Pros and Cons of keto?
cecsav1
Posts: 714 Member
I've been spending a lot of time on these boards and have seen many people mention eating for ketosis, but even using the search function, I haven't been able to find the pros and cons of eating for keto. If you've done keto (or are currently...), what are the pros and cons? I'm talking: results, convenience, cost, etc. Any kind of feedback you have would be helpful to me in making my decision as to whether to go keto or not. Thanks! 
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Replies
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Unless you're diabetic, have PCOS, or some other difficulty with insulin, keto is kind of a fad.5
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I have been on keto for a month and half, I have lost 15 lbs. and have consistently 2 lbs. every week. I feel so much better, I have so much more energy, I do not crave carbs. I am never really hungry. When I started I was a wee bit scared Cause I love pasta and potato's. But now I don't miss them at all. If you go on line and search Keto you will find a ton of info on it and why it is so good. In my opinion it is not a fad it is a way of life. Do the search for yourself. There is also a few facebook pages that also have a ton of info, alone with our groups here.4
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NorthCascades wrote: »Unless you're diabetic, have PCOS, or some other difficulty with insulin, keto is kind of a fad.
What's your reasoning behind this? Have you used keto in the past?1 -
I've been spending a lot of time on these boards and have seen many people mention eating for ketosis, but even using the search function, I haven't been able to find the pros and cons of eating for keto. If you've done keto (or are currently...), what are the pros and cons? I'm talking: results, convenience, cost, etc. Any kind of feedback you have would be helpful to me in making my decision as to whether to go keto or not. Thanks!
I lost 100lb on keto.
Pros:
(For some): decreased appetite, decreased cravings, more energy, clearer skin, better mood
Cons: You have to limit your carbs to non-starchy veggies and low-carb dairy, and nuts basically, which some people find too restrictive. You have to keep an eye on your electrolyte levels more as keto causes the body to shed more sodium than non-ketotic diets. Some people find they have a period in the beginning where their athletic performance goes down while they adapt.
Some people don't find this eating plan sustainable. I was one who got the decreased appetite and cravings and lots of energy. I like low-carb foods a lot. So I found it very easily sustainable and a perfect fit. I am now maintaining my loss with around 100g/day. Ish. In addition to lots of veggies, I eat one piece of fruit, sometimes a low-carb wrap, higher-carb dairy (yogurt), dark chocolate, and some legumes. I workout 5 or 6 days a week, 4 of which is strength training.
But of course calories matter, and I have counted those since Sept of 2014.
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actually people with diabetes have to be careful with keto because to get into ketosis you have to bring your carbs down to only 20 grams. and that is way to low for a diabetic. people well above 50 grams. They do have to watch their carbs, so the keto diet may not be right for them. they should always ask their doctor first.
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NorthCascades wrote: »Unless you're diabetic, have PCOS, or some other difficulty with insulin, keto is kind of a fad.
What's your reasoning behind this? Have you used keto in the past?
Many people maintain that keto is a fad diet. And no one besides those who need to be on it for medical reasons should do it.
It's a valid eating strategy. People have done it since the late 1800s AFAIK for varying reasons, mostly to treat medical condtions. Of course some native peoples thrived on it due to necessity. A similar diet was what they used to treat diabetes before insulin was invented. It just happens to work nicely for some people without medical conditions. So no, it isn't necessary to do low-carb diets if you have no medical reason, but it's just another tool to achieve calorie restriction that some people find more sustainable than other methods. So if the desired end result is weight loss, keto is just another potential path to get there. IF calorie deficit is maintained. Ketosis does not guarantee weight loss on its own. I've gained weight in ketosis by eating too much period, which is the case with any eating plan. Eat too many more calories than your body can burn = gain weight.
The key to it all, counting carbs or not, is choosing a sustainable plan. Because a plan you stick with is one that works.5 -
NorthCascades wrote: »Unless you're diabetic, have PCOS, or some other difficulty with insulin, keto is kind of a fad.
(1) What's your reasoning behind this? (2) Have you used keto in the past?
1: Weight loss comes from a calorie deficit. Full stop. You can lose weight eating nothing but sugar, it would be hard but it's possible. I've lost 85 pounds eating lots of carbs. Unless you have a problem with insulen, keto is unnecessary for weight loss or any other benefit. But it's really wildly popular *kitten* of a sudden despite the complete lack of necessity.
2: My experience with keto is very personal and I don't want to share it here and invite a lot of comments. I'll send you a PM. Well, I tried to, MFP wouldn't let me.1 -
Pros: bacon, eggs, steak.
Cons: possible adrenal fatigue (shown in studies). no carbs aka no pizza, ice cream..etc. decreased endurance, stamina, energy in gym. Bad breath. Bloating when coming off of ketosis. Foggy or fuzzy due to lack of glucose in the brain.
I'm sure there are many reasons, responses, and opinions, but unless you prefer it or have a medical condition, I would just keep a balanced diet with a caloric goal4 -
pinggolfer96 wrote: »Pros: bacon, eggs, steak.
Cons: possible adrenal fatigue (shown in studies). no carbs aka no pizza, ice cream..etc. decreased endurance, stamina, energy in gym. Bad breath. Bloating when coming off of ketosis. Foggy or fuzzy due to lack of glucose in the brain.
I'm sure there are many reasons, responses, and opinions, but unless you prefer it or have a medical condition, I would just keep a balanced diet with a caloric goal
I have been doing the Keto diet for 2 months now, and if anything I feel much better in the gym then I did when I was eating carbs all day. I don't have any conditions that force me on this diet, and I sure do love me some carbs, but sometimes, I get bloated when I eat them, and would feel weighted down. Since transitioning away, I don't have those feelings. Everyone reacts to this diet differently, but I think I see better gains in the gym since going keto for me.
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i did it for almost a month and my kidneys hurt SO BAD. i quit and felt better immediately.3
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My mom lost 50 pounds doing keto in 2005 and has kept it off all this time. She has no health issues where she NEEDS keto but It's the only way of life that has ever worked with her and weight loss.
I tried to do keto with her and I was an emotional wreck and it wasn't sustainable for me.
A life without pizza is not a life I want to live.3 -
I lost 80 plus pounds on Keto been in Maintenance for a few months and now a mini bulk the one and Only CON I can think of is Flat looking muscles in low carb but literally in 24 hours that can change if I eat carbs..1
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I don't do it any more. But the pros for me were:
No more cravings
Was able to stay in my deficit effortlessly
my skin cleared up and excema disappeared
No more afternoon slump
Clearer thinking
Weight loss was just easier and I lost each and every week
Cons: Keto breath, which is is why I stopped
If I was single (husband complained constantly about the breath) and I never had to leave the house or talk to people, I'd still be doing it. I'm so jealous of people who don't get this side effect, or if they do, don't care. 1 -
Do some actual research, if you don't understand the science then it won't really work for you. It did for me, I lost 100lbs using a ketogenic diet. Cravings were truly gone, non existent. I can say that's a pro. Cake didn't even make me salivate which is probably impossible right now (not on keto anymore obvs). Energy levels stayed steady (it's a blood glucose thing, it doesn't rise and fall so severely when you eat no carbs)
A con would be that it needs to be a lifestyle choice. Many do! My best friends father is a ketogenic eater for life, and he doesn't eat substitutions for carbs like low carb tortillas whereas I survived with them as my "treats". Basically as soon as I started eating carbs again, the cravings came back full force and caused binges from a year of deprivation. I didn't have energy for increasing my exercise, which I was ready for at the time so I felt limited. But I also didn't come off with any kind of plan, I got on MFP with zero calorie counting experience and then life happened. I can't say 100% that eating carbs is why I regained weight- stress and binge eating did that, as did quitting my gym.
I advocate lots of research, really think it over. It requires higher fat and I had to basically redo my entire fridge and pantry when I did it so it's not exactly a "diet" you can start and stop whenever you like. Your body needs to adapt to burning fat in the absence of glucose, and that's not exactly process that is painless. The keto flu can be quite a doozy, I remember mine lasted 2 full days and I felt like absolute dirt. If I ever cheated on the diet I could expect to feel pretty awful for days, which was a good motivator not to cheat... but that wasn't a life I wanted. I wanted to have a slice of cake to celebrate a friend's birthday and not spend a day with my guts turning inside out.
You can do it without ketosis, but if you chose to try it, do tons and tons of research. Not on here, just Google scientific articles and explanations so you totally understand the process and why the urine strips don't work well.1 -
It was all fine for me until I hit the just what felt like inevitable carb binge or overage and then I just felt demolished and sick and terrible and gained like all the weight I had lost back overnight due to the water weight2
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I've been keto for about a year and lost 40lbs. The following list is relevent for me only.
Pros:
Reduced appetite and cravings.
A slight thermogenic benefit.
Tasty food.
No more reactive hypoglycemia.
Improved IR and BG
Fewer autoimmune flare-ups
Increased cognitive function.
Better skin and hair.
Steadier and better energy.
Less gas.
Cons:
Restricted food choices (but I'm a celiac so I'm used to that)
Looser bms.1 -
I have lost 107lbs doing LCHF since Jan 2015.
It's not a fad to me. It's a healthy way of living.
If you need help you can friend me.
I don't feel restricted in my food choices at all.
I have EXCELLENT recipes for just about everything.3 -
can someone tell me how long do stay on the keto diet, how many carbs to take in fats and also protein to take in, i know it all depends on your activity, weight to figure out pro fat carbs, are you able to work out heavy on a keto diet0
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@rollerjog most ketoers stick to 5% carbs, 75% fat, 20% protein. 50g of carbs would be around the max amount per day.
You don't have to start off at 5% of you don't want to.1 -
Pros: better compliance, less appetite, steady energy supply (consistency) vs. peak-trough energy of glucose, lower triglycerides & generally better lipid panel (increased HDL, decreased VLDL, unchanged or increased LDL), lowered HbA1C/Blood Glucose, less fluid retention, promotes inhibitory Neurotransmitter Gamma-amino butyric acid (protection in seizures (roughly 50% respond & can lower/eliminate epilepsy med use), theorized to benefit alzheimer's disease (glucose as a fuel source for the brain diminishes; intranasal insulin is being investigated as a treatment as well to overcome this), parkinson's disease)
Cons: initial adaptation ("brain-fog", asthenia, lethargy, malaise, etc.), vastly limited food choice & need to examine food labels, constipation, increased risk of kidney stones, dehydration, decreased High intensity performance (HIIT, powerlifting, etc.)1 -
It boils down to this:
Pros: some people find it easier
Cons: some people find it harder
All the other claimed benefits are very individual.
When I tried it twice and I found out I was in the second camp and developed unwanted gastro side effects, anxiety, depression, unstable blood sugar, insatiable hunger due to the tiny portions and I did not like most of the food to boot. There is no way you would know which camp you belong to short of trying it, so give it a try for a couple of months and see how you feel.6 -
about 20 years ago or so i worked at a very large gym there were a lot of power lifters bodybuilders and people just working out, i heard of keto back then but the only people that were doing it were the ones getting ready to jump on stage for a show these people were in shape already for men i would say 6 to 10 percent body fat for women 15 to 18 percent body fat, they would do keto 30 days out from a show, a day before the show i seen guys that were around 4% body fat for the women 10 to 12 % body fat from the people i talk to they would only do it for short period of time after a show they would slowly work there way back up to maintenance calories,1
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amusedmonkey wrote: »It boils down to this:
Pros: some people find it easier
Cons: some people find it harder
All the other claimed benefits are very individual.
When I tried it twice and I found out I was in the second camp and developed unwanted gastro side effects, anxiety, depression, unstable blood sugar, insatiable hunger due to the tiny portions and I did not like most of the food to boot. There is no way you would know which camp you belong to short of trying it, so give it a try for a couple of months and see how you feel.
This pretty much in a nut shell. I could never get down to keto. I can't even get below 150g of carbs a day without feeling tired, dizzy and lethagic, even with high amounts of sodium/electrolytes.
So for some, its very plausible. For others, its like death. The question is, how is your body going to respond.
Unfortunately, dieting is highly trail and error. And regardless of diet strategy, you still need a calorie deficit to lose weight.
Edit: many of the aforementioned benefits occur with any diet because typically people concentrate on higher quality, higher nutrient level foods and start exercising.1 -
The only thing that you should ask yourself is this - is it sustainable for YOU? And I'm not talking just for losing weight, but after too...4
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Cons: Social difficulties. Happy birthday! I can't eat even a small slice of cake though, as - unlike normal plain calorie counting - even small cheats break the efficacy of the diet (if you believe in it.)2
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It's very restrictive and you will get the same results just counting your calories that MFP recommends
Source: Lost 100lbs in 12 months following MFP recommendations and didn't cut out any food types...3 -
I think you have to experiment since everyone is different. Personally, the benefit for me is massively decreased appetite/cravings (so much lower calories). The downside is dramatically lower performance in the gym, even on pretty easy workouts. It's been about a month now but maybe that will get better with time. For myself, I see it as a temporary tool for lowering calories to speed up my weight loss, but not as a lifetime way of eating for me. I lost my first 45 lbs through calorie counting with moderate/high carbs so I know that I can eat lots of carbs and still lose weight, it's just slower because I eat more calories in general.
The key to ANY way of eating though is not to give up when results slow down, as they inevitably do, but either stick with it or change your tactic. When I tried keto in the past it failed for me because I'd lose weight super quickly the first few weeks, then suddenly weight loss would halt, I'd get discouraged, and I'd go right back to my old way of eating (3-4k calories/day of junk).1 -
Keto Diet is good for a short period (30-60 days) of time to 'jump start' your weight loss, though some people remain on it for ages too without any adverse effect. It's type of Atkins where you need to keep your carbs intake to 20 grams or less, eat more fats, some proteins & no starchy veggies.
Check this youtube video it get a high-level info what's Keto -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOJxfh0b3o8
Remember... calorie count is best way to reduce weight, just Keto isn't going to decrease your weight. All the best.2 -
I've been mostly Keto since the beginning of February.
Pros:
I like eating this way.
I find that I am not thinking about food all the time. (cravings seem to have subsided)
More alert thinking.
less hunger.
Easily stay within my calorie allotment
Supportive groups here on MFP
Lost 33 pound so far
Cons:
Social eating : sometimes people look at you funny when you only have the entrée on your plate or the birthday cake instance mentioned above
Getting over embarrassment of asking for "low carb style" or just the meat and cheese when eating out.
bad breath, though wife hasn't complained in a while...some say it goes away.
Everyone wants to argue with you about it
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about 20 years ago or so i worked at a very large gym there were a lot of power lifters bodybuilders and people just working out, i heard of keto back then but the only people that were doing it were the ones getting ready to jump on stage for a show these people were in shape already for men i would say 6 to 10 percent body fat for women 15 to 18 percent body fat, they would do keto 30 days out from a show, a day before the show i seen guys that were around 4% body fat for the women 10 to 12 % body fat from the people i talk to they would only do it for short period of time after a show they would slowly work there way back up to maintenance calories,
yeah, I know a lot of body builders use Keto as a way to decrease BF% and water weight prior to a competition. I think a body building forum would probably be the best place to get that info.1
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