The ketogenic diet may help with weight loss, but some exercises may be much more difficult. If you've made the decision to try the ketogenic diet ("keto" for short), you probably expect to experience some of the numerous health advantages it is said to offer. The goal of the keto diet is to induce ketosis in the body. When your body is in ketosis, it uses fat as fuel rather than carbohydrates to function. Keto is hailed for its potential for weight loss, increased energy, and reduced blood sugar swings. Here are few things you should know while on the keto diet:

It may be tougher to boost performance when it comes to high-intensity exercise while on the keto diet

The majority of your body's ability to perform high-intensity exercise, which calls for brief, intense bursts of energy, is fuelled by the carbohydrates you consume. The body stores carbohydrates as muscle glycogen in the cells of the muscles. When you engage in any type of activity that occasionally requires intense movement, such as strength training, sprinting, and other sports, your body immediately converts that muscle glycogen into fuel. If you’re on the keto diet, your body is burning fat for energy rather than carbohydrates (if you’re doing keto right). As a fuel source, that fat isn’t as easily burned as carbohydrates, so the process is overall less efficient, Galpin explains. The result is that the keto diet tends to limit performance during high-intensity workouts, while lower-intensity workouts may be less affected.

Keto May Boost Fat Burn

While the keto diet may not be the best choice for activities that call for quick bursts of energy like weightlifting or spinning, it does appear to help people who prefer steady-state aerobic exercise, such as distance running or cycling at a steady pace, burn more fat. In contrast to walkers on a more typical diet that included carbohydrates, athletes on ketogenic diets were able to significantly increase the amount of fat burned in their bodies during training, according to a 2017 study of elite competitive walkers. But even though they burned more fat while exercising while on the keto diet, those athletes also performed worse than those who followed the more conventional diet. The race walkers on the ketogenic diet expressed dissatisfaction that they felt they required more effort to complete the same workouts as the athletes on a more conventional diet and that they were less likely to finish the prescribed workouts than the athletes on the more conventional diet.

You May Feel Like Your Gas Pedal Doesn’t Work as Well, Especially at First

As your body becomes "keto-adapted," it starts to teach itself to burn fat for energy rather than carbohydrates. At first, that process might make you feel less motivated to exercise than usual. Some research findings suggest that athletes have been successful in increasing their ability to use fat as a fuel source. While athletes on a high-fat diet experienced reduced energy initially, the athletes experienced a return of higher levels later on, especially during exercise.

Your Body May Burn Calories Quicker on Keto

According to a 2018 study, overweight adults who swapped out carbohydrates for fat for five months were able to burn about 250 more calories per day than those who followed a high-carbohydrate, low-fat diet. A gramme of fat contains 9 calories, compared to 4 for a gramme of protein or carbohydrate, per the U.S. Department of Agriculture. However, fat is more calorie-dense per gramme than carbohydrates. When it comes to weight loss, that difference in daily caloric burn can add up. Keep in mind that in order to lose weight, the body must burn more calories than it consumes.