Still not losing body fat? How about checking if you’re making any common mistakes on keto diet to learn from them and avoid the setbacks?
What Is Keto Diet?
The ketogenic diet (keto diet, for short) is a low-carb, moderate protein, higher-fat diet that supports fat loss effectively. It is recommended by several doctors due to its proven benefits for healthy weight loss, health and performance shown in over 50 studies. Also, a ketogenic diet may be against diabetes, cancer, epilepsy and Alzheimer's disease.
The diet you follow to lose body fat mainly contains 70-75 percent fat, 20 percent protein, and 5-10 percent carbs. It involves lowering blood sugar, as well as insulin levels, then transfers the body's metabolism away from carbs and towards fat, along with ketones. Keto diet reduces carbohydrate intake and replaces it with fat, which puts your body into a metabolic state called ketosis.
In that case, your body is drastically capable of burning fat into energy, especially energy for the brain as it turns fat into ketones in the liver.
Types of Ketogenic Diet
With the purpose of increasing fat loss, a number of different kinds of ketogenic diet can be listed as below.
- Very-Low-Carb Ketogenic Diet (VLCKD): Like its name, this standard diet is very low in carbohydrate.
- Well Formulated Ketogenic Diet (WFKD): A well formulated, healthy weight loss way provides the best chance of ketosis occurring.
- MCT Ketogenic Diet: Used to treat epilepsy while letting eaters keep in ketosis without consuming less carbohydrate and protein.
- Calorie-Restricted Ketogenic Diet: Only different from an average ketogenic diet because of its amount of set calories.
- Cyclical Ketogenic Diet (CKD): Also known as carb backloading, this type of diet requests more carbs eaten to enhance glycogen lost from muscles when exercise.
- Targeted Ketogenic Diet (TKD): It is similar to the basic one except that carbohydrates will be consumed during workout to lose body fat.
- High Protein Ketogenic Diet: More protein for individuals with a ratio of 35 percent of protein, 60 percent of fat and 5 percent of carbs.
5 Common Mistakes On Keto Diet
Not Drinking Enough Water
According to Alyssa Tucci, RDN, a nutrition manager at Virtual Health Partners in New York City, the serious diminish in carbohydrate intake on the ketogenic diet can cause an imbalance in your fluid and electrolyte.
Water plays a vital role if you want to lose body fat. Lack of water means slowing your metabolism and halting healthy weight loss. Besides, carbs always go with water in your body, so they will be flushed out when water is depleted. Thus, do not forget to drink enough water to prevent dehydration. Don't let your thirst be the only reason to have a sip. Drink at least 64 ounces of water each day, especially when you’re taking up keto diet because your body will shed water as soon as you consume fewer carbs.
Eating Too Much Protein
One of the most common mistakes on keto diet is consuming too much protein based on a theory about Gluconeogenesis - a process of excess protein converted into glucose in the body.
As mentioned earlier, a well-formulated low-carb diet should be moderate in protein and high in fat. Protein should be around 20% of your macros just to avoid cell degeneration. Hence, don't end up enjoying too much protein, prevent yourself from improving body composition and fat loss. Although you need glucose to maintain body function, your body can convert other substrates into glucose for energy. Having too much protein will not only ruin your keto diet process but also make you fail in healthy weight loss.
Choosing The Wrong Fat Kind
It's not only about portions, you have to consider the quality of fat consumed, too. Say yes to fat sources, but not unhealthy ones.
Monounsaturated fats are shown to support insulin sensitivity, lower blood pressure and enhance your heart health. Polyunsaturated fats are the second one to concern, especially Omega-3 fatty acids which are crucial to brain health. On the other hand, some polyunsaturated fats should be noticed with a little more caution. They can't be used for cooking in order not to form harmful compounds.
What about saturated fats? They may be good for you, but remember to pick healthy fat sources carefully such as palm oil, grass-fed butter, eggs, and lard. These fats can help healthier immune system functioning, improve hormone regulation and increase your bone density.
Avoiding Veggie Intake
Another misconception about ketogenic diet is cutting out fruit, vegetables and only focusing on bacon or eggs. The truth is, this method's long-term success depends mostly on vegetables that are nutrient-dense.
Many individuals might say no to veggie intake in the first place because of its carbohydrate and fiber content. Actually, most carbohydrates in vegetables come from net carbs due to fiber and micronutrients. Low-carb veggies also provide several vitamins and iron, which fights against inflammation and supports your brain, as well as heart health.
For those who hate consuming fruits or vegetables, Amazing Green Grass Superfood is a great solution to get the nutrition your body desires. This whole-food nutrition supplement has a huge impact on your health as it eliminates toxins, aids while in digestion and boosts the immune system health beneficially. Not to mention its rich flavor and naturally plant-based ingredients, Amazing Green Grass Superfood definitely helps you enjoy your day.
Eating Too Many Keto Sweets
Some folks think sugar substitutes are appropriate to have during keto diet because the amount of net carb is low. It's a common mistake on keto diet that everyone should avoid losing body fat effectively. There are a lot of calories for you to consume, and maybe sweet supplements will make you crave for carbs badly.
Instead of that, why don't you try something else? Use NitroTech Ripped from MuscleTech while “keto-adapted", which promotes fat loss. The product is totally appropriate for the ketogenic diet, especially CKD and TKD.
With the special formula that contains 95 percent whey protein Isolate and peptide, NitroTech Ripped also consists of CLA (the fat ingredient extracted from sunflowers) which helps eliminate bad fats in the body. Additionally, MCTs, L-Carnitine, L-Tartrate from green tea, roses and seaweed can strongly boost the process of healthy weight loss for people, trainers in particular.
If you've ruled out all of these common mistakes on the keto diet, I bet you will lose body fat easier than ever. “The game” might be long, though, but remember to stay positive and stick with it, your ketogenic diet will be successful.
