How Long Does It Take For The Ketosis Diet To Work?
09/02/2012
Diet significantly reduces body weight, cholesterol and triglyceride levels.
A ketosis diet is also referred to as a ketogenic diet. A ketogenic diet leads to weight loss through low carbohydrate consumption, which causes your body to maintain a mild state of ketosis. It will take three to five days for your body to enter into ketosis. Initial weight loss, disregarding weight due to water loss, can be seen two weeks after starting this type of diet and continues to decrease dramatically until about 10 to 12 weeks when the decrease stabilizes.
Ketosis Defined
Normally, your body uses consumed carbohydrates to make glucose as a source of energy, both immediate and stored energy. If you don't consume enough carbohydrates to fuel your body's need for glucose, your body will use stored glucose and fats to make glucose. Incomplete fatty acid breakdown will cause ketone bodies to form, which puts your body into ketosis. After carbohydrates and fats become depleted, your body will break down muscle.
Ketosis Diet
A typical ketogenic diet usually suggests that less than 20 grams of carbohydrates be consumed per day. According to the Mayo Clinic, recommended carbohydrate consumption should be 200 to 300 grams per day. Therefore, 20 grams per day is considered a severe limitation. Most ketogenic diets will allow unlimited protein consumption, while encouraging you to drink six to eight glasses of water per day.
Ketogenic Benefits
The ketogenic diet has been used since 1921 by Dr. R.M. Wilder at the Mayo Clinic to treat epilepsy. As anti-seizure drugs were discovered, however, the use of the ketogenic diet declined. In recent years, it has been resurrected as a method for quick weight loss. According to Dr. H.M. Dashti in the 2004 issue of "Clinical Cardiology," a ketogenic diet significantly reduces body weight, cholesterol and triglyceride levels with no significant side effects. In a 2004 study by Dr. W.S. Yancy in the "Annals of Internal Medicine," a low-carbohydrate diet caused greater weight loss than a low-fat diet.
Considerations
A ketogenic diet can produce side effects. If you have heart disease, hypertension, kidney disease or diabetes, the ketogenic diet may increase your risk of side effects. Dietary complications may include dehydration, calcium depletion and possible kidney problems. Also, certain vitamins and minerals may be deficient and require supplementation. If you consume high amounts of red meat as your protein, high saturated fat and cholesterol content will likely increase your risk of heart disease.