If it’s all about calories in vs out, why is Keto so recommended
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One thing I haven’t seen mentioned here yet is that being in ketosis can significantly reduce hunger
Its not just a calories in vs calories out. Where your calories come from is a more important question to look at. Protein and fat give the most when talking satiety, and “bang for your buck” some extra nutritionally dense carbohydrates if you’re on the more active side (think sweet potato, not bagel).
Keto has it’s place, if done right.
Well “calories in” is measured at the bloodstream level, not the mouth level.
Eating keto starves the body of simple carbs and sugars. This forces the body to make energy less efficiently from fat reserves. While there are available calories in the protein you eat, it’s harder to access.
It puts your body in ketosis – when your body starts burning fat rather than burning carbs since there are no carbs to burn off. It’s still about calories in vs out. A person wouldn’t lose weight on any diet (keto or other) if their body took in more calories than their body needed.
As a PhD in Exercise Physiology, I have to say using the word “recommended” is inaccurate and misleading.
Calories in/calories out certainly is a good way of explaining at a base level how metabolism works, but it fails to include things like muscle mass, fiber types, types of exercise, sleep, caffeine intake, etc.
your body uses carbohydrates as its primary source of energy; “fat burns in the flame of glycolysis.” By building muscle mass, you enhance the efficiency of glucose metabolism which, in turn, leads to more fat being “burned”. This takes place regardless of your diet and there is minimal research that definitively shows high carb vs high fat diets being superior to one another. The most important component in your diet is always going to be protein; fat and carbs are used to fill out the rest. Based on my research, generally the best diet breakdown for anyone who is training is going to be around 50% carbs, 30-35% protein, and 20-25% fat, but it really does come down to individual preference.
Your body stores energy in three “cups”: the carb cup, the fat cup, and the muscle cup. When it needs energy, it first takes from the carb cup, but if that’s empty then it takes from the fat cup, and finally it will take from the muscle cup. The keto diet is designed to keep the carb cup empty so it has to take from the fat cup. A non-keto diet with similar calorie intake would add to the carb cup, which would then be taken from, so not as much would be used from the fat cup.
I have a friend who trains professionally for mma and is always doing Keto so I had him explain it to me.
He told me the idea of keto is to stop eating carbs so that your body will burn fat. With no carbs in your diet your body will be forced to burn fat in order to create energy since you are no longer getting it from the carbs.
Edit: to add to this and further answer your question, a diet full of carbs allows the body to store its fat instead of burning it. The reason for this is because it takes more chemical reactions to burn fat than it does to burn carbs. You have to stop eating carbs to really force your body to get to work on burning the fat.
It’s another fad diet, recommended because it’s “cool” and “different”.
Keto was sometimes recommended by real medical professional for things other than weight loss.
Such as epilepsy (before we invented proper medications) and has been suggested to help with other brain issues.
But it was never about weight loss.
This fact is ignored by people trying to sell diet books/plans/merch.
It’s the latest fad and works because it forces people to skip over the foods that are the most calorie dense, simple carbs.
It is not about calories in and out. That’s a gross oversimplification of hundreds of biochemical pathways.
Your body stores carbs and fats to burn for energy. The body is greedy and will do anything, including lowering its metabolism, so it won’t burn precious body fat. That is it’s last resort when facing starvation! So the trick to lose weight (i.e. lose fat) is to get the body to keep burning fat when carbs run out. By eating lots of fat, and little carbs, your body gets into fat burning mode. So you are tricking it into burning body fat without dropping its metabolism by eating mostly fat in your diet.
Sugar is also toxic (in high doses) and in the common USA diet, we are harming ourselves with it. Keto eliminates this problem, which makes you healthier almost immediately by removing this toxicity.
Keto also is a slow burn. Sugar levels in the blood rise and fall like tides, but when burning fat, there is a steady stream of BHB in the blood which gives you consistent energy, which most people describe as increased energy levels.
All the buzz about Keto is warranted. It is the first diet that universally works.
Keto is recommended to make you feel better and actually burn fat.
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