Traditionally used to treat epileptic seizures, the keto regime is also popular in the fitness community. Heralded for its ability to encourage one to slim down, more and more people incorporate the diet into their lifestyle. By encouraging a high-fat diet with limited carbs, there arises one primary concern: energy.
Why? Carbs are often turned into sugar, which is then used for energy by the body. And if you are looking to start exercising, you may be wondering if the diet under discussion will hold you back. Or if exercising will ruin your diet and have you binging on carbs.
Because without the carbs, where will your body get its energy from while on a diet high in fat? The answer: fat will be the alternative for energy production for the body. Essentially, it is possible to exercise while on the diet. And this guide is meant to help you through it.
Step one to being able to navigate both exercise and keto is learning your options. In this case, the different kinds of exercises and how they burn fat. In the end, you want to choose an exercise that is most compatible with your diet.
Different Categories of Exercises
Cardio Workouts
Cardio Workouts are often used interchangeably with the term aerobic movements. It’s a physical exercise that speeds up your heart rate, breathing and causes you to sweat a lot. It increases oxygen intake, which is then delivered to the muscles to burn fat or carbs and create fuel for the body.
Here’s the takeaway: the more oxygen your body can consume during an aerobic workout, the better it gets at burning fat for fuel. This makes it an ideal exercise for those on the diet, especially since they are average to low in intensity.
Anaerobic Workouts
Anaerobic trainings are the exact opposite of aerobic bodybuilding trainings. That is, instead of increasing oxygen intake, they make you feel as though you are out of breath. Due to this reason, such workouts can only use carbs or glucose to create fuel for the body.
Everything from weightlifting, high-intensity interval training (HIIT), and strength training can be categorised as anaerobic training. Please note, such exercises are high intensity and require a lot of energy but burn many calories.
Stability Workouts
Stability movements are designed to help improve your balance and strengthen your core. The result: you get steadier on your feet, build muscles, heighten one’s ability to control movements, and so forth. They also improve posture, reduces back pain, and helps protect the spine.
Flexibility Workouts
Flexibility workouts help stretch out your muscles and improve your range of motion. Movements such as Yoga, lunges, calf stretches, and the cobra can also improve joint strength. One can do the movements alone or use them as a way to start a workout.
It is always recommended that one start and end with stretching movements to prevent injuries. Notably, these are low intensity and do not use a lot of energy.
Now that we know the four kinds of exercises, it’s time that we consider where the body gets energy from.
Sources of Energy
Carbs are the primary energy producing food types. Food groups such as dairy, vegetables, grain, and even sweeteners such as honey contain carbs.
The body can also get energy from fats. Food items such as eggs, avocados, meats, seafood, and even poultry contain fats. Oils such as Olive oil and Canola Oil also contain fat.
But did you know that protein can be used for energy production in the body too? Often used in tissues and muscles’ repair and building process, protein can also be used for energy. However, the body only uses the extra protein in the body for this.
Protein rich foods include beans, nuts, eggs, soy products, and poultry, to name a few.
The diet in question emphasises eating fat rich foods but limits carb intake. Carbs should be at least as low as 5% of a person’s overall day-to-day calorie ingestion. This means that fat is the primary energy agent.
The diet is meant to facilitate a state of ketosis. This means that your body turns into a fat-burning machine to produce the energy needed by your body and brain. Consuming fat to enter a state of ketosis is essential because the body does not manufacture fat by itself.
Now, with all the above information in mind, which is the best exercise for keto?
Best Exercises and Keto Tips For Each Type
For those maintaining the diet under discussion, you’ll want to stick to the below exercises:
• Aerobic Workouts: This is because aerobic exercises use fat for energy production. Such exercises are also not high in intensity and will not require a lot of energy expenditure.
• Anaerobic Workouts: Such exercises are very high in intensity and do not rely on fat for energy production. They rely on carbs instead. If you want to take part in this, you should avoid doing it at the beginning of your diet.
You can also do what is known as the targeted ketogenic diet. This means that you eat a certain amount of carbs pre or post worked out.
From the above, we see that monitoring the intensity of your workouts is very important when in ketosis. Here are a few tips to keep in mind while exercising on the diet:
• Stick to low or average-intensity movements such as Aerobics, stretching, and flexibility workouts.
• Don’t start exercising immediately after starting your diet. Give your body time to get used to the new diet.
• Start low. That is, start by exercises for a short time before building upon it.
• Take some Bullet Coffee to increase energy levels.
• Always drink water, and never skip a meal, especially if you’re trying to maintain a physically active life.
In conclusion, maintaining such a diet and exercising is possible, but you have to know what works for you. If you’re looking for more information to help advance your ketogenic journey, don’t hesitate to visit our page and acquire more knowledge about the diet.