Dare I Say It? Keto

ThatCookieGurl

I am one who is always balking at fancy, trendy diet plans but I feel that a keto diet combined with intermittent fasting will help me to lose the last 10 pounds and will help me to cut fat. What are your thoughts on Keto? Does it actually have lasting results or will I gain it all back if I decide to stop?

Lietchi

You'll certainly lose lbs (and gain them back when you stop) since less carbs means less water retention.
As for fat loss though, a calorie deficit is all that's needed. If keto appeals to you to achieve that calorie deficit, go for it. Personally, I'd be miserable on keto.

Same for IF: if it helps you to achieve a calorie deficit, go for it, but it's not 'magic'.
I did a very light version of IF (skipping breakfast) for months. It helps curb my appetite and leaves me calories for later in the day (I prefer eating most of my calories later in the day).

janejellyroll

Just like any diet, keto will only have "lasting results" if you stay at the calorie level needed to maintain your new weight.

While you don't HAVE to stay on keto once you've reached your goal weight (you can always switch back to a more mainstream way of eating that lets you stay at the calorie level needed to maintain your new weight), many people seem to anecdotally experience that it is challenging to lose weight with one way of eating and then switch to another, different, way of eating to maintain. In these instances, they often do gain the weight back.

This is why many people prefer to lose weight with a manner of eating that is similar to the way they plan to eat to maintain, as it makes the adjustment to maintaining easier for many people.

That said, if you feel like you'd prefer to lose weight with keto and then switch to another method, there's no inherent reason that won't work.

sijomial

Losing fat is down to a calorie deficit not food choices or timing.
But yes, both keto and IF are perfectly valid ways, independently or together, to help some people manage their calorie balance.
You can have a poor diet and inappropriate calorie level following either, neither or both - you could also have a healthy diet and appropriate size diet following either, neither or both.

No losing 10lbs following any diet isn't an indicator that you will keep it off if that's what you mean by lasting results. Dieting down to goal weight has a big failure rate but maintaining that weight loss long term has an even higher failure rate. Being so close to goal I'd urge you to look far into the future and not just the next few weeks or months.

Both keto and IF are highly fashionable which makes sorting good information from bad much harder. There are huge amounts of woo and many false prophets around so take care with your information sources.

Personally, I found one version of IF useful when losing weight but also found a different version of IF restrictive for no good reason when maintaining. Keto has absolutely zero appeal to me short or long term. It would severely limit my food choices, make my overall diet much harder to be healthy and sustainable plus it is a really poor choice for my exercise. But I'm not you.....

bubus05

I have been doing keto combined with IF for months now. In the beginning it was only keto than after some research I tried IF combined with keto. TBH I dont think I would have been able to do both right from the start, you will put yourself under massive pressure doing both. Keto is fine in itself, I lost a lot of weight just by sticking to a low carb diet, not zero carb though, as many on these pages seem to think. The biggest difficulty I found with keto was to stay within my daily calorie limit, I mean if you eat more fat/protein than your limit it is still going to be hard if not impossible to lose weight regardless of your macros. IMHO get comfortable with keto first than try gradually to move to IF while maintaining a keto diet. The benefit of doing both is to be able to control your calorie intake better more easily.
There is an argument out there but highly controversial and debated, I will put it out anyway. While your body is in ketosis state your insulin level will be extremely low thus your body will burn its fat reserves at a faster rate, the longer this period lasts the more you will burn. And this is where IF really kicks off like a turbo booster. It kind of makes sense, but like I said it is highly debated.

Ddsb11

Anything providing a deficit will work. But if it’s not a way you plan on eating for the rest of your life you are likely to gain it all back and more. This is why most people eat whatever they want and just count calories (weighed by a food scale). It’s a win-win.

lemurcat2

leekatelynne0659 wrote: »

I am one who is always balking at fancy, trendy diet plans but I feel that a keto diet combined with intermittent fasting will help me to lose the last 10 pounds and will help me to cut fat. What are your thoughts on Keto? Does it actually have lasting results or will I gain it all back if I decide to stop?

I think keto works well for some, who don't feel too deprived and for whom it leads to more appetite control if appetite is a problem. It can also be an easy way for some to cut cals when not tracking, since it often is satiating for people and requires one to not eat commonly available foods with higher cals. I found it too restrictive to do for very long, as I like to eat a lot of veg and was hitting my net carb limit just with non starchy veg plus some nuts and occasional plain greek yogurt. I basically couldn't fit in lots of healthy foods (like fruit, beans/lentils, etc.) that I otherwise would eat. I do tend to enjoy eating lower carb when on a deficit, and didn't perceive any particular benefits or it being easier to hold a deficit for me when doing keto. I don't believe the claims about keto being more effective for fat loss make sense, and studies have generally debunked that claim. (I also didn't find it to be true when I experimented with it.) One thing is that keto typically causes a quick water weight drop, which you WILL regain if you stop doing keto, so you would want to take that into account.

I don't think one must eat the same way at maintenance as for losing, but given the concern about maintaining the loss of the last 10 lbs, I think figuring out how you will eat to do that might be a better option. Some people here have been very successful just accepting that the last 10 lb are going to be a slow loss, and thus approached it as something to do as painlessly as possible, with a small deficit and eating basically as you intend to continue.

I like IFing (as in time-restricted eating or eating in a window, there are other types) currently because I enjoy eating just 2 larger meals and it fits my current workout schedule. Again, I haven't found it to make a difference to the deficit I need to lose, it's just a matter of when I am hungry -- a way of helping myself control the cals. If you are logging and controlling cals without difficulty already, I doubt it would make a difference, but again if the issue is struggling to hit your cal goal -- and it's a reasonable goal -- it's something to try. For many people, it fits with how they naturally like to eat, also, so is not difficult at all.

I think it's worth focusing on what's currently going on so that you aren't losing (if that's the case). Do you have unreasonable loss/week goal given how close you are? Are you eating unplanned or unlogged foods? Have you gotten sloppier with the logging? Some other reason you can identify? I had intended to get to 120 and stopped being able to lose at 125, since at that point I was pretty happy with where I was so even though I wanted to lose a bit more I started being a lot more lax and deciding oh, well, so I will be at maintenance this week.

ninerbuff

bubus05 wrote: »

versial and debated, I will put it out anyway. While your body is in ketosis state your insulin level will be extremely low thus your body will burn its fat reserves at a faster rate, the longer this period lasts the more you will burn. And this is where IF really kicks off like a turbo booster. It kind of makes sense, but like I said it is highly debated.

If everything were in a vacuum maybe. But if you consume a lot of dietary fat in surplus, it to can be stored as fat due to HSL enzyme.


A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
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cwolfman13

leekatelynne0659 wrote: »

I am one who is always balking at fancy, trendy diet plans but I feel that a keto diet combined with intermittent fasting will help me to lose the last 10 pounds and will help me to cut fat. What are your thoughts on Keto? Does it actually have lasting results or will I gain it all back if I decide to stop?

Always has been a non starter for me...too restrictive, especially if I'm out or in social situations. That, and while I am an omnivore, I do eat quite a bit of plant matter to include things like lentils, oats, beans, root vegetables, etc being staples of my diet.

In regards to putting weight back on...depends...in general, keto results in a quick drop in water weight due to being very low carbohydrate. If you're not already low carb, this drop will be even more pronounced...every gram of carbohydrate typically carries around 4 grams of water. When you go off of keto and introduce carbohydrates back into your diet, you are going to put that water weight back on...as it naturally comes with carbohydrates.

My guess is that if you have a goal that is 10 Lbs less than you currently are right now, you will probably need to lose around 15-20 Lbs on keto to compensate for water lost and water that you will gain when you reintroduce carbohydrates.

thehumanpickle

leekatelynne0659 wrote: »

I am one who is always balking at fancy, trendy diet plans but I feel that a keto diet combined with intermittent fasting will help me to lose the last 10 pounds and will help me to cut fat. What are your thoughts on Keto? Does it actually have lasting results or will I gain it all back if I decide to stop?

I can only speak on keto as I have only dabbled with IF--

I had weight loss success with keto a few years ago when it was first coming out as such an It Diet. I think I lost 12 pounds in about 3 weeks, but I burnt out on it quick because I missed fruits and veggies desperately, and as soon as I went back to a balanced diet, I slowly gained it all back despite being cautious.

It works, but everything I have read say it isn't sustainable and my personal experience aligns with that assessment. It really all comes down to a calorie deficit. I decided after that experience to not follow any path that has me greatly restricting one food group or another. Lots of approaches will absolutely give you short term success. I can't live long term on a keto diet, and I want long term results.

That said, run it by your physician. They'll know better than anyone whether it's a good approach for you.

callsitlikeiseeit

with any diet, no matter what it is, I always ask the person ' can you maintain that way of eating for the rest of your life?'

if the answer is yes ... go for it.

If no, evaluate your other options.

The majority of us on MFP, especially those that have been around awhile, follow a pretty simple CICIO. if it fits ... you can eat it. I lose consistently (have lost over 130 and maintained for years, and mostly due to covid gained back 50, so I'm back to logging LOL) and I eat oreos every night. my diary is public. go look. sometimes 3. sometimes 7. sometimes with milk, too LOL not usually but sometimes. last night I did lol

everyone wants fast results. but... fast results tend to not be LONG LASTING results. Better to lose it slowly, be able to eat the things you enjoy and want (in moderation) and keep it off, then lose fast and gain it all back, or burn out and give up because you are restricting too much, and give up because you cant keep to it.

MikePfirrman

I know very, very few people that have maintained on Keto. It's one binge away from a disaster for most.

dragon_girl26

MikePfirrman wrote: »

I know very, very few people that have maintained on Keto. It's one binge away from a disaster for most.

I mean, people to do it for awhile seem to be successful, but I seem to have a lot more friends proclaiming they need to "get back on Keto because that way of eating suited me best!" than actually doing keto and being successful long term.

I always want to ask...well, if it's what suited you so perfectly and it was so great, then why did you stop? 🤔

ndj1979

msalicia07 wrote: »

Anything providing a deficit will work. But if it’s not a way you plan on eating for the rest of your life you are likely to gain it all back and more. This is why most people eat whatever they want and just count calories (weighed by a food scale). It’s a win-win.

This

ndj1979

I prefer a method that does not demonize a whole food group. Eat on a deficit, strength train, and meet macros and micros.

psuLemon

MikePfirrman wrote: »

I know very, very few people that have maintained on Keto. It's one binge away from a disaster for most.

This applies to every single diet or lifestyle change. Long term weight loss is like 5-10% successful.

I did Keto and it worked pretty well. But it kills my gym performance which is why i generally come off of it. But i often run periods of Keto if i gain some weight back.

Ultimately, it comes down to what is sustainable. So try it and see if it works for you. And then develop a transition plan for maintenance.