How long should you stay on keto? What happens if you go off keto for a month? All good things must come to an end. But balance is key. Should you stay on the ketogenic diet for your whole life?
When you first start the keto diet and stick to it faithfully, you will notice a lot of amazing changes to your body besides weight loss. Your skin will become clearer, you’ll have more energy, your blood pressure will normalize, and so much more. When you see fantastic changes like this, why wouldn’t you want to maintain this lifestyle forever?
But with that question comes many more. What about omitting things from our diet that studies show are definitely healthy for you? Things like oatmeal, sweet potatoes, bananas, and my favorite fruit of all time, my beloved pineapple.
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So, in case you’re not sure exactly what the keto diet is, here’s the explanation in a nutshell.
The keto diet, aka the ketogenic diet, is a way of eating that uses fat for fuel instead of carbohydrates like we’re used to.
In your current diet, you’re eating loads of carbs. Bread, pasta, potatoes, fruits, grains, peas, beans, and cereals fill your day-to-day diet. We tend to overeat these carbs because, heck, they taste good. The fact is, however, that we do not use up all the energy that we consume since we eat so much of it, and so our bodies turn all the excess carbs into fat to be stored.
On the keto diet, everything I just listed is banned.
With the keto diet, your body uses fat for fuel, not carbs. Your body turns the fat into something called ketones through a process of ketosis. This is where the keto diet gets its name.
Your body does not store excess ketones. They are passed out like other waste in your urine and bowel movements. Plus, if you’re following the keto diet properly, you probably don’t have excess fat to be passed out. Lots of people have trouble eating enough fat on this diet!
If you’re lost and not sure how to get started with the keto diet, check out this beginner’s 5-day meal plan. It’s a fool-proof guide to winning at the high-fat, low-carb lifestyle.
I Have So Much Fat Now, Why Would I Want to Eat More?
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A common question asked by keto newbies and a question we all grapple with in the beginning.
But think about it. You are starving your body of all the carbs you once ate and now need a new energy source. Imagine trying to eat the equivalent of all the carbs you used to eat but instead in fat. Sounds like a lot.
Luckily, you don’t need the equivalent amount of fat. In fact, when you’re in ketosis, and your body is using fat for fuel, you’ll feel less hungry than you used to when you were using carbs for energy. People on the keto diet eat much less than their carb dieting counterparts simply because that hunger hormone just isn’t there anymore.
It’s one of the things people love most about getting into ketosis. You can go for hours at a time, concentrating on whatever you’re doing without stopping to give in to horrible hunger pangs. Those are pretty non-existent on a proper keto diet.
Fat is also a much better source of energy than carbs. Healthy fats are actually considered brain food, and the mental clarity, energy, and focus you’ll enjoy when in ketosis cannot compare to even a clean-eating diet that allows carbs.
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While the benefits of the keto diet are overwhelming, many worry about the long-term side effects of maintaining such a rigid daily diet. Many medical professionals have recommended 3 months as a window to stick to. After that period, you can slowly incorporate more foods into your diet, such as sweet potatoes, beans, fruits, etc. But to be honest, there are so many conflicting reports about how long to stay on keto and how to cycle on and off keto.
Some people remain on keto for years and do just fine. Some people develop other ailments from following the diet. Here is a list of some common side effects people have experienced being on keto for too long:
may lead to vitamin/mineral deficiencies
may cause damage to blood vessels
risk of developing kidney stones
risk of fatty liver disease
Balance is key to anything in life, and cycling through bouts of ketosis and bouts of clean eating with even a few indulgences here and there is perfectly fine.
You may want to try sticking strictly to keto for 30 days, monitoring your weight loss, health, etc., and if you still feel great, go another month.
During your off times, don’t indulge in sugar-heavy, high-carb foods like donuts, pizza, pasta, etc. While you can most certainly ease up a little on the strictness of the keto diet, don’t go overboard with indulgence. Your body will reject it, and the end result won’t be pleasant.
The bottom line is to listen to your body.
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