is a complex task. You can get into number-crunching macros in detail on any number of free websites, which will guide you through the calculations. Keeping track of your macros is an important part of committing to a ketogenic diet, because macros are essentially what will keep you in (or out) of ketosis.
Accurately Counting Carbs
While calculating macros can get tricky, calculating net carbs is easy and will help you stay in ketosis. In unscientific terms, carbs have two parts: the part that breaks down into glucose (which you dont want), and the part thats fiber (which you do want). So when calculating carbs for their net value, subtract fiber from the total carbs. For example, if a food item has 15 carbs but 10 of them are fiber, then net carbs are only 5.
But What If
You suddenly stop losing weight? Not just for that erratic week or two we mentioned earlier. What if youre stuck after a month, and just not seeing any more numbers moving? First of all, remember that the numbers arent fully reliable, so you may want to use a tape measure to check inch loss. That could be wholly different from what youre seeing on the scale, given that size loss doesnt always equal weight loss.
If its been longer than a month and youre absolutely sure youve plateaued, dont start reducing immediately. Thats right. Dont. Your body just figured out how to work with this new regime and is efficiently burning calories. If you cut back, you may confuse things all over again. Try other alternatives before you decide to revise your caloric intake. For instance, try logging your foods for a few days, to make sure extra carbs and sugar arent sneaking in. Its easy to slip back into old habits, so you may have fallen out of the ketogenic diet without noticing. Check your macros, to make sure theyre in balance. Rearrange the number of calories you eat in a given time period, so maybe youre eating the bulk of your calories in the morning and at lunch, and minimal calories for dinner, just for a few days to rev things up again. Amp up your exercise. HIIT is outstanding for building endurance, which helps your body learn to better process glucose. Be patient and you should start to see a change before long. Dont give up and go back to the habits you had before going ketogenic. This diet is proven to work. You just have to stick to it consistently and with the awareness that sometimes there will be natural stalls in the overall movement toward weight loss and health.
Using the Keto Calculator
You can make use of the keto calculator to figure out what you need to eat every day, below is an explanation of each element required to use the calculator. Estimated body fat %, estimated calorie expenditure, and desired approach to macros.
First, youre going to need to put your measurements into the calculator and your total body fat percentage. If unsure of your body fat percentage, then you can visually estimate the amount of body fat you have.
Estimating Body Fat
Body fat can be simply estimated using a body fat calculator estimator, using calipers, or estimating based on the descriptions below.
59% Body Fat
For men who have 59% body fat, muscles will show noticeably with clear definition and clear vascularity in muscles. The essential body fat for men is 2%-5%.
It is not healthy for women to have less than 10%-13% body fat.
1014%
Men who are between 1014% body fat will have a separation amongst muscles, but not in all muscles. The veins will mostly show on their arms and sometimes their legs.
Women are usually in this body fat range if are competitive athletes. The essential body fat for a woman is 10%-13% while its 2%-5% for men. This is the range for bodybuilders, both women and men, are seen in, but its not considered healthy for long-term. Muscles will be clearly distinct and divided for women, and vascularity is obvious over the entire body.
1519%
Men who are in this range will have a lean look with less muscle visibility and vascularity. The definition of their muscles recedes and there isnt a clear separation between muscles. Most of the vascularity are gone, but some will be seen on the arms.