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Originally Posted by Si
DynaMo - Was it the Keto diet you was/are doing?
I was just reading about the Paleo diet, which is apparently similar, but a bit more strict? I don't know, they both sound interesting though.
Just wondering if you're still on it, how's it going etc?
I done my first near 18 hour fast yesterday, totally by accident haha.
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There are some important things to understand about ketogenic diets.
1) Lessened muscle catabolism for energy. This is why it was popularized outside of medicine in bodybuilding in the 50s. With a normal calorie restricted diet, a significant % of muscle loss will be lean muscle mass. In fact the loss of lean muscle mass, could account for up to 40 or 50% of the weight loss. Ketogenic diets began outside of medicine as a "Fish and Water" diet. Of course no one knew why it worked or understood the physiology behind it.. they just understood that it did work.
This is also a common claim of HCG diets. Thats because an HCG diet is nothing more than a ketogenic diet and the HCG has been proven time and time again to play zero role in weight loss and fat metabolism.
2) Stable moods and energy levels. Once you've gotten past your brain / body adapting to a new full time energy source, you will no longer combat fluctuating blood sugar levels, fluctuating energy levels etc. You will generally feel good, have energy most of the time - assuming you are well rested, dealing with stress well and so on.
3) Resetting insulin production and regulation. This is critical for overweight people who tend to quickly drift towards insulin resistance.
4) No cravings. No hunger. Hunger is an extremely complex thing in humans that involves quite a few different mechanisms in different areas of the body working together. However, a primary driver is insulin levels and related feedback loops. No insulin, no blood sugar fluctuations and a constant source of energy (dietart protein/fats, stored fats) - means no hunger and no cravings. What one might experience are more psychological and habitual rather than physiological.
This is critical to anyone who fights hunger and cravings while dieting (also regulated to a great extent by what you eat regardless). Without the concern of muscle loss and the lack of energy not being an issue and having no real hunger and cravings and using stored fat as a primary source of energy, you can basically starve yourself with no real ill effect other than the concerns over vitamins and minerals. So I often reduce my caloric intake to 500 a day and it does not affect my ability to do cardio, play sports etc as my body is not relying to diet for energy.
I can't really comment on the paleo diet. been ages since i've read anything about it. All diets are just different ways of restricting calories. In a nutshell, increasing protein, decreasing carb intake (notably simple carbs, and not those from fibrous veggies etc) and eating fat is going to minimize hunger/cravings which are primarily driven by fluctuating blood sugar/insulin. The net result is that its easier to maintain with diminished hunger/cravings and feeling more sated more often. So if it works for you and you don't have concerns about energy levels/recovery etc, then its really irrelevant what diet you stick to as long as its working for you.
All diets are different ways of restricting calories as far as weight loss is concerned. You just need to find what works for you. If you are mixing strenuous physical activity in the mix... then that requires a great deal of consideration and planning.
For the record, i don't believe Atkins created anything at all other than the products he marketed. The so called "Atkins Diet" is a term coined by the media as far as I recall. He was a good marketer and PR person for his books and products.. but didn't discover or create anything that directly relates to Ketogenic diets. He basically discovered ketogenic diets and loved meat and found it to be a great way for him to lose weight maintain. It had no relation to him being a doctor, medical research etc. In fact, he was pretty open about the fact that when this all became mainstream, there was still no real understanding of why exactly weight loss was occurring... only speculation. Much of that speculation was also proven to be wrong - such as the idea that the body simply wasn't metabolizing dietary fats or some % of whats consumed while in ketosis etc. Countless studies later, its understood that first and foremost, people who eat more diets higher in proteins tend to eat less overall calories. I believe that all he really did that could be considered something unique that he "created" was creating a maintenance phase - where more carbs are introduced into the diet for the long term. My point is more that he really contributed nothing to the understanding of ketogenic diets.
The best authority that I am aware of on Ketogenic diets is Lyle McDonnald and he's written several books and done amazingly exhaustive research on the topic for well over a decade now.