Keto Weight Loss: What To Eat Post-Diet?

The ketogenic diet is a popular weight-loss method that involves eating a high-fat, moderate-protein, and very low-carbohydrate diet. While it can lead to rapid weight loss, it is challenging to maintain over the long term due to its restrictive nature. As a result, people often gain back the weight they lost once they come off the diet. However, there are strategies to help maintain weight loss after keto, including gradually increasing carbohydrate intake, adding more protein, incorporating resistance training, and eating more fruits and vegetables. It is also important to adopt a more active lifestyle, manage stress, and get adequate sleep.

Gradually increase your carb intake

Transitioning off the keto diet can be scary, but there are ways to do it without gaining all the weight back. It's important to note that the keto diet is not meant to be followed forever. In fact, most medical professionals discourage following the keto diet for longer than six months. This is because, in the long term, the keto diet can lead to nutritional deficiencies and increase the likelihood of other health issues.

So, how do you transition off the keto diet without gaining weight? The first step is to gradually increase your carb intake. Here are some tips to do this successfully:

• Start with complex carbohydrates: When reintroducing carbs, opt for complex carbohydrates from whole grains, fruits, vegetables, nuts, and legumes. Examples include oats, rice, quinoa, beans, lentils, tofu, edamame, and berries.
• Increase by small amounts: Start by increasing your daily carb intake by approximately 10 grams each week. This small amount will help your body adjust without shocking your system, which has been carbohydrate-deprived.
• Track your progress: As you increase your carb intake, pay attention to your body. Track your weight and how you feel. This will help you make adjustments as needed.
• Avoid unhealthy carbs: Stay away from unhealthy carbs such as white bread, cookies, and donuts. Instead, focus on healthy, complex carbs that are rich in fiber.
• Increase your activity level: As you increase your carb intake, consider bumping up your activity level. Exercising for at least 30 minutes per day can help you maintain your weight and improve your overall health.
• Make a plan: There is no one-size-fits-all approach to maintaining weight loss after keto. Work with a dietitian or nutritionist to create a personalized plan that considers your calorie needs, stress levels, and activity level.
• Increase your fiber intake: When increasing your carb intake, focus on high-fiber foods. Add one or two servings of high-fiber foods per day, such as oatmeal, whole-wheat pasta, beans, chia seeds, or berries. Just be sure to also increase your water intake to prevent constipation.
• Allow yourself to enjoy all foods in moderation: Don't restrict yourself from any particular food group. Enjoy all foods, including carbs, in moderation to help avoid cravings. Listen to your hunger cues and honour them.

Add more protein to your diet

After losing weight on the keto diet, it is important to transition out of this eating plan to ensure that your body does not go into a state of shock. One way to do this is by adding more protein to your diet.

Protein is an incredibly effective macronutrient for weight loss. Research has shown that an increase in protein consumption helps with a reduction in triglycerides, blood pressure, and waist circumference. It also helps with greater perceived fullness, elevated satiety hormones, and elevated diet-induced thermogenesis.

When transitioning out of the keto diet, it is recommended to add foods such as skinless chicken, fish, lean cuts of red meat, tofu, and some legumes to your diet. These foods are rich in protein and will help boost satiety and increase metabolism, which will help maintain a calorie deficit and burn more calories.

It is important to note that while the keto diet can be effective for weight loss, it is not recommended as a long-term diet due to the risk of nutritional deficiencies and other potential side effects. Therefore, gradually increasing protein intake while decreasing reliance on keto-friendly foods can help maintain weight loss results and promote a healthier diet.

Try resistance training

Resistance training is a great way to build muscle, increase body composition, and improve strength. It involves forcing your muscles to push or pull against a given force, which could be your own body weight, resistance bands, medicine balls, or gravity.

When you work out, there are tiny fibres in your muscles that tear apart and then repair, regenerate, and grow back together, which is also known as muscle hypertrophy. To do this, your body releases anabolic and catabolic hormones. Your anabolic hormones, like testosterone, build muscles up, while catabolic hormones, like cortisol, break them down. The goal is to release enough growth hormones to overpower your breakdown hormones.

There are many ways to start resistance training, and you don't have to limit yourself to the gym. For beginners, resistance bands, medicine balls, and your own body weight can provide plenty of resistance and a killer workout. Once you're comfortable with certain exercises, you can move on to barbells and other gym equipment.

To continuously see strength gains, you need to find new ways to challenge your muscles, which is called "progressive overload." This can be done by increasing weight, but also by getting creative with your workouts, introducing instability, speed work, increasing reps, or decreasing rest between sets.

Resistance training has a large number of benefits, including burning body fat, improving cardiovascular health and metabolic rate, encouraging weight loss, improving your range of motion, and improving your self-esteem.

If your goal is aesthetics, your strategy will be different than if your goal is strength or improving athletic performance. To improve aesthetics, you'll want to burn out your muscles with high reps. To build strength, you'll want to increase the amount of resistance. To improve athletic performance, you'll want to focus on training exercises that combine speed, agility, and balance.

In terms of nutrition, when weight training on a keto diet, you may need to consume upwards of 100-150 grams of protein per day. This can come from animal sources such as ground beef, chicken breasts, and seafood, or from vegetarian sources like tofu.

Eat more fruits and vegetables

After losing weight on the keto diet, it is important to maintain a healthy and balanced diet to keep the weight off. Here are some reasons why eating more fruits and vegetables is beneficial:

High in Fibre

Fruits and vegetables are excellent sources of dietary fibre, which aids in digestion, promotes a healthy gut, and helps you feel fuller for longer. Fibre also helps to maintain healthy blood sugar levels and lowers cholesterol levels.

Rich in Antioxidants

Fruits and vegetables are packed with antioxidants, which help protect your body against damage caused by free radicals. Antioxidants can also reduce inflammation and lower the risk of certain chronic diseases.

Essential Vitamins and Minerals

They are excellent sources of essential vitamins and minerals, such as vitamins A, C, K, and B vitamins, as well as minerals like potassium, calcium, and iron. These nutrients are vital for maintaining overall health and proper bodily functions.

Low in Calories and Carbohydrates

Many fruits and vegetables are low in calories and carbohydrates, making them ideal for maintaining weight loss. They provide essential nutrients without adding excessive calories or taking you out of ketosis.

Hydration

Fruits and vegetables have a high water content, which helps keep you hydrated. Staying hydrated is crucial for overall health, energy levels, and can also aid in weight loss by making you feel fuller and improving digestion.

Versatility and Taste

They can be prepared and cooked in a variety of ways, adding flavour and nutrition to your meals. They can be roasted, grilled, blended into soups or sauces, spiralized into noodles, or simply enjoyed raw as a snack or side dish.

Examples of Keto-Friendly Fruits and Vegetables:

• Courgette
• Kale
• Spinach
• Cucumber
• Peppers (green and red)
• Broccoli
• Butternut Squash
• Celery
• Cauliflower
• Asparagus
• Cabbage
• Mushrooms
• Olives
• Avocados
• Tomatoes
• Berries

Adopt intermittent fasting

Intermittent fasting is a popular choice for those who have lost weight on the keto diet and want to maintain their progress. It involves cycling between periods of fasting and normal food consumption. During the fasting period, you refrain from consuming calories and can opt for zero-calorie beverages like black coffee or herbal tea. The eating window can vary depending on the type of intermittent fasting schedule you follow. For example, the 16/8 method involves fasting for 16 hours and eating during an 8-hour window.

Benefits of Intermittent Fasting

Intermittent fasting can be a useful tool for maintaining weight loss after keto as it may help you:

• Burn more fat: Intermittent fasting boosts metabolism and promotes the burning of stubborn fat stores.
• Reach ketosis faster: By shifting its fuel source from carbs to fats, intermittent fasting may help your body reach ketosis more quickly.
• Improve health: Intermittent fasting has been linked to reduced inflammation, improved brain function, and better blood sugar control.
• Control appetite: Intermittent fasting can help regulate appetite and reduce total calorie intake, making it easier to maintain a calorie deficit.

Things to Consider

Before adopting intermittent fasting, keep the following in mind:

• It may not be suitable for everyone: Pregnant or breastfeeding women and those with a history of disordered eating should avoid intermittent fasting. People with certain health conditions should consult a doctor before trying this approach.
• It can be challenging: Fasting on keto can be difficult, and some people may experience adverse reactions such as overeating on non-fasting days, irritability, and fatigue.
• It is not necessary to reach ketosis: Simply following a healthy, well-rounded keto diet is sufficient for improving health and cutting down on carbs.

Sample Intermittent Fasting Schedule

• Choose an 8-hour window during the day for eating your meals. For example, you can eat between 12:00 PM and 8:00 PM.
• During the 16-hour fasting period, refrain from consuming calories. You can drink zero-calorie beverages to stay hydrated.
• Focus on consuming keto-friendly foods during the eating window: Include foods with healthy fats and low carbs, such as meats, fish, eggs, non-starchy vegetables, nuts, seeds, and healthy oils.
• Stay hydrated: Drink plenty of water throughout the day, especially during the fasting period, to control hunger.
• Monitor macronutrient intake: Keep your carbohydrate intake low (typically below 50 grams per day), moderate your protein intake, and get most of your calories from healthy fats.

Frequently asked questions