10 Ways to Get Into Ketosis Faster

Begin your keto diet right. Get yourself into ketosis quicker with these little tips. They’re simple but useful.

Ketosis is the metabolic state that your body goes into when you are not eating carbohydrates, your body’s chief source of energy. When your body is in ketosis, your body burns stored fat, forming substances called ketone bodies, aka ketones.

Being in a state of ketosis has many benefits. It can not only help you lose weight but also decrease your appetite, which in turn, can help you lose even more weight.

Now that you know the skinny about ketosis, you’re probably wondering how you can get into ketosis faster. Here are 10 ways to get into ketosis faster.

1. Eat Keto-Friendly Meals

The #1 way to get into ketosis faster is to eat keto-friendly meals. By definition, the keto diet is very low in carbohydrates.

It is also moderate in protein and high in fat. This works out to about 5-10% carbs, 15-30% protein, and 60-75% fat.

This generally works out to about 20-50 grams of net carbs. So, to increase ketosis even faster, you want to limit your net carbs at around 20 grams of net carbs.

This is quite low. So you’ll want to avoid foods naturally high in carbs such as starchy veggies, legumes, grain products, sugary foods, alcohol, and most fruits.

What you’ll be eating is meat, fatty fish, eggs, cheese, nuts and seeds, healthy oil, butter and cream, and low carb veggies and fruit.

Here is an example of what a keto-friendly breakfast would look like: a cheese omelet with spinach served with a side of bacon.

Here are more interesting ketogenic breakfast ideas that aren’t plain eggs.

2. Increase Your Intake of Healthy Fats

On a keto diet, you want to increase your intake of fats to get into ketosis faster. However, not all fats are good for you.

Healthy fats are good for your heart. Bad fats, on the other hand, are bad for your heart. Monounsaturated fats that are found in foods such as avocado and olive oil are good for you. So are omega-3 fats, which are fats found in fatty fish and certain nuts like walnuts and flaxseed.

On the other hand, trans fats, which are fats often found in processed foods and highly processed oils are bad for you.

3. Give a Chance to Exogenous Ketones

Exogenous ketone is a supplement that increases the number of ketone bodies in your blood. They also boost your ketosis.

One of the most popular ketone supplements is beta-hydroxybutyrate, which is one of the 3 ketone bodies your body makes when it is in a state of ketosis.

You’ll notice that it also contains mineral salts. Mineral salts are added to improve the taste of the supplement and protect you from having GI symptoms.

Aside from helping you get into ketosis faster, beta-hydroxybutyrate also decreases symptoms of the keto flu. Symptoms include headaches, vomiting, and fatigue.

4. Swap your Regular Snacks with Ketogenic Ones

Many snack foods are a no-no on the keto diet. These include potato chips, cookies, and muffins. Even healthy foods such as bananas are not allowed on the keto diet.

So, what do you eat? Snacks such as cheese, Greek yogurt, seeds and nuts, and low carb fruits such as strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries are allowed.

But even snacks such as potato chips, cookies, and muffins can be modified to fit into your diet. Instead of having potato chips, for instance, try zucchini chips. Instead of having cookies and muffins made with regular flour, make them using low carb flours such as coconut flour like this and almond flour like this.

Check out more of ketogenic snack recipes here.

5. Measure Your Ketone Levels

You can be doing all the right things. But how do you truly knowing whether it is working?

By measuring your ketone levels. Measuring your ketone levels regularly helps you stay on track of your ketosis.

There are 3 ways that you can measure your ketone levels. You can measure them in your breath, blood, or urine.

A breath test measures the amount of acetone (a type of ketone body) in your breath using a ketone breath analyzer meter. It is a pretty reliable way to measure your ketone levels.  You can find one here.

A blood test measures the amount of beta-hydroxybutyrate in your blood using a blood ketone meter and strips. It is the most reliable way of measuring your ketone levels, but the strips are expensive.

A urine test measures the amount of acetoacetate (a type of ketone body) in your urine using keto urine test strips. It is the cheapest way to test your ketone levels, but it is the most inaccurate. Urine strips tend to be only accurate during the first few weeks on a keto diet.

Still you can get the strips here.

6. Try MCT oils

MCT oils are oils made from medium-chain triglycerides (MCTs), which often come from coconut oil. MCTs are fats that help boost your ketone levels.

With MCTs, you can even eat less fat and more protein and carbs than on a standard keto diet. And still, achieve ketosis… That is how good MCTs are.

You can even eat up to 20% carbs and still maintain ketosis when taking MCTs! But to turbocharge your ketosis, you will want to eat about 5% carbs. You can find MCT oil here.

This is one of those easy keto hacks you should definitely try.

7. Exercise, Exercise, Exercise

Get your body moving! Proper nutrition is important for boosting your ketosis, but so is exercise.

When you exercise, your body’s stored carbohydrates; glycogen runs out. When you’re on a keto diet, your liver boosts the production of ketone bodies, which your muscles use for fuel.

To boost ketosis, even more, try exercising when you are fasting.

8. Don’t Consume Too Many Proteins

A lot of people switch over from the Atkins diet to the keto diet. But, they don’t cut back on their protein.

The Atkins diet is a high protein diet. The keto diet, on the other hand, is a moderate-protein diet.

So, if you eat too much protein on the keto diet, you will slow down your ketosis.

How much protein should you aim for on the keto diet? Ideally, you should aim for 0.6g to 0.8 grams of protein per pound of your lean body mass.

9. Try Fasting

Not eating for several hours can also boost your ketosis. Even people on non-ketogenic diets get into a mild state of ketosis by breakfast time because of the time-lapse between breakfast and dinner.

When you fast, your body uses up its glycogen stores. With no other fuel source left, your body starts using up its fat stores, boosting ketosis.

And you don’t have to fast the whole day to boost your ketosis. Even intermittent fasting will do the trick.

One way you can practice intermittent fasting is by skipping breakfast and having only lunch and dinner.

But be sure you don’t have a late dinner, or else your fast may not be long enough.

10. Eat More Whole Foods Instead of Processed Ones

Processed foods tend to be high in sugar and refined carbs. These are bad for ketosis.

Even processed foods that may appear to be keto-friendly may not good for you. They may have hidden sugars in them, which can derail your ketosis.

By choosing whole foods, you know what is in your food. And this makes it easier to maintain your ketosis.