As the keto diet continues to surge in popularity, one of the most common questions asked is “how exactly do I track my fat loss?”. Since the ketogenic approach dips into your fat stores to help you quickly shave off the pounds, it’s crucial to continually keep track of just what progress you’ve made. If you’re new to the keto diet, this step is especially critical, as you want to be sure you’re following the approach properly. Just like you can track your steps on an Apple Watch, we developed the first clinically-backed ketone breath monitor – so you can see just how many ketones you’re producing, at any point throughout the day and effectively measure fat loss .
While keto has been increasing in popularity, many still don’t understand exactly what it is, or why it works. The keto approach is very easy to follow, and almost always yields significant results. Keto can help enhance your brain health, improve your blood sugar levels, boost your overall health, and aid in significant fat loss. Before we get into the specifics of how to track your fat loss, it’s important to understand exactly what the keto approach is, and why it works so well.
By the end of this article, you’ll learn…
- What exactly is the keto diet?
- How do I begin the keto diet?
- What is the science behind the keto diet?
- How do I know if I am following keto properly?
- How long can I stay on the keto diet?
- How do I track my fat loss?
What Is the Keto Diet?
The keto diet — also referred to as the ketogenic diet — is a low-carbohydrate diet, where your body uses fat for fuel. By removing almost all carbohydrates, and inserting healthy fats in their place, your body enters an advanced fat-burning condition called nutritional ketosis. Once in ketosis, your body will start using fat for energy, rather than carbohydrates or glucose.
This is all in direct contrast to the standard American diet, which requires a constant intake of carbohydrates to keep your energy levels high. As anyone who has missed a meal can tell you – it is quite unpleasant to go without carbs for even 12 hours, when consuming a traditional high carb diet. This is largely due to your blood sugar levels falling, and your body being unable to tap into its own fat reserves.
By contrast, ketosis solves all of these problems, as ketones begin to be produced by the body itself, when we go long enough without consuming carbohydrates. You see, nutritional ketosis is the technical term for what happens when we follow a ketogenic diet, and ketones are the gasoline that helps power the diet. But before we get ahead of ourselves, it is important to understand exactly what ketosis is.
How Do I Begin The Keto Diet?
There are a number of ways to shift into nutritional ketosis. The most important priority is cutting out the carbs. The standard American diet recommends consuming between 200 and 300 grams of carbohydrates per day. By contrast, keto usually involves eating 20 grams of carbohydrates throughout the day. This drastic shift can temporarily put you in a condition called the ‘keto flu’, but this is only a passing phase. While the keto diet is certainly high in healthy fats – cutting out the carbs is actually the most critical step to getting in (and staying in) ketosis.
Starting a keto diet is fairly easy, as all it really involves is shifting your macronutrient ratio. If you are eating lots of processed foods, you will also want to shift your nutritional choices to more organic options. A typical pre-keto diet might include lots of bread, sugar, and fast food. To shift into keto, you’ll want to drop your carbohydrate intake drastically, consume plenty of healthy fats, and clean proteins. It is also critically important to keep a detailed food log during the first week of keto, to make sure you are still getting enough calories.
The keto diet will naturally blunt your hunger – a drastic caloric deficit is not necessary. In fact, dropping your calories too low, will result in actually slowing down your metabolism – the exact opposite of what we want. A 200 to 500 caloric deficit is ideal for weight loss, and once you go keto, this is very easy to maintain. The ‘secret’ lies in the fact that fat and protein promote much higher satiety levels (having a much better impact on the hunger hormones ghrelin and leptin) – compared to a traditional, high-carb diet.
Since the keto diet is a fairly drastic shift from the standard American diet, there is a period of adjustment, which sometimes can have minor side effects. Commonly called the ‘keto flu’, this adaptation period may leave you feeling lethargic, tired, and possibly even cranky. This happens because your body is expecting more glucose to come in for energy, but you’re no longer providing this substrate. Once your body starts producing more ketones, your keto flu symptoms will subside.
The Science Behind The Keto Diet
Surprisingly, the ketogenic diet has been practiced for almost 100 years. It’s actually about the furthest thing from a fad diet. Initially conceived as a way to combat epilepsy, its popularity has greatly increased over just the last 5 years. This is due to a number of positive scientific studies, as well as an increasingly large body of anecdotal evidence. The keto approach actually helps with several problems related to weight gain. This includes high blood sugar, hormone imbalances, and hyperinsulinemia. Perhaps most interestingly, the keto diet has even been linked to positive benefits in those with neurological disorders. While the research is still being conducted, an increasingly large body of scientific evidence points to improvements in those with amyloid plaque buildup, as well as better outcomes for those with neurological dysfunctions.
In a normal American diet, carbohydrates are consumed in abundance. Once eaten, carbs turn into glucose and insulin. Glucose can be thought of as the simplest form of sugar, and it is easy for the body to convert and use as your primary source of energy. Thus, glucose is your main source of fuel, when consuming the standard American diet. As a lot of carbs are consumed, your body has a rise in blood sugar, as these carbs are turned into glucose. Then, your body creates insulin, which is a hormone meant to transport glucose throughout your body. You may have heard the term ‘insulin spike’ – this is what that term refers to.
As your body uses this glucose, any extra glucose not being used is stored. This reserve of energy sounds good – until you realize it is stored as body fat. If you keep eating carbohydrates, your body will continually use glucose as its fuel source. This may sound good, but in reality, it means you can’t dip into your fat stores. This leaves you in a state of constantly storing excess energy, which leads to weight gain. Meanwhile, you are unable to dip into your fat reserves, so you can’t burn off any body weight. If this sounds like a nightmare metabolic scenario – you’re right.
Luckily for those who follow the keto diet, the only way to start burning off fat stores is by removing carbohydrates entirely. In turn, this diminishes your glucose stores (usually referred to as ‘glycogen’). At this point, your body essentially realizes it is running out of energy, so it starts dipping into its reserves of stored fat. And there you have it – how keto is different than every other diet, and how it actually burns off your stored body fat.
How Do I Know If I Am Following Keto Properly?
Besides your general energy levels, your workouts, and your ability to sleep well – you should regularly check your ketone levels. By checking multiple times a day, you can be sure you are staying in ketosis. If you are on the cusp of keto, but find yourself not in ketosis, you’re likely just eating too many carbs. Try lowering your daily net carb intake and measure your ketone levels again. Our device is the first clinically backed ketone breath monitor – so you can get an accurate ketone level reading in just 20 seconds.
How Long Can I Stay On The Keto Diet?
The science says that a keto diet can safely and effectively be followed indefinitely. However, you will want to make sure you are hitting the following three goals, or else it may not be an ideal diet for you to stay on forever.
- The keto diet works for you, and it does not diminish your quality of life.
- You are able to maintain and sustain a great body composition on the diet.
- Your bloodwork and relevant lab tests continue to be stellar, while following the ketogenic diet.
While these three indicators are not completely comprehensive, they give a good gauge for how you are doing with the keto approach. Also be sure to check in with your doctor, before starting a keto diet. Even if you do not want to do a keto diet year-round, it can still be helpful to adopt it for a few months at a time. Many keto dieters cycle in and out of the keto diet, splitting six months on, and six months off, throughout the year.
How Do I Track My Fat Loss?
Tracking your fat loss on keto is easy. First, you’ll want to weigh yourself once a week, to see how your overall weight starts to drop. Secondly, you’ll want to measure your ketones, multiple times per day, so you can make sure you are staying in ketosis. Ketosis is the fat burning phase where you will actively be burning off fat, so this measurement is crucial to tracking your fat loss progress.
Because we were sick of cheap, inaccurate devices, we invented the first and only clinically-backed ketone breath monitor. The monitor is accurate enough to replace invasive blood measurements. By simply breathing into our device, you will have a reliable measurement of your current ketone levels in seconds. You will know your fat burning levels instantly, and be able to effectively track your fat loss. No more urine strips, no more pricking your finger – just a fast, easy and reliable breath test. You can bring our device with you to the office, take it to the gym – you can truly check your ketones anywhere. Unlike previous devices, which were often poorly made, unreliable, and not backed by clinical research – our ketone breath monitor is patented. This means no other device is legally allowed to use our exclusive technology. Whether you are brand new to keto and want a convenient and reliable way to check your ketone levels and monitor your fat loss, or you’re an elite level biohacker – we are the perfect way to measure your ketones.
You don’t need to worry about continually buying strips, continually pricking your finger – we have all you need, in just one device. One of our favorite features is the personalized insights you get with the device. Every time you measure, your results are graphed and stored, so you can easily track your progress / fat loss and share with clinicians, coaches, or friends.. Until now, there has not been an easy and convenient way to check your ketone levels – which has made many people give up on keto entirely. But that outcome is no longer necessary, as we’ve made a device that does all the work for you. Just simply take one breath into the device, and within seconds you’ll know your ketone level. Whether your goal is to measure fat loss , lose weight, improve your blood sugar – we have the answer.
