How Does Exercise Affect Ketosis?
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Being on the ketogenic diet can give you a lot of benefits. What started as a disease-specific meal plan is now a trending diet plan that allows you to lose weight without sacrificing fats and without having to exercise.
While this sounds good, many people just can’t get enough of doing cardio every day. Others try working out on keto in hopes of losing weight faster.
So, how does exercise affect ketosis? Read on to find out whether it is safe to exercise on the keto diet, its additional benefits on the diet, and a few tips you need to practice a good exercise routine!
Is it Safe to Exercise on the Keto Diet?
You might think that eating carbs is necessary to provide you with energy when you are working out. However, being on the ketogenic diet forces you to restrict your carb intake. Does that mean you’re not allowed to exercise? No.
Being on a low-carb diet does not mean that exercise is off-limits. You can still enjoy your weekly walks to the gym, as long as you are careful about the types of exercise you choose. This is because the keto diet may affect your performance during certain exercises, so you won’t be able to work out intensely as you used to.
Exercise is an important part of living a healthy lifestyle. Everyone knows how essential it is in keeping your heart healthy, managing your stress, and improving your overall health.
How Does Exercise Affect Ketosis?
Being in ketosis means your body has automatically become a fat burner. When exercising, your body uses many types of energy for fuel, like amino acids, fats, and carbs. The more you exercise, the more you deplete your body of these reserves, even the stored glycogen.
Stored carbs and sugars are the first things your body looks for when it starts to become active. The more glycogen you deplete, the less your body has to use available for energy. Soon enough, you’ll enter ketosis.
Exercise intensity plays a huge role in helping you enter ketosis quickly, as well as maintaining it. However, high-intensity training is not recommended on the keto diet! We don’t suggest lifting weights, doing planks, and engaging in a high-intensity workout, unless you’re a pro! Walking longer than usual is enough for a quick descent into ketosis.
Benefits of Exercise on the Keto Diet
Once you have achieved ketosis, exercising regularly will help you stay in ketosis. Here are some benefits you can enjoy!
More Carbs
Moderate exercise will allow you to consume a few more carbs once you are in ketosis. This will not affect your diet since your blood sugar is low after working out and your muscle glycogen is depleted.
After exercising is the best time to consume a small amount of carbs. Insulin will help shuttle the sugar you eat directly into your muscles without disturbing your ketogenic state. Remember to know your limits and only do this when your body is already keto adapted!
More Energy
Yes, you read it right. Exercising on the keto diet will give you more energy but the signs only show after a few weeks. For the first couple of days, you’ll see a slight drop in performance first.
This means that all your workouts are going to be naturally easier than before. You will feel like you have more energy and are willing to try more intense routines.
Quicker Fat Loss
You need to be ready for significant weight loss. You’ll surely drop a great amount of weight in just a matter of days when you’re working out on a keto diet.
The process becomes quicker when you put the right foods into your system. Your body will reward you when you combine the keto diet and exercise!
Things to Remember Before Exercising on Keto
There are a few things you need to know before working out on the keto diet.
Make Sure You’re Eating Enough
You need to eat enough healthy fat before exercising! Exercise will utilize your stored carbs first and then the fat later on. But if you’re not taking in enough food, you won’t be able to last a simple workout.
Avoid High-Intensity Workout
The keto diet is extreme to the body, so don’t let exercise make it harder for you. Always start with a simple routine and gradually increase the intensity every few days.
Don’t push yourself if your body cannot handle it anymore. Some signs that your body is not responding well to a low-carb diet mixed with exercise include the following.
- exhaustion
- dizziness
- fatigue
The keto diet itself puts a lot of stress into the body and takes weeks for you to adjust, let alone a diet mixed with a workout. Make sure you are allowing yourself plenty of recovery time.
Things to Remember After Exercising on Keto
There is only one major concern after exercising on the keto diet, and it’s over-eating. Naturally, when you start to work out, your metabolism speeds up and will burn food much faster, resulting in the need to consume more often.
If you are already adapted to the keto diet eating a few more carbs than usual after working out is alright and should not kick you out of ketosis. However, you need enough discipline to know when to stop. Remember that if you’re not seeing significant weight loss on the keto diet and the workout routine, it’s most likely because you are eating too much.
It can be an easy habit to fall into. You work out hard, you feel hungry after, so you give your body what you think it needs. This can easily lead to overdoing it with food.
Would You Exercise on the Keto Diet?
Say yes! Exercising will affect your ketosis in many ways, depleting your body of carbs, sugar, and fat. This makes entering and staying in ketosis much easier for you!
You’ll also have the opportunity to increase your carb intake a little without it affecting your ketosis! You can enjoy a more rapid weight loss and better athletic performance after a few weeks.
You can take advantage of these effects as long as you’re eating enough to avoid putting your body in danger. You also need to avoid overeating after every workout to stay in ketosis.
Lastly, don’t engage in a high-intensity workout. Find the best exercises for the keto diet to get you started!
