April 7

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Keto and Exercise – How to Work Out When You Are in Ketosis


How to Exercise When You Are in Ketosis

As a beginner starting off on ketosis, you will be faced with questions that need answers to such as what kind of food and drinks constitute the keto diet, and also how to exercise when you are ketosis. This article explains the best ways for you to exercise when on a keto diet. 

The Truth about Exercise and Ketosis

There are a lot of speculations on whether or not it is safe to exercise as much when going keto. But the truth remains that exercise is beneficial to your body even when you are in ketosis. When you are on a keto diet or taking one shot keto, you basically reduce your carbs intake and consume more low-fat meals to help lose weight. Carbs remain the body's main source of energy and reducing carbs consumption may be one of the reasons people shy away from exercising on a keto diet. However, consuming high-fat meals can also help in providing the body with energy and also in improving your workout routines. 

What You Need to Know About Exercise and Ketosis?

  • It doesn’t really matter whether you choose to spend hours on end exercising if you don’t stick to a ketogenic diet meal plan, all the energy and time spent exercising won't yield the desired results. You need to take into consideration what you eat. It is advisable to source quality meat, seafood, and dairy products and be watchful of your caloric intake per meal. If you must consume snacks in between meals, you need to ensure that they also help keep you in ketosis. There are also other keto diet tips you can look out for to help you lose weight.
  • It doesn’t matter whether you are in ketosis or not, exercise works wonders for the body in a number of ways. It helps in building muscles which leads to a lean and toned physique, strengthens the bones and improves blood supply to parts of the body. 
  • You need to adopt an exercise routine in addition to your keto meal plan in order for you to get any meaningful result. It could be an hour or two daily or break it down into weekly routines. But whichever you choose, it is important that you find an exercise routine that works for you and stick to it. 
  • Finally, you need to stay dedicated to your keto exercise routines and follow your meal plan if you need positive results within the shortest possible time. It is easy to get discouraged when you feel like things aren’t working or you are not getting the desired results quickly, the truth is that exercise in combination with ketosis works and if you just try to stay dedicated for a few weeks, you will begin to notice changes. 

Type of Exercise You Can Perform When in Ketosis

There are four type of exercise you can perform when in ketosis and they are 

1. Aerobic Exercise

Aerobic Exercise

Aerobic exercises are also known as cardio exercise, they basically last more than three minutes. They are generally long-lasting low-intensity exercise that burns fat which makes it a good form of exercise when you are in ketosis. Aerobic exercise involves pumping of oxygenated blood by the heart and sending oxygen to muscles that require it. It helps to stimulate the breathing rate and heart rate throughout the entire exercise session, improves physical fitness, and also improves emotional health. Examples of aerobic exercises include hiking, kickboxing, skiing, walking, spinning, running, swimming and cardio machines. 

2. Anaerobic Exercise

Anaerobic exercise includes a quick burst of energy like in the case of high-intensity interval routines such as weightlifting. You will need a carb diet to be able to sustain this form of exercise as a fat diet can’t provide you with the required energy to perform this type of exercise. When you perform exercise at a high-intensity level such as this, there is a lot of pressure on your cardiovascular system to deliver oxygen to muscles as fast as possible. You can only perform anaerobic exercises for a short period of time as muscles require a steady supply of oxygen to be able to maintain long-lasting exertion. You can simply define anaerobic exercise as a high-intensity exercise that is performed in short time duration usually not more than two minutes. Examples of anaerobic exercise include heavy weight lifting, jumping, running, cycling and other endurance activities such as a marathon. 

3. Stability Exercise 

Stability Exercise

Stability exercises help to improve your movement control, muscle strength, and alignment. General core training and balance exercise constitute stability exercise and they are beneficial in preventing back pain. Examples of such exercises include planking, squats, side plank, bird dog, bridge and stability ball exercises. Stability exercises help to tone your body, strengthens muscle and improve daily activities such as walking, leaning over and getting in and out of bed. Stability exercises target areas of the body such as back, glutes, core, arms, and legs. Stability exercises are a great form of exercise when you are in ketosis, they are perfect for beginners and can be performed at home or outdoors. 

4. Flexibility Exercises

Flexibility exercises basically help to improve muscle motion range, stretching of muscles and also help in supporting your joints. This exercise helps to relieve you of the feeling of fatigue and relax the stiff muscle and improves breathing and blood supply around the body. There are a number of flexibility exercises you can engage in even while you are in ketosis that can help take you closer to your weight loss goals.

Adjusting Your Keto Diet to Suit Your Exercise Routine

If you are planning on going on an intense exercise routine, then you most likely need to plan or preferably adjust your keto diet to support your workouts all in the bid to get your desired results in the shortest possible time. If you engage in a high-intensity workout such as weightlifting or running more than three times weekly, then you will need to adjust your keto diet to allow for slightly more carbs so as to sustain your exercise level. Carbs provide the body with more energy for a workout than fat-rich foods and so you need to adjust your keto diet by including more carbs to provide you with maximum energy for exercises. You can achieve this by eating less than 30 grams of fruits before and after a workout. This helps in providing your muscles with an adequate supply of glycogen which is highly beneficial during your training and also for recovery after training. This way, the carbs are quickly utilized for your workout routine and does not affect your ketosis negatively.

Health Benefits of Exercising in Ketosis

Exercises play a great role in the body while in ketosis and the benefits include

  • Exercising in ketosis burns fat faster since you are already on a low-carb diet. A low-carb diet reduces your calorie intake and helps prevent you from adding more weight, and by engaging in high-intensity exercise when you reduce your carbohydrate intake you can rest assured that you will shed weight a lot faster. 
  • Exercising in ketosis helps to prevent fatigue especially during a long aerobic exercise routine.
  • Exercising in ketosis helps to improve blood glucose level in obese individuals. 

How to Get the Best Out of Exercising in Ketosis?

Health Benefits

One of the challenges a lot of people face once they make the decision to combine exercise with ketosis, is how to get the best out of combining both. Exercise generally helps to tone the body and maintains normal body function while ketosis for a lot of individuals is all about losing weight. If you can strike a balance between exercise and ketosis, you can get your desired result in the shortest possible time. Here are some tips on how to get the best out of exercising in ketosis.

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    • Find out what works for you: this involves, testing different exercises and routines and finding one that you can work with. Mind you, you shouldn’t opt for exercises that don’t yield results. High-intensity exercises are guaranteed to get you closer to weight loss goals faster while in ketosis. 
    • Longer workout time may be a bit stressful, but the longer the better when exercising on a low-carb diet. This way, you can be assured that you would get the best of the time invested in your workout routines since you aren’t consuming many calories per meal. 
    • Plan your meals daily: this is by far the surest way of being in control of what you eat. Since you will be spending energy exercising, it is only ideal that you already have something to eat when you are done with your exercises. 
    • Get enough rest: it is important that you try and fix a broken sleep schedule when looking to exercise in ketosis. I personally suggest a minimum of 6 hours of sleep daily to allow your body repair itself after a stressful day of exercising. 

    Final Thoughts

    Exercise and ketosis are both great ways by which you can realize your dreams of a perfect body and combining both of them guarantees that you get the job done quickly.

    If you have further questions or would like to share any useful information, feel free to let us know in the comment section and if you find this information helpful, don’t hesitate to share it with your circle.