The ketogenic diet is a diet based on a process called ketosis. It is a specific state of the body, characterized by an elevated level of ketones in the blood, which occurs due to the conversion of fats into fatty acids and ketones. This occurs when the body gets only very small amounts of carbohydrates over a certain period of time. When you start this type of diet, your body goes through several changes. After 24 to 48 hours from the start of this diet, the body begins to use ketones to use the energy stored in fat cells more efficiently. In other words, the main source of energy becomes fat (fatty acids), instead of carbohydrates (glucose). So eating foods that are higher in fat than would otherwise seem reasonable is not a problem during ketosis. In this way, the body quickly loses weight (specifically fat). Additionally, the loss of muscle tissue (protein) is minimal, as the vast majority of foods eaten during ketosis also contain relatively large amounts of protein that is good for your muscles.

Although ketosis is the foundation of the ketogenic type of diet, in its strictest form you don’t need to stick with it for long. The state of ketosis can be maintained until the body weight is only a few pounds higher than desired. Then, foods with a greater amount of carbohydrates (rice, beans, …) are gradually introduced. In this period, it would be very useful to keep a food intake diary in which the daily amounts of carbohydrates consumed would be noted. That way, you can find the maximum amount of daily carbohydrates that still allows you not to gain weight. Once you discover this parameter, you will no longer have problems related to being overweight, because until then you will surely learn to take into account the calories and amounts of carbohydrates, proteins and fats that you consume on a daily basis. That way you will get to know your body better, in terms of the maximum “allowable” daily intake. So we could say that the ketogenic diet is, in a way, a habit learning procedure that will ensure that you never return to old, potentially problematic overweight levels.

There are many types of ketogenic diets that can be found on the Internet or elsewhere, but they all have one basic principle in common: intake of high amounts of protein and fat and minimal amounts of carbohydrates. The exact diet you choose is not that important, as long as it allows you to enter ketosis, which is the basis of the biological mechanism that will help you lose weight efficiently.