How Does the Keto Diet Help You Lose Weight?
The ketogenic diet has become increasingly popular in recent years as a way to shed excess body weight. How does the keto diet work, and is it really effective?
When following the diet, the body enters a state of ketosis, in which it burns fat for fuel instead of carbohydrates. This can lead to weight loss, as the body is able to access and burn stored fat for energy.
One of the primary ways that the keto diet helps with weight loss is by reducing appetite. Because fat is more satisfying than carbohydrates, people on the keto diet often find that they are able to eat less and still feel full. This can help reduce overall caloric intake and promote weight loss.
Additionally, the keto diet can help improve metabolic health. By reducing the body's dependence on carbohydrates for fuel, the diet can help improve insulin sensitivity and reduce the risk of insulin resistance, a key driver of obesity and related conditions such as type 2 diabetes.
The keto diet can also help increase fat burning, as the body is forced to use fat for fuel in the absence of carbohydrates. This can lead to an increase in the amount of fat that the body burns, which can help accelerate weight loss.
Furthermore, the keto diet has been shown to be effective for a variety of different populations, including people with obesity, type 2 diabetes, and other metabolic conditions. This makes it a potentially valuable tool for anyone looking to lose weight and improve their overall health.
What Is the Keto Diet?
The keto diet aims to maintain a state of nutritional ketosis by restricting carbohydrate intake. This forces your body to start using fat as fuel rather than glucose. For this reason, people often refer to being keto-adapted as being “fat-fueled.”
Most of us believe that eating fatty food leads to weight gain. This seems to make sense -- if we eat fat, we’ll get fat. But a high-fat diet is not actually the primary driver of weight gain. Typically, the culprit is a diet high in refined carbohydrates, which leads to excess carbs being stored in the body as fat.
Keto and Weight Loss
When you reduce carbohydrate intake, not only do you no longer store fat, you allow your body to shed the excess fat that it has accumulated.
Be aware that this may take some time. In the first week on a keto diet, you may experience a rapid weight loss of 8 to 10 pounds. But this isn’t fat -- this is water weight, which is shed when your body uses up its stored glycogen. This initial weight loss can be exciting, but don’t expect to continue losing weight at this rate.
For many people, the body has to go through some internal healing before it can start shedding weight. Underlying health factors such as inflammation and hormonal imbalances can make it difficult for your body to release excess weight, even if you’re operating at a calorie deficit. The keto diet can often help heal these health conditions, but this takes time. By eliminating sugar and processed foods from your diet, you can begin to heal from chronic inflammation and other health issues. This healing period can last several weeks, and the duration depends on your health when you started on the keto diet. You may not lose much weight during this period, but it’s likely that you will experience other benefits, such as increased energy, fewer food cravings, and an improved mood and sense of well-being.
Following this period, many people experience what is often referred to as the “whoosh” effect, when your body suddenly starts to let go of the excess weight it’s been holding onto.
As you progress on your keto journey, it’s a good idea to track your progress with photos and body measurements. It’s very common for people to experience changes in body composition even if they aren’t losing weight. Your clothes may be looser and you may feel better, regardless of the number on the scale!
Also, remember that most people who adopt a ketogenic diet see it as a lifestyle change and not a temporary fix. If you resume eating a high-carbohydrate diet, you will likely regain the weight that you have lost.
