Has your weight loss on ketogenic dieting started to slow down? Or maybe it has stopped completely. It is weird because you eat the same high fat food and work out, but for some reason the arrow on the scale does not go down .You are wondering what happens, where is the mistake? I have found it for you. Follow me so you never ever have to look for that information again.
I assume you are on a stage of ketosis. It means all carbohydrates stores are depleted and now your body burn fat for fuel. This way was new to your body for the first few weeks. That’s why losing weight was as easy as running downhill. Right? Finally your body gets used to burning fat instead of carbs. And this is when your weight loss has stopped. This stage is called adaptation.
Cyclic ketogenic dieting (ckd)?
The solution is called cyclic ketogenic dieting (ckd). It is the same keto diet with just a little difference. Imagine if I offer you a day off from ketogenic dieting. A day, when you can eat bread, pizza and lose your weight. Are you interested? Of course you are. Let’s do it. Choose one day from your week and make it a “day off”. I would recommend it to be Saturday or Sunday, so you can relax and enjoy your time. Visit your favorite restaurant, spend time with your friends, this is your freedom.
Wait a moment; there are still a few important rules. To make everything right you have to load carbs strictly by time. There shouldn’t be any chaos in your “day off”. Table full of French fries, sweets, burgers and beer from morning till late night is not for you! It is best to have carbs loading during only 9 hours. For example, Saturday from 9 am till 6 pm. I’m sure some of you feel disappointment right now. You were ready for the “breaking bad”. Am I right?
Which carbs can I choose?
Of course it is better to choose “good” carbs. But, I think no one will kill me if I suggest you eat a small piece of strawberry cheesecake. This is still a “day off”. For other meals choose whole-wheat pasta, root vegetables and fruit you were not allowed one day before.
I’m sure you would like to know how many carbs to load. There is no buy-and-plug-in solution for everybody. The amount of carbs in cyclic ketogenic dieting (ckd) counts personally. Here is the formula: 10 grams of carbs per 1 kg of your body weight. I don’t mean your general weight. This should be your weight without fat. It is called dry weight. Approximately, it is 50-100 rams of carbs per one meal.
What to do with protein and fat?
Speaking about protein you should leave it without any changes. If you had 120grams of protein during ketosis state – keep it. Fat should be decreased. Otherwise there will get too many calories. Decrease fat level as much as possible.
By the way, I would recommend you to inform your friends and relatives when exactly your “day off” is. It will help you to avoid situations like I put my friend through. It was a Thursday. I made healthy whole-wheat flour cookies for my friend who was on cyclic ketogenic dieting (ckd). For some reason I didn’t ask him when the “day off” is. Imagine the disappointment on his face when he saw appetizing savory cookies. His day off was Saturday. Oh, it was cruel. You don’t want to be in such a situation, do you?
What if I gain extra kilograms during my day off?
Of course you have fears; you have been working hard on your body shape. There were sufferings, sweets deprivation and many things you could have enjoyed. It is scary to lose results. I understand it, but if you eat no more carbs the formula showed you – all will be just fine. You will be fine. Your body has six days in ketosis to lose what was gained.
Some may worry they could lose control during friends meetings. If it happened that you enjoyed your pasta a bit more – work out. Yes, get up and go to the gym, or go for a run. Carbs are good fuel for exercises.
As a result of cyclic ketogenic dieting (ckd) your metabolism will boost. It works like “reset” button on your phone. Turn it off so it could work again. You will start to lose extra weight, until your body adapts again. But now you know where the secret button is located. Just push it, make some fun with carbs and start losing weight again.
Cyclic ketogenic dieting (ckd) is your optimal weight loss diet. There will be no worries any more – only smaller and smaller dress sizes. Are you ready for it?
If my ‘dry weight’ is 56kg (93kg with 44% body fat = 56kg lean mass), does that mean I should be having 560g carbs on a carb day? Is that total weight of carbs (like 560g of sweet potato)?
Hi Louise,
That’s correct, 560g of carbohydrate would be good to aim for, but you will want to try to keep fats and protein as low as possible during the refeed. To reach that level you would want to incorporate brown rice, lentils, beans, potatoes (white potatoes are okay too as they’re a resistant starch and can actually aid fat loss if consumed on a refeed day) – basically a varied combination of carbs from whole food sources.
However at 44% body fat I think you might find that intermittent fasting combine with a ketogenic diet will help you to lose weight much faster and more reliably. Cyclic ketogenic diets (CKD) with carb refeeds are ideal for someone with around 20% or lower body fat who have hit a plateau with getting the last few kgs / lbs off. Intermittent fasting when combined with a keto diet is very powerful and can have numerous benefits on top of being a very effective way to lose weight and keep it off. You can read my most recent article on IF here. But a quick warning – there’s a photo of me with no top on 😉 Read on, if you dare!