Keto Workout: Adjusting Your Diet For Optimal Results

The ketogenic diet is a low-carb, high-fat diet that can be challenging to combine with certain types of workouts. While it can be a powerful way to burn fat and lose weight, it's important to understand how it affects exercise performance and what modifications may be needed. Here are some key things to know about modifying your keto diet when working out:

1. Ease into your workout routine: When starting the keto diet, your body goes through a metabolic adjustment, known as the keto flu, which can cause symptoms like exhaustion, brain fog, and muscle cramping. During this transition, it's best to focus on lower-intensity workouts like walking, biking, or yoga, and gradually increase the intensity as your energy levels improve.

2. Choose the right types of exercise: The keto diet may be better suited for low-intensity, steady-state exercises rather than high-intensity bursts. This is because the body uses fat as its primary energy source during lower-intensity workouts, which aligns with the fat-burning state of ketosis.

3. Consider a targeted ketogenic diet (TKD): If you're engaging in high-intensity workouts, you may benefit from a targeted approach. This involves consuming a small amount of carbohydrates (25-50 grams) 30-60 minutes before your workout. This provides a quick energy boost without kicking you out of ketosis for too long.

4. Increase your caloric intake: As you increase your physical activity on the keto diet, make sure you're consuming enough calories, especially from healthy fats. Eating more nutrient-dense foods will help fuel your workouts, support muscle growth, and enhance recovery.

5. Listen to your body: Everyone's experience with keto and exercise is unique. Pay attention to how your body responds and make adjustments as needed. If you're consistently feeling tired or sluggish, consider adding more carbs or adjusting your workout routine.

Low-intensity workouts are best when starting keto

Starting a keto diet can be challenging, and it's tempting to want to dive into a new diet and fitness plan at the same time. However, it's important to take it slow, especially when it comes to exercise. Here's why low-intensity workouts are best when you're starting on a keto diet:

The Transition to Keto Can Be Tough

The beginning of a keto diet is often the hardest part. Your body is transitioning from burning glucose to burning ketones as its main fuel source, and this can lead to symptoms like exhaustion, lack of energy, brain fog, muscle cramping, and irritability, commonly known as the "keto flu." These symptoms typically occur during the first week or two of the diet and can be made worse by intense workouts.

Low-Intensity Workouts Ease the Transition

Focusing on low-intensity aerobic exercises like walking, biking, or yoga during the initial phase of your keto diet is crucial. These types of workouts help deplete your glycogen stores more quickly, aiding your body in reaching ketosis faster. They also nourish your body and can help reduce muscle cramping, a common side effect of the keto diet.

Avoid High-Intensity Workouts Initially

High-intensity workouts or heavy weight lifting at the beginning of your keto journey can exacerbate the keto flu symptoms. These activities require a lot of energy from your muscles, which are not yet optimised for keto. As a result, you may experience increased muscle cramping, lower performance, exhaustion, and intense hunger, which can hinder your weight loss goals.

Gradually Increase Intensity

As your body adjusts to using fat as its primary energy source, you can gradually increase the intensity of your workouts. Listen to your body and its signals to determine when you're ready to progress. Remember, it's a gradual process, and it will take some time to get back to your previous level of athletic performance.

Summary

When starting a keto diet, it's essential to prioritise low-intensity workouts to ease the transition and avoid worsening any keto flu symptoms. As your body adapts and your energy levels increase, you can slowly incorporate higher-intensity exercises into your routine. This gradual approach will help maximise the benefits of the keto diet and ensure a smoother journey towards your fitness and health goals.

Avoid high-intensity workouts

If you're on a keto diet and want to avoid high-intensity workouts, there are several strategies you can employ to stay active while minimising discomfort and maximising the benefits of your diet. Here's what you need to know:

Start with Low-Intensity Workouts

During the initial transition to a keto diet, it's important to focus on low-intensity workouts. This means opting for activities such as rowing, walking, cycling at a steady pace, stretching, rolling, and stability work. Light to moderate exercise helps deplete your glycogen stores more quickly, aiding your body's transition to ketosis. Additionally, slower activities like yoga can help reduce muscle cramping and improve stability without pushing your body too hard.

Gradually Increase Intensity

As your body adapts to ketosis, you can gradually increase the intensity of your workouts. However, it's crucial to listen to your body and make adjustments as needed. Some good options for fat loss are low- to medium-intensity cardio, such as brisk walking and moderate cycling. These types of workouts are more suited to the keto diet as they utilise fat as the primary energy source.

Focus on Weight Training

Weight training is an important component of any fitness plan. Whether using your body weight or free weights, pushing your muscles against resistance will accelerate your fitness goals. When on a keto diet, focus on exercises that engage large muscle groups, such as squats, lunges, overhead presses, pull-ups, and bench presses. For weight training, aim for heavier weights with lower repetitions and longer rest periods between sets. This strategy allows your body to build ATP and avoid relying on glucose for fuel.

Modify High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT)

If you want to incorporate HIIT into your routine, some adjustments are necessary. Keep the high-intensity intervals under 10 seconds or extend them to 3 minutes, with 3-minute rest periods in between. This timing ensures your body doesn't rely on glycogenesis for fuel, preventing a dip in performance.

Adjust Your Diet for Exercise

As you increase physical activity, ensure you're consuming enough calories to fuel your muscles. If you're engaging in intense exercise, consider the targeted ketogenic diet (TKD) approach, which involves consuming 25-50 grams of carbohydrates 30 minutes before your workout. This will provide a temporary boost in energy without kicking you out of ketosis for long. Combine this with MCT oil to help your body produce ketones and burn fat more efficiently.

In summary, while on a keto diet, it's best to avoid high-intensity workouts, especially during the initial adjustment period. Focus on low- to moderate-intensity activities, weight training, and modified HIIT workouts. Listen to your body and make gradual adjustments to find the right balance of exercise and diet that works for you.

Listen to your body

Listening to your body is crucial when mixing keto and exercise. This is especially true during the first couple of weeks on a keto diet, but also throughout your whole experience. If you often feel tired, dizzy, or exhausted, your body might not be responding well to a very low-carb diet. Your health and well-being should be the most important factors. Try adding some more carbs and see how you feel. If this makes you feel better, the keto diet might not be the right choice for you.

It's also important to know your body and listen to what it's telling you. Regardless of what type of change you're making, your body will be sending you signals about what it can and can't do, and what it does and doesn't like. How your body responds to changes will help you determine if you're on the right track. As your body begins to use fat efficiently as your primary energy source, you'll be able to increase the intensity of your workouts. As your energy level increases, so too can your activity level. But this is a gradual process – steady wins the race.

During the transition period, it's important to focus on lower-intensity workouts. It's important to move and get your heart rate up, but just as important not to overdo it. Light to moderate exercise at the beginning of this diet plan will help deplete your glycogen stores more quickly, which will help you reach ketosis more quickly. Slower activities that nourish your body, like stretching, rolling, and stability work, are also great activities to start with as you transition into the keto diet.

Eat enough fat

Fat is an essential part of the keto diet, and it is important to eat enough of it, especially when working out. The keto diet is a low-carb, high-fat diet, and fat should make up about 75% of your daily calories. Good sources of healthy fats include nuts, fatty fish, eggs, avocado, grass-fed meats, fish, avocado, and coconut oil.

When on the keto diet, your body is burning fat for energy instead of carbohydrates. This means that you need to make sure you are consuming enough fat to provide your body with the energy it needs, especially if you are working out. Eating enough fat will help you reap the benefits of the keto diet, including weight loss and improved blood sugar control.

If you don't eat enough fat on a keto diet, you may experience negative side effects such as hunger, low energy, and even loss of muscle mass. This is because your body will not be getting the fuel it needs, and it may start breaking down muscle tissue for energy. Eating enough fat will also help you feel more satisfied after meals and may help reduce cravings for carbohydrates.

It is also important to note that not all fats are created equal. Unsaturated fats are the preferred type of fat for a keto diet. Examples of unsaturated fats include olive oil, avocado, nuts, and fatty fish like salmon. These types of fats can help improve your cholesterol levels and may have other health benefits.

In addition to eating enough fat, it is also crucial to ensure you are getting enough calories overall. The keto diet can be low in calories, which could lead to a calorie deficit if you are not careful. This may be beneficial for weight loss, but if you are working out, you need to make sure you are consuming enough calories to fuel your body and support your workouts.

Overall, eating enough fat is crucial when following the keto diet, especially if you are working out. It will help ensure you are getting the energy and nutrients your body needs to function optimally and may help improve your workout performance and recovery.

Consider a modified keto diet

If you're finding it hard to stick to the keto diet while working out, you might want to consider a modified version of the diet. The two most common styles of modified keto are the targeted ketogenic diet (TKD) and the cyclical ketogenic diet (CKD). Here's how they work:

Targeted Ketogenic Diet (TKD)

The TKD involves adding in a small amount of carbohydrates around your workout. Specifically, you would consume a meal containing 20-50 grams of net carbs 30-60 minutes before exercising. This provides a targeted boost of carbs to feed your muscles and increase glycogen stores for the upcoming activity. This approach will temporarily lower your ketones, but you can get back into ketosis more quickly by combining it with MCT oil, which helps your body produce ketones and burn fat.

Cyclical Ketogenic Diet (CKD)

The CKD, also known as carb cycling, involves consuming a low-carb keto diet for most of the week (usually 5-6 days) and then having a higher-carb, low-fat diet for 1-2 days. This method tops up muscle glycogen stores each week while allowing you to remain in deep ketosis for the majority of the time.

Both the TKD and the CKD can be effective ways to modify the keto diet to better suit your workout routine and help you maintain performance levels.

Other tips for working out on the keto diet:

• Start with lower-intensity workouts: When you first start the keto diet, it's normal to feel less energised, so it's a good idea to focus on low-intensity workouts such as walking, yoga, or light cycling. As your body adjusts to using fat for fuel, you can gradually increase the intensity of your workouts.
• Ease into your workout routine: Give your body time to adjust to the keto diet and don't push yourself too hard at first. Listen to your body and scale your workouts accordingly.
• Make sure you're eating enough: It's important to increase your caloric intake when you increase your physical activity, especially healthy fats. Examples include MCT oil, fresh fish, omega 3, avocado, and quality meats.
• Listen to your body: If you're feeling tired, dizzy, or exhausted, your body might not be responding well to a very low-carb diet. Consider adding some more carbs and seeing how you feel.

Frequently asked questions