Should You Count Calories On The Keto Diet?

scales with berries and organic ingredients for recipe

Calories are not always the most essential part of a weight loss diet. Although calorie intake is important, the number of calories you consume and the calories you burn through exercise does not have to be your only focus when it comes to weight loss. Apart from this, if you’ve been on a keto diet, you’ve probably heard that calorie counting isn’t necessary and that restricting your daily carb consumption to 20 grams, moderate protein, and high fat will be adequate to lose weight. This can be confusing and it’s a point of debate among keto specialists.

While there are various ways to follow a keto diet, one thing has remained consistent throughout the research. The keto diet is beneficial because its nutrient-packed and whole-food-based. The most significant way to improve general health and longevity is to eat fresh, single-ingredient and low-carbohydrate foods. You should avoid packaged, refined and/or processed foods whether its keto foods or non keto foods.

Calorie? What is it?

A calorie is a measure of energy that your body requires to carry out a variety of tasks. These include voluntary movements such as walking, running, jumping. In addition, these also include involuntary motions such as breathing, blood circulation and maintaining a proper body temperature.

To keep those involuntary processes functioning, your body requires a certain number of calories. Your basal metabolic rate (BMR) represent a certain number of calories your body requires to keep functioning . Many factors, including your age, gender, body composition and heredity influence your BMR. Physical exercise, such as walking, requires additional calories. The more active you are, the more calories you will need.

Should You Count Calories?

If you’re on the keto diet for weight loss, keeping track of calories may be necessary. In addition, keeping track of carbs, fat and protein grams may also be necessary. While the keto diet has no caloric restrictions, it’s possible to over intake calories. You must be cautious if you enjoy keto delicacies that replicate your favorite carb-heavy recipes. Regardless of your macro-nutrient balance, a calorie surplus could cause you to gain weight while on the keto diet.

If you eat the recommended amount of carbohydrate grams, several less than healthy keto-friendly items are incredibly dense. Items such as peanut butter or other nuts and seeds may quickly add thousands of calories to your daily total.

Some researchers believe that the keto diet can accelerate your metabolism and help you burn more calories in a day. Weight gain will be continuous if more calories are consume than they are burned. Some studies claim that the additional burn is only about 250 calories. Other studies claim that the difference in metabolic rate is minimal.

Can You Naturally Eat The Right Amount Of Calories On A Keto Diet?

While following a keto diet, it is possible to stay well within the required calorie ranges. Keto-friendly foods aren’t all high in calories. The high-fat, low-carb diet should leave you feeling satisfied without causing you to overeat calories. If the variation of the keto diet includes lots of low-carbohydrate veggies and plenty of protein, you should feel satisfied.

Keto diets that are followed for a reason other than weight loss at a healthy rate may need calories tracked. A healthy weekly weight loss is no more than the loss of one to two pound per week. There’s no need to count calories as long as you’re tracking your macro-nutrient intake and feeling healthy. However, if you’re losing too much or too little weight, it’s necessary to double-check your calorie intake. Consuming the proper foods and the right amount of food to maintain normal metabolic function is the goal.

Calorie-Counting Is A Bad Diet Strategy.

Calorie counting has the drawback of requiring a lot of work; even in its simplified, internet-calculator form. Most people can’t accurately calculate how much they eat. Furthermore, for most individuals, calorie counting necessitates being hungry all of the time, which is highly uncomfortable. It’s simply unrealistic to expect most people to use calorie counting or restriction on their primary weight-loss technique.

In general, Keto doesn’t require or encourage calorie counting. Therefore, if you’re looking for a quick response, most individuals don’t need to count calories to lose weight on Keto. In fact, most people shouldn’t. Keto diets achieve the same goal (energy balance management) less painfully than a diet that requires the counting of calories.

The Various Aspects of Keto Diets

Keto diets include various aspects that allow people to regulate their energy balance with minimal discomfort and effort. Consider the following scenario:

  • Keto eliminates all junk food designed to make you consume it mindlessly even when you aren’t hungry (potato chips, candy, pretzels, etc.).
  • Keto helps removes blood sugar spikes and crashes so there’s no need to eat every few hours to avoid blood sugar lows.
  • Most individuals find fat and protein rich foods very whole, so they don’t over indulge on fish or chicken thighs when they’re on the keto diet.
  • Keto is often high in protein when used as a weight-reduction diet. Keto may assist in maintaining metabolic rate even after weight loss.
  • Inflammation and other underlying causes contributing to cravings and fat cell malfunction can be resolved with a somewhat health-conscious keto or low-carb diet.
  • All of this is accomplished with Keto’s simple set of guidelines, which you can follow intuitively after you’ve gotten used to them.

Keto Takeaway

Most people who eat the keto diet eat only until they’re hungry. Hunger is a better indicator of what your body genuinely needs other than lab-engineered junk food. The “magic” of the keto diet is to eat less without imposing excessive demands such as calorie counting or being hungry all of the time.

Studies show that when people are allowed to eat as they want without monitoring calories, they naturally consume less on a low-carb diet.

However, calorie tracking isn’t necessary for most individuals because Keto does the calorie-reduction magic without requiring you to count them out precisely. One of the best aspects of the keto diet is not worrying about counting calories.

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