How To Get Into Ketosis In Less Than 3 Days
 |
| This is the quickest way to get into ketosis without having to water fast! |
[Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. If you choose to buy something after using one of those links, I might receive a small financial compensation, at no cost to you.]
Do you need to get into ketosis super fast?
Don't think you can handle the deprivation and hunger of a water fast?
The good news is that you don't have to. You can rev up your metabolism, escape hunger, and be on your way to fat burning in one or two days!
All it takes is a ketogenic diet that is lower in carbs than standard Keto. This will cut your cravings to the bone and switch you from a glucose burning metabolism to burning fat faster than anything else!
Ketogenic diets work by reducing basal insulin levels, lowering blood triglycerides, and setting up conditions that will move you into the state of nutritional ketosis.
Getting into ketosis is important because when the body produces ketones, your hunger level goes down, your energy goes up, and you experience a state of well-being. All of these benefits will make it easier for you to stick to your low-carb diet plan.
On a typical keto diet, it takes 3 to 5 days to enter into the state of ketosis. But how quickly you do that depends on how many carbohydrates you were eating per day before you started restricting them.
Most low-carb diets start you off at 20 to 30 net carbs. Atkins 20 and the Reddit version of Keto begin at 20 net carbs, Dr. Phinney's Keto Diet starts at 35 carbs, and the Protein Power Lifeplan begins at 30. These amounts are low enough to get the job done within a few days.
If you're coming from a carb-heavy diet, it might take a little longer to switch metabolic pathways than if you're merely switching from a low-calorie plan to Atkins, Keto, or LCHF.
However, there is a much quicker method that you can use right now instead of these standard Keto diets.
The quick-start method I'm going to share with you in a minute includes a three-day sajian so you can get started on your weight-loss goal right away. Whether you're new to low carb diets or you just need to jump start your weight loss, this tried-and-true method is the absolute fastest way to get into ketosis, other than water fasting.
[If you'd rather try the water fasting approach, check out our article on how to get into ketosis in only 24 hours. This 7-step plan uses a combination of zero carb and fasting to make the diet more comfortable than fasting alone.]
This is My Three-Day Quick-Start Diet Plan that Doesn't Require Fasting
Nutrition should never be sacrificed at the expense of your health, so this is a three-day program. It won't be how you eat long term. The following plan is only meant to be followed for three days. And three days only!
After the three days, you will be in ketosis, so at that time, you need to switch to a standard low-carb diet plan.
It's extremely important that you move into a less restrictive low-carb diet after completing this quick-start Keto plan, so you get all of the nutrients you need to keep losing weight at an optimal pace.
The diet plan I linked to above will introduce you to a wider variety of foods that are available to you on a typical low-carb diet. These additional foods will continue to keep your hunger low and set up conditions for your body to start the process of becoming fat adapted. Fat adaption is where your body easily burn fatty acids for fuel instead of glucose.
While ketosis triggers the beginning of fat burning, ketosis is not the ultimate goal of a low-carb diet.
Becoming fat adapted is.
But before you can become fat adapted, you have to be in ketosis, so here is how you get into ketosis in less than three days.
How Do You Get Into Ketosis Faster?
The advantage of going with a ketogenic diet plan is that you'll be able to eat a lot of the foods you are not allowed to eat on a high-carbohydrate fat-restricted diet, so the kasus of deprivation is much less of an issue.
If you're new to Keto or just considering whether going low carb is the right choice for you, it's a good idea to carefully look over the acceptable foods for Atkins Induction. If you don't like the foods you're eating, the diet won't be very sustainable.
To help you do that, the Muscles Zone website has a nice list of low-carb foods that you can look at. It includes pictures of the foods you can eat for Phase 1 and Phase 2. This will help you determine if a ketogenic diet is the right choice for you.
Sustainability on low carb requires you to create your own personalized low-carb plan, so after completing the introductory period discussed below, sticking to certain low-carb foods will make your plan work better.
Returning to the foods that led to your overweight or obesity is a recipe for failure. The whole idea in switching to a carbohydrate restrictive lifestyle isn't to carve off a few pounds. The aim is to learn which foods and in what quantities will keep you lean and trim for life.
The key to making a low-carb diet work is to get into the state of ketosis quickly, so your cravings for junk food goes way down. This is accomplished by minimizing your carbohydrate intake.
What are Net Carbs?
Net carbs (sometimes referred to as "effective carbs" by the Atkins Nutritionals, Inc. marketing company) are the total carbohydrates found in the food you want to eat, minus the fiber content in grams.
For example, if you were thinking about eating a cup of broccoli with your bun-less burger for lunch, a cup of cut-up broccoli has a total of 8 carbohydrates. According to my Corinne T. Netzer's "Complete Book of Food Counts," pictured above, that cup of broccoli also has 4.6 grams of fiber.
To find the net carb count, you subtract the amount of fiber (4.6 grams) listed in the book for that food from the total carb count (8 grams), resulting in a net carb count of 3.4 carbs.
Unless you're doing Atkins 72 or Atkins 92, which use total carb counts, the net-carb count is the number you keep track of.
Common scientific thought is that most people do not break down the fiber in their food, so you don't have to count the fiber grams. A few people do break down fiber, but you don't have to worry about which group you're in right now. You can worry about that later because the following three-day quick-start plan uses total carbs, rather than net.
Most people actually go into ketosis within 24 hours.
You just won't start spilling ketones into the urine or experience the signs and symptoms of ketosis for an additional day or two. By the time your ketone testing strips are turning at least pink, ketosis is well underway.
Ketosis Meal Plan for Getting Into Ketosis Fast
Most low-carb diet plans come with strict rules and guidelines. A Keto Diet plan is no different. Ketogenic diets suggest you limit your carbohydrate intake to no more than 20-net carbs per day.
There is nothing magical about that number, however. Dr. Atkins originally picked 20 carbs because most people can get into ketosis when they restrict their carbohydrate content down to that level.
There is nothing magical about that number, however. Dr. Atkins originally picked 20 carbs because most people can get into ketosis when they restrict their carbohydrate content down to that level.
However, if you eat less than 20-net carbs and bump up your activity level, you'll get into ketosis faster.
This quicker pace is because your body will have to use more of its carbohydrate stores, called glycogen. When the body's glycogen level drops to about half of what it was, the liver begins oxidizing amino acids for energy. It also begins to ramp up ketone production to provide the fuel you need to function.
The fewer carbohydrates you eat and the more active you are during those first three days, the faster this will begin to happen.
So here's what I want you to do.
For three days, eat:
So here's what I want you to do.
For three days, eat:
- beef, poultry, pork, seafood, any quantity
- eggs, fixed any way
- up to 4 teaspoons of heavy cream
- up to 4 ounces of hard aged cheese, like cheddar or swiss
- 2 cups of lettuce salad, with cucumbers, radishes, and celery
- full-fat salad dressings without sugar
- chicken or beef broth, heavily salted
- herbs and spices without sugar
- juice of 1 lemon
According to Dr. Atkins, the body treats a two-cup salad as if you hadn't eaten any carbohydrates at all. This can be a blessing since zero-carb diets are not very appetizing, and the small salad will help to make the next three days more enjoyable for you.
 |
| Zero-carb diets contain only meat and water, so Dr. Atkins included a small salad to Atkins Induction. |
In addition to the above foods, there is no restriction on fats, so you can plop a pat of butter on top of your meat, dip your hard boiled eggs into a sauce of mustard and mayonnaise, eat deviled eggs freely, or eat a hefty serving of diet gelatin with real whipped cream for dessert.
For those who enjoy coffee, you can have that too, provided you use a little bit of real heavy cream to lighten it, instead of milk, and use sugar substitute to sweeten it. You can also sweeten it with Torani or Davinci sugar-free flavored syrups. Diet soda and tea are also allowed, as well as club soda.
For three days, eat the least amount of carbohydrates you can tolerate and try to stay as active as possible. That was what Dr. Atkins recommended in 1972, and this method of getting into ketosis fast still works great today!
Ignore Calories and Weight Loss
The goal of this quick-start diet is to get into the state of ketosis as quickly as possible, so I'm not talking about how to lose weight fast. You may or may not see a huge drop on the scales. If you do, most of that is just water.A Keto Diet is one of the easiest ways to lose weight, but that isn't what you're trying to do right now. Right now, your aim is to get into nutritional ketosis without being hungry and without having to put out a lot of effort. Eating from the above short list of foods will help you get there.
So for 3 days:
Ignore the calories in what you're eating, eat until you're satisfied, and stay completely away from the bathroom scale.
- Don't weigh yourself,
- And don't skimp on the amount of food you eat.
I know this sounds counter intuitive, but Atkins, Keto, and even LCHF are not weight-loss diets. They are lifestyles. What you eat matters as much as how much you eat.
Each low-carb aktivitas teaches you how to choose the foods that will get you slim and help you stay there. These foods will help you to develop healthier food habits, so you change what you look like now into a new and better you.
What About All of that Protein? Won't it Turn Into Glucose?
 |
| Getting into ketosis fast requires you to eat mostly protein for three days. |
There is a lot of controversy within the low-carb community right now about the volume of protein you need to eat to see a decent amount of weight loss each week on the scale. This controversy actually began from a misconception about sports performance versus a weight-loss plan.
What started out as an n=1 experiment by a popular Keto blogger has grown into a huge following that continues to be driven by misconceptions and inaccuracies about protein and dietary fat consumption, even today.
Dr. Phinney, the original author of the Nutritional Ketosis Diet, also referred to as Keto or LCHF, has tried to correct the misunderstandings about protein and dietary fats that the low-carb community has, but the truth hasn't caught hold yet.
Most people are still trying to follow a low-carb maintenance diet, which is why there are so many people struggling to lose the weight.
When the body runs out of glycogen during the first day or two, it will ramp up protein oxidation. In other words, the body will use protein for fuel. Protein oxidation is the first adaption the body makes when you first run out of glucose.
There is no getting around this.
If you aren't eating enough protein foods, your body will burn muscle tissue for fuel instead.
If carb restriction goes on for more than a few days, the body can't keep burning its protein stores (your muscles) without endangering your life, so it will switch to predominantly burning fatty acids for fuel. It is during this space of time where protein is being used for fuel that the body decides to go into ketosis.
Protein does not kick you out of ketosis.
It prevents the body from stripping your muscles to get the amino acids it needs.
According to Lyle McDonald's book, "The Ketogenic Diet", the bare minimum of protein you need to eat to avoid muscle loss during the first 3 weeks of a low-carb diet is 150 grams of protein per day.
That's a lot of protein!
Almost 1-1/2 pounds of meat. So forget what other people are telling you about protein turning into glucose or that it will kick you out of ketosis, (you aren't even there yet), and eat until you're satisfied.
Converting protein into glucose is a lengthy, complex process, which the body only initiates if there are no other alternatives. Since the three-day kick start plan provided below is very low in carbs and only meant to be followed for three days, eating enough protein foods is essential to make it work properly.
The lower in carbs your diet is, the more protein you need to eat!
Once you get into ketosis, and you find your carbohydrate tolerance level, you can then make other choices about your diet and adjust your:
Converting protein into glucose is a lengthy, complex process, which the body only initiates if there are no other alternatives. Since the three-day kick start plan provided below is very low in carbs and only meant to be followed for three days, eating enough protein foods is essential to make it work properly.
The lower in carbs your diet is, the more protein you need to eat!
Once you get into ketosis, and you find your carbohydrate tolerance level, you can then make other choices about your diet and adjust your:
- calories
- fat level
- protein grams
- carbohydrate grams
A Recommendation for Keto Beginners
Please don't forget that this three-day sajian is an introduction to a ketogenic diet. It is not a Keto diet itself. A true Keto Diet is much more varied and includes lots of vegetables to keep you from getting bored.
If you have never been on a low-carb diet before, or you are returning to low carb after a lengthy diet break, before you start this Three-Day Keto Diet, make sure that you read our ultimate beginner's guide to low-carb diets. This extensive beginner's guide explains:
- what carbohydrates are
- the benefits of going low carb
- what you can reasonably expect each week of the diet
- the truth about blood glucose levels and insulin
- why many people stall during weeks 3 and 4
- water fluctuations and how they affect fat loss
- the truth about ketosis and fat loss
- how a low-carb diet really works
What to Expect During the First Three Days
Despite a ketogenic diet's ability to control your hunger and cravings, when the body first runs out of fuel, it will let you know.
Hunger may increase dramatically.
Cravings for cakes and cookies may fill your thoughts, and you'll find it difficult to concentrate on things other than food. You might even begin to dream about eating high-carb goodies, such as cakes and cookies.
This is perfectly normal.
The body has run out of glycogen, the storage form of carbohydrate, and is trying to coax you into giving it some carbs.
If you ignore the cravings for potatoes and bread, and eat protein and fats instead -- a can of tuna or rotisserie chicken mixed with mayonnaise works well for that -- the cravings will go away and the body will switch from burning predominantly glucose for fuel to being a fat-burning engine instead.
No matter how much you're eating, if you're hungry, just eat more protein and fat. You can't overeat on this three-day diet because the objective isn't weight loss. The objective is to switch into ketosis.
Once the switch happens, hunger will dramatically go down and the craving for sugar will stop. In fact, the satisfaction that most people get from eating low carbs can even cause you to forget to eat!
No matter how much you're eating, if you're hungry, just eat more protein and fat. You can't overeat on this three-day diet because the objective isn't weight loss. The objective is to switch into ketosis.
Once the switch happens, hunger will dramatically go down and the craving for sugar will stop. In fact, the satisfaction that most people get from eating low carbs can even cause you to forget to eat!
In addition, a low-carb diet is very dehydrating, due to the way that glycogen is processed, so make sure that you drink plenty of water and take advantage of the well-salted chicken broth allowed. When your basic insulin level plunges, as it will on this diet, your kidneys will excrete extra sodium along with all of the water.
Replenishing that sodium will help with any leg cramps or disruption in electrolytes that might manifest during those first 3 days. If the sodium isn't enough to keep you feeling energetic and free of leg cramps, additional electrolytes you'll want to pay attention to are potassium, calcium, and magnesium.
Lite salt is similar to Nu-Salt, and contains a 50/50 mix of sodium to potassium, where No-Salt or Nu-Salt is strictly potassium salt. Some people find Nu-Salt easier to tolerate.
Salt substitutes can be a bit bitter, so I always add them to something that contains a lot of liquid like soup or my homemade salad dressings to make sure that the potassium salt dissolves completely.
Since it's a good idea to drink salty broth anyway, you can just dissolve a little Nu-Salt into your broth for a better electrolyte mixture. (For a recipe on how to make your own salty chicken broth, click here.)
Three-Day Ketogenic Menu for Getting Into Ketosis Fast
 |
| I always start my Keto Quick-Start Diet with a lot of cooked chicken or turkey in the house. |
If you're coming from a standard American diet, looking over the skimpy variety of foods allowed for the first three days might look a bit scary. A ketogenic diet is going to be a major lifestyle shift, so take it slow.
Don't panic.
Switching from a typical diet to low carb lifestyle comes with a huge learning curve. Don't expect to be perfect. The name of the game isn't perfection. The name of the game is permanent change.
Day 1
Breakfast
2 eggs, fried, scrambled, poached, or hard boiled
3 slices of bacon
coffee, tea, diet soda, or water
Morning Snack: 2 ounces hard cheese
Lunch
4 to 8 ounce hamburger, without the bun
top with mustard or mayonnaise
diet gelatin
tea, diet soda, or water
Afternoon Snack: 4-ounce can tuna with mayonnaise (optional)
Dinner
2 to 3 baked chicken legs or thighs, seasoned with herbs and spices
(I normally use seasoning salt, garlic powder, and pepper)
(I normally use seasoning salt, garlic powder, and pepper)
1 cup of lettuce salad with full-fat dressing
diet gelatin topped with real whipped cream
tea, diet soda, or water
Evening Snack: hot chicken broth with minced chicken and celery
Day 2
Breakfast
2 scrambled eggs with 1/4 cup chopped ham
1 ounce hard cheese
coffee, tea, diet soda, or water
Morning Snack: chicken broth with minced chicken, celery, and an egg dribbled into the broth
Lunch
2-cup salad topped with a 4-ounce can of tuna, celery, radishes, and cucumber
full-fat dressing or mayonnaise
diet gelatin
tea, diet soda, or water
Afternoon Snack: 2 deviled eggs
Dinner
6 to 12-ounces broiled steak topped with a pat of butter
celery sticks, cucumber circles, and radishes with ranch dressing
diet gelatin topped with real whipped cream
tea, diet soda, or water
Evening Snack: 4 slices mixed cold cuts with mustard
Day 3
Breakfast
2-egg omelet; fill with 2 ounces grated cheese
coffee, tea, diet soda, or water
Morning Snack: Cucumber slices with ranch dressing
Lunch
1/2 cup chicken salad with bacon, celery, mayonnaise
wrapped in lettuce leaves instead of bread
diet gelatin
tea, diet soda, or water
Afternoon Snack: 3 slices mixed cold cuts with mustard
Dinner
2 small or 1 large pork chop sauteed in butter
small salad of radishes, celery, and cucumbers
full-fat dressing or mayonnaise mixed with mustard
diet gelatin with real whipped cream
tea, diet soda, or water
Evening Snack: Beef broth with chopped meat, celery, and egg dribbled into the broth.
There is nothing magical about the order of the sajian above. You can switch the days around, or make substitutions using other meats if you like. Sometimes, I've cooked up an entire bag of frozen chicken leg quarters and other times I've baked up a huge turkey, and eaten just that, so I didn't have to worry about what to eat.
If you can't do dairy, simply substitute:
In fact, if you don't like gelatin and would rather skip it, you can do that too. Diet gelatin is just what Dr. Atkins recommended to add more volume to the menu.
The 3-Day Keto Diet above is merely a SAMPLE of what you can have. You don't have to follow the sajian exactly. You can use it like a template if you'd rather. It's meant to show you how to control your carbohydrate intake and what types of foods are best to eat.
Steak and pork chops are not better than chicken, turkey, or fish. Pick your favorite meats and use those instead.
You also don't have to eat this much food if you're not hungry. The snacks are definitely optional and meant to give you ideas of how to eat. Most people coming to low carb are used to grabbing chips or a handful of cookies in the afternoon, so the snack suggestions are just that -- suggestions.
The sajian is designed for those who may have 100 pounds to lose, or so. Typically, the heavier you are, the larger the portions you're used to eating, so I've tried to reflect that in the above menu. Portion sizes above are what I would eat if I still weighed over 200 pounds and was doing this three-day quick-start sajian today.
If you are active and still hungry after eating the portions in the above menu, by all means add more protein foods. Raise the serving size to fit your appetite by eating more meat, eggs, and cheese. The aim is to keep your carbohydrate content as low as possible and stay active, so you'll switch into ketosis fast -- the faster the better.
This sajian is just for those who want to get into ketosis faster.
If you want to move into low carb the traditional way, here is a link to the 7-Day Atkins Induction Menu I designed for those who just want to do a normal Induction. That sajian is based on the 2002 version of the Atkins Diet, and where you go next if you don't already have a fixed low-carb diet in mind, and after you've completed the three-day diet above.
I also have a 7-Day Atkins 72 Menu with Recipes and a Shopping List that is quite a bit more lenient than the three-day sajian above if you'd rather follow that one. It's a good choice for those who have done Atkins before or those who have found themselves on a lengthy plateau.
Please note that this Atkins 72 sajian includes flaxmeal muffins, Revolution bread, and other goodies to make the week more pleasant and enjoyable.
How Do I Know if I Am in Ketosis?Additional Tips -- Start on Saturday
 |
| You don't have to eat the jello if you don't want to. In 1972, diet gelatin was a popular dessert. |
There is nothing magical about the order of the sajian above. You can switch the days around, or make substitutions using other meats if you like. Sometimes, I've cooked up an entire bag of frozen chicken leg quarters and other times I've baked up a huge turkey, and eaten just that, so I didn't have to worry about what to eat.
If you can't do dairy, simply substitute:
- hard boiled eggs
- chicken legs or wings
- lunch meats
In fact, if you don't like gelatin and would rather skip it, you can do that too. Diet gelatin is just what Dr. Atkins recommended to add more volume to the menu.
The 3-Day Keto Diet above is merely a SAMPLE of what you can have. You don't have to follow the sajian exactly. You can use it like a template if you'd rather. It's meant to show you how to control your carbohydrate intake and what types of foods are best to eat.
Steak and pork chops are not better than chicken, turkey, or fish. Pick your favorite meats and use those instead.
You also don't have to eat this much food if you're not hungry. The snacks are definitely optional and meant to give you ideas of how to eat. Most people coming to low carb are used to grabbing chips or a handful of cookies in the afternoon, so the snack suggestions are just that -- suggestions.
The sajian is designed for those who may have 100 pounds to lose, or so. Typically, the heavier you are, the larger the portions you're used to eating, so I've tried to reflect that in the above menu. Portion sizes above are what I would eat if I still weighed over 200 pounds and was doing this three-day quick-start sajian today.
If you are active and still hungry after eating the portions in the above menu, by all means add more protein foods. Raise the serving size to fit your appetite by eating more meat, eggs, and cheese. The aim is to keep your carbohydrate content as low as possible and stay active, so you'll switch into ketosis fast -- the faster the better.
This diet is a very restrictive, radical change from what you're probably used to eating, so the above sajian was designed to start on a Friday or Saturday.
That way you're free to add additional foods to the sajian and snacks as needed to satisfy your hunger. No matter how hungry you get for these first three days, eat, eat, and eat some more -- if needed.
Using this easy method, you should be firmly in the state of ketosis by the time you arrive at work on Monday, which will make that third or fourth day much easier to get through. Many people don't need as much food on day three, but occasionally, the body can be a bit stubborn, so just adapt the sajian to suit your appetite.
A typical low-carb diet isn't as limited as this sajian is, so don't let this sample 3-day sajian scare you off. Also note that you don't have to do this radical three-day ketosis diet at all if you don't want to.
That way you're free to add additional foods to the sajian and snacks as needed to satisfy your hunger. No matter how hungry you get for these first three days, eat, eat, and eat some more -- if needed.
Using this easy method, you should be firmly in the state of ketosis by the time you arrive at work on Monday, which will make that third or fourth day much easier to get through. Many people don't need as much food on day three, but occasionally, the body can be a bit stubborn, so just adapt the sajian to suit your appetite.
A typical low-carb diet isn't as limited as this sajian is, so don't let this sample 3-day sajian scare you off. Also note that you don't have to do this radical three-day ketosis diet at all if you don't want to.
This sajian is just for those who want to get into ketosis faster.
If you want to move into low carb the traditional way, here is a link to the 7-Day Atkins Induction Menu I designed for those who just want to do a normal Induction. That sajian is based on the 2002 version of the Atkins Diet, and where you go next if you don't already have a fixed low-carb diet in mind, and after you've completed the three-day diet above.
I also have a 7-Day Atkins 72 Menu with Recipes and a Shopping List that is quite a bit more lenient than the three-day sajian above if you'd rather follow that one. It's a good choice for those who have done Atkins before or those who have found themselves on a lengthy plateau.
Please note that this Atkins 72 sajian includes flaxmeal muffins, Revolution bread, and other goodies to make the week more pleasant and enjoyable.
Struggling to Get Into Ketosis?
If you've been doing Atkins Induction for a solid 2 weeks, without cheating, and are still struggling to get into ketosis, (exhausted and hungry), check out the following articles for additional assistance.3 Ways to Jump Start the Ketosis Process
Can You Be In Ketosis But Not Lose Weight?
Problems Getting Into Ketosis? Here's a Quick Fix!
