There is much to consider when you have just started with your low carb keto diet. Here are answers to some common questions that people usually have when starting out with their diet.
How can you lose weight by eating fat?
Low carb diet or keto diet is based on the intention to entirely contrary to traditional weight loss advices. Instead of counting calories and limit the intake of food (and thereby lose weight by starving your body) you let the hormones control the weight reduction. By resetting the body from using carbohydrates to using fat to run the operation allows the body to use its fat stores as fuel and you lose weight.
bacon and cheese burger with onion
- I’m tired
If you have recently started your keto diet or other low carb diet, it is likely that you are in the transition phase. It is common with conversion symptoms when you start eating according to your new diet and fatigue is one of these. It will pass, usually after a few days. If you are tired even though you have passed the transition phase, it may be because you eat too little food. It may also be that you are drinking too much or may take too little salt.
I feel sick
It may be that you are hungry. It is common to feel sick if you eat too little food. It happens that after the initial phase in which one often is hungry and eat large amounts of food experiences that you do not get hungry at all. The result can be caused by eating too little. It is important to keep an eye on this, for example by signing a one-day food intake in an application that can track your food intake or any other program for nutrition monitoring to ensure that you get enough energy during the day.
I’m hungry
In the beginning you could often get very hungry when the carbohydrates you removed from the diet often have raised large volume of the stomach. The answer is to eat more food, and try to listen to your body’s signals. You should eat when you are hungry and eat until one is full. After a while the carb-diet regulate this up and eating more normal or even smaller portions than before.
keto hamburger casserole
I can not lose weight
It is often said that carb weight is normalized – that is, to an overweight person lose weight and an underweight person to gain weight. This until the body feels that it has reached the “right” weight. Many times, you believe this not to your liking, and that you want to lose a few more pounds.
How many carbs can I eat?
It varies from person to person. Want to lose weight? Want to eat according to a low carb diet to feel better and you are already happy with your weight? Many people tend to eat less than 20 grams of carbohydrates a day to lose weight. Sometimes you eat even less, for example, only five carbohydrates a day (usually called extreme low carb diet). If you do not want to lose weight but only feel better, you can be more liberal with your carbohydrate intake. However, one should stick to under 100 grams a day to adhere to low carb diet.
Does the brain not need carbohydrates to function?
This is one of the most common objections to low carb keto diets. The brain does not function without carbs. The brain needs a certain amount of glucose each day. If you do not eat sufficient carbs to satisfy the brain’s need for glucose the liver produces glucose, protein and fat. The ketones produced when the body is in ketosis (fat-operation) is also used by the brain instead of carbohydrates.
How much fat should I eat?
You should eat as much fat as protein and carbohydrates together. The recommended ratio is 75-80% of energy from fat, 5-10% from carbohydrates and 10-20% from protein.
How much protein should I eat?
You should eat about 0.5 to 1.5 grams – sometimes up to 2 grams – of protein per kilo of body weight. If you work and have much muscle then you would need a higher amount, if you are very overweight, a lower amount is more suitable. Keep in mind that 100 grams of meat is not the same as 100 grams of protein. Meat contains only 20% protein, 25% chicken and fish 15% protein.
beef with garlic butter
How do I get in my fiber?
If you eat according to keto diet or other low carb diets such as LCHF the need of fiber for healthy bowel functions is gone. Your stomach will still work. Mainly thanks to the fat in the food makes the stomach work better. Many people who have stomach problems such as IBS have lost their problems after being released from a traditional diet and changed to a better low carb diet.
Johan Bengtsson
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