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When it comes to athletes, the demands are much different. You will want to stick to a stricter diet. To fully engage in the ketogenic lifestyle to improve performance, there are some changes to diet that can get you to your optimal performance level.  There are several different types of keto diets that when used alongside KETO//OS, will put your body in the best state possible.     Standard Ketogenic Diet (SKD) This diet provides you with the ability to lose stored fat while protecting lean muscle mass. One of the biggest problems with rapid weight loss in other diets is that you not only lose fat, but muscle as well. With the SKD, your body starts to convert the food you eat into ketones that is used as your body’s fuels source. You begin burning ketones over carbohydrates and sugar. This keeps the blood sugar levels stable in the body. Spikes in blood sugar are responsible for increased cravings, overeating, and low energy levels. By keeping the blood sugar stable, you are able tocontrol your cravings and the portions you eat. The key to the SKD is switching to a high fat, low carbohydrate, moderate protein balance in your diet.   SKD is not a diet that will make huge strides in muscle gain for athletes. It is designed to help shed excess fat. This diet is also not designed to “carb reload”. This can be hard for some to cut out carbohydrates completely so it is alright to add a high carb day once or twice per month if needed. Complementary Supplements to Use Fat can be hard to digest so there are some supplements to add in addition to KETO//OS to help with your performance. Look for quality enzymes that have the following in them: • Protease S • Protease SP • Lactase • Lipase Targeted Ketogenic Diet (TKD) This diet works best for those athletes that engage in high intensity workouts, like sprints, or those bodybuilders achieving aesthetics. This is because with high-intensity workouts, you need a carbohydrate based diet for fast burning before the workout orrace. Some bodybuilders are not comfortable or able to switch to a completely low/no carbohydrate diet so this option may be better for those people. The TKD is great for performance maintenance and has proven to some lean muscle mass. Macro-Timing The carbohydrates in the TKD are used for a specific purpose in your life. You are going to want to introduce these carbohydrates at very specific times in relation to your performance, typically 30 minutes prior to a workout. One of the best ways to do this is to combine branched chain amino acids (BCAA), protein, and liquid carbohydrates. This is going to get amino acids in the body quickly to help with muscle repair whereas eating protein may not be enough. A good rule of thumb for calculating the appropriate level of carbohydrates is 1.1 grams of carbohydrates per pound of bodyweight right after a workout. You also want to be careful with how much fat you ingest immediately after a workout. It is best to wait about two hours before aketo-based meal. This diet is for two different types of people: the finely tuned athlete and the average person who wants more carbohydrates in their diet. You must be very much in touch with your body and its needs. On the flip side, the average person that wants to be able to introduce carbohydrates on a weekly basis. The idea behind the CKD is to fluctuate your glycogen levels to allow for the high carbohydrate impact. The benefit of the CKD is to keep you lean while allowing slow muscle gains – even large muscle gains over time. For the Average Person You will want to take one day per week and add between 300 and 600 grams of carbohydrates to your diet. However, these need to be low on the glycemic index. These foods include: • Barley • Long grain, brown rice • Rolled oats • Lentils • Beans For the Athlete You might need to incorporate high carbohydrate days one or two times per week. These can be split between a very high day (600 grams) and a lower day (300 grams). You want tomake sure these are slow burning carbohydrates and be focused around highintensity or heavy lifting workout days. While these single days of carbohydrate laden meals will technically take you out of ketosis, you are still in a ketogenic state the rest of the week so you still maintain that balance and the benefits of a ketogenic lifestyle. You will still want to incorporate your KETO//OS on these higher carbohydrate days. A good option is 1 serving when you wake up and half a serving before a workout.