Is it worth it?
Hello, what I'm about to do could possibly defy "low carb logic" and probably result in angry posts, but I'd like you to approach this with an open mind and an honest assessment. Here goes nothing.
Do you truly believe ketosis is the driving force behind your success? If so then please allow me to argue. When I first started low carb eating it was hard as heck. Downright tiring. So I dropped it. But always resumed it in the following two or three months. What I noticed was after coming off low carb, each time and stuffing myself with junk food due to carb withdrawal, I actually looked better and I did gain weight most of it water, but muscle was really easy to add on and hardly any of the weight was fat. I think I gained around ten pounds in those two months of crappy eating with mostly muscle even though I didn’t do a lot of exercising. My point is low carb eating just like low fat, or low calorie is more of a stimulus that yields great results short term, but begins to lag if you stay on too long.
So, the very notion of ketosis as the mechanism of increased fat loss is questionable. Rather consider the thyroid as the driving force behind every diet. Each diet works by lowering calories. Initially the T3 is still high from before you started the diet. Couple lower calories with a thyroid accustomed to higher calories and you get a synergistic effect. As time increases, your body recognizes this and down regulates the thyroid and there’s less T3 running around. Thus fewer calories are burned and reserved in case of a famine. This forces you to rely more on fat burners.
Now if ketosis is the be all, do all that everyone harps about, then you should never run into a rut. Let me ask you this. Have you stalled? Well I read about people on this forum who get rid of every single carb containing food or fret about a supplement they may take three times a day, tops because it contains one gram of dextrose or lactose, and if they take it they’re out of ketosis. Are you willing to negate the benefits of taking fiber or a mineral supplement because of one gram of sugar?
Ketosis works by breaking down fats and using ketones as fuel. Also a high concentration is another criteria for ketosis. You can achieve this, sure, but it’s really hard because the body would prefer carbohydrates or protein (four calories are easier to break down instead of nine calories) to fat. So it begins breaking down protein and fat. Instead of ketosis we’ve entered gluconeogenesis. Fat is still being used, but protein is being broken down and used as fuel at a faster rate. Then you would think adding lots of oil to your whey shake would slow gluconeogenesis, but it’s pretty hard to fight all those years of evolution. If you ate little protein and increased the fat, more muscle would be used instead since the delivery of protein to the liver becomes slower.
Most of you would argue that ketosis is working. The magic keto sticks says so. Well like I said ketones and glucose are being used for fuel. You can bet some ketones will be found in urine since they are by products of fat metabolism.
What I’m trying to justify by writing this (if you don’t know by now), ketosis is over-rated. Calorie reduction, the thyroid, catabolic forces are what make diets effective in the short run.
What I would advocate is cycling diets (not CKD because it’s hard psychologically and you can’t work out as well due to carbohydrate shortage) and doing something quite radical, try going straight into a high carbohydrate, low fat diet and vice versa. In fact give yourself a “free week” consisting of cheat meals anytime you want for the first week along with your high carbohydrate, low fat diet, but the more you eat the more you focus on the weight room. As for cardio, find something you like doing and do it. Be it tennis or aerobics, but do it for no more than two days out of this week. Now after this “induction” phase start going back to eating less calories, use fat burners, and up cardio to four days max, but remember we’re doing high carb low fat this time.
Theoretically weight should be coming off fairly easily and you’ll look better in the mirror. Also with that induction phase you’ve given your muscles a chance to recover and promote anabolism, your thyroid to upregulate, and you’ll have renewed focus. Once it looks like you’re stalling again, time to take another “free” week off, then switch to low carb, use fat burners, and up the cardio again.
PS:
· I’m sure most of you will probably disagree and cite reasons why. I’m glad. This is just my opinion and it’s just a little experiment you can attempt. After all, if you’re not getting anywhere how much can it possibly hurt?
· I know there are mostly women in this forum and most shy from the weight room, but nothing makes fat loss easier than more muscle. If you’re worried about bulkiness, don’t because most men have a hard time getting big and they produce much more testosterone. If you worry about safety find a partner or trainer to help stabilize weight and keep an eye on you.
· That’s it hope it helps. Believe me I wouldn’t spend a good couple of hours writing this just to screw people. I could do worse things.
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