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How to Get Into Ketosis in Less Than 3 Days
Steak with Zucchini, Mushrooms, Tomato
What is theAbsolutely FastestWay to Get IntoKetosis?

Ketogenic diets work by reducing basal insulin levels, lowering blood triglycerides, and setting up conditions that will move you into a state of ketosis.

Getting into ketosis fast is important because when the body produces ketones, your hunger level goes down, your energy goes up, and you experience a state of well-being. These benefits will make it easier for you to stick to your diet plan.

Ordinarily, on a typical keto diet, it takes 3 to 5 days to enter into the state of ketosis, depending on how many carbohydrates per day you were eating before you started restricting them. If you’re coming from a carb-heavy diet, it will take longer than if you’re merely switching from one weight-loss plan to Atkins, Keto, or LCHF.

But there are much quicker methods.

The method I’m going to share with you today, along with a 3-day kickstart menu to show you how it’s done, is the absolute fastest way to get there, other than water fasting.

While nutrition should never be sacrificed at the expense of your health, this short jump start program won’t be how you eat long term. The plan is only meant to be followed for 3 days. After that, you’ll switch into a normal low-carb diet plan, so with that in mind, here is how you can get into ketosis in less than 3 days.

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Getting Into Ketosis Quickly is the Key to Successful Weight Loss

For those who are struggling to lose weight, picking the right diet program is essential for success.

If you go with a plan that leaves you tired, hungry, and craving chocolate chip cookies, that diet won’t be very effective long term.

The advantage of going with a ketogenic diet plan is that you’ll be able to eat a lot of the foods that you are not allowed to eat on a high-carbohydrate fat-restricted diet, so the problem of deprivation is much less of an issue.

The key to making the diet work is to get into the real state of ketosis quickly, so your cravings for junk food goes way down. This is accomplished by minimizing your carbohydrate intake.

A standard low-carb diet advises you to begin dieting by eating between 20- and 30-net carbs per day, depending on which low-carb diet plan you choose. Ketogenic diets limit you to 20-net carbs, or less.

What are Net Carbs?

Net carbs are the total carbohydrates found in the food you want to eat, minus the fiber content in grams.

For example, if you were thinking about eating a cup of broccoli with your bun-less burger for lunch, a cup of cut-up broccoli has a total of 8 carbohydrates. According to my Corinne T. Netzer’s“Complete Book of Food Counts," that cup of broccoli also has 4.6 grams of fiber.

To find the net carb count, you subtract the amount of fiber (4.6 grams) listed in the book for that food from the total carb count (8 grams). That results in a net carb count of 3.4 carbs. Except for those doing Atkins 72, the net-carb count is the number you keep track of.

There are additional food restrictions during the first couple of weeks to help you get into ketosis easier, but since weight loss isn’t the goal during the first week or two, there’s no reason why you can’t be in ketosis in less than 3 days and then move into your chosenlow-carb plan.

Most people actually go into ketosis within 24 hours. You just won’t start spilling ketones into the urine for another day or two. By the time those ketone testing strips are turning at least pink, ketosis is well underway.

Ketosis Diet Meal Plan for Getting Into Ketosis Fast

Most low-carb diet plans come with strict rules and guidelines. A keto diet plan is no different. Ketogenic diets suggest you limit your carbohydrate intake to no more than 20-net carbs per day.

However, if you eat less than 20-net carbs and bump up your activity level, you’ll get into ketosis faster.

This quicker pace is because your body will have to use more of its carbohydrate stores, called glycogen. When the body’s glycogen level drops to about half of what it was, the liver ramps up ketone production to provide the energy you need to function.

**The fewer carbohydrates you eat and the more active you are during those first 3 days, the faster that will begin to happen. **

In 1972, the Atkins Induction Diet consisted of:

Variety was severely limited to help you get into the state of ketosis fast. You also did not count net carbs. Instead, Dr. Atkins used the total carbohydrate content of the foods he recommended you eat, which included the fiber.

In Dr. Atkins perspective, that 2 cup-salad was treated by the body as if you hadn’t eaten any carbohydrates at all. To him, that was a great blessing because a zero-carb diet isn’t all that appetizing and the salad helps to make your ketogenic diet special.

In addition to the above foods, one was allowed to plop a pat of butter on top of their meat, dip hard boiled eggs into a sauce of mustard and mayonnaise, make deviled eggs, or eat a hefty serving of diet gelatin with real whipped cream for dessert.

For those who enjoy coffee, you can have that too, provided you use a little bit of real heavy cream instead of milk, and use sugar substitute to sweeten it. Diet soda and tea was also allowed, as was club soda.

In other words, for 3 days, you eat only the barest amount of carbohydrates you can tolerate, and try to stay as active as possible. That was what Dr. Atkins recommended in 1972. This method of getting into ketosis fast still works great today!

Ignore Calories and Weight Loss for 3 Days

When we’re talking about getting into the state of ketosis as quickly as possible, we aren’t talking about how to lose weight fast.

While a keto diet is one of the quickest ways to lose weight, that isn’t what we’re trying to do right now.

Right now, the aim is to get into ketosis without a lot of effort, and eating from the above short list of foods will help you get there.

So for 3 days:

Ignore the calories in what you’re eating, eat until you’re satisfied, and stay completely away from the bathroom scale.

Don’t weigh yourself, and don’t skimp on the amount of food you eat.

Calories have nothing to do with getting into ketosis. I know that sounds counter intuitive, but Atkins, Keto, and even LCHF are not weight-loss diets. They are a complete change in lifestyle. Each program teaches you how to make healthier food habits, so you change what you look like now into a newer and better you.

There is a lot of controversy within low-carb diet circles right now about the amount of protein you need to eat to see a decent amount of weight loss each week. This controversy actually began from a misconception about sports performance versus a weight-loss plan.

When the body runs out of glycogen during those first couple of days, it will ramp up protein oxidation. In other words, if you aren’t eating enough protein, your body will burn muscle tissue for fuel. After a few days, however, the body will switch to predominantly burning fatty acids, but will continue to burn muscle tissue if you don’t provide the amino acids it needs to repair daily wear and tear.

According to Lyle McDonald’s *“The Ketogenic Diet,"*the bare minimum of protein you need during the first 3 weeks of a low-carb diet, to avoid muscle loss, is **150 grams of protein per day. **

So forget what other people are telling you, and eat until you’re satisfied. Converting protein into glucose is a lengthy, complex process, which body only initiates if you aren’t eating enough carbs to feed the brain. Since the 3-day kick start plan provided below is only meant to be followed for three days, the carbs in your salad, vegetables, and other low-carb foods will supply all of the glycogen your body needs.

Once you get into ketosis, you can make other choices about your diet and adjust your:

to help you achieve your desired weight-loss goals. For now, forget about those dietary macronutrients. There’s plenty of time to perfect your diet later on.

And while we’re on the topic, don’t forget that this 3-day diet is simply an introduction to a ketogenic diet. It’s not a keto diet itself. A true keto diet is much more varied and includes lots of vegetables to help you from getting bored.

If you have never been on a low-carb diet before, or you are returning to low carb after a diet break, before you start this 3-day keto diet, make sure that you read our ultimate beginner’s guide to low-carb diets.

This extensive beginner’s guide explains:

And much, much more. This popular article shares vital information that you need to know to take charge of your health and reach your weight-loss goals as soon as possible. Once you’ve read the guide, you’ll be ready to progress to the 3-Day Quick-Start Keto Diet explained below:

What to Expect During Those First 3 Days

Despite a ketogenic diet’s ability to control your hunger and cravings, when the body first runs out of fuel, it will let you know.

Hunger may increase dramatically.

Cravings for cakes and cookies may fill your thoughts, and you’ll find it difficult to concentrate on things other than food.

You might even begin to dream about eating high-carb goodies, such as cakes and cookies.

This is perfectly normal.

The body has run out of glycogen, the storage form of carbohydrate, and is trying to coax you into giving it some carbs.

If you ignore the cravings for potatoes and bread, and eat protein and fats instead – a can of tuna or rotisserie chicken mixed with mayonnaise works well for that – the cravings will go away and the body will switch from burning predominantly glucose for fuel to being a fat-burning engine instead.

Once the switch happens, hunger will dramatically go down and the craving for sugar will stop.

However, keep in mind that a low-carb ketogenic diet is very dehydrating, due to the way that glycogen is processed, so **make sure that you drink plenty of water and take advantage of the well-salted chicken broth allowed. **

**Extra sodium will help with any leg cramps or disruption in electrolytes **that might manifest during those first 3 days. If the sodium isn’t enough, additional electrolytes you’ll want to pay attention to are potassium, calcium, and magnesium.

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When sodium is washed out of the body, due to glycogen processing, potassium is washed out with it. Since you aren’t eating very many veggies right now, using No-Salt or Nu-Salt salt substitute on your food can help replace the potassium you’re missing. Lite salt is similar, and contains a 50/50 mix of sodium to potassium, where No-Salt or Nu-Salt is strictly potassium salt.

Salt substitutes can be a bit bitter, though, so I always add them to something that contains a lot of liquid like soup or my homemade salad dressings to make sure that the potassium salt dissolves completely. Since it’s a good idea to drink salty broth anyway, you can just dissolve a little Nu-Salt into your broth for a better electrolyte mixture.

3-Day Ketogenic Menu for Getting Into Ketosis Fast

If you’re coming from a standard American diet, looking over the skimpy variety of foods allowed for the first three days might look a bit scary.

A ketogenic diet is going to be a major lifestyle change, so take it slow. Don’t panic.

You also shouldn’t make it overly important right now. You are definitely going to make mistakes. Just assume you will, and forgive yourselfbefore you make them. Switching from a typical diet to low carb comes with a huge learning curve.

Don’t expect to be perfect. The name of the game isn’t perfection. The name of the game is permanent change.

Day 1

Breakfast 2 eggs, fried, scrambled, poached, or hard boiled 3 slices of bacon coffee, tea, diet soda, or water Morning Snack: 2 ounces hard cheese Lunch 4 to 8 ounce hamburger, without the bun top with mustard or mayonnaise

1 cup of lettuce salad with full-fat salad dressing

diet gelatin tea, diet soda, or water Afternoon Snack: 4-ounce can tuna with mayonnaise (optional) Dinner 2 to 3 baked chicken legs or thighs, seasoned with herbs and spices (I normally use seasoning salt, garlic powder, and pepper) 1 cup of lettuce salad with full-fat dressing diet gelatin topped with real whipped cream tea, diet soda, or water Evening Snack: hot chicken broth with minced chicken and celery

Day 2

Breakfast 2 scrambled eggs with 1/4 cup chopped ham 1 ounce hard cheese coffee, tea, diet soda, or water

Morning Snack: chicken broth with minced chicken, celery, and an egg dribbled into the broth

Lunch 2-cup salad topped with a 4-ounce can of tuna, celery, radishes, and cucumber full-fat dressing or mayonnaise diet gelatin tea, diet soda, or water Afternoon Snack: 2 deviled eggs Dinner 6 to 12-ounces broiled steak topped with a pat of butter celery sticks, cucumber circles, and radishes with ranch dressing diet gelatin topped with real whipped cream tea, diet soda, or water Evening Snack: 4 slices mixed cold cuts with mustard

Day 3

Breakfast 2-egg omelet; fill with 2 ounces grated cheese coffee, tea, diet soda, or water Morning Snack: Cucumber slices with ranch dressing Lunch 1/2 cup chicken salad with bacon, celery, mayonnaise wrapped in lettuce leaves instead of bread diet gelatin tea, diet soda, or water Afternoon Snack: 3 slices mixed cold cuts with mustard Dinner 2 small or 1 large pork chop sauteed in butter small salad of radishes, celery, and cucumbers full-fat dressing or mayonnaise mixed with mustard diet gelatin with real whipped cream tea, diet soda, or water

Evening Snack: Beef broth with chopped meat, celery, and egg dribbled into the broth

Additional Tips – Start on Saturday

There is nothing magical about the order of the menu above. You can switch the days around, or make substitutions using other meats if you like.

If you can’t do dairy, simply substitute:

Choose whatever protein food you have for the cheese, and leave the whipped cream off your gelatin.

In fact, if you don’t like gelatin and would rather skip it, you can do that too. Diet gelatin is just what Dr. Atkins recommended to add more volume to the menu.

This 3-day keto diet above is merely a SAMPLE of what you can have. You don’t have to follow the menu exactly. It’s meant to show you how to control your carbohydrate intake.

You don’t have to eat this much food if you’re not hungry. It’s designed for those who may have 100 pounds to lose, or so. If you are active and still hungry, after eating the portions in the menu, you can certainly add more.

The aim is to keep your carbohydrate content as low as possible and stay active, so you’ll switch into ketosis fast, the faster the better.

This is a very restrictive, radical change from what you’re probably used to eating, so **the above menu was designed to start on a Saturday. **

That way you’re free to add additional foods to the menu and snacks as needed to satisfy your hunger. No matter how hungry you get for these first 3 days, eat, eat, and eat some more – if needed.

Using this easy method, you should be firmly in the state of ketosis by the time you arrive at work on Monday, which will make that third day much easier to get through. Many people don’t need as much food on day 3, so just adapt the menu to suit your appetite. Leave out the snacks or cut the protein volume in half.

A typical low-carb diet isn’t as limited as this menu is, so don’t let this sample 3-day menu scare you off.

Also note that you don’t have to do this radical 3-day ketosis diet at all if you don’t want to.

This menu is just for those who want to get into ketosis faster.

If you want to move into low carb the traditional way, here is a Link to the 7-Day Atkins Induction MenuI designed for those who just want to do a normal Induction. That menu is based on the 2002 version of the Atkins Diet, and where you go next after you’ve completed the 3-day diet above.

I also have a 7-Day Atkins 72 Menu with Recipes and a Shopping List that is quite a bit more lenient than the 3-day menu if you’d rather follow that one. The newer Atkins 72 menu includes flaxmeal muffins, Revolution bread, and other goodies to make the week more pleasant and enjoyable.

Struggling to Get Into Ketosis?

If you’ve been doing Atkins Induction for a solid 2 weeks, without cheating, and are still struggling to get into ketosis, check out our latest article on Why Am I Not in Ketosis Yet?

It presents 12 stumbling blocks that can interfere with getting into the state of ketosis and offers tips and ideas on how you can overcome those road blocks, so you can be on your way to reaching your weight-loss goals.

Likewise, How Do I Know if I Am in Ketosis? walks you through the various side effects, symptoms, and signs of being in ketosis, so you can determine if you are in a ketogenic state, or not. This article also provides a few tips on dealing with uncomfortable symptoms.

And don’t forget to check out the navigational section at the top of the blog that deals with your personal low-carb diet of choice, so you understand everything you need to know to start losing fat right away.

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