So now I’m being told Keto is the only effective way to lose weight?

MikePTY wrote: »

lin_be wrote: »

Keto has worked for a lot of people! It’s an easy restrictive diet because you can substitute a lot of high carbohydrate foods. And protein and fat are yummy to eat!

The biggest problem I have with keto is that after you’ve lost your weight and want to eat like you did before, you gain because your body just naturally retains water when eating higher carbohydrates (not fat). And then they tout that carbs are the devil “because they made me gain”. I feel like there’s certainly a lot of fat loss from keto (calorie deficit) but the extra losses are just water.

This is the big problem with Keto and other restrictive diets. If someone is not going to eat Keto for life, then it is not a very effective long term weight loss solicitation. There are a lot of stories of people losing on Keto, but almost as many of people gaining it back when they stop doing it. So I think for most people, unless they genuinely like the Ketogenic way of eating and feel like they could continue with it long term, it is better to just moderate intake of the foods you like to eat, so you can sustain it better once you lose the weight.

There are also lots of stories of people gaining back weight after having lost it by calorie counting using MFP. Go look through the Introduce Yourself or Getting Started sections. Does that mean that MFP's method is not a very effective weight loss solution?

Weight management is about caloric intake, not the foods you eat. There are plenty of people here on MFP who swear off certain foods during loss and add them back in (in some capacity) once they are at a healthy weight and have developed the habits they need to maintain the loss. Are they also doomed to fail because they weren't eating those foods all along?

Our diets change over the course of our lives. No one eats the same way that they did as a child, or a teen, or as a young struggling twenty-something. It's not the foods you choose, it's the amount. A person who can manage the amount will be successful no matter what they eat or how the foods in their diet change.

Nope. It's really all about creating a moderate, slow calorie deficit consistently enough (read "months") to allow your body to lose excess fat gradually (1-2 pound per week max). I've tried cutting too many calories too quickly, and my body says "we must be starving, so no fat loss." And if I cut down but don't do it consistently for weeks into months, my body says "oh, this isn't something we're doing for very long, so no fat loss." LOL

Remember: Our amazing bodies have survived over millions of years because of our ability to store fat very well, and to maintain balance, or homeostasis. Work WITH your body, and all will balance out.

I am doing keto (sometimes I slip) because bread KILLS me- one bite and I go overboard. I like meat, and I like fat, so guess what? I do Keto because it works for me, and I like the foods on that plan (plus it is recommended for fat burn for those of us preparing for bariatric surgery). If keto doesn't work for you and you lose weight eating pizza, then that is awesome! The only diet I do not recommend is breatharian.

Dad_of_3 wrote: »

MikePTY wrote: »

lin_be wrote: »

Keto has worked for a lot of people! It’s an easy restrictive diet because you can substitute a lot of high carbohydrate foods. And protein and fat are yummy to eat!

The biggest problem I have with keto is that after you’ve lost your weight and want to eat like you did before, you gain because your body just naturally retains water when eating higher carbohydrates (not fat). And then they tout that carbs are the devil “because they made me gain”. I feel like there’s certainly a lot of fat loss from keto (calorie deficit) but the extra losses are just water.

This is the big problem with Keto and other restrictive diets. If someone is not going to eat Keto for life, then it is not a very effective long term weight loss solicitation. There are a lot of stories of people losing on Keto, but almost as many of people gaining it back when they stop doing it. So I think for most people, unless they genuinely like the Ketogenic way of eating and feel like they could continue with it long term, it is better to just moderate intake of the foods you like to eat, so you can sustain it better once you lose the weight.

I agree. I am going to be on a high protein, moderate fat, low carb diet for the rest of my life. It is not even be a diet at this point, it is already a life style.

Earlier you stated you were doing Keto, but the bolded above is not keto... Keto is high fat, moderate protein, low carb

pjayperrin wrote: »

Nope. It's really all about creating a moderate, slow calorie deficit consistently enough (read "months") to allow your body to lose excess fat gradually (1-2 pound per week max). I've tried cutting too many calories too quickly, and my body says "we must be starving, so no fat loss." And if I cut down but don't do it consistently for weeks into months, my body says "oh, this isn't something we're doing for very long, so no fat loss." LOL

Remember: Our amazing bodies have survived over millions of years because of our ability to store fat very well, and to maintain balance, or homeostasis. Work WITH your body, and all will balance out.

it's too bad that it didn't work this way for all the people that are actually starving to death. why didn't their bodies say "no fat loss" and keep cruising along? starvation mode is a myth.

erickirb wrote: »

Dad_of_3 wrote: »

MikePTY wrote: »

lin_be wrote: »

Keto has worked for a lot of people! It’s an easy restrictive diet because you can substitute a lot of high carbohydrate foods. And protein and fat are yummy to eat!

The biggest problem I have with keto is that after you’ve lost your weight and want to eat like you did before, you gain because your body just naturally retains water when eating higher carbohydrates (not fat). And then they tout that carbs are the devil “because they made me gain”. I feel like there’s certainly a lot of fat loss from keto (calorie deficit) but the extra losses are just water.

This is the big problem with Keto and other restrictive diets. If someone is not going to eat Keto for life, then it is not a very effective long term weight loss solicitation. There are a lot of stories of people losing on Keto, but almost as many of people gaining it back when they stop doing it. So I think for most people, unless they genuinely like the Ketogenic way of eating and feel like they could continue with it long term, it is better to just moderate intake of the foods you like to eat, so you can sustain it better once you lose the weight.

I agree. I am going to be on a high protein, moderate fat, low carb diet for the rest of my life. It is not even be a diet at this point, it is already a life style.

Earlier you stated you were doing Keto, but the bolded above is not keto... Keto is high fat, moderate protein, low carb

Medically therapeutic keto is high fat, lower protein and super low carbs, but most people who are following keto for weight loss (at least the ones that I am aware of) are pretty much splitting the protein and fat while keeping the carbs super low. The only thing really required to get into (and maintain ketosis) is to keep the carbs at a low enough level that the body uses fats for the majority of it's energy because of the lack of glucose from carbs.

I just wanted to chime in here and say that I once worked with a client who was on keto to control her seizures and she was over weight/ border line obese so it is certainly not a "miracle guaranteed to lose weight diet" as some claim it to be. It did however work wonders for controlling her seizures.

Obviously, since the idea has been stated over and over, you don't need to do keto to lose weight.

Regarding sustainability, I tend to agree that as long as a person understands the underlying fundamental principles of weight management (calorie balance), it really doesn't matter if keto is sustainable or not.

I've had to tweak my own macro mix several times over the four years I've been managing my weight with calorie counting, but since I'm overarchingly aware that it's the calories that matter, the macro mix I'm eating has been irrelevant.

Saying that keto is something that needs to be sustainable in order to be undertaken divorces it from the fact that keto, in order to affect a person's weight, still needs to have a proper impact on that person's calorie goals, whether that person is using keto's satiating effects to create a deficit or somehow eating to maintain or actively tracking to meet certain goals.

Keto is just a macro mix that might suit someone in terms of satiety at some point in their weight management. It might stop suiting them. As long as they know they can still manage their weight by managing their caloric intake in some other way, it doesn't matter if they plan to keep eating that way.