I've been on a ketogenic diet before (a far cry from Paleo) and I was told to take a break from ketosis every 12 weeks at the least, where I added a meal to the diet for a week. What I want to know is the opinions of those on Paleo. I need to lose over 100lbs. Do I spend most of my time losing on a ketogenic diet? If so, how often shall I break from it, and how would I do so? Also, how long would these breaks be for? Thanks all!
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I have not had to loose large amounts of weight, but I did lose about 25 pounds, and for me, a very low carb diet (<= 25g per day) worked great initially but after about 2 months I started to have some issues with energy, mood, and overall well being. I started to eat carbs post work out and additionally about once per week, and felt better. I still eat a relatively low carb diet because that is just what I prefer, but make a point of eating carbs a few times a week. I make them good carbs (sweet potato, berries, etc). When I was actively dropping the weight, carbs would halt the weight loss for a day or so, but also made the diet more sustainable. I don't think you can lose weight in a straight line, for me it came off in fits and starts. I have read many other reports from people who "cheat" once a week but had success in losing weight and changing their diet. Maybe some people can live in a constant state of ketosis, but I think others need to restore the body's energy stores with occasional carbs. |
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IDK, I eat low carb because when I don't my appetite and cravings are out of control. That said, I sometimes have days where I eat more carbs than others. You can always do this without completely taking a break. |
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I was VLC for five months. Solved many problems, helped a great deal with many things, and taught me the most about myself diet/control wise. Carbs made me sick before. Added them back recently, and it seems the VLC healed my system, and using carbs now the right way, my system is happier and stronger than ever before, VLC included. Your question caused me to post my recent experiences here: Cheers |
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Look up cyclic ketogenic diet. They sweat the details of carb cheats. But I've gone months without a cheat and feel fine. |
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Here is what I am starting to suspect: on a ketogenic diet it is hard to maintain appropriate calories, so long term ketogenic dieters probably need to count calories in order to make sure they are actually eating enough. This is hard to do. You feel like you've eaten enough. When you think about all that you've eaten since you came home, it seems like enough. But, especially as you lose weight, you have to increase the calories. The appetite, though, is just not there, so it seems like you'd be pigging out to eat any more. Carbohydrates bring back your appetite. You quickly return to or even go above a maintenance level caloric level. So, carbohydrate refeeds seem therapeutic when we could probably do with out them. Refeeds, binges- whats the physiological difference (especially for people who stick to paleo-type things during any binges). Of course, this is just a guess based on reading 1000s of blog posts and my subjective experiences. I was thinking about this last night, in fact, as I felt quite underpowered. This is why I like having a tub of ghee with me wherever I go. |
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Here comes a rant!
The only reason low-carb works for weight loss is the spontaneous drop in calorie intake. In fact, restricting any macronutrient produces the same thing. Just eating an ad-libitum-whole-foods diet will do the trick. Low-carb 'science' appears to be sound because it speaks to the naive. It's all neatly wrapped in insulin with a bow on top. Tunnel vision. Ketosis is a stressed state, and as such, you experience a stint of false vigor after the initial hurdle. Vegans go through it. People who starve themselves do too. Radical changes in diet do that. Low-carb treats glycemia superficially. It's a mask. It's throwing a towel over the problem and letting it fester out of sight. The establishment view is that being fat causes diabetes. For the most part, it's a wildly ignorant, but it has some truth. Polyunsaturated fats block the uptake of glucose by the cell. That is a huge contributer in the development of T2 Diabetes. The fat you eat is the fat on your body. The food supply is plagued by vegetable oils. We are wearing and burning toxic fat. Low-carb exacerbates this. In ketosis, you spill more toxic fat into the blood, and your body haphazardly tries to use it as fuel - a process that is already pretty weak. It's also a high-fat diet. Even with the focus on saturated animal fats, high total fat = high polyunsaturate. This is why the diet makes you fail a glucose tolerance test. It's not because of "physiological insulin resistance" or whatever apologetic fairy-tale is being passed around. You absolutely want to stay as glycogen replete as possible. Inadequate glycogen leads to impaired conversion of thyroid hormones, leads to hypothyroidism, leads to freezing extremities, constipation, poor digestion, food sensitivities, brain fog, zombism etc. Once again, ketosis is a stressed state. Stress requires more glucose. When you don't have glycogen available, you start catabolizing muscle to elevate blood sugar. Youch. If you have bacterial overgrowth, it will get worse. Starving the bacteria of carbs does not wipe them out. They pierce the gut and start searching for sugar in the rest of your tissues. Being concerned only with carbohydrates makes you aggravated by studies that say meat is bad. Your days are filled with muscle meats: poisonous levels of iron and the so-called essential amino acids. We can go on and on. Low-carb is a mistake that I hope the community recognizes and leaves behind. This is an elimination diet, not Atkins 3: Bacon Boogaloo. Explain the Asian paradox. Explain how vegan nutjob doctors cure diabetes. Explain how fruitarians become emaciated. Explain the Kitavans. Explain every traditional culture besides the Inuit. Explain how we could have a glucose-fueled 10,000 years, but epidemic diabesity only in the last 200. |
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