Keto Gym Workouts: Burning Calories, Losing Weight

The ketogenic diet is a very low-carb, high-fat, and moderate-protein diet that has been linked to several health benefits, including weight loss, improved blood sugar control, and decreased hunger levels. While the keto diet may not be ideal for high-intensity workouts, it can boost fat burning during low-intensity, steady-state exercises. The number of calories burned during a workout depends on various factors, including the type of exercise, its intensity and duration, and the individual's weight and fitness level. On average, a person can burn about 200 to 500 calories per workout session, with cardiovascular exercises like running and cycling being particularly effective for immediate calorie burn. Strength training, such as weight lifting, is also an effective way to burn calories and improve body composition.

Calorie deficit is key to weight loss, regardless of glycogen and fat stores

Calorie Deficit: The Key to Weight Loss

Whether you're on a ketogenic diet or not, creating a calorie deficit is essential for losing weight. This means consuming fewer calories than you burn, and it's a simple concept that forms the basis of all weight loss plans. While the breakdown of macronutrients (protein, fat, and carbohydrates) in your diet is important, ultimately, it's the total number of calories that matters when it comes to shedding those extra pounds.

Calories: A Measure of Energy

Calories are a unit of measurement for energy. When we eat food, it provides our bodies with calories, which are used to fuel various bodily functions. The number of calories in a food item depends on its macronutrient composition. For example, fat has a higher calorie density than protein or carbohydrates, with 9 calories per gram compared to 4 calories per gram for protein and carbohydrates.

The Role of Exercise

Exercise is one way our bodies use up the energy we get from food. During exercise, our bodies primarily use glycogen (stored carbohydrates) as fuel, especially for high-intensity workouts. This is because carbohydrates are more readily converted into energy than fat. However, this doesn't mean that we need to deplete our glycogen stores during a workout to lose weight.

The Impact of Keto on Calorie Burn

The ketogenic diet, with its emphasis on high-fat and low-carb intake, may affect how our bodies burn calories during exercise. Some studies suggest that keto can boost fat burning, especially during steady-state aerobic exercise like distance running or cycling. However, it's important to note that fat contains more calories per gram than carbs, so even though you're burning more fat, you're also consuming more calories from fat on a keto diet.

Creating a Calorie Deficit on Keto

To lose weight on the ketogenic diet, you still need to create a calorie deficit. This means consuming fewer calories than you burn throughout the day, including the calories burned during exercise. While keto may naturally reduce your appetite and calorie intake due to its satiating effect, tracking your calorie intake and making sure you're in a deficit is crucial for weight loss.

Other Benefits of Exercise

While creating a calorie deficit is essential for weight loss, it's important to remember that exercise provides numerous other benefits beyond burning calories. It improves cardiovascular health, increases muscle mass and strength, enhances endurance, and promotes overall well-being. So, while calorie burn is important, it's not the only metric for a successful workout.

Cardio burns more calories than other workouts, e.g. running, cycling, swimming

Cardio Burns More Calories Than Other Workouts

Cardio exercises are excellent for burning calories and losing weight. Cardio, or cardiovascular exercise, is a form of aerobic activity that increases breathing rate, quickly burns calories, and improves endurance. While all physical activities burn calories, cardio workouts tend to burn more calories per session compared to other types of exercises, such as weight training.

• Running: A person typically burns between 85 and 140 calories per mile, or between 280 and 520 calories per 30 minutes of running. The pace and duration of the run, as well as the person's weight, will determine the exact number of calories burned.
• Cycling: Cycling is a great low-impact alternative to running, especially for those with joint issues. A gentle bike ride might burn around 364 calories per hour, while an intense spin class can burn up to 600 calories in the same time frame.
• Swimming: Swimming is another effective cardio exercise. A 30-minute session of front crawl swimming can burn around 212 calories.
• Rowing: Indoor rowing has gained popularity as a cardio option at the gym or at home. Rowing can burn up to 662 calories per hour, targeting multiple muscle groups in the process.
• High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT): HIIT involves short bursts of intense exercise followed by rest periods. A 30-minute HIIT workout can burn up to 450 calories and offers the added benefit of increased calorie burn post-workout due to excess post-exercise oxygen consumption (EPOC).

While cardio exercises excel at burning calories during the workout, it's important to note that weight training has its advantages too. Weightlifting and resistance training are more effective at building lean muscle, and muscle mass burns more calories at rest than other tissues, including fat. Additionally, weight training can lead to an increased metabolic rate, resulting in more calories burned even after the workout.

In conclusion, cardio exercises, such as running, cycling, swimming, and rowing, burn more calories during the actual workout compared to other types of exercises. However, incorporating both cardio and weight training into your fitness routine can lead to a well-rounded approach to weight loss and overall health.

Strength training burns c. 4 calories per minute, or 180-300 per hour

While the number of calories burned during a workout depends on several factors, strength training is estimated to burn approximately four calories per minute, or 180-300 calories per hour. This estimate is based on the assumption that an individual is lifting weights consistently over that period. The actual number of calories burned will depend on various factors, including the intensity and duration of the workout, the individual's body weight and fitness level, and the specific exercises performed.

The intensity of a strength training session, including the pace and the amount of weight lifted, plays a significant role in calorie burn. By increasing the weight, reps, or sets, individuals can challenge their bodies and ensure a significant calorie burn. Additionally, maintaining a steady pace and avoiding excessive rest periods can help maximize the number of calories burned.

The duration of the workout is another critical factor. Longer strength training sessions will generally result in more calories burned. For example, a 60-minute session will burn more calories than a 30-minute session. However, it's important to note that the number of calories burned per minute may vary depending on the intensity and other factors.

An individual's body weight and fitness level can also impact the number of calories burned during strength training. Heavier individuals tend to burn more calories throughout the day and during exercise. Additionally, beginners to strength training may burn more calories than more conditioned individuals with the same training metrics.

The specific exercises performed during a strength training session can also affect calorie burn. Compound exercises that activate multiple large muscle groups, such as squats and deadlifts, tend to burn more calories than isolated exercises like bicep curls.

While strength training is an effective way to burn calories and improve body composition, it's important to note that cardio workouts may burn more calories in the moment. However, strength training has the added benefit of building muscle, which increases the number of calories burned at rest over time. Therefore, incorporating strength training into a fitness regimen can be a reliable strategy for weight loss and overall fitness improvement.

Keto may burn more calories but impairs performance in endurance athletes

The ketogenic diet is a very low-carbohydrate, moderate-protein, and high-fat diet. It typically contains around 75% fat, 20% protein, and only 5% carbohydrate. This is in contrast to a normal athlete's diet, which is typically 25% fat, 55% carbohydrate, and 20% protein. The keto diet is designed to put the body in a state of ketosis, where it burns fat as fuel instead of carbohydrates. While this can have weight loss benefits, certain workouts may be more challenging.

Keto May Burn More Calories

A 2018 study found that when overweight adults replaced carbohydrates in their diet with fat for a period of five months, their bodies were able to burn approximately 250 more calories per day than people who ate high-carbohydrate and low-fat diets. This is because gram per gram, fat has more calories than carbohydrates.

But Keto May Impair Performance in Endurance Athletes

The majority of high-intensity exercises—activities that require short, intense bursts of energy—are powered by the carbohydrates you eat. The human body stores carbohydrates in the muscle cells as muscle glycogen, which becomes an immediate fuel source for the body during intense movement. If you're on the keto diet, your body burns fat for energy instead of carbohydrates, and fat is not as easily burned, so the process is less efficient. As a result, the keto diet tends to limit performance during high-intensity workouts.

One small study from February 2017 that followed 42 healthy adults after they spent six weeks on the ketogenic diet found that the participants' performance in endurance capacity and peak power dropped. Another 2017 study of elite competitive walkers showed that athletes on ketogenic diets were able to significantly increase fat burning in their bodies during training compared to walkers on a standard diet. But despite burning more fat, those athletes also experienced worse athletic performance than the athletes on the standard diet. They felt it took greater exertion to complete the same workouts, and they were less likely to complete the assigned workouts compared with the athletes on the standard diet.

In summary, while the keto diet may burn more calories, it may not be the best diet for endurance athletes as it may impair performance during high-intensity workouts.

Keto may be better for maintaining muscle mass than building it

The ketogenic, or keto, diet is a very low-carb, high-fat diet. It is often used for weight loss, but it can also be used to maintain muscle mass. While it is possible to build muscle on a keto diet, there are some reasons why it may be better suited to maintaining muscle mass rather than building it.

Building Muscle on Keto

First, it is important to note that it is possible to build muscle while following a keto diet. Studies have shown that a keto diet can be as effective as a traditional higher-carb diet for building muscle. However, there are some considerations to keep in mind.

To build muscle, it is generally recommended to consume more calories than you burn. On a keto diet, this can be challenging as it involves restricting carbohydrates, which are a major source of calories. Additionally, the keto diet typically includes moderate protein intake, which may not be sufficient for optimal muscle growth. While it is possible to increase protein intake on a keto diet, there is a risk that excess protein will kick you out of ketosis due to gluconeogenesis.

Maintaining Muscle Mass on Keto

Keto may be better suited for maintaining muscle mass for several reasons. Firstly, keto helps to prevent protein breakdown. Research has shown that when equal calories are consumed on diets with the same amount of protein but different levels of carbs, the lower-carb diets maintain lean muscle mass to a greater extent. This is because the body no longer needs to break down protein for gluconeogenesis and can instead utilize ketones, sparing protein.

Secondly, keto can increase fat burning capacity. When the body is in a state of ketosis, it becomes more efficient at utilizing fat for energy. This can lead to improved body composition, resulting in less fat and more lean muscle.

Finally, keto can help to optimize body composition. A low-carb, high-fat diet has been shown to result in greater body fat loss compared to a high-carb diet. This can lead to a reduction in body fat percentage and an increase in lean body mass.

While it is possible to build muscle on a keto diet, there are some limitations due to the restricted carbohydrate and moderate protein intake. Therefore, keto may be better suited for maintaining muscle mass rather than building it. However, it is important to note that individual results may vary, and further research is needed to fully understand the effects of a keto diet on muscle growth.

Frequently asked questions