Losing Weight Via Keto

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My friend says I should do a keto diet to help with my weight loss. What is it, and is it better for weight loss?

A. A ketogenic (keto) diet is high in fat and protein and low in carbohydrates. Most of the body's cells prefer to use blood sugar (glucose) as their main source of energy. The keto diet forces your body to use a different type of fuel. Instead of providing your body with glucose from carbohydrates, the keto diet relies on the liver to break down stored fat into molecules called ketones. (This process is called ketogenesis; that's where the diet's name comes from.)

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For most people to begin using stored fat as fuel, they need to limit daily carbohydrate intake to fewer than 20 to 50 grams depending on body size. (For comparison, a medium-sized banana has about 27 grams of carbs.) But this is a highly individualized process, and some people need a more restricted diet to begin producing enough ketones. It typically takes two to four days to reach a state of ketosis (when fat becomes a main source of energy).

There's no shortage of keto-inspired diets. The Atkins, South Beach, and Paleo diets are some of the best-known examples. But a true ketogenic diet is different and calls for up to 90% of your daily calories to come from fat. That is often hard for people to maintain. However, research has shown that people can achieve faster weight loss with a keto diet compared with a calorie-reduction diet. In the short term, a keto diet is probably safe. But over time, it's tough to keep off the weight this way.

If you do try a keto diet to jump-start weight reduction, choose ier sources of fat and protein, such as olive oil, avocados, and nuts (almonds, walnuts). But after a few weeks, switch to a reduced-calorie Mediterranean-style diet and increase your physical activity. This will help manage your weight loss for the long term.

How To Lose Weight On A Ketogenic Diet

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Get helpful tips and guidance for everything from fighting inflammation to finding the best diets for weight loss...from exercises to build a stronger core to advice on treating cataracts. PLUS, the latest news on medical advances and breakthroughs from Harvard Medical School experts.The low-carb, high-fat ketogenic diet is promoted online and in the media as a weight-loss tool and seemingly all-round magical healer. Yet it was first developed in the 1920s for children with epilepsy.

How Many Carbs To Eat To Lose Weight

There’s no shortage of celebrity and influencer fans. Jersey Shore star Vinny Guadagnino (or as he calls himself on Instagram ‘Keto Guido’), Kourtney Kardashian and Halle Berry all advocate the keto diet. But even the health and wellness influencers may not be qualified nutritionists or dieticians. “Nutritional advice is highly unregulated, particularly online”, says dietitian Sophie Medlin.

When you’re following a keto diet you aim to be in a state of ‘ketosis’. We ask the experts what ketosis is, if it’s worth the effort and if it’s safe.

Your body uses whichever energy source is most readily available. This is normally glucose (sugar) converted from carbohydrates. If you drastically limit your carbohydrate consumption and replace it with fat, your body is eventually forced to use fat from food or your stores as energy instead. This process is called ‘ketosis’. “It is essentially the Atkins diet repackaged and renamed”, says Medlin.

How To Keep The Weight Off After The Keto Diet

“Most people calling their diet ‘keto’ are simply following a low or very low-carbohydrate diet”, she continues. The degree to which you need to restrict carbohydrates to be in ketosis “varies from person to person”, she adds. In a clinical or therapeutic setting, such as for children with epilepsy, the diet is designed specifically for the individual and support and monitoring are provided.

Low-carb, high-fat ingredients include avocados, meat, fish, eggs, cheese, cream, oil, butter, nuts and seeds. But not all ingredients need to be high in fat – leafy greens and berries are often included, for example. You avoid, or at least heavily restrict, wheat and other grains, potatoes, corn, pulses, beans, milk, most fruit and sugar.

To induce ketosis, a maximum of 20–50g carbohydrates can be consumed daily for someone eating 2, 000 calories a day, according to a 2019 paper on the ketogenic diet. To put this into perspective, a banana contains about 20g and a plain bagel 44g. Protein is also usually kept to a moderate amount, as it can encourage the production of glucose and interrupt ketosis.

Keto Diet: Benefits And Nutrients

The keto diet has few rules on which high-fat foods to eat, and ‘dirty keto’ can consist of bacon and sausages fried in butter, as this technically meets the criteria. Medlin says the healthy eating guidelines should always roughly apply, even if you limit carbohydrates and regardless of what diet you're following.

Research has shown a ketogenic diet can induce rapid weight loss, partly from water loss but also some fat loss. However, the “weight loss effect becomes similar to other dietary approaches after one year”, according to a 2019 review of low-carb diets.

Taking in less energy than you burn will lead to weight loss. The National Diet and Nutrition Survey reports that on average we get almost 50 percent of our energy from carbs. “Cutting this by at least half is likely to reduce total calorie intake, even if it’s replaced with fats”, says Medlin. On the other hand, if you eat more calories from fat than your body needs it will still be stored as fat.

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The ‘eat like me to look like me’ ideology is flawed. “We all have different genetics and lifestyles, which means we can’t all look the same”, says Medlin. Research shows the best weight-loss diet is the one you can stick to for long enough to reduce excess body fat.

Long-term compliance with the keto diet is low. Medlin cites restricting a whole food group, symptoms known as ‘keto flu’ (including headaches, nausea, constipation, tiredness and difficulty sleeping) which can kick in after two to seven days, and the higher-than-average cost of the diet as potential reasons why people might struggle to stick to it.

“The keto diet is used for certain therapeutic situations and isn’t meant for the mainstream weight-loss market”, says dietitian Priya Tew. “Carbohydrates have an important role in our diets and whilst reducing them may aid weight loss it is not sustainable to reduce them to a very low level.”

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“Many of the trials investigating ketogenic diets only follow participants for around six months up to one year at the most”, says nutritionist Emma Thornton, “therefore, the longer term effects... aren’t well understood.”

Medlin says the health risks also depend on the types of food eaten. Eating an unhealthy diet containing lots of saturated fat may increase health risks such as heart disease and stroke.

Foods containing carbohydrates are often also high in fibre, which is important for a healthy gut microbiome and keeping you fuller for longer. Medlin advises anyone on a low-carb diet to ensure they eat enough fibre-rich foods from leafy greens, broccoli, cauliflower, flax seeds, nuts, coconut and avocado.

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The keto diet limits starchy vegetables such as carrots, sweet potatoes, parsnips, pumpkin and squash and eliminates many fruits. This might restrict the amount and variety of nutrients, vitamins and phytochemicals (plant power) you get from your food, especially if you remove them rather than replace them.

People who restrict their carbohydrates and increase fatty foods may develop ‘keto flu’. There is very little medical research on this, but there are thousands of personal testimonies. Though it sounds unpleasant, it isn’t necessarily unsafe and many reports indicate the discomfort subsides. It is also not clear whether it only occurs on the keto diet or can be caused by other restrictive diets.

If you take any medication or have any medical issues, consult a doctor or dietitian before starting a keto

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