Ketocycling is what some people choose over a complete lchf or keto diet. So, what is ketocycling? Is it good for you? Will it help in your weightloss strategy? Lets find out in this article
Ketocycling and lchf-keto diet
Some people who are on keto diet chose to have five or six days of keto followed by a day or two off. Some other do it for 10 to 12 days followed by 3 – 4 days off. This is what people meant by ketocycling.
The strategy underlying is once you have your day off, you will need to check your ketone level in blood to see how fast you return to ketosis after your day off.
If you are having too much carbohydrates, you liver will try to store the excess gylcogen and it will be difficult for you to return back to your ketosis state to speed up your weight loss. Consider your glycogen store as a gas tank in your car. Once you over fill the store with glycogen some of it will be stored as your body fat and you will find it very difficult to deplete the tank again which means it will take long time to get back to ketosis – inturn more time for your weight loss journey.
So, what you can do if you definitely wants to do ketocycling? the answer is to stick to healthy carbs with low sugar levels than going to full blown carb diet for your day offs. By good carbs we mean fruit, sweet potatoes and whole grains where as bad carbs are those in bread and sweets.
Whats the best time to start ketocycling?
Our advise is you better stay off from ketocycling if you don’t want to hinder your weight loss process. But once you have reached your ideal weight and don’t want to loose your progress so far and do want to take some day off, yes you can opt ketocycling. Give atleast 3 months in keto before you try ketocycling. This is because you need to make sure your body is fat adapted so that it can get back to ketosis easily.
Once you have your day off, we advise you to start next morning with some vigorous exercise to force the body burn the glycogen you took in.
Pros and Cons of Ketocycling
Cons
– Ketocycling is new, no relevant studies have been taken place
– Danger of storing more fat in body and can result in increased triglycerides and cholesterol levels
Pros
– More likely to stick to keto diet with ketocycling
– More weight loss if you stick to diet for more
– More energy to power up for difficult work outs and races (in case of athletes)
Conclusion
If weight loss in limited time is your ultimate goal, please refrain from ketocycling. But if you plan to stick on to keto diet for longer period of time because of its health benefits, you can try ketocycling to keep you on track and motivated. But as a matter of fact, you do need to know yourself that self control plays a big role in holding on to any diet. For eg. if you are someone who oses control when you are around sweets and one chocolate means a big 400 grams of milk chocolate, take my word ketocycling is not for you.
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