If you’re ready to ditch the fat and feel fab with us at Konscious Keto, you’ve come to the right place. The ketogenic diet is a very special and unique plan for people who want to achieve optimal keto weight loss.
Rather than traditional diets that rely on calories in-calories out, the ketogenic diet transforms your metabolism and changes your body from the inside out. No wonder stars like Gwyneth Paltrow and Kim Kardashian are dedicated to the keto diet.
Many followers find the weight loss in the first week to be a huge motivator and enable them to get into the fat-burning state of ketosis.
Once in ketosis, your body depends on fat, rather than carbs for energy. And from there, you can expect the results to remain consistent so long as you monitor your calories and macros.
Don’t worry, we’re going to explain how to do this.
The keto diet is one of the only ways to make your body burn fat as a primary fuel source.
When you’re in a state of ketosis, you essentially trick your body into thinking it’s starving, all while eating indulgent, gluttonous foods like cheesecake, steaks, bacon, and avocado.
While it sounds too good to be true, this medical diet originally started as a way for doctors to stop epileptic patients from having seizures, and the health benefits just kept rolling in.
The Keto Diet Can Reduce:
- Cravings and hunger sensations
- Caloric intake naturally and easily
- Visceral body fat (like stubborn belly fat)
- Your risk of heart disease or diabetes
- Brain fog and cognitive disorders
That’s right; it’s time to wave goodbye to those bingo wings and thunder thighs.
With the keto diet, your body will target fat (particularly the unhealthy stubborn belly fat known as visceral fat) and, instead, become a fat-burning machine.
And, unlike going to the gym, being in a state of ketosis is something that occurs around the clock.
If you enjoy the effects of going to the gym but want them 24 hours a day, the ketogenic diet is an excellent option for you.
And best of all, if you have suffered from a keto weight loss plateau, or just aren’t getting the results you want, we have some simple tricks to get you back in shape.
So What is Ketosis?
In its most simple terms, ketosis is a fat-burning state where your metabolism takes fat instead of glucose or carbohydrates to fuel itself.
When your body runs out of glucose, it turns to fat, which it metabolizes as ketones for fuel. Ketones are the holy grail for weight loss and are what your brain depends on to function.
Even more interestingly, ketones prevent your brain from absorbing more glucose.
If ketosis is starting to sound too preachy, hold on for just a moment. While it can’t do your taxes or run to the grocery store, ketosis does have many transformative health benefits that are taking the western world by storm.
To fully appreciate why ketosis works, you have to realize that humans were born to eat lots of healthy fats and green, cruciferous vegetables. Grains and wheat weren’t introduced to our diet until the industrial revolution.
This is also the same time that heart conditions and the obesity epidemic took root.
You see, about a hundred years ago, there was a huge shift in our nutritional diet, and we side-stepped away from our natural state of ketosis and adopted refined-sugar and carbs.
Our body quickly goes to these as fuel, but usually, they are nothing more than empty nutrients. 9g of carbs is equivalent to 1g of fat.
Both grains and sugar trick your body into thinking it’s eating fuel, but really, it needs much more to get the same effect. Furthermore, eating sugar and carbs triggers an insulin response. When insulin comes into play, things go from bad to worst quickly.
Insulin is a method of recovery for your body when you eat carbohydrates or simple sugars. You see, our body is adaptive, and eating some carbs is not the end of the world.
When you eat a lot of carbs, your body can become insulin resistant.
When this happens, your body is never thinking about burning fat or making smart choices. It’s thinking critically about how to process all these carbs and sugars it was never meant to deal with.
If we look back to the days of ketosis, things take a dramatic swing in the opposite direction.
Not only is ketosis a simple way to reverse the effects of insulin dependence and put your body into a fat-burning state, but ketosis is the state in which our bodies naturally thrive.
When in ketosis, your body will feel satisfied, thanks to consuming nutrient-dense, healthy fats, and not bug you to eat all the time (as there is no insulin prodding at your brain to load up again).
Instead, hunger flies below the radar. Ketosis curbs your appetite, leading to a reduced caloric intake.
How Do Ketones Support Keto Weight Loss?
To understand the connection between the ketogenic diet and weight loss, it’s important to look to our good friends, ketones.
These are the metabolic fuels your body uses when in ketosis and are a powerhouse for fat loss.
Interestingly, ketones are a preferred fuel source for your brain. So, if you eat a low-fat diet, you might be suffering symptoms like brain fog, Alzheimer's, Parkinson’s and other cognitive diseases.
These are all red flags.
Before we switched to agriculture for our food supply, humans regularly depended on high-fat foods because we are hunter-gatherers.
Food wasn’t always readily available - you couldn’t pull up to a drive-through - and so your body needed a way to store fuel easily. This is why we put on weight so easily.
When you are in ketosis, ketones make it easy for your body to draw out fat just as quickly. If you’ve struggled with losing weight in the past, now you know why.
Your body burns fat to use and produce ketones whenever glucose sources are low or depleted, such as:
- During fasting
- After prolonged exercise
- When you eat a ketogenic diet
Without ketones, your body is not in ketosis and therefore cannot burn fat effectively.
Sure, you can workout at the gym and increase your calorie deficit, but all you will do is experience even more symptoms of a low-fat diet.
You’ll feel more tired, hungrier, grouchier--until you give into your body's cries for carbs and sugar. And so the cycle continues.
When you switch to ketosis, losing weight becomes an almost effortless, enjoyable experience.
If you’ve experienced a keto weight loss stall (you’ve stopped gaining or losing for more than a month), then you know how depressing a keto weight loss plateau can be.
Supporting your diet with a keto weight-loss supplement, like an exogenous ketone, can get your metabolism moving again.
THERE ARE THREE TYPES OF KETONE BODIES:
- Acetoacetate: this is the first ketone to be produced, and occurs during the breakdown of long- and medium-chain fatty acids for energy.
- Acetone: this occurs spontaneously as a by-product of acetoacetate.
- Beta-hydroxybutyrate (BHB): this natural supplement is a ketone made outside the body (exogenous ketone).
What makes BHB so unique is that it is considered the ultimate ketone, as it floats throughout your body in your blood, crossing many tissues where other molecules can’t.
Now that you understand what ketosis is and why ketones are so important, let’s take a look at what you can do to boost your ketone production to optimize your weight loss.
Why Beta-hydroxybutyrate (BHB) Supports Weight Loss
This is where things get exciting.
While many people go into nutritional ketosis (produce ketones through nutrition alone), the ketogenic diet can often feel a bit restrictive and repetitive.
In order to get the benefits of a keto diet, you have to be producing ketones all the time - or so you would think.
Since our understanding of ketones has improved, we know now that Beta-hydroxybutyrate (BHB) is widely considered the fourth macronutrient; it is as essential to our well-being as protein or fat.
Supplementing a ketogenic diet with BHB supports weight loss, but you don’t have to be keto to get the benefits.
BHB is very unique in that it’s a natural derivative, and gets to the organs that other ketones and nutrients cannot.
If you want to improve your cognitive or memory skills, get brain-and-heart healthy, and have more energy, BHB is something you need in your life.
These are also the perfect option for athletes and active people as they mimic the effects of carbs--bursting with energy (without the nasty downsides).
The other big reason to supplement with Beta-hydroxybutyrate is that eating a keto diet is hard; it’s not for the faint of heart and sometimes, despite our best efforts, eating too much protein or starchy vegetables can kick you out of ketosis.
As it can take days or weeks to get into ketosis, any downtime will mean less fat-burning for you. BHB’s can help you get into ketosis as they help your body adapt.
They also help you stay in ketosis and avoid the dreaded keto flu from occurring.
When to Use Beta-hydroxybutyrate (BHB)
If you’re ready to step up your game, we can help. The cool thing about BHB is you can use them at pretty much any time.
It doesn’t matter if you are keto day 1 or 100. You can take them in the morning, noon or at night.
Your body will thrive on ketones, and adding them into your daily regimen is the best way to see results.
We recommend:
- Taking our BHB Keto Activate once a day on an empty stomach
- Starting with a half a scoop and building up to 2 scoops per day as needed
- Blending, not stirring, to activate the proprietary blend of minerals and electrolytes
- Mixing with almond or coconut milk for best taste
As BHBs are essential minerals and electrolytes, they are salts and can taste bitter.
People who tried our Keto Activate BHB agreed that blending with almond milk was delicious and a welcome treat in their day.
We also recommend using it on an empty stomach, as this is such a powerful blend, your body needs to focus on using the exogenous ketones as fuel.
They also love that adding in a keto weight loss supplement is as simple as adding a scoop to your favorite beverage and getting on with your day.
So, if you have recently experienced a keto weight loss plateau, this could be a really simple fix.
When Transitioning into Ketosis:
- Start with a half a tablespoon mixed with 8 ounces of nut milk
- Take once or twice a day, as needed, to alleviate keto flu
- Use in the morning on an empty stomach
When in Ketosis:
- Use up to 1 scoop twice per day as needed
- Use in the morning on an empty stomach
- Use before a workout for a boost
Avoid Keto Flu with BHBs
One of the big reasons people turn to the ketogenic diet is for weight loss, but they do not realize that changing their fuel type can be a landfall change.
Your entire metabolism is changing, and there can be fallout.
Keto flu is essentially a green signal that your body is switching over to fat for fuel, and is an excellent sign of progress.
Many people do not appreciate the keto headaches and general flu symptoms that come during this time.
Beta-hydroxybutyrate is an ideal supplement to curb keto flu and works on two levels--to help you get into ketosis and achieve your weight loss goals. Think of it like Gatorade and other high energy sports drinks.
These supplement with electrolytes as well, but they also focus on sugar as the energy source. Beta-hydroxybutyrate uses BHB salts and ketones for fast-acting natural energy.
Firstly, Beta-hydroxybutyrate will nourish your body with our proprietary blend of electrolytes and minerals. Keto flu is often brought on due to dehydration and an electrolyte imbalance.
Simply giving your body the right minerals is usually enough to stop all keto flu symptoms.
Secondly, Beta-hydroxybutyrate is the right kind of ketone fuel for fat loss.
If you’re seeking the weight loss properties of the keto diet, BHBs help your body to master ketosis and get into, and maintain, this fat-burning state.
BHBs also provide a ton of energy, which can help you work out and achieve your optimal fat-loss.
Losing weight on the keto diet is a lot simpler when you have this powerhouse supplement in your pocket.
While ketosis alone can help you shed fat, the best way to lose weight is to always add in exercise.
Thankfully, exercising on the ketogenic diet is also easier and more palatable than other diet plans. Let’s find out why.
How to Lose Weight on the Keto Diet
Now that you understand how to get your body into ketosis, how to supplement with essential minerals and electrolytes, and how to nourish your brain, it’s time to find out the secret to keto weight loss - exercise. That’s right.
While you can see dramatic changes without exercise - many people lose hundreds of pounds when transitioning from a Standard American Diet - the optimal way to lose weight on a keto diet is to use low-impact cardio exercises that support natural weight loss.
Before you think you've been duped, hear us out. Losing weight on the keto diet isn’t like other diets where you have to pound the pavement and sweat in a gym for hours.
These kinds of high-intensity workouts can actually put stress on a ketogenic body and stall weight loss.
To lose weight on a keto diet, all you have to do is be more active (which is easy since you have all this new found energy from ketones and BHBs), and aim to walk at least three times a week.
That’s right - simple, low-impact exercise like walking, yoga, hiking, cycling, and leading a more natural and calm lifestyle is all you need to optimize your weight loss.
The best way to prepare for a ketogenic workout is to hydrate, hydrate and hydrate some more to avoid keto flu.
Your body depends on water to metabolize fat, and without enough water, it can’t get to all those pockets of fat.
Adding in BHB salts is an essential component of a keto workout, as simply drinking gallons of water is not enough.
Your body is saline, meaning it has a blend of water and salts, so you have to replenish both.
Your 3-Step Plan to Keto Weight Loss
Congrats on sticking it out this far. If you are here, it means you are ready to take the first step to become your best self.
Step 1: Getting into Ketosis
If you want to hit your optimal keto weight loss, the first and most essential step is to get into ketosis.
This is the part people struggle with as they depend on nutritional ketosis.
Cut corners and cheat guilt-free by supplementing with a BHB like Keto Activate to give your metabolism a fighting chance.
Once you get into ketosis, all you have to do is stay there and let your body do the hard work.
Step 2: Staying in Ketosis
The second step is to stay in ketosis; this sounds simple, but again, depending on food sources, can be problematic.
Adding in BHBs will give you a more lenient diet plan you can stick to, so if you do cheat or eat hidden carbs, you won’t necessarily be kicked out of ketosis.
Many people will experience a keto weight loss stall after being in keto for a few months as the body becomes much more effective at burning fat; when this happens, it’s time to move to step 3.
Step 3: Keto Weight Loss Supplement
The final step is to make sure you add in low-impact exercise (three times a week).
You can do more or less, but as a rule, the FDA recommends adults do cardio exercise three times a week for at least 30 minutes.
Note: Be sure to chat with your doctor if you have any health ailments or concerns before making any changes to your diet or exercise plan.
We hope that you will consider adding a clinically proven keto weight loss supplement to your daily regimen to support your ketosis efforts.
Learning how to prevent a keto weight loss stall by reading these articles, is by far the best indication you are ready to make the changes in your life that you deserve.
Read our blog for more top tips on how to get into ketosis.
Resources
Coleman, R.D., E. (2018). Each Gram of Protein & Carbohydrates Contains How Many Kilocalories?. Retrieved from https://healthyeating.sfgate.com/gram-protein-carbohydrates-contains-many-kilocalories-5978.htmlInsulin Resistance - Symptoms, Causes, Treatment. (2019). Retrieved from https://www.diabetes.co.uk/insulin-resistance.html
LaManna JC, Salem N, Puchowicz M, et al. Ketones suppress brain glucose consumption. Adv Exp Med Biol. 2009;645:301-6.
