We’ve seen many diets through the years. Some diets stick around and others are gone just as fast as they came. Some were hits, and others were misses. In most cases, they would come up, make a few headlines, and disappear into obscurity shortly after.

Keto is a diet that has become increasingly popular but proving to be strong enough not to become a fad diet. Ketogenic dieting has been around for a century and has become incredibly popular in the last few years.

Unlike most diets, Keto has proven to be a simple, sustainable, and highly effective way to lose weight. The only question is, how long does it take to see weight loss on a diet? Let’s take a look.

Keto Weight Loss Results In The First Week

If you establish a standard calorie deficit (eating fewer calories than you burn), you can expect to lose weight in the first week. The primary reason for that is glycogen loss. What exactly is glycogen? Glycogen is a form of sugar that is easily stored by our muscles and liver. Glycogen comes from glucose, which is produced when we eat carbohydrates. The body turns carbohydrates into glucose that can be used for energy, and the glucose turns into glycogen. As you cut carbs from your diet, your body rapidly burns through its stored glycogen. Each gram of glycogen also draws in roughly three grams of water. So, if you burn 500 grams of glycogen, you will also flush out 1,500 grams of water. This water loss is the equivalent of about 4.4 pounds. Add some fat loss to the equation, and you can see a substantial weight drop in the first seven days.

Keto Weight Loss Results You Can Expect After a Month

Every person is different, and results will always vary. Just like anything that is new, the beginning of your keto journey might come very easy to you. You may find it very easy to drop weight, but once the body adapts to the new way of eating, you may notice a stall in your weight loss. Once you pass the initial spike in weight loss, your progress will inevitably slow down. Having a dip in weight loss isn’t necessarily bad, but it can discourage some people from moving forward.

How much weight you can lose after a whole month on a ketogenic diet will mostly depend on your calorie deficit size. For example, if you maintain an average deficit of 500 calories per day, you can expect to lose between one and 1.5 pounds after the first weeks.If you lose six pounds in the first week and 1.2 pounds each week after, your weight loss in four weeks will be around ten pounds.

Keto Weight Loss In 90 Days

Once you have been on this keto journey for 90 days you may start noticing that things become more unpredictable, but the success you will notice will be amazing.

The weight loss you can expect after twelve or more weeks on a ketogenic diet will be tremendous. If we keep up the same model we used for the previous two predictions, we will get a weight loss of about twenty pounds: around six pounds in the first week and 1.2 pounds each week after. Still, this will depend on how big of a calorie deficit you maintain, what type of training you do, and how well you maintain your muscle mass. For example, if you don’t do any resistance training while dieting, you will likely lose more muscle in the process. And since muscle is less calorie-dense than fat, you can lose more weight. The problem is that losing muscle leads to drops in physical performance and a more significant metabolic rate reduction. So, focusing on weight loss alone might not be your best option. A better option would be to aim for a healthy balance between quick weight loss and retaining as much muscle mass as possible.

6 Things to do to help with Weight loss on Keto

1. Eat Fewer Carbs- On Keto, lowering the carb intake is key to success in reaching ketosis. The goal when on Keto is to keep carbs at 5% of your overall calorie intake. It can be difficult initially to hit such low carbs, but tracking macros on apps like MYFitnessPal helps guide you and keep you on track.
2. Eat Nutritious Food- When on Keto, it is not about just eating anything you want. Keeping track of what you consume is critical. Just because the label says it is Keto does not mean you should eat it. Something important to keep in mind is to stick to unprocessed foods mostly. Stick to food like full-fat dairy products, eggs, fish, meats, poultry, and healthy fats like avocado and olive oil. Make sure to include non-starchy vegetables to your diet as well.
3. Stay on a calorie deficit- Make sure you are keeping count on how many calories you consume daily. A key to losing weight on any diet is making sure you are in a calorie deficit. It is effortless to follow the diet, but you also have to keep track of how many calories you are eating. That whole avocado you had for breakfast can be high in fat but also high in calories.
4. Set realistic goals- Having a six-pack in under a month sounds like a great idea, but the reality is that unless you are close to your goal, that is very unlikely to happen. Something that leads to success is to set weekly, monthly and yearly goals for yourself. If you do not hit those goals, remember not to give up and not be too hard on yourself. This weight loss on Keto is a journey of changing your lifestyle, and you should not try to crash diet. Also, it is important to not focus so much on the scale and move that focus to how you are feeling both mentally and physically.
5. Maintain a low stressful lifestyle and have a good sleep schedule- Stress can cause several health issues. One major thing that stress causes is poor sleep, which can lead you to not see any weight loss. Being stressed causes your body to produce and excess amount of cortisol. Having high cortisol levels will encourage the body to store fat, and you will see that fat stored in the belly. Studies suggest that a lack of sleep negatively impacts hunger-regulating hormones, such as leptin and ghrelin, causing increased appetite. A simple way to reduce your stress and improve your sleep is to exercise, perform some yoga or meditation can all help.
6. Exercise- Having daily movement helps you mentally and helps you on your keto journey. Exercise is proven to lower your risk of chronic conditions like heart disease, diabetes, depression, anxiety, and obesity.