Exercising On Keto: Starting Your Fitness Journey

Combining a keto diet with an exercise routine can be a great way to improve your health and well-being. The keto diet is a low-carb, high-fat diet that puts your body in a state of ketosis, where it burns fat as fuel instead of carbohydrates. This can lead to weight loss, boosted energy, and improved blood sugar control. However, starting an exercise routine while on the keto diet can be challenging, and it's important to take it slow and listen to your body.

When you first start the keto diet, your body goes through a transition period where it adjusts from burning glucose to burning ketones as its main fuel source. This can lead to symptoms such as exhaustion, lack of energy, brain fog, muscle cramping, and irritability, commonly known as the keto flu. During this time, it's important to focus on lower-intensity workouts such as walking, biking, or yoga, and avoid high-intensity exercises like heavy weight lifting or HIIT workouts, as they can make the keto flu symptoms worse.

Once your body becomes keto-adapted, you can gradually increase the intensity of your workouts. Low to medium-intensity cardio, such as brisk walking, moderate bike rides, or swimming, are great options for fat loss on the keto diet. For weight lifting, focus on exercises that engage large muscle groups, such as squats, lunges, and bench presses, with lower reps and heavier weights.

In addition to the type of exercise, it's also important to consider your diet. Make sure you're eating enough protein to support muscle growth and recovery, and don't fall into the trap of thinking you can eat unlimited amounts of fat on a keto diet. Aim for a calorie deficit if you're trying to lose weight, and consider a targeted ketogenic diet (TKD) or cyclical ketogenic diet (CKD) if you're engaging in high-intensity exercises, which involve consuming a small amount of carbohydrates before your workout to boost energy levels.

Start with low-intensity exercises like walking, yoga, or swimming

Starting to exercise while on a keto diet can be challenging, but choosing low-intensity exercises like walking, yoga, or swimming can be a great way to ease into it. Here are some tips and insights to help you get started:

• Start slow and listen to your body: The beginning of the keto diet is often the most challenging as your body transitions from burning glucose to burning ketones as its primary fuel source. This can lead to symptoms like exhaustion, brain fog, and muscle cramping. It's crucial to listen to your body and start with low-intensity exercises during this adjustment period.
• Focus on low-intensity aerobic exercises: In the first week or two of your keto diet, focus on low-intensity aerobic exercises like walking, biking, or rowing. Light to moderate exercise will help deplete your glycogen stores and facilitate the transition to ketosis. Yoga, which incorporates stretching and stability work, is also an excellent choice.
• Gradually increase the intensity: As your body becomes more fat-adapted, you can gradually increase the intensity of your workouts. However, it's important to know your limits and listen to your body's signals. Low to medium-intensity cardio exercises, such as brisk walks or moderate bike rides, are ideal for maximizing fat loss while on the keto diet.
• Understand the physiology behind keto and exercise: Ketosis taps into your body's fat reserves, but it may not provide enough energy for short periods of intense activity. That's why keto is better suited for low to moderate-intensity exercises. During these types of activities, your body has the time to utilize fat as its primary fuel source.
• Consider the timing of your workouts: The timing of your workouts can impact your energy levels and performance. If you're just starting on the keto diet, it's advisable to avoid high-intensity workouts until your body has adjusted. Give yourself time to become keto-adapted before returning to more intense exercises.
• Maintain a balanced keto diet: Ensure you're getting enough protein and healthy fats in your diet. Protein is crucial for muscle recovery and maintenance, while healthy fats provide the energy your body needs during workouts. Consult with a healthcare professional or a nutritionist to determine the optimal macronutrient ratios for your specific needs.

Focus on strength training and low-intensity cardio

If you're on the keto diet, you might be wondering how to start exercising without compromising your diet or performance. The good news is that exercising and eating keto can be perfectly compatible, but it's important to understand how your body responds to this unique combination.

When you're on the keto diet, your body uses fat as its primary fuel source, which can be challenging for high-intensity workouts that require quick bursts of energy. So, when starting an exercise routine on keto, it's best to focus on strength training and low-intensity cardio. Here are some tips to help you get started:

• Start with low-intensity workouts: In the first week or two of the keto diet, focus on low-intensity aerobic exercises like rowing, walking, or biking. This will help deplete your glycogen stores and get you into ketosis faster, without making you feel terrible.
• Focus on strength training: Strength training is an important part of any fitness plan. Try exercises that engage large muscle groups, such as squats, lunges, overhead press, pull-ups, and bench press. For optimal muscle growth, aim for 5-8 reps per set with at least three minutes of rest in between.
• Calculate your fat-burning heart rate: To maximize fat burning during cardio, aim for a heart rate between 50-70% of your maximum heart rate. You can calculate your maximum heart rate by subtracting your age from 220. For example, if you're 30 years old, your maximum heart rate is 190 BPM, and your fat-burning zone is between 95-133 BPM.
• Consider the targeted ketogenic diet (TKD): If you feel exhausted during or after your workouts, you can try the TKD approach. Consume 25-50 grams of simple carbohydrates 30 minutes before your workout. This will provide a boost of energy without kicking you out of ketosis for too long.
• Listen to your body: The keto diet can be demanding, and it's important to adjust your exercise routine accordingly. If you're feeling sluggish or experiencing keto flu symptoms, scale back your workouts and give your body time to adjust.
• Get enough protein: Protein is crucial for muscle recovery and growth. Aim for 1.4-2 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight, or 0.6-0.9 grams per pound. Distribute your protein intake throughout the day, with a little extra after your workouts to reduce muscle loss.
• Increase healthy fats: Since fat is your primary fuel source on keto, make sure you're getting enough. Aim for around 70% of your daily calories from healthy fats like nuts, fatty fish, eggs, avocado, and MCT oil.
• Ease into high-intensity workouts: If you want to incorporate high-intensity interval training (HIIT) or heavy weight lifting, do so gradually. Start with shorter intervals of 10 seconds or less, and increase the duration as your body adapts to using fat for fuel.

Gradually increase the intensity of your workouts

When starting a new diet, it can be tempting to dive straight in and drastically change your lifestyle. However, this is not the best approach, especially when it comes to the keto diet and exercise. The keto diet is a low-carb, high-fat diet that, when done correctly, turns your body into a fat-burning machine. Combining exercise with the keto diet will maximise the health benefits and weight loss benefits of the keto diet while maintaining lean body mass. However, your muscles use glucose when performing certain types of exercise, so it's important to choose the right types of exercise and know how to adjust your diet to support your workouts.

Listen to your body

The transition from burning glucose to burning ketones as your main fuel source can be challenging, and your body may feel like it's running out of energy. If you transition too quickly away from a high-carb diet, you may experience symptoms of the keto flu, including exhaustion, brain fog, muscle cramping and irritability. Therefore, it's important to focus on lower-intensity workouts in the first week or two of your transition, depending on your energy levels and how your body feels. 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 without making you feel terrible in the process.

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 along the way of what it can and can't do. 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. But this is a gradual process – steady wins the race! If you're used to having super high physical performance in the gym, don't be discouraged if you're not back to your optimal level yet. It takes some time (and some strategic eating), but you'll get there.

Focus on low- to medium-intensity cardio

Some of the best activities for fat loss are low- to medium-intensity cardio, so continue with brisk walks and moderate bike rides as you become more fat-adapted. Once you're fully keto-adapted, it'll be easier to get back to your previous level of athletic performance. However, certain demanding physical activities still require glucose to fuel your muscles. Activities that require sustained maximal effort for anywhere between 30 seconds and 2 minutes will require glucose, and ketones and fat won't work. So the sweet spots are on either side of those numbers: high intensity for fewer than 30 seconds and moderate intensity for greater than 2 minutes at a time.

Adjust your diet to support high-intensity workouts

If you're doing high-intensity workouts, you may need to adjust your diet to make sure you're not exhausting your muscles. The targeted ketogenic diet (TKD) approach adds in 25-50 grams of carbs 30 minutes before your hard workout. This will temporarily lower your ketones, but if you combine it with MCT oil, which helps your body produce ketones and burn fat, then you will get back into ketosis more quickly after your workout. The cyclical ketogenic diet (CKD) approach involves choosing a day or two a week to eat more carbs and is more ideal for high-performing athletes.

Listen to your body and adjust your routine as needed

In the first week or two of your transition to keto (depending on your energy levels and how your body feels), it's important to focus on lower-intensity workouts. Low and slow means low-intensity aerobic exercises like rowing, walking, or biking (not spinning or speed cycling, just a steady bike ride). It's important for you to move and get your heart rate up, but just as important for you 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 – a great end result without making you feel terrible in the process.

Slower activities that nourish your body, like stretching, rolling, and stability work, are also great activities to start with as your transition into the ketogenic diet. Stretching and rolling help reduce and prevent muscle cramping (as does drinking lots of water), and stability work, like balance exercises and core training, helps keep your muscles engaged but not pushed to the max. Yoga, which incorporates both stretching and stability work, is a great way to move your body at the beginning of the keto diet.

High-intensity workouts or heavy weight lifting at the beginning of your transition could make your keto flu symptoms worse. That's because these activities require a lot of energy from your muscles, which aren't optimized for keto yet. The effect of these more intense activities when you're not keto-adapted could mean more muscle cramping, lower performance, more exhaustion, and ravenous hunger. None of these things will help you on your weight loss journey.

As your body begins to use fat efficiently as your primary energy source, you'll be able to up the ante in the gym. As your energy level increases, so too can your activity level. But this is a gradual process – steady wins the race. If you're used to having super-high physical performance in the gym, don't be discouraged if you're not back to your optimal level yet. It takes some time (and some strategic eating), but you'll get there.

Once you're fully keto-adapted, it'll be easier to get back to your previous level of athletic performance. That being said, it's a tricky balance, as certain demanding physical activities still require glucose to fuel your muscles. Activities that require sustained maximal effort for anywhere between 30 seconds and 2 minutes will require glucose, ketones, and fat won't work. So the sweet spots are on either side of those numbers: high intensity for fewer than 30 seconds (ATP for fuel) and moderate intensity for greater than 2 minutes at a time (ketones and fat for fuel).

This isn't to say that you can't adapt your keto diet to do high-intensity interval training (HIIT) or CrossFit-type workouts, but you'll need to adjust your macros. It's also possible to do a modified HIIT-style workout that bypasses the need for glucose by making each interval last about 3 minutes.

If you're not already exercising, and are eating a ketogenic diet, start small as your body adapts to the energy requirements of exercise. This is especially important if you are also new to the keto diet. Don't try to do too much at once. Over time, build up to a combination of weight training and cardio, aiming to exercise 3-5 times a week. In combination with a ketogenic diet, exercise will bring a whole range of complementary health benefits and improve general well-being.

Make sure you're eating enough protein and healthy fats

Protein and healthy fats are essential components of a keto diet, and ensuring you're consuming adequate amounts of both is critical when combining it with an exercise routine. Here's what you need to know about optimising your protein and fat intake for effective workouts while on the keto diet:

Protein

• The amount of protein you need depends on your exercise goals and the type of workouts you engage in. For athletes or those who exercise regularly, it's recommended to consume between 1.4 and 2 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight, or 0.6 to 0.9 grams per pound.
• If you're doing light cardio and aiming for weight loss without losing muscle, aim for around 1.4 grams of protein per kilogram (0.6 grams per pound).
• For serious weightlifters or bodybuilders seeking significant muscle gain, you'll need to be at the higher end of the range or even slightly above it.
• Be mindful of the process called 'gluconeogenesis', where excess protein can be converted into glucose. While this can be beneficial for fuelling workouts, too much glucose will kick your body out of ketosis, slowing down fat burning.
• Distribute your protein intake throughout the day to avoid spikes, and consider consuming a little more immediately after workouts to aid in muscle recovery.
• Good sources of protein on a ketogenic diet include grass-fed beef, chicken, pork, eggs, high-fat dairy, and low-carb protein powders.

Healthy Fats

• While fat is a crucial component of the keto diet, it's important to remember that not all fats are created equal. Aim for unsaturated fats, which should make up about 70% of your daily calories.
• Good sources of unsaturated fats include nuts, fatty fish like salmon, eggs, avocado, and healthy oils like olive oil or MCT oil.
• Even on a keto diet, excessive fat consumption can lead to weight gain, so be mindful of your overall calorie intake.
• If you're exercising regularly, ensure you're consuming enough calories from healthy fats to fuel your workouts and support muscle recovery.
• Consider using additional supplements like exogenous ketones or MCT oils to enhance fat burning and improve your energy levels during exercise.

Frequently asked questions