When it comes to losing weight, most people usually experience a plateau right at the point of making progress.
It is mainly a result of the body fighting against the weight loss process through enhanced unhealthy food cravings and a change in hormone levels.
Most people then gain back the lost weight as they succumb to the pressure from hormones, and have to start the entire process all over again.
However, by following a LCHF ketogenic diet taking the body through ketosis, you are able to reprogram your hormones and continue losing weight without stalling.
Being in ketosis is on the rise and is something that is very familiar to the low carb, keto, and paleo community.
LCHF dieting is a way of eating that centers on limiting net carbs by eating fatty foods to burn fat.
Being in ketosis supports weight loss and helps you keep up with your ketogenic dieting plan ensuring that you meet your goals.
First, you need to understand the consequences of keto and make sure eating fat is the right lifestyle for you.
Eating Fats to Burn Fat
When you reduce your calorie intake by implementing a low carb high fat ketogenic diet, your body is forced to burn fat instead of carbs to get the level of energy needed.
When the glycogen levels in the bloodstream drop, the body is forced to burn ketone bodies by using up fats instead of draining proteins in the muscles. It’s what is known as ketosis.
If you feed on fat to burn fats, you are lowering your blood sugar and insulin levels and shifting your metabolism to fat burning ketones.
See what foods to eat on keto for a better understanding.
The ketone bodies prevent your body from working against you by reprogramming the active hormones in the process.
This weight loss strategy can be used to get your mind off food cravings all the time successfully.
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How Does Ketosis Work?
When you eat food, the intestines secrete a hormone referred to as cholecystokinin (CCK) making you feel full.
As you lose weight, the intestines usually produce a lower quantity of this hormone meaning that you have to eat more to feel full.
However, research findings indicate that a ketogenic diet for weight loss helps the body reset CCK levels to baseline levels (this refers to the levels you experienced before weight loss).
Ketosis also has an effect on another important hormone, ghrelin; also referred to as the hunger hormone.
Ghrelin is produced in the small intestines and stomach. It peaks in the blood when hunger levels are high, and diminishes when we eat.
Being in Ketosis maintains or even reduces the level of ghrelin even when you are dieting which makes shedding weight easy.
Ketosis Dieting Requirements
You want to focus on eating healthy fats and oils with at least 75% of calories coming from the fat intake in your diet.
Keep carb intake low at around 5% and eliminate all sugars from your nutrition plan. By eating sweet foods, it can easily tempt you into eating much more sugar than you had anticipated.
It is, therefore, best to avoid sugars altogether.
The remaining calories can come from protein intake making up around 20% of total daily calories.
Check out our sample 7 day keto diet plan for an example.
Keto dieting and weight loss work so well due to the fact that it does not require any sort of starvation.
It makes it possible to lose weight without starving yourself.
It’s the best diet to follow in this case as it’s consuming healthy fats, low carbohydrate vegetables, and moderate proteins.
Through this diet, you can ensure that your body is always satisfied as can eat as much as you need.
For instance, on a ketogenic diet, you can consume large amounts of fatty foods such as avocados, olives, eggs, butter and coconut oil.
Low carbohydrate vegetables follow such as broccoli, cauliflower, asparagus. Finally, a moderate amount of protein to help keep you satisfied.
High protein healthy foods including salmon, fresh tuna, chicken thigh and grass-fed beef supplies you with both protein and omega 3 fatty acids.
Why Follow a High Fat Diet?
A ketogenic diet nutrition plan focuses on a high fat diet, and that turns away from carbs.
You should not avoid fat since plays a crucial role in the growth. Consuming dietary fat supplies you with energy, protects your organs, and supports the body to digest food.
Ketosis is a state in which the body begins to rely on its stored fat. You are able to burn fat in the same way as opposed to burning glucose. It is a great way to burn fat faster by only changing the food which goes in your mouth.
On a typical western and American diet obesity and diabetes, rates are sky high. Eating processed, convenience, low and zero fat foods day in and out is wrecking the human body.
If you remove the fat from the food, you remove the taste. Eating low-fat varieties only means it contains more sugar, salt, and other fillers.
People have the misconception that carbs are essential for the body. If you completely stopped eating carbs, your organs and brain will continue to function just fine.
Your body focuses on finding carbs for fuel as it does not know any better. Once the sugar craving passes the body automatically turns to ketones to burn fat for fuel.
You do not need to consume glucose in your diet to move, talk or do anything. Adapting to keto is the first step to improving health and well-being.
How to Use the Ketogenic Diet for Weight Loss
A ketogenic diet nutrition plan for weight loss is one that focuses on the ability to burn fat quickly and easily.
You will continue to lose weight when you need to quickly and easily.
Here you are shifting your consumption from carbs to fats and ideally increasing vegetables.
There are many benefits of consuming a high fat diet. Total calories and food quality are more important to measure when attempting to lose weight.
With ketones, you can have an instant increase in health, energy, have less inflammation and less prone to gaining weight.
You are going to be able to stave off diabetes as well as many other potential illnesses. All that is needed is to reduce carbohydrate intake.
One reason people may fall on keto is down to availability of food and the need to prepare fatty foods quickly.
Bulk cooking works wonders if you struggle to maintain fat intake. Take the time to prepare many meals or what you can in advance.
You could cook enough for 7 servings of chicken or fish with veggies such as broccoli and cauliflower. Place the cooked meals in oven safe containers, keep in the fridge or freezer and reheat for quick meals to stay on your food goals.
For amazing high fat, keto recipes check out the ketosis cookbook for easy to prepare meals.
Conclusion
Ketogenic dieting requires much self-discipline and goal setting.
You must track your macros daily to see results and maintain nutritional ketosis.
Eating fatty foods is challenging if you have run on glucose all your life. However, dieters consuming low-fat foods are more likely to want more to eat as it is less satiating.
Fat may not be the simplest nutrient to digest as it stays in the stomach longer than other nutrients. The obvious benefit is eating fat keeps you full for longer, and you have less urge to snack on unhealthy foods.
Just remember, fat does not make you fat but helps with weight loss.