I was asked recently by a coaching client, “How can I lose weight quickly (in just 8 weeks)?”

In one word, the answer is: Keto.

I started a ketogenic diet in March 2023 and lost 3 KG in 2 weeks (read on), and have continued to lose weight without muscle loss.  I was already very lean to begin with!

Before you dive in, read on. It takes preparation and some knowledge to avoid side effects in the 1st month.

What is Ketosis?

Ketosis is a physiological state in which your body produces ketones from fats which can be used in the brain for fuel. In fact, it’s the brain’s preferred fuel source. At the same time, the body uses the fats you eat and also your stored body fat.

The absence of glucose means that insulin is lower. In these conditions, together with stress hormones (which you can induce through exercise and/or fasting), your fat cells get the signal to break the body fat down into a form called free fatty acids, and these free fatty acids get released into the bloodstream and taken up by cells (muscle, liver etc). In the cell, they get turned into ATP just as glucose gets turned into ATP. ATP is the actual fuel that the cell uses. Think of crude oil and refined gasoline. Free fatty acids or glucose are just the crude oil, and ATP is the gasoline.

How do you get into Ketosis?

1. Prepare – You will need electrolyte supplements (magnesium, zinc, potassium) and high-quality salt. The reason is that when you start a ketogenic diet, you will lose a LOT of body fluid. This also clears out your electrolytes which can make you feel nauseous and give you cramps. I had terrible leg cramps at night in the 1st 2 weeks.
2. Easy into Keto by intermittent fasting for 2 weeks. You can try eating a large breakfast, a smaller lunch and skipping dinner. This will prepare your body for using fats for fuel.
3. Do Exercise in the 2-week preparation period. Make sure to do some moderate exercise each day during your 2 week preparation period. This is because your body will need the stress to practice releasing stored body fat stores once your blood sugar and insulin drop.
4. After at least 2 weeks, reduce your carb intake by eliminating ANY starchy carbs, sugars, grains, milk, and yoghurt. You can eat about 50g of cauliflower, broccoli or asparagus with each meal.
5. Increase your fat intake with MCT oil, macadamia and/or pecan nuts (NOT almonds or other nuts), avocados, some olive oil and butter for cooking or dressings. MCT oil is highly recommended at this phase.
6. Limit your protein intake to around 25~30g (about 100~120g beef) per meal. Once you are fat-adapted you can significantly increase the amount of protein.

Tips

Continuous Blood Glucose Monitor & Blood Ketone Meter for Keto.

You can use a continuous blood glucose meter and blood ketone meter on keto to help you understand how your body reacts to specific foods and quantities. I also recommend a blood ketone meter to tell you if you are in ketosis. You must be above 0.5mml to be in ketosis. This number may go up as high as 3.0 in the 1st few months, but will eventually stabilize at around 0.8~1.2 as your body gets better at using ketones for fuel and efficient in utilizing fats.

Prepare well.

Drink a LOT of water and supplement electrolytes in the 1st 2 months. Have your MCT oil ready and ideally have a minimum of 2 weeks of intermittent fasting with daily exercise.

You should also look at the menus of your favourite restaurants and know what you will order when you are on keto. Most restaurants have a steak to protein and will swap out the potatoes etc for salad. Just watch out for the sauces which usually contain sugar. Learn to ask for the sauce on the side.

Conclusion: Rapid Weight Loss but Prepare Well.

This worked for me to lose a lot of weight very quickly and it stayed off. I was already lean and lost 3KG in 2 weeks of starting keto. It wasn’t easy, there were side effects of brain fog and fatigue, however, if I had been better prepared as mentioned above, this would have been significantly less.

Good Luck!