by Anonymous
(Los Organos, Piura, Peru)
However, I didn’t lose any weight on the diet and could not force my body into ketosis, just borderline.
Could it be that it depends on individual body metabolism? I must mention that I was physically very active at the time (surfer), just wanting to get lean, so don’t know if that had any effect on the lack of results.
Since I am not very active now in my 60s, I might try it again.
Skye’s Answer:
If you’re not losing weight on a ketogenic diet plan it’s usually due to not tracking calories and macronutrients accurately.
Did you track your calories and protein, carbs and fat each day? If not then that is mostly likely the reason you didn’t lose weight.
Much to the disdain of low carb diet gurus, there really is no magic to ketogenic dieting as weight loss is the result of negative energy balance and nothing more. Take in less calories than you need and you’ll lose weight.
The reason the ketogenic diet can work for some people without tracking their diets is because by removing an entire food group (in this case carbohydrates) you naturally reduce calorie intake.
All diets that allow people to eat as much as they wish operate within certain rules that ultimately trick the dieter into consuming less. In the example of a ketogenic diet, most people don’t have the desire to overeat protein and fat as they are naturally very filling.
The state of ketosis is thought of as a magical state where you burn body fat but the truth is, the reason you lose weight is because you are eating less calories than you need to. Ketosis is simply the body switching from using carbs for fuel to fat (both dietary and body fat), I explain this process further in my article about ketogenic dieting.
You mentioned that you followed a ketogenic diet for 3 weeks and that it was strict. This indicates that you should have been in ketosis as you didn’t cheat on your diet and eat carbs so I’d expect you to have been in ketosis after 3-4 days.
As far as I am
Physiologically speaking though, the diet should work for everyone who is comfortable with low carb dieting.
You mention you want to try the diet again now that you’re older as less active. Many of my older clients gravitate towards this type of diet because they’ve had good experiences with it in the past and because it’s quite easy to adhere to.
I would also say that if you are usually inactive then this type of diet is a good way of eating as the diet takes care of most of the fat loss. In this specific example I would usually recommend a standard ketogenic diet (SKD), but if you are able to do some resistance training (optimal) then a targeted ketogenic diet (TKD) or cyclical ketogenic diet (CKD) would be better.
The TKD allows you to consume some carbs during the week, focussed around your workouts. This helps maintain intensity in the gym which is good but the carbs usually kick you out of ketosis.
I prefer the CKD which is the type of keto diet I follow and consists of 5 days of low carb ketogenic dieting followed by a 2 day carb load.
The carb load satisfies cravings and resets the metabolic processes that stop you losing fat when calories are restricted for extended periods of time.
If you intend to try the ketosis diet again then I recommend Lyle McDonald’s The Ketogenic Diet which is THE resource on ketogenic dieting. The thing I like about this book is that Lyle isn’t a keto guru (despite people calling him that!) and he has no preference for ketogenic dieting over any other.
The book simply explains EVERYTHING you need to know about ketogenic dieting in an unbiased, balanced manner and lays out everything you need to make the diet a success.
If you do decide to do the diet make sure you come back here and let us know how it worked for you and share your story!
Hope this helps.
Skye