Ok, so you’ve decided you’re ready to lose weight. You’ve researched and you’ve decided that you want to use the keto diet to do it. Now your big question is ‘how long does it take to get into ketosis’?

This is a valid question!

Is it going to take you days or weeks? Or even months? Knowing what to expect makes the process a bit easier.

You’ll be happy to hear that it generally takes 1-3 days, but can take up to 7, to get into ketosis.

What does ketosis actually mean?

At Brainy Gains, we talk a lot about the keto diet. If you want to learn more about it, click here.

I’ll give you a quick update before we move on. Ketosis is the state where the body is using ketones, from fat stores, for fuel. Normally, your body is using glucose from carbohydrates to create fuel for the body to function. When we drastically lower the amount of carbohydrates we consume, we don’t have enough glucose and we use ketones as fuel.

As you can imagine, this is a process that won’t happen overnight (in most people) but will take a few days.

How long does it take to get into ketosis?

As I said, it can be different for everyone but generally the lower the carbs you consume, the quicker it will happen. To get into ketosis, you want to keep your net carbs (total carbs – fibre = net carbs) below 20 grams.

Once you’re in ketosis, you’ll be aiming for your net carbs to be 50 grams or less.

How to get into ketosis fast

In this post, I give you 11 tips to help you get into ketosis fast. They give you some great general guidelines to follow.

I do, however, want to outline two ways that you can speed up getting into ketosis.

Remember you will need to monitor your ketones and I recommend using these urine testing strips.

How to get into ketosis in 1-3 days

I’m going to start by saying this is extreme but it does get you into ketosis fast. This is also a short term solution and once you’ve reached ketosis, you will go straight to a keto diet.

In this method, you only eat avocado (the perfect keto food). You can eat as much as you want when you want.

With this, you need to make sure you’re drinking plenty of water. When I say plenty, I mean a lot! Drink water continuously through the day.

Do this until you reach ketosis. You will know this when your urine test strip comes back with a positive.

Get into ketosis within 7 days

This method isn’t as extreme as the method above but it can take a little longer.

With this method, you’re going to use intermittent fasting to help you get into ketosis faster. Intermittent fasting will force the body to use the glycogen stores first and then once they’re depleted, you will use ketones for energy.

It is often recommended that you use the 16/8 guide whilst on the keto diet. This means that you’re fasting for 16 hours and only eating within the 8-hour window that remains. To speed things up, I’m going to suggest that you make that a little tighter and try 18/6. This means that you’re only eating within a 6-hour window.

This 6-hour window can be flexible somewhat but generally, it’s going to fall between 11 am-7 pm. Choose what will work for you so that you’re more likely to stick to it.

Within this window, you can eat a basic keto diet – a palm-sized portion of quality meat and low carb veggies (dark leafy greens, zucchini, broccoli, cauliflower, capsicum, mushrooms). During this phase, you can essentially eat as many low carb veggie as you want. You want to be able to get through this period so make sure you’re not restricting your veggie intake.

Important note: make sure you’re staying hydrated and drinking plenty of water during this period! This is so important!

I do also recommend starting with The Perfect Keto Starter Bundle from Perfect Keto. It contains everything you need to get started on the keto diet including Exogenous Ketone Base, Keto Collagen, MCT Oil Powder and Urine Test Strips.

Once you become ‘fat-adapted’

The term ‘fat-adapted’ means once you’re into ketosis and are starting to get the benefits from it. Your body is using ketones for energy and you’re starting to see weight loss happen.

Once you’re fat-adapted, then you can open your eating period to 8 hours and consume a keto diet. This means that you’re consuming a palm-sized piece of protein (make sure it’s a quality source of protein) and plenty of low carb vegetables.

You can start the day with plenty of water and a black coffeeto help you get through to your eating window.