Have you ever seen the joke where someone says, “I ate a salad today – why aren’t I skinny?” That’s funny, but it’s also a little bit how people view keto. I started yesterday, but I’m still at the same weight. Patience, grasshopper, your time will come. But when? How long do you have to wait before keto starts to work?
When the Keto Flu Hits
When your body first realizes that it doesn’t have enough carbs for energy, it panics for a few days. This is the start of what people call the keto flu. Then, it realizes that you are feeding it fat to use instead of carbs. Our bodies don’t like change, but once they catch on to what you are doing, they are pretty flexible.
Healthline did an article on what to expect for the first week of keto. It usually takes two days for your body to rebel, and day three is normally the worst day. After that, your body starts to adapt and use the fat you’re providing it for fuel. After about a week, you should be getting into ketosis.
Benefits of When Keto Starts To Work
Yes, weight loss is one benefit, but it isn’t the only one. Keto can also help with inflammation, which is the root cause of most illnesses. Inflammation is also associated with mental health illnesses, such as depression, anxiety, and brain fog. When we started keto, we had no idea that it would help with our anxiety and depression too.
Keto stabilizes your blood sugar levels and the amount of insulin created by your body. This, in turn, stabilizes your energy levels. You don’t have the ups and downs from sugar. How many times have we eaten chocolate to get us through the afternoon and then crash a couple of hours later? Too many to count! You don’t have this with keto. It’s just a stable energy level all day.
And, yes, there is the benefit of weight loss. Now, let’s be realistic – you aren’t going to lose 200 pounds in 3 months. What you lose will depend on how strict you are, how much you have to lose, and if you exercise as well as follow keto. The main benefit I found throughout the weight loss journey was that I wasn’t hungry. Fat and protein both fill you up for a longer period of time. So, sometimes you might actually forget to eat. Imagine!
A Timeline of When Keto Starts Really Working
Once you get through the first week or so of keto, you start getting into ketosis, and that’s when all the benefits start to kick in. During week two, you start feeling more energetic. You stop having the midday slump where you just want to curl up for a nap. This is also when your body starts enjoying reduced inflammation and you start being able to concentrate more.
Okay, okay, now onto the weight loss part. At 2 to 3 weeks, you’re likely to lose water weight. This can be as little as 1 pound, and as much as about 10 pounds. After that, you start burning off stored fat. This is when you are actually losing weight and making a positive health change. You should lose about 1-2 pounds a week maximum. That’s right – not 50 pounds, just 1-2.
People can get really frustrated with the slow and steady approach, but research shows that you are more likely to keep weight off when it’s the average of 1 to 2 pounds. You’re actually burning the fat that you’ve stored on your body for…how many years? Think about how long it took you to put it on there. You can’t get rid of it that easily!
What Is Fat Adaption?
Once keto starts to become a routine, you can look forward to fat adaption. This is when your body automatically looks to fat as a fuel, rather than carbs. It can take up to 3 months to become fat adapted. At this point, you can increase your carbs slightly if you wish. If you find you’re gaining weight, you’ve increased too much and need to cut back again. Some people do as many as 50 grams of carbs a day. We tend to stay between 20-25 grams a day.
Once you are fat adapted, you are much less likely to get kicked out of ketosis. And, if you do go off plan for a day, you’ll likely get back into ketosis quickly and fairly easily. That’s not to say that you can have a week of eating whatever you want and still be in ketosis. It’s just that your body is much more comfortable burning fat for fuel than it was before.
A Final Thought about How Long Before Keto Starts to Work
Keto is sometimes hailed as a miracle diet in some of the media. We love being keto, and I don’t see us ever going back. We like how it makes us feel and that we have maintained our ideal weights while enjoying delicious, flavourful foods. But, it does take dedication and hard work – just as any healthy lifestyle does. So, if you’re frustrated that you ate a salad with bacon on it today and you haven’t lost 10 pounds, you may have to have a little patience. It will come. Have faith – and a little more bacon.
Wendy
