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Exercise on Atkins/keto

BryonyKate
BryonyKate Posts: 32 Member
edited February 4 in Fitness and Exercise
Hi everyone

I was just wondering how much exercise is necessary for significant results on a low carb high fat diet? I currently weight 148Ibs and want to get to around 120. (Ideally 110 but that is a very long term goal!) i was eating a low fat diet with an even fat/carb split. I workout for 1.5 hours - 2 hours 5 x a week and my results are very slow. I saw one girl have incredible success and she said she barely worked out at all to begin with and now does one hour of cardio 2-3times a week. I'm not saying I want to use this diet as an excuse to be lazy! I actually find daily workouts are a bit of a stress reliever. But do you think I could get away with 1hr cardio and maybe 15-20minutes stretching and weights rather than pushing it to two hours most days?

Replies

  • Huffdogg
    Huffdogg Posts: 1,934 Member
    TBH you'd be better off with 30-45 minutes of low-volume, high intensity weight lifting maybe 4x a week, and maybe 20 minutes of cardio. Keep your protein very high to spare lean muscle loss.

    Ketogenic diets are not really designed to support extented steady state exercise; that's exactly the type of activity you need carbs to perform. Also, if you don't give your muscles a high-intensity stimulus, your body will go after them along with the fat you're trying to lose.
  • michelle34152
    michelle34152 Posts: 17 Member
    There are plenty of folks who lift heavy and do HIIT and run marathons on keto. It DOES take some time to adjust, but it can be done.

    I really regret not lifting heavy the first time I lost so much on keto/Atkins - when I got down to my goal weight my muscles were puny, I looked soft, and I had to eat so little to maintain. This time around I'm working out much more - even at <25 carbs a day I can go pretty hard after about five months.
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