Keto Macros And Exercise: To Deduct Or Not?

The Ketogenic Diet is a low-carbohydrate method of eating that is considered by many to be one of the most effective ways to burn fat and improve overall health. When combined with exercise, it can have a powerful synergistic effect, with many people reporting increased health benefits. However, the story is not always that simple. When you enter ketosis, it causes a cascade of changes throughout the body, and some of these impact exercise performance. Depending on your health and fitness goals, you may need to modify your exercise regime or consider a modified version of the Keto diet.

The benefits of combining keto with exercise

Combining keto with exercise can be a powerful way to improve your health and fitness. Here are some of the key benefits:

Weight Loss and Fat Burning

The ketogenic diet is known for its ability to promote weight loss, and adding exercise can further enhance this effect. When you restrict carbohydrates, your body becomes more efficient at burning fat for energy. This means that during exercise, your body can tap into its vast reserves of body fat, providing an almost inexhaustible source of fuel. This increased fat burning can lead to greater weight loss and improved body composition.

Blood Sugar Control

Combining keto with exercise can be especially beneficial for individuals with diabetes or prediabetes. Both keto and exercise have been shown to lower blood glucose levels and improve insulin sensitivity. This can help reduce the risk of diabetes and improve overall blood sugar control.

Improved Endurance

While keto may not be ideal for high-intensity burst activities, it can enhance endurance during prolonged exercise. By teaching your body to utilise fat for fuel, keto can increase your endurance capacity. This is particularly beneficial for endurance athletes such as long-distance runners or cyclists.

Muscle Recovery

Some studies suggest that the ketogenic diet may speed up post-workout muscle recovery. This is likely due to reduced inflammation and improved hormonal profile associated with keto. Faster muscle recovery can lead to improved training consistency and better performance over time.

Health Benefits

Exercising while on keto can provide numerous health benefits beyond weight loss. It can help reduce insulin resistance, lower inflammation, improve cognitive function, and reduce the risk of chronic diseases. Additionally, keto may increase testosterone levels in males, which can contribute to increased muscle mass and fat loss when combined with weight training.

While there are many benefits to combining keto with exercise, it's important to note that individual results may vary. The effects of keto on athletic performance are still being studied, and modifications to the standard keto diet may be necessary for certain types of exercises or athletic endeavours. It's always recommended to listen to your body and adjust your diet and exercise routine accordingly.

How to calculate your macros

To calculate your macros, you need to take into account your fitness goals, body type, weight, age, activity level, body fat percentage, and personal goals.

Firstly, you need to establish your calorie needs, which are determined by your fitness goals. If you are looking to lose weight, you will need a calorie deficit, whereas if you are looking to gain weight, you will need a calorie surplus.

Once you have your daily energy needs, you can build your macro goals. The typical macro ratio for keto is 5% of calories from carbs, 25% from protein, and 70% from fat. This specific macro range is intended to promote ketosis and trick your body into burning more fat for energy instead of sugars.

To estimate your keto carb needs, you should aim for less than 20 to 50 grams of carbs per day, with 20 to 25 grams per day being a good starting point. You can also use your total calorie intake as a gauge. For example, if you are consuming less than 2,000 calories a day, 20 grams of carbs would be adequate for reaching 5% of your calories from carbs.

Next, calculate your protein needs, which support your lean body mass and other essential bodily functions. This can be estimated based on your activity level and fitness goal. For example, if you engage in moderate exercise 2 or more days per week and are looking to lose weight, you should aim for 0.9g/pound of body weight per day.

Finally, your keto fat needs can be calculated based on your remaining calories. Each gram of fat contains roughly nine calories.

Let's say you are consuming 1,800 calories per day and aim to get 20 grams of carbs and 135 grams of protein (for a 150-pound individual engaging in moderate activity and looking to lose weight).

First, calculate the calories from carbs and protein:

20g x 4 = 80 calories from carbs

150g x 4 = 600 calories from protein

Now, subtract these amounts from your total daily calorie needs:

1800 daily calories - (600 calories protein + 80 calories carbs) = 1,120 calories remaining

Now, divide your remaining calories by 9 to get your daily gram intake of fat:

1,120/9 = 124 grams of fat per day

To calculate your macros as a percentage, divide the calories from each macro by your daily calorie needs and multiply by 100%.

• 80/1800) x 100% = 5% of calories from carbs
• 600/1800) x 100% = 33% of calories from protein
• 1,120/1800) x 100% = 62% of calories from fat

The total should equal 100%.

You can also use a keto calculator, which will calculate your personalized calorie and macronutrient recommendations based on your individual information. These calculators can take into account factors such as your body fat percentage, activity level, and dietary preferences to provide you with accurate and individualized results.

The importance of tracking your macros

Tracking your macros is an essential part of the keto diet. Macros, or macronutrients, are the energy-supplying nutrients that the body needs in large quantities: fat, protein, and carbohydrates. By tracking your macros, you can ensure that you are consuming these nutrients in the right ratio, which is crucial for achieving and maintaining ketosis. Ketosis is a metabolic state where your body burns fat for energy instead of carbohydrates, and it is the key to the success of the keto diet.

The keto diet is very regimented, and it can be tricky to follow. It requires a high-fat, moderate-protein, and very low-carb intake. Tracking your macros can help you stay on track and make sure you are getting the results you want from your keto plan. It can be challenging to achieve ketosis, as it requires significantly increasing the percentage of fat in your diet while simultaneously cutting out most carbs. By tracking your macros, you can ensure that you are staying within the recommended ratios of 60-70% fat, 20-30% protein, and 5-10% carbohydrates.

There are several ways to track your macros, including using a food journal or a macro tracker app. A macro tracker app can be a convenient and easy way to track your macros, as it will show you the percentage of calories you have consumed from each macronutrient based on the food you have tracked that day. Food journaling, on the other hand, involves calculating the macronutrient content of your food using nutrition labels and tools like the USDA Nutrient Analysis Library. Once you know the macronutrient content of your food, you can use formulas to calculate the percentage of calories from each macro.

Tracking your macros is especially important if you are following the keto diet for health reasons, such as managing medical conditions like epilepsy or diabetes. It can also be crucial for those who are engaging in intense exercise regimens, as you may need to increase your protein intake or decrease your carbohydrate intake to support muscle growth and repair. Additionally, if you are trying to lose weight, tracking your macros can help you create a calorie deficit, which is essential for weight loss.

In conclusion, tracking your macros is vital when following the keto diet. It helps you stay within the recommended ratios of fat, protein, and carbohydrates, which is key to achieving and maintaining ketosis. By tracking your macros, you can ensure that you are getting the most out of your keto plan and achieving your health and fitness goals.

The impact of exercise on ketosis

Exercise has a significant impact on ketosis, and combining the two can be a powerful way to improve your health and fitness. Here are some key points to consider:

Easier to Enter Ketosis

Exercise, particularly prolonged physical activity, helps deplete glycogen stores, making it easier and faster to reach ketosis. Glycogen is the storage form of glucose derived from carbohydrates. Once these stores are depleted, the body starts metabolising fat, leading to weight loss, one of the significant benefits of ketosis.

Impact on Exercise Performance

While exercise speeds up ketosis, a lack of carbohydrates may negatively affect exercise performance. High-intensity exercises that require short bursts of energy rely on carbohydrates as fuel. Therefore, the keto diet may limit performance during these high-intensity workouts. However, lower-intensity workouts may be less affected. Some studies have shown that athletes on keto diets experienced reduced energy and a decrease in performance, especially in high-intensity exercises.

Fat Burning and Weight Loss

Exercising while in ketosis accelerates weight loss. Prolonged and intense workouts deplete glycogen stores, and when combined with a very low-carb keto diet, weight loss is enhanced. Additionally, working out in ketosis leads to greater weight loss by preserving and increasing lean muscle mass, which results in a higher resting metabolic rate or resting energy expenditure.

Recommended Exercises on Keto

Most people new to the keto diet find low-intensity steady-state (LISS) exercises more tolerable than high-intensity interval training (HIIT). LISS exercises include walking, running, cycling, and swimming. These exercises are also easier to recover from and are suitable for all fitness levels. For muscle growth and increased metabolism, strength exercises like weightlifting, squats, and push-ups are recommended.

Muscle Recovery and Endurance

The keto diet has been linked to improved muscle recovery and endurance. Several studies have shown that keto can speed up post-workout muscle recovery and reduce muscle damage. Additionally, the keto diet may improve endurance, especially for endurance athletes, as the body becomes more efficient at using fat as an energy source.

Energy Levels and Muscle Growth

The keto diet may decrease energy levels, especially during the initial stages when the body is adapting to using fat for fuel instead of carbohydrates. This can affect athletic performance. Additionally, muscle growth may be challenging on keto due to potential protein restrictions and lower calorie intake, which is necessary for muscle synthesis and repair.

Tips for exercising on keto

Listen to your body

The first couple of weeks on Keto can be challenging as your body gets used to burning fat as its primary fuel source. Don't be too hard on yourself during this transition period. If you feel the need to reduce the intensity of your workouts, that's completely normal and it's important to listen to your body. You may also experience reduced performance, but this effect is usually temporary and your physical performance will likely return to normal once you've become fat-adapted.

Set a daily calorie goal

While there's more to body recomposition than just calories in versus calories out, daily calorie intake still matters. If you're using an app like Carb Manager, you can set a calorie goal. If your goal is weight loss, opt for a caloric deficit. If you're aiming to build muscle and minimize body fat, go for a caloric surplus.

Connect a fitness device

Using a fitness tracker like a FitBit, Garmin, or Apple Health device can give you more precise data on calories burned. You can also sync these devices with apps like Carb Manager to help you track your progress.

Eat enough protein

Make sure you're giving your muscles the fuel they need to get stronger. Aim to get around 25% of your total calories from protein, which is about 0.8-1.0 grams per kilogram of your total body weight. If you're looking to build significant muscle, you can consider upping your protein intake to 1.6 grams per kilogram of body weight, but don't go overboard as research suggests that there are no additional benefits beyond this point.

Get plenty of rest

Allow your body to recover effectively between workouts by taking days off and making sure you get enough sleep. This will help your body recover and build optimal amounts of muscle tissue.

Stay hydrated and maintain electrolyte levels

It's important to increase your water intake when following a Keto diet to prevent dehydration and maintain electrolyte balance. This becomes even more crucial when you add exercise to the mix. You can also consume green leafy vegetables like kale, spinach, and collard greens, and add pink Himalayan sea salt to your food and water to help maintain electrolyte levels. Alternatively, you can take a high-quality commercial electrolyte supplement.

Frequently asked questions