The Daily Nutrition

9 Signs Your Body is Telling You When You’re in Ketosis

Know you're in ketosis when your body is giving you these clues.

When you start a ketogenic diet, you want your body to eventually reach a state that is known as ketosis.

Note: If you don’t know what the ketogenic diet is about then check out the Ketogenic Diet: Beginner’s Guide to Keto and Weight Loss.

Ketosis is when your body starts producing ketones, which your body will use as its source of energy. This is when your body starts its conversion from being a sugar-burner to a fat-burner.

Why does being a fat-burner benefit you?

All of that excess fat on your body starts to magically disappear and your body starts to look like the body you’ve always wanted.

You don’t immediately enter ketosis when you start a ketogenic diet, though. It takes a little bit of time. But how do you know you’re in ketosis?

Below are signs that will help you determine if you’re in ketosis.

9 Signs You Might Be in Ketosis

If your body is in ketosis, you will more than likely experience some, hopefully not all, of these signs. However, if you happen to be experiencing all of these signs then it’s safe to say that your body is in ketosis.

1. Weight Loss

One of the most obvious, yet deceptive signs of ketosis is weight loss. You could be losing weight because of the diet or because of a number of different reasons.

However, if you’re being strict with your ketogenic diet then you can more than likely attribute the weight loss to the diet.

You will start to see the weight drop off consistently when you’re body is in ketosis. Eventually, you’ll probably hit a plateau with the weight loss but that won’t happen for weeks.

When you switch to a low carb intake you usually experience significant weight loss in the initial week. In the first 28 days, there have been accounts of people losing over 10 pounds of fat. Here is an example of how somebody lost 12 lbs in the first 28 days of Keto.

It’s important to note that this initial weight loss is more than likely not fat. It is that water weight that was being held by the fat cells in your body.

When the fat cells hold onto the water, they can’t flow through your body and be used as energy so instead, your body will continue to store them.

Once you’re able to get rid of that water weight the fat will start to fall off. Any weight loss you see at this point will be fat.

2. Loss of Appetite

Funny thing about cutting carbs from your diet, you start to lose your appetite. You just don’t get as hungry as you used to be.

Don’t get me wrong, you won’t lose your appetite altogether, but it will take hours and hours before you start to feel that hungry feeling. There won’t be any worry for a snack an hour after your lunch break.

When you are eating, you are more than likely not going to overeat. Overeating is a problem that many people face without realizing it. A keto diet causes your body to have a satiated feeling for a much longer time.

This is a big reason for not having as much of an appetite.

3. Increased Focus and Energy

This is something that I’m sure everyone can benefit from. Having increased focus and energy can lead to a lot more possibilities in almost all aspects of your life.

A lot of you, like me, are probably the type of person that may struggle to wake up in the morning or stay awake throughout the day without fighting the urge to take a nap. A keto diet can help you stay awake and alert for a much longer time during the day.

No more urges to take a nap.

This is a small difference that can lead to much better health results down the road.

When you’re producing ketones, your body is using this as energy. In ketosis, your body is producing even more ketones and this leads to even more energy. Having an excess amount of energy will allow your brain to almost function fully for a much longer time.

4. Short-Term Fatigue

Yes, I know, this completely contradicts the point I just made, but just hear me out for a second.

Starting a keto diet is a big change in lifestyle. Your brain is going to need time to adjust.

Everything about your body has to change. It’s not used to what you’re starting to put it through.

Your body is so used to having sugar that is all it’s looking for initially. When it doesn’t find any of that, you can say that there is some sort of lag time during this short adjustment period. This is when you feel that fatigue.

During the entirety of a keto diet, your body will be releasing a lot of electrolytes as well so you need to do what you can to keep them in your system, mostly by staying as hydrated as possible.

Staying hydrated and maintaining electrolytes will help your body combat the short-term fatigue you will probably have.

You can easily replenish your electrolytes through special drinks and supplements or through your food. Adding sodium (salt) to your food will help add more electrolytes to your diet.

Taking the supplement route, you should consume at least 2,000-4,000 mg of sodium, 1,000 mg of potassium, and 300 mg of magnesium.

We prefer to mix Mio Electrolytes Berry Blast with our water. It’s simple and adds an extra bit of flavor to some water.

ketosis signs

5. Toilet Issues

By toilet issues, I mean bowel movements. As hard as that may be to accept, it’s not going to be what it once was.

Your body will react in one of three ways here:

  1. Constipation – You may go days without going to the bathroom. A simple solution may be to add a bit more fiber to your diet.
  2. Diarrhea – This definitely sounds horrible, but it could be something that goes with the saying, “Things get worse before they get better.”
  3. Nothing – The people that don’t experience any change can be considered the lucky ones as there bowel movements go on as normal.

6. Bad Breath

Some of us wake up with bad breath already. Imagine having bad breath even after brushing your teeth. Doesn’t mean anything is wrong with you.

This could just mean that your body is producing more acetone than normal. The only way acetone leaves your body is in your urine or through your breath. So expect your pee to smell a bit too.

Chewing gum or keeping mints nearby is adviced. You don’t want to run into the wrong person and have a conversation with them when you have horrible smelling breath.

Luckily, the bad breath won’t last forever. The longer you stick with the diet, the more normalized your breath will become.

7. Short-Term Decreases in Performance

This can tie into the short-term fatigue. Fatigue usually leads to drops in performances, but not always.

When you’re exercising at first, you’re probably going to feel as though you have less energy than you usually do.

Even if you’re already in shape, you could find some workouts to be harder because of your lack of energy.

This is just because your body is going through a lot of changes. Expect this to change in about a weeks time when your body has started to get used to the very little carbs it’s consuming.

8. Increased Ketones

When your body is in ketosis, you will have more ketones. That is a byproduct of being in ketosis.

Using a Glucose Meter is a great way to check your ketone levels.

Test strips are a cheaper alternative but can be much harder to read.

9. Insomnia

In other words, lack of sleep. You can expect to wake up in the middle of the night and not get a full nights rest.

No need to worry, this will improve over a short period of time.

Again, your body is going through a lot of changes and needs a time period to adjust.

Be Ready For Change

Everyone is going to react differently during the initial stages of a ketogenic diet. Getting into the ketosis phase may take some time and people will experience different side effects.

Do not get discouraged when you read that somebody lost 15 pounds in a short time frame while you haven’t even lost 10 in that same period of time.

Stick with the diet and your body will enter ketosis and you will be on the right path towards a body with less and less fat.

Be ready for the change that you are about to experience and embrace it with open arms.

Keto Dash is great for anybody looking for guidance through the Ketogenic Diet with a great and supportive community behind them.







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