Do You Need to Exercise to Lose Weight on Keto?

If you’ve read about keto online, or if you’ve done keto, you probably know powerful keto is for weight loss. 

But, you might be wondering if you should even exercise on keto if your goal is to lose weight? 

I’ve personally lost 40 pounds on keto, & I’ve also wondered if I should’ve exercised on keto or not.

In this article I’ll discuss if exercising is good for weight loss, & if you should exercise on keto or not.

How Does Keto Work?

Keto works for weight loss because when you eat a small amount of carbs, your body enters a metabolic state called ketosis. In this state your body burns fat instead of carbs for energy. 

When you eat under 50 grams of net carbs per day & reach ketosis, & once you reach ketosis you can lose weight really easily. 

This is because whenever your insulin lowers with keto, then you automatically start eating less.

This helps you to lose weight without being super hungry.

If you want to learn more about the ketogenic diet, here are the benefits of keto.

How to Lose Weight on Keto

To lose weight on keto, all you need to do is eat <50 grams of net carbs per day. This would lower your insulin enough so you can reach ketosis. Once you reach ketosis, you’d automatically start eating less & losing weight.

As long as you just don’t eat any high carb foods like fruit, bread, etc, you’ll reach ketosis automatically & start losing weight.

Do You Need to Exercise to Lose Weight on Keto?

No, you don’t need to exercise to lose weight on keto. As long as you eat <50 grams of net carbs per day, you’ll reach ketosis and lose weight. There no need to exercise for hours just to erase that progress in a minute of eating.

I personally lost over 40 pounds on keto without exercising at all.

If you’re overweight, the last thing you should do is focus your attention on cardio.

If you’re overweight & want to lose weight, just focus on eating under 50 grams of net carbs per day & you’ll lose weight.

After I did keto alone, I reached around 50% of my weight loss goal, but then I stopped losing weight.

But, to keep losing weight, I added intermittent fasting on top of keto. 

If you want to lose weight faster on keto, add intermittent fasting on top of keto, not exercise.

But, if you’ve already got the hang of keto, starting an exercise habit can be great for your overall health?

Benefits of Exercising on Keto

The biggest benefits of exercising on keto are that it helps you to gain muscle, improve your mood, & burn calories. Not only can exercising help you to lose weight, the biggest benefits of exercising are that it helps you to gain muscle & improve your wellbeing.

In addition to helping you lose weight and improve your health, exercise is also great for your brain.

Studies have shown that regularly exercising can keep your brain young and improve your cognitive function, including memory and problem-solving skills. 

Studies have also found that regular exercise can improve your mood, reduce anxiety and enhance feelings of wellbeing. 

Studies have also found that exercise can help with depression and anxiety, two mental health issues that are extremely common.

But, in my opinion the biggest benefit of exercise is building muscle.

Why Should Men Build Muscle?

If you’re a man & you want to be stronger & look better, you should aim to build muscle

If you’ve lost weight on keto, then your next goal should be to build muscle so you can enjoy the benefits of being stronger & looking better.

Though I didn’t exercise at all through my weight loss journey (because I was too lazy,) after I lost all the weight I wanted to lose, I started lifting weights.

I knew that exercising daily would be a great healthy habit, & I knew how impactful losing weight was to my life, I started lifting weights.

If you’re a man who wants to become more disciplined, stronger, & more attractive, you should lift weights.

Why Should Women Build Muscle?

If you’re a woman, you may be wondering if you should even build muscle by lifting weights. You might think that lifting weights would make you look too muscular. However, working out would just make you look more fit. In fact, most of the women who look good or have big butts workout.

Think about it. If you workout your glutes everyday with an exercise like hip thrusts, for multiple sets, your butt has no choice but to grow (pun not intended.)

But, I understand if you still aren’t convinced. 

However, working out, regardless of it’s lifting weights or not, is great for your health.

And if you start working out, try doing more weight lifting & see how it goes. 

You’ll likely be shocked by how big of an impact it can have to your physique compared to doing cardio.

Should You Exercise to Lose Weight on Keto?

No, if your main goal on keto is to lose weight you shouldn’t exercise. You can spend hours exercising and erase all of the progress you made with one minute of eating. But, if you lost all the weight you wanted to lose on keto, you should exercise to build muscle.

Exercising on keto is a double-edged sword. 

On one hand, exercising regularly can help you lose weight while on keto, because it increases your metabolism and burns calories. 

But, on the other hand, if you’re just starting out on keto, doing both keto & exercise can be extremely hard.

Most people can barely stick to just working out consistently.

But when you add keto on top of exercising consistently, it would be too hard for you to do & you’d just fail.

Instead, focus on eating keto & doing intermittent fasting until you’ve lost all the weight you wanted to lose so you can have a higher chance of success.

But, when you reach your weight loss goal, you should start exercising consistently.

Exercising consistently can help you to build muscle, improve your mental health, & burn calories.

If you do exercise, I highly recommend lifting weights only so you can look fitter, regardless of if you’re a man or a woman.

Conclusion

No, you don’t need to exercise to lose weight on keto. I’ve personally lost 40 pounds on keto without exercising at all. But, when you do reach your weight loss goal on keto, you should definitely start working out so you can be healthier, build muscle, & look more attractive.

If you’re interested in learning about whether you should do a full-body workout or a body part split workout, here’s my article where I compare the two & show you which one is better.