How do you know when your Keto diet is working? According to a post from healthline.com, there are at least 10 common symptoms, both positive and negative, that will signify Ketosis. I’m just on my third day but I can already relate to some of these. As early as the 2nd day, I have already experienced 5 symptoms.

My signs of Ketosis

1. Bad Breath – To quote the friend who introduced me to Keto, “It’s a small price to pay for sexiness.” The smell comes from acetone, a Ketone excreted through breath and urine when one is in Ketosis. Ketones, by the way, are the byproducts created by the body when it converts fat to energy. This means one thing – the Keto diet is working, and fat is now my body’s source of energy! Good news is that this will eventually go away.
2. Frequent urination – Ketosis releases water being held by fat cells. This is also a reason why we need to drink more water than usual to prevent dehydration. That naturally results to more trips to the toilet.
3. Dry mouth and cracked lips – Similar to #2, there is a risk of being dehydrated when you’re not drinking enough water while doing the Keto diet. I try to drink at least 3 liters of water, and dry mouth/cracked lips throughout the day reminds me to keep drinking water!
4. Appetite suppression – And this is very true to me, I could live with only 2 meals a day, no snacks. Breakfast is bulletproof coffee, so my actual meals are just for lunch and dinner. They say that you are less hungry because the body now does a better job of regulating the hormones that trigger the feeling of hunger in your brain. Who knows exactly what the reason is, but I swear, I am feeling full throughout the day!
5. Increased energy and focus – I wake up feeling refreshed and energized, and for the first time in the longest time, I’m actually excited to start my day. On the first day, I felt so sleepy after lunch, but on the second and third day, I had so much energy which made me a lot more productive at work.

Other symptoms include weight loss, but I don’t want to measure myself until at least a week after. Now, there are better ways to really tell if you are in Ketosis such as urine strips and breath analyzers. I have just ordered urine strips so that I can really prove that I am where I want to be, and that my body is now using fat as its source of energy! I will let you know once that arrives and I test it.

Food of the day

Since I’ve started sharing photos of what I’m eating on this diet, below is my lunch for Day 3.

Three eggs, butter, salt and pepper – that’s all it takes to prepare a quick, delicious and high fat meal!

I bought this from the office cafeteria because I had to have some vegetables for nutrition purposes. Balance is key!

For dinner, I fried some leftover salmon belly (in butter and oil) with some salt and pepper.

These were so good that I exceeded my fat allocation for the day! I ended at 81-15-4. At least my carbs are still in check! I will just try to adjust my macros tomorrow.

As an added bonus, I love how I am looking forward to actually cooking my meals because I know what ingredients are going in to it versus just buying them from somewhere! And I get to save money, too!

That’s all for today!