Do You Need to Count Calories on Keto?

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I love eating keto!

And I bet you do too !

I mean the weight loss and health benefits are great, but do you know what’s better…

That I can eat all the bacon and butter I want!!!

Right…

Well, actually no.

You see calories do count when you’re eating keto!

Keto is often spoken about like you can free-for-all on any food as long as you’re missing out the carbs.

And many people say that once they have been doing keto for a few months they no longer need to track, that they can eat whatever no/low-carb food they want.

But if you’re aim is to lose weight then you 100% must be tracking your macros, which by defaults means you’re also tracking your calorie intake.

I thought the keto diet worked differently to normal diets, so why is tracking calories still relevant?

Good question!

On a non-keto diet your body will favor carbs converting them to glucose as it’s main source of fuel.

On the keto diet your body uses ketones for energy, which are made in the liver from fat (your own body fat and fats you eat).

On both a non-keto and keto diet, if you don’t eat enough food you will lose weight. It’s basic math, if your body doesn’t have enough energy to run, it’s got to get it from somewhere else — your body fat.

Also on both a non-keto and keto diet, if you eat more than your body needs, depending on how much more, you will either maintain or put on weight. Again simple math, if your body has too much fuel, it stores it somewhere as body fat.

Hence why calories are important whether you’re doing keto or not!

So why do we bother with keto if reducing calories, no matter what I eat, helps me lose weight??

An even better question!

In order for our body to lose weight, first it has to use up all the glucose (carby foods) available in our body.

Then if it still needs more fuel, your body will tell you you’re hungry, that it’s time to eat a carby meal!

If you don’t eat anything it moves onto burning fat. It takes quite a bit of effort for your body to switch to burning fat so it prefers not to do it, but if it does switch over the first fat it’s going to burn is fat from food you’ve eaten recently.

Once it’s burnt through that then, and only then, will it consider burning some body fat.

So if you’re not eating a keto diet your body has to exhaust all those other food sources before it even considers using your body fat, and because it hates to switch fuel sources so much you will end up feeling absolutely starving in order to get to that stage.

I don’t know about you but when I’m super hungry and have alllll the cravings, there isn’t much that will stop me eating!

BUT when you’re in ketosis your body is already burning fat as a fuel. So the minute you run out of fat from food for your body to burn, it just starts burning body fat with not so much as a whimper.

Hence why so many people find when they’ve been on keto for a few months they get way less hungry! To the point where they feel like they can eat whatever they want, because what they want isn’t all that much!

To summarize…

No matter if you’re eating keto or non-keto, too many colories and you will put on weight, less calories than you need and you will lose weight.

Keto doesn’t mean calories don’t count, eating keto just means it’s wayyyyy easier for your body to burn your body fat, hence why you can lose so much weight super easily doing keto!

Ready to Lose Weight on the Keto Diet? 
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So you can choose 1 breakfast, 1 lunch, 1 dinner & 1 dessert from their Keto in Five cookbooks and know you’re under your daily carb limit for the day!