7 Exercise Tips When on Ketogenic Diet
If you are looking for tips on how to get into ketosis quickly, then including exercise in your Ketogenic diet is a good way. Starting the journey of changing your lifestyle by adapting the keto diet, is a wholesome way to change your life. And while you can lose weight without necessarily exercising, the experts recommend that you incorporate some exercise into your daily routine.
Why You Need To Exercise
Exercising will help you get better results when you combine it with the keto diet. Once you start losing the weight, you’ll want to tone your body to avoid any sagging in some areas that were previously firm because of fat or body weight. Exercising will also give you a clear mind and more energy to tackle everyday tasks.
I will share with you seven surefire ways of exercising while on the Ketogenic diet.
Be Careful About Exercising During the First Few Weeks
During the first few weeks of adapting the Ketogenic diet, your energy levels will be very low due to the keto flu. The keto flu occurs when your body is trying to adapt to the new diet, and its symptoms are very much like the common flu. You get a feeling of lethargy, irritability, nausea, aching muscles, drowsiness, among others.
Do not be worried as the symptoms do not usually last more than a week, although this is very much dependent upon the individual. Other people will experience the flu symptoms for a longer time, and this is why you should not overextend your body by doing high-intensity exercises.
Another symptom that may present during the initial period is the keto diarrhea, which results from cutting down on certain foods thus an imbalance in the digestive system. If you do decide to exercise, make sure that there’s a toilet near you, because you do not want any accidents while running in the park or exercising in the gym.
Drinking plenty of water and getting sufficient rest will quickly sort out the flu and diarrhea.
Know the Right Exercise
Hiking, cycling, swimming or walking are great exercises when on the keto diet. It is interesting to note that most people who take high-intensity cardio classes do not end up losing weight.
The disadvantages of cardio include the fact that you will get hungry very quickly thereby eating more, cardio raises the hormone cortisol, which is a stress hormone that leads to the storage of visceral fat in the stomach. The repetitive, exhaustive nature of cardio exercises will also lead to systemic inflammation.
Schedule the Exercises
Have a schedule of the exercising you will do within the week; target different parts of the body with the right kind of exercise. For example, if you want to build muscle mass, then focus on weight training but do not do it every day. Set one day aside for resting.
High-intensity intermittent training (HIIT) is great for burning calories especially if you compare the results with prolonged cardio. However, keep away from such exercises until you go into full ketosis and your energy levels are up again
Other high-intensity exercises you may want to keep away from initially include lifting heavy Tabata, sprinting, jumping rope, jumping jacks, and lifting heavy weights.
Watch Your Sprinting
If you enjoy sprinting as your go-to exercise, do short sprints of about 3-5 seconds. Intermittent sprinting and resting will allow your body to replenish phosphocreatine, which will allow you to work hard without using or relying on glucose.
Have the Right Mindset
Do not go into the exercise routine with competition on your mind. It is not important that you win on every occasion. There is no reward for lifting the heaviest weights or sprinting for the longest time unless you are in an actual competition.
If you can get results by doing low-intensity workouts or lifting weights that are not too heavy, you can achieve more than that other person who wants to lift very heavy weights. Think about it this way, that person trying to lift that 80-pound bar can only do so many repetitions. On the other hand, with a lighter weight, you can achieve more repetitions thereby working your muscles better.
Have a Cheat Day
If you are very active in the gym, it would not be a good idea to deplete your muscle glycogen completely. Have one day in your keto diet cycle where you allow yourself to eat slightly more carbs than the diet recommends. This kind of carb dieting is the cyclical or targeted keto diet and is good for those who do high-intensity sports.
However, we are not saying that on the cheat day you should binge on carbohydrates. After all, you would not want to undo all the good work you have been putting in. What it means is that immediately after a workout you can eat a certain amount and the right kind of carbohydrate.
While the keto diet does not allow for the consumption root tubers, on your cheat day eat a sweet potato so that you replenish your glycogen stores.
Do Not Chase Ketones
When you’re exercising, you should focus on the results and not what your ketone meter is saying. Worrying too much about the ketone levels will trigger stress, which will in turn trigger gluconeogenesis, and stop the keto-adaptation by flooding your body with glucose.
When your body has adapted to keto, it will be able to utilize the fatty acids for fuel thereby allowing you to cycle carbs and giving you space to eat a little more protein.
Final Thoughts
The keto diet will change your lifestyle completely. Once your body learns how to burn fat instead of glucose for energy, you will realize more weight loss. Have the right exercise plan, schedule your activities, eat the right food, chase results and forget about keeping a close watch on the ketones. Most of all focus on working hard and staying healthy because this is the right mindset to have when starting a diet or exercise regime.
