The Keto diet is the most searched for diet in the UK. Not that surprising when you read the headlines.
If you believe what you read on the internet, you will probably see the Keto diet as a healthy, sustainable way to lose a lot of weight (particularly fat) very quickly. And you can even eat your body weight in bacon. Winner.
Too good to be true though? Definitely.
The Keto diet itself isn't that bad. If you follow it correctly. Trouble is, very few people do follow it correctly. And even less understand how it actually works. What’s going on in their bodies.
Right now there is a lot of misinformation around Keto. From the usual ‘wonder diet’ claims. To plain scaremongering.
There are more than 10,000 people per year claiming that the Keto diet actually ruined their health (source: Google search data). That’s a really worrying number. Especially as Keto (followed properly) isn’t dangerous.
So, let’s peel back the layers of clickbait and get back to the science behind Keto. How it works. How it doesn’t work. If it’s worth it. And whether it could work for you.
This is the Keto diet, mythbusted.
At its core, the Ketogenic (or Keto) diet is low-carb, high-fat. Restricting carb intake dramatically will put your body into a Ketogenic state. Meaning you will stop using carbs to create energy, and use fat instead.
It’s fat as fuel, not carbs as fuel. And, because you are burning your stored fat, you will lose weight quickly. In principle.
The Keto diet is not new news. Not at all. We’ve known about the Ketogenic state for years. The Atkins diet that was huge (and controversial) in the nineties worked in a similar way. Yes, the results can seem great. Initially.
Most people consider Keto for one of two reasons: to lose fat or boost performance. It’s where all the ‘wonder diet’ headlines come from. And where the actual science behind it gets a bit tricky.
So here are some popular misconceptions about Keto, mythbusted.
NOTE: If you’re using a Keto diet or similar to manage a condition like type II diabetes, then please continue to follow the advice from your doctor. This article focuses on Keto for aesthetics and performance, and is not medical advice.
The Keto diet will help you burn fat, but it’s the type of fat you burn that counts when it comes to weight loss. You will burn the stored fat eventually, but your body will burn mostly dietary fat first.
Dietary fat is the fat that you ate in your last meal. It’s fat that hasn’t had time to form on the body. It’s not love handles. It’s not contributing to your weight, so losing it won’t make a difference.
If you eat a diet high in fat, like Keto, then you will have more dietary fat to burn through before you get to the stored fat. And it's the stored fat we need to burn to lose weight and look leaner.
So to lose the stored fat, you will still need to be in an overall calorie deficit.
Many people see great results on the scales at the start of Keto. The bad news is that it's not all down to fat loss.
Your body stores carbohydrates as glycogen. Glycogen carries about 3x its own weight in water. When you cut carbs, your body uses up the glycogen quickly. Plus all the water it held.
"This is why a low-carbohydrate diet tends to make people lose quite a lot of weight in the first few days. The weight loss is almost entirely due to glycogen and water."
-Anita Bean, The Complete Guide to Sports Nutrition 7th Edition
It feels great to see a dramatic result on the scales. It can motivate you to stick to your diet and work out more. But it’s not the diet hack it pretends to be.
People following Keto presume their fast initial weight loss is down to ketosis. Really, it’s far more likely that they’ve just lost a lot of water and removed a whole food group from their diet, leaving them in a calorie deficit.
This kind of weight loss is hard to maintain. We hear it from our members all the time. Saying that Keto ‘worked great’ for them before. They had lost loads of weight. But they’d just put it all back on.
That isn’t a diet that ‘worked great’. It’s a diet that didn’t work.
The big problem with Keto is that at some point you will go back to a ‘normal’ balanced diet. When you do, the carbs you’re eating will put back the glycogen and water.
Then you’ll have a calorie surplus because you’re adding in a whole new food group. Basically, you’ll put the weight back on.
The jury is still out on whether the Keto diet improves athletic performance. Some experts claim that it’s incredibly effective for endurance athletes, once the body has adapted to using fat as its primary source of energy.
However, for intense exercise, the research points to Keto being more detrimental to performance and overall health.
Research is still being conducted and professionals, including the author of this study Edward Weiss, PhD - associate professor of nutrition and dietetics at Saint Louis University -, advises athletes to avoid diets such as keto unless they have a “compelling reason to follow a low-carb diet”.
Put simply, the Keto diet isn’t likely to improve your athletic performance. In fact, in most cases it’ll do the opposite. There are edge cases, like Keto adapted ultra long distance runners and hikers, but for everyone else from everyday athletes to olympians, it’s probably not the one.
Carbs are king when it comes to intense exercise. Fat alone is not a good enough fuel. It can’t be broken down fast enough to provide the energy needed for any activity much harder than moderate intensity exercise.
By almost completely cutting out carbs, you’re likely to bottleneck your progress and future results. You’ll feel like you’re working just as hard, but your performance will most likely be severely impacted.
Removing a whole food group from your diet will affect how you feel. But carbs are one of the least detrimental macronutrients to restrict from a health perspective, so side effects won’t be too drastic in terms of your health.
People new to Keto often report feeling a lack of energy, especially during exercise. Brain fog can be a big problem because your brain needs carbs.
Other side effects include headaches, constipation and bad breath. But every body is different, and your reaction to carb restriction will be different too.
The first few days won’t be a walk in the park, but the severity of side effects you experience will vary.
Each to their own. If you know the facts. Understand the science. And take the diet on properly, then Keto won’t do you any harm. But it might not do you much good either.
If you try it and find that you feel energised and invigorated during carb restriction then great. Go for it.
But understand you are an outlier, and most people will struggle with the restrictions to their body and to their lifestyle.
There are other ways to turn yourself into a fat burning machine. Training to add muscle, so that when you want to lose fat, you burn more calories at rest (higher basal metabolic rate). Calorie deficits. Eating protein rich foods.
It won’t happen overnight, but being able to eat a balanced diet (which means having room to cheat every now and then) will mean you stick to it for longer, and see better results.
Ultimately, your diet should support you. Your training. Your goals. Not the other way around.
We get it. Quick fixes are tempting. But they’re just that - quick fixes. They don’t last. You’ll just end up back where you started and feeling even less motivated.
Another Round coaches will always recommend a personalised diet strategy based around your goals and lifestyle.
Simple food tracking and a small calorie deficit is all you need to lose weight at a steady, sustainable pace.
Keto might be great for some, but for most it will end in disappointment. Quick fixes and workarounds won’t get you fit for life.
Setting goals, training regularly and eating a balanced, protein-rich diet will.
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