So there’s a huge buzz around the latest Keto diet. Tons of science to back it up and claims as far reaching as “It can reduce the risks of cancer, help cure diabetes and epilepsy” and what’s more; “you drop inches and dress sizes in the process”.

In the name of science, we decided to dive in and find out more about ketosis. Some of the scientific claims around the health benefits piqued our interest; and so we decided to dive in and try it out. Our goal is not fat loss in this experiment, rather to benefit from keto on a molecular level and reap the benefits of some of the health claims associated with becoming ‘fat adapted’.

So what is Keto and how does it work?

Well firstly, in order to understand the Keto diet we must first understand some of the scientific principles that underpin it. Your body derives a lot of its energy from the macro nutrients we provide it. Most people know these to be proteins, carbohydrates and fats….. but there is a fourth…… ketones. Ketones are produced by the body when our glycogen stores are minimal to non-existent. They travel to the muscle and are converted into energy. The premise of the Keto diet is to reduce your carb intake to a level where the body must adapt to producing ketones in order to continue to provide you with energy. As a result, you become very adapted to burning fat instead of carbohydrates as energy.

In the last four or five years celebrities have been singing the praises of their achievements on the keto diet but here at The Fitness Suite we wanted to delve deeper into the world of ketosis and outline some of the stages you might expect when undergoing such a dramatic dietary change.

Step 1

You’ll enter Ketosis quickly.

The goal of Ketosis is to eat a diet of under 30g carbs. Using a food tracker we set ours to 5% carbs (23g) 30% Protein (139g) and 65% fats (134g) on a 1900 calorie diet.

Most research including our own anecdotal study, shows people enter ketosis in anywhere from 24-48 hours. This can depend largely on your carb intake. A lot of people have the misconception that it’s a diet that simply reduces starchy carbs and sugar however there are carbohydrates in a lot of vegetables and fruits and so you must fore-go beans, grains, carrots, onion, apple to name just a few. It isn’t easy not to surpass the daily limit of 30g carbs, for example a cup of blueberries contains 20grams of carbs. Without a food tracker we can see this being very difficult as you must log every baby tomato that passes your lips.

Step 2

You’ll feel like dog crud at the start

For all the YouTube videos out there telling you about this elusive rocket fuel like energy at the other side when your body has become fat adapted, you may not be aware of what lies at the beginning of your journey…. The keto flu.

From our experience, this is less of a flu, but more of a lethargy that includes headaches, fatigue, an insatiable thirst, and general brain fog. Your body prefers to source its energy from carbs, therefore in its transition to becoming a super fat burner it cannot source the energy it needs as quickly. The research on how to pass this stage is somewhat divisive, with some on one side saying shock your body in to becoming adapted and the other side suggesting making smaller changes in your carb to fat intake until your body builds the system to handle it. Either way, expect this feeling to last 7-14 days. If it lasts any longer then you might need to make some subtle changes to your nutrition.

Step 3

Do I need the toilet or not?

A lot of people on western diets don’t eat enough fibre at the best of times; and that’s before you begin to cut out the fibre rich foods like beans, whole grains and certain vegetables. The diet requires you to opt for an intake higher in meat and fats, which don’t contain fibre, ultimately throwing your gut out of whack. Cutting down so drastically on dietary fibre can have a huge impact on your need to ‘go’. If you do get stopped up with constipation, research recommends increasing your consumption of high-fibre vegetables (like avocado, broccoli and greens), drinking more water and upping your activity level. Furthermore, our guts have spent years building an environment in which it is comfortable digesting the foods you eat. This includes gut bacteria. Keto upsets this balance and the gut must establish its new diet in the process. This can take some time to adjust so hang in there.

Step 4

You’ll have to adjust your workouts.

As we have already mentioned your body loves to run on carbs. It’s had years building up a system that delivers the right amount of sugar to the muscles when it’s needed. Depleting your body of these nutritional carbs, then draining the muscles of any stores, followed by high demands on said muscles leads to a very unique feeling. The only way we can describe it is; it feels like your running on the sludge at the bottom of an old fuel tank. In essence your body hasn’t adapted to using fats and ketones yet and therefore your workouts suffer. It is suggested to focus on keeping your heart rate in the cardiovascular zone and avoid doing anaerobic activities like heavy lifting for the first few weeks until your body has become better adapted at using fats for fuel. One study in the journal Metabolism (Keto-adaptation enhances exercise performance and body composition responses to training in endurance athletes; volume 81) concluded that after 12 weeks of keto adaptation, endurance athletes lost more weight and body fat compared to a high-carb group without impacting their performance. However, the study also found the athletes said their energy dropped for the first 7–10 days, and then their performance suffered for 4–6 weeks. It concludes that if you’re an athlete going keto, you should time it right and avoid starting the diet 4–6 weeks before an event.

Step 5

Hydration

You’ll need to constantly have access to a bottle of water. The thirst is insatiable. Since water and carbs are like hand in glove, you’ll notice straight away that you constantly feel thirsty. Similarly, you lose a lot of electrolytes at the start, so try to combat this with magnesium and supplemental electrolytes.  Don’t be afraid to add more salt to your meals to help your body restock its water supplies.

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