What do you think of the “Impulsive Keto” advice that you must ultimately be in a calorie deficit and you must only add a reasonable amount of fat – not excessive fat?
He says popular keto experts are overweight b/c they think they can have unlimited fat?
Can you put a link to the article/video you’re referring to so we can all be on the same page?
From my (somewhat limited) understanding of keto- early on when becoming fat adapted is when the highest amount of fat consumption is encouraged as you’re training your body to use fat as fuel. Once adapted you eat fat to satiety (not unlimited), or slightly reduce fat intake so your body can burn existing fat stores (but the body can only use so much of stored body fat as energy per day, so the rest of your fat energy would need to come from diet).
Yes maybe some keto experts are overweight, but they most likely used to be obese or morbidly obese, so in that context ‘overweight’ is transitional and an improvement on their previous weight situation. You have to view it in context. I seriously doubt they started thin then became overweight due to keto.
Ben MacDonald has a podcast (and youtube videos) called “Impulsive Ketocast” and one of his themes is that if you lose weight fine on keto but get to a rather permanent stall and do not get any more weight off, he claims: If you are sure your carbs are no more than 20 grams and if you are eating moderate protein, then you are likely overeating fats. He speaks of people who eat large amounts of butter, mcts, etc. & claims those high calories prevent one from burning off excessive body fat b/c one is eating too much fat (as opposed to fat only to satiation. He says there must ultimately be a calorie deficit even in keto. I note that even Dr. Westman says calorie do matter.
Agree with all you say except the way you worded the above line. Yes, they can stall and plateau on ‘unlimited’ fat, but implying they’re overweight because they eat unlimited fat is incorrect.
I haven’t watched the vid but, from what you’ve said here, it is very close to my personal beliefs. The ‘stalls’ part of it, is debatable. Whist the vast majority my experience with people who have ‘stalled’ is, that they have become complacent and started to unknowingly eat too much, to keep losing weight. Some have experienced a genuine stall, about which, I know nothing of the contributing factors or how to get over it (other than just keep going). Rob C and others, have some info regarding hormones, which sounds very plausible.
This will cause outrage for some people, suggesting that it might be OUR fault we’ve stalled. It’s much easier to believe that it’s some mysterious function of the body which happens to everyone (therefore, not our fault)But it’s what I have seen over the years. It doesn’t mean I don’t have sympathy for them. It’s bloody hard when a stall happens, no matter what the reasons.
CICO is built around blaming the lack of self-control, that’s the beauty of it. No need to consider any sort of confounding complexity, no need to find any actual science or reasoning, just pretend the body is a simple machine with zero variables, just blame a lack of willpower. So much easier and oh so self-satisfying.
@mememe - FYI, if you put an @ sign in front of someone’s name, they will be notified and join in.
If you just type in their name - they may or may not ever find the post they were mentioned in.
It is, of course, a requirement that you have a calorie deficit to reduce weight.
You can do that by restricting calories but the body fights back by lowering metabolism so, after a while, there is an inevitable weight gain (and more) and this happens every day all over the world (i.e. hard to refute).
You can also get a deficit by going keto - less calories come in because natural satiety signals lower food intake and lengthen non-eating intervals naturally (keeping insulin low and allowing the burning of body fat). Weight loss can be accelerated once fat adapted by lowering fat intake periodically or fasting - letting the body focus on burning even more body fat.
Keto is not just for weight loss though - people eating most calorie restricted diets out there might not benefit nearly as much as someone on keto when it comes to reversing type 2 diabetes or improving their blood markers in general.
Finally, yes, I agree that it is possible to be on keto and plateau at 50 or 100 pounds above where your body weight should be (but “I have good blood numbers” you’ll say).
This could happen because of a combination of the “eat fat to satiety” mantra and being a good cook. My feeling is that, to get satiety signals right, you have to get bored with food and it has to become a little more difficult than a microwave away.
Think about it, tens of thousands of years ago when people asked what’s on the menu, they got 2 answers:
Both will not encourage over eating (palate fatigue and hunting in dangerous).
Now, fat bombs, BPCs, highly palatable foods, exotic meats and fats a supermarket trip away, enjoying cooking with others, keeping a reputation as a good cook intact etc. can easily leave someone on keto at a much higher weight than they really desire.
Instead, eat only eggs, bacon and olive oil covered or sautéed leafy greens - all lightly spiced (get your salt by mixing it with water) and let boredom set in. Cook fresh every time and then do the dishes (to make it a bit of work - if it is late enough and you might put off to tomorrow). Weight will fly off.
Once adapted, but still overweight, the term “stall” is better replaced by the term “Maintenance” in terms of caloric intake. Fat based nutrition is excellent for Maintenance, but yes, if you eat excess calories it can prevent additional fat loss. The good thing is that it’s pretty much impossible to regain fat. IMO, it’s a good practice, in the metabolic sense, to go into periods of Maintenance with some periodic carb intake between periods of fat loss to give your metabolism a chance to recover. Fat loss is then easier when you do minor caloric restriction because your metabolism is not suppressed.