Ketogenic Diet for Weight Loss

Can You Really Lose Weight Eating This Every Day?

The ketogenic diet was first tested as a treatment for epilepsy in the 1920′s. It was relatively successful and was used as a form of treatment. The diet basically consists of a very low daily carbohydrate content (15 or so grams per day) with the bulk of the remaining calories consumed coming from fat and a small amount of protein.

This diet was never meant to be used for weight loss rather it was meant as a clinical treatment for a disease state. But somehow just about any nutrition intervention (no matter what it’s for) ends up getting turned into a diet/weight loss program.

Anyway here is the quick review of what ketosis is.

Ketosis is a state when your body does not have sufficient carbohydrate intake to fuel your normal daily functioning so it starts to rely more on ketone bodies (which are made from fat) as a primary fuel source.

This happens during starvation, however you can recreate this state by eating a zero carbohydrate diet.

After a few weeks of eating in this pattern most healthy individuals seem to be able to adapt to this style of eating although it’s not necessarily fun to do for more than a couple of days (which isn’t really long enough to really get into ketosis).

In other words, you’re likely not going to want to do this for very long if you don’t have to.

The bottom line is that ketogenic diets are a rather extreme way to modify your diet. It’s not dangerous per se, but it’s also not necessary and probably unsustainable for most people. There is simply too many fun and tasty carbohydrate foods to eat (that can be incorporated into an effective weight loss program) to justify going on a restrictive ketogenic diet.

John

P.S. A simpler way to lose weight without restricting food choices is Eat Stop Eat, if you haven’t already read it I suggest you check it out.

Posted by johnbarban in food, Nutrition
Tags: ketogenic diet, ketosis |10 Comments

10 Responses to “Ketogenic Diet for Weight Loss”

  1. usernametooshortnowitstoolon Says:
    July 8th, 2010 at 11:46 am

    John, thanks for talking about the whole ketosis thing.

    1. Lately, I’ve been eating like just 1 slice of bread a day and the rest of my calories come from meat, vegetables, and Muscle Milk Light. It’s like this only because these foods are convenient, quick, and easy and I try to minimize my carby intake because it tends to be calorically dense. Is this kind of eating style inducing ketosis?

    2. So ketosis burns fat rather than protein? I’ve heard that it burns protein, so it’s actually false?

    3. So ketosis isn’t really unhealthy? Just unsustainable for most people?

  2. usernametooshortnowitstoolon Says:
    July 8th, 2010 at 12:38 pm

    Regarding #2, I thought it was just about calories in and calories out? Are you saying that ketosis causes your body to use fat instead of calories for energy?

  3. jasetagle Says:
    July 8th, 2010 at 11:10 pm

    John

    What advantages do you think a drug-using bodybuilder has for being lean over a non-drug using trainee?

  4. MikeGP Says:
    July 9th, 2010 at 12:40 pm

    @usernametooshortnowitstoolon

    It is about calories in vs calories out. In Ketosis your body turns to fat for energy instead of carbs, but youre also eating a LOT of fat, so in the end, if you ate more fat (calories), your body will store them.

    Same sh*t.

    ;)

  5. MikeGP Says:
    July 9th, 2010 at 12:42 pm

    CORRECTION IN LAST SENTENCE

    If you are more fat THAN WHAT YOU NEED, your body will store it.

  6. johnbarban Says:
    July 9th, 2010 at 12:54 pm

    Jason,

    I don’t think steroid use has much of an advantage, even guys using steroids have to diet to get rid of fat. Testosterone doesn’t really affect the process. GH might have some benefit but it still comes down to creating a calorie deficit.

    JB

  7. hobokook Says:
    July 10th, 2010 at 1:09 am

    Hey John,
    I got a question for you.

    If i am trying to cut down right now, and am on a 2000 calories per day diet to lose 1 pound of fat per week. This means that I get 14000 calories per week. However, what if by the end of the week, I somehow eat 15000 calories instead? Does the thermic effect of food apply to weekly calories as it does to daily calories. I remember someone saying that 10% of the calories you digest must be used by your body to digest the food or something like that.

    So if I accidently consume 15000 calories one week, will 1500 be erased due to the thermic effect of food, and will that put be back at 13500 calories for the week, putting me back in my caloric range?

    Thanks and sorry for the somewhat confusing question.

  8. johnbarban Says:
    July 10th, 2010 at 9:50 am

    Hobokook,

    The thermic effect is accounted for in the original 2000 calorie number as well each day, so yoru theoretical 14,000 calories per week have the thermic effect accounted for, and if you ate an extra 1000 you wouldn’t be magically burning an extra 1500. You might burn an extra 100.

    JB

  9. hobokook Says:
    July 10th, 2010 at 12:40 pm

    Ok so say, for every 2000 caloreis I eat, I burn 200 which is 10%. So does that mean over the course of the week, I would have burned 1400 calories just through the thermic effect of food? Thanks

  10. johnbarban Says:
    July 10th, 2010 at 12:43 pm

    it’s not actually 10%…protein content of food is closer to 10, but carbs and fat are much lower. The example I gave would have only worked if you ate all the extra calories as protein.

    So the total thermic effect of a mixed meal is probably close to 4-5%.

    The point is not to focus on this because it’s a very small amount and isn’t going to make any difference on weight loss.

    JB

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