Cyclic ketogenic meal plan that is around 1700 cals/day?

Yes you can set up a carb cycle on a deficit. Your current weight will dictate the macro breakdown for your cycle. There are various ways to set a cycle up but your high carb/refeed days are put in on your heaviest work out days.

Without knowing your history, current stats, how the weight has been coming off it's difficult to say whether this would be beneficial to you at this point.

Why are you eating back your exercise calories?

Morgaen73 wrote: »

Hi

I'm considering doing a cyclic keto diet for a month, just to reset things but I have some questions.

Firstly, can you do a keto diet on a calorie deficit? The reason I ask is because all the keto meal plans I've seen are "eat as much as you want" which seems a bit off to me. My calorie goal is currently 1700/day but I do eat back my exercise calories. I work out 5 days a week of which 1 day is cardio and calisthenics and the other 4 days are lifting.

Secondly, I'm lifting. My priority, however, is to lose fat but maintain muscle mass.

In short, I have no idea how this works but I want to try it to speed up fat loss.

Any advice would be appreciated.

1. "Firstly, can you do a keto diet on a calorie deficit?" Of course, but realize, its the calorie deficit causing the weight loss, not that you happen to be in Ketosis due to lack of carbohydrates. Keto diets are just another way to "skin the cat" to get you into that deficit. You can try to "eat as much as you want" as due to the fat, protein, and fiber you are getting from eating low carb vegetable and fruit sources (may some grains too), you will naturally be full and tend to achieve caloric deficit. But regardless of being in Keto, if your maintenance is 2500 calories and you eat 3000 calories, you will gain weight.
2. "Secondly, I'm lifting. My priority, however, is to lose fat but maintain muscle mass." Then getting sufficient protein (many threads on this, but around .8-1g/lb of lean body mass), providing training stimulus to build muscle, and not going crazy low on your calories will maintain as much muscle mass as possible (studies have shown that you will maximize muscle retension if you only try to lose in the .5-1% bodyweight weekly range (on average)).

In regards to speeding up fat-loss...meh. My opinion is if someone needs to lose by having a 500 calorie deficit per day, then regardless how you achieved that deficit, whether through Keto, counting macros, Intermittent Fasting, carb cycling, etc...(again, the "multiple ways to skin the cat"), at the end of the day, its all about what you could better adhere to, to create that deficit. Could cyclic Keto dieting cause you to lose a little more, maybe... I see it in the spectrum of nutrient timing (unless the protocol calls for extended refeeds as this does cause some additional hormonal adaptations that might be a little more beneficial) and while this has small impact, it does have impact none the less...but maybe instead of losing 4lbs in a month, you might lose 4.5lbs in that month. For me personally, the added .5lbs of loss comes with too much added complexity for my taste and I know its not something I could adhere to...but I'm not you.

Morgaen73 wrote: »

Hi :)Firstly, can you do a keto diet on a calorie deficit? The reason I ask is because all the keto meal plans I've seen are "eat as much as you want" which seems a bit off to me.

You'll be eating foods that are more satiating, which is where the notion that you can eat as much as you like comes from. You still need a deficit if you want to lose though.

Consider this: a family sized bag of potato chips vs. a dozen eggs. Which one are you more likely to overeat?

That's why keto works so well for some people... it helps to moderate appetite so you don't necessarily have to worry so much about tracking calories (unless you want to).