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Many people choose to eat a Ketogenic diet for its amazing weight loss benefits. It’s well known that the Keto diet helps to significantly reduce weight within a relatively short period of time. Thanks to its low-carb high-fat strategy of eating, the Keto diet places the body in ketosis, whereby fat is burned for energy rather than glucose.
If you’re eager to lose weight yet want to eat well and be healthy, the Keto diet offers the perfect plan. You can continue to eat much loved foods, look and feel great, without energy crashes and blood sugar problems.
No doubt you’re eager to know when you’ll see weight loss results while following Keto; how quickly and how much weight you can expect to lose. Perhaps you’d also like some tips on how best to reach your weight loss goals while following a Keto diet.
Here is a breakdown of the weight loss results you can expect to see on Keto immediately after you begin, as well as the medium and long-term results you can anticipate. We also have some great advice about maintaining steady weight loss, even when you hit a plateau.
How Does The Keto Diet Cause Weight Loss
When people first learn about the Keto diet; its high-fat, low-carb content, they have a hard time believing it can reduce weight. Afterall, a high fat diet contributes to weight gain, doesn’t it? Well not exactly, it's a little more complex.
To lose weight, you need to use up more calories than you consume each day. There are three main ways the Keto diet helps to reduce weight: fat is burnt for fuel, appetite is satiated from high fat intake, and blood sugar cravings are reduced. These three factors mean the Keto diet reduces body fat and helps to reduce the amount of food you eat, resulting in significant overall weight loss.
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The Keto Weight Loss Timeline
We know you’re eager to see weight loss results, so how soon after beginning Keto can you expect to see the scales figure drop? Here is the typical short, mid and long-term timeline of weight loss.
1 Week
The great news is, you’ll start to see the weight drop off straight away - in the first week of going Keto. Anywhere between 2-10lbs of weight loss can be expected after 1 week. This is an incredible amount, however it isn’t due to losing fat, but rather water!
Carbohydrates need a fair amount of water to stay in your body; glucose is stored as glycogen in your muscles, and in this form, binds to water. For each gram of glycogen stored in your body, it has 2-3 grams of water attached.
When you reduce your carb intake on Keto, your body will use up all its stores of glycogen for fuel before it begins to burn fat. Once all your glycogen stores are depleted, the water bound to it for storage, will be eliminated from your body. This loss of excess water is what causes the sudden and dramatic weight loss in the first week of going Keto.
Although this is not fat loss, it does mark the transition of your body into ketosis - exactly where you want to be to start burning the fat. It’s a really positive sign that you’re heading in the right direction.
2 Weeks - 3 Months
After the first week your weight loss will not continue at a pace of 2-10lbs per week! Instead you can expect to lose a steady amount of between 1-2lbs on average per week, which adds up to a huge amount over a period of 3 months.
After the first week, once you’ve used up glycogen stores, your body will move into ketosis and begin to burn fat. Although the rate of weight loss may slow a little, this is the time where you really start to notice a difference. You will gradually become leaner and your body will begin to change shape. You will also start to feel the benefits of Keto, with less cravings and more energy.
Everyone who follows the Keto diet will have a different weight loss story, try not to compare yours to others’. This can lead to feelings of failure that might derail your Keto plan; it’s crucial that you don’t give up at this stage, even if weight loss slows down.
Choose to focus on your personal progress instead, keep track of your weight loss and body measurements. This will help you monitor your progress and keep in mind how far you’ve come, when comparison or negativity creeps in.
It’s a really good idea to calculate your macros too. This will ensure you’re eating the right percentage of macros for your body. Calculating your macros takes into account your gender, height, weight and activity level so you can have an individualised eating plan - to the gram. This will be particularly beneficial as you continue your Keto lifestyle long-term.
Beyond 3 Months
After 3 months of following Keto, most people find weight loss slows down further; perhaps only losing 1-2lbs every couple of weeks. Most of your weight loss will have happened at this stage, and you may have already reached your target weight. If you haven’t reached your weight loss goal by 3 months - keep going! There’s more you can do to improve your weight loss results.
Continue to keep tabs on your macro intake; it’s likely you’ll need to recalculate your macro amounts by 3 months into Keto. Your body will have already lost a moderate amount of weight and you may find your activity levels are up - all of which impact the amount of macros you need each day.
Adjust the amounts for what your body and lifestyle is like 3 months in. This could make the difference for continued weight loss success.
You can also increase your activity level now that you’ve lost most of the excess weight. Physical activities that you’ve taken part in so far may not be challenging enough once you reach the 3 month mark. Be sure to increase your activity level and difficulty, to meet you where you are now and help you maintain progress long-term.
Remember, if you’ve built more muscle since beginning Keto - this weighs more than fat, so the numbers on the scales may not provide you with a complete picture about how far you’ve come.
It’s a great idea to take your body measurements at regular points throughout your transition to Keto, and have your body fat percentage calculated too. This will give you an overall picture of your progress that isn’t solely relying on your weight on the scales.
Hit Your Weight Loss Target Quickly With Keto
The Keto diet delivers remarkable weight loss results. Many are surprised that eating a high-fat diet can provide such dramatic weight loss over a short period of time - yet it has been proven to do exactly that.
If you’re keen to lose weight and improve your health, the Keto diet can be effective from the first week. You’ll lose considerable water weight within the first week of going Keto. Beyond a week you can anticipate losing between 1-2lbs on average per week; this is fat loss as your body moves into ketosis. Towards the 3 month mark you may reach your target weight loss goal.
If you have further to go, recalculating your macros and increasing your physical activity can give you the extra boost you need to hit your weight loss target.
Above all, make sure you’re eating the right amount of macros for your unique body and lifestyle, and never compare your journey to others, be your own competition and only ever improve upon yourself.
