How fast can you lose weight on Keto? You can lose up to 7 to 9 pounds in the first week on a Keto diet because of the initial water loss involved and depending on how much you weigh. When you are on keto you will urine more and that urination will cause a good amount of water weight loss.
The glycogen stored in your muscles and liver is bound with water. And it is at a ratio of 3 grams of water to each gram of glycogen.
When you burn through stored carbs the water is excreted through sweat and urine. And the water loss comes from all of the excretion, so your weight loss isn’t fat loss it is water loss.

The more you weigh the more water you will lose after starting keto. To be in the state of ketosis you have to consume 50 grams of carbs a day or less. Carbs are your primary source of energy for most people. And when you cut your carbs so low it can drastically affect your energy levels.
A Keto diet is a high fat and low carb diet and when you are in this ketosis phase the nutrients that provide energy to you will come from your fats.
Here is some common Keto worthy type of foods:
- Nuts and Seeds– peanuts, sunflower seeds, nut, seeds butter, etc.
- Fish and shellfish– Salmon, lobster, crab, shrimp, etc.
- Meats and poultry– chicken, pork, beef, turkey, etc.
- Healthy Oils– Flaxseed oil, avocado oil, extra virgin oil, etc.
- High Fat Products– Butter, cream, and most cheeses, etc.
- Unsweetened beverages– water, coffee, tea, etc.
Here are foods you want to avoid on a Keto diet:
Grains– bread, pasta, cereal, oats, etc.
Starchy Vegetables– potatoes, sweet potatoes, corn, etc.
Fruits– apples, bananas, oranges, etc.
Sugary Foods– ice cream, candy, cookies, desserts, etc.
Sugary Drinks– sodas, sports drinks, fruit juices, etc.
One of the health risks of being on a keto diet is being at a high risk of heart disease because of how unhealthy it is to be on a high fat diet. A high fat diet especially if a lot of that fat is coming from trans fat increases the risk for a lot of chronic health diseases. On a keto diet only 5% of your calories comes from carbs and very few people can function well from a day to day energy perspective on such a low amount of carbs daily.
One of the things that is important to understand is when you limit carbs your body burns through carbs stores in your muscles and liver called glycogen within a few days. After this phase your body converts to ketosis and the ketones are broken down from dietary fat or stored fat as your primary source of fuel.
Keto was originally created to treat people who have epilepsy but then people decided to use it as a weight loss program.
“You can lose up to 7 to 9 pounds in the first week on a Keto diet because of the initial water loss involved and depending on how much you weigh.” Celebrity Fitness & Nutrition Expert Obi Obadike
The Bottom Line is you will lose the most amount of weight on a keto diet the first week because of the considerable amount of weight loss that comes from cutting your carbs to 50 grams or less. In that first week you can lose up to 7 to 8 pounds. Keto is not something that is sustainable from a long-term perspective. Because for your body to function properly it needs more than 50 grams of carbs per day.
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References
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- Fernández-Elías VE, Ortega JF, Nelson RK, Mora-Rodriguez R. Relationship between muscle water and glycogen recovery after prolonged exercise in the heat in humans. Eur J Appl Physiol. 2015 Sep;115(9):1919-26. doi: 10.1007/s00421-015-3175-z. Epub 2015 Apr 25. PMID: 25911631.
- Song P, Zechner C, Hernandez G, Cánovas J, Xie Y, Sondhi V, Wagner M, Stadlbauer V, Horvath A, Leber B, Hu MC, Moe OW, Mangelsdorf DJ, Kliewer SA. The Hormone FGF21 Stimulates Water Drinking in Response to Ketogenic Diet and Alcohol. Cell Metab. 2018 Jun 5;27(6):1338-1347.e4. doi: 10.1016/j.cmet.2018.04.001. Epub 2018 Apr 12. PMID: 29657029; PMCID: PMC5990458.
- Masood W, Annamaraju P, Uppaluri KR. Ketogenic Diet. [Updated 2022 Jun 11]. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2022 Jan-. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK499830/