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The Ketogenics Diet Works

Back in February I was listening to the Joe Rogan Experience podcast and he had Mark Sisson on who is a fitness author and blogger, and a former distance runner, triathlete and Ironman competitor (video of podcast above). During the show he started talking about the ketogenic diet and by the end of the show I think everyone who listened to the podcast wanted to try it out just because it sounded so absurd.

So this is how I understood ketogenics, basically your body right now uses carbs for energy, with ketogenics your body uses fat for energy which is a better fuel. To transform your body to burn fat instead of carbs it takes just 21 days. During these 21 days you need to completely phase out carbs from your diet (good ones and bad ones), so no grains like wheat and rice, no high carb veggies like sweet potato or corn and no more sugar. You’ll instead have to limit your carb intake to just 15g a day. Secondly your diet will have to consist of 75% fat and 25% protein. By fat they don’t mean just good fats like avocado but any fat like butter and fatty meats. So what happens is your body looks for carbs for energy, doesn’t find any carbs anymore so it starts looking for an alternative source of energy, and it then sees all this fat coming in so it starts burning the fat for fuel.

As of this post I’ve been on the keto diet for exactly 104 days (3 months and 2 weeks). Not only have I lost a lot of body fat but its the first diet where I’m really not craving any food I can’t have. Three months ago I went and had my body fat percentage measured using the BodPod and I ended up with a BF% of 24. It was really surprising and upsetting because it was the highest I had been in years. Fast forward to last week, I got my body fat measured again and I was now down to 17%. The only thing that changed was my diet. I was still going to the gym 3 times a week, I wasn’t doing extra cardio or anything of the sort, it’s just the food that I’ve been eating that has been different.

Now I know what you’re thinking, if I get on any strict diet I’ll lose weight and thats true but I’ll also most likely be just having grilled chicken with steamed veggies and hating my life while craving all this delicious food I can’t have. But if you look at what I have been eating the past three months its ridiculous, I love the food I’ve been eating. Foods I use to stay away from like kebabs, butter with my eggs, cheeses, ice cream etc.. are all now part of my keto diet. I now make delicious fat bombs which are high fat, no sugar and very low carb ice creams at home to help me keep my fat intake high. My chocolate chunk avocado ice cream is my favorite but I also make an incredible butter roasted pecan ice cream. In the past 3 months I only cheated three times, and all three times I cheated it wasn’t because I was craving certain foods but because I was with friends and we just ended up at Elevation or Shake Shack. In all the previous diets I had tried, I always had at least one cheat meal a week and now I don’t.

So not only have I lost fat because of ketogenics, but I’m also loving the food I’ve been eating.

ketonix

One more thing I wanted to talk about before I ended this post is the Ketonix breathalyzer. When your body is burning fat for energy it goes into a state of ketosis. So to know if you’re in ketosis or not (ie if you’re eating properly) you need to measure it and there are three ways to do that. The most accurate way is with a blood prick test but it’s also the most expensive while the least accurate and cheapest way is with urine test trips. The third option is not as accurate as a blood test but much more accurate than a urine test and it’s using a ketone breathalyzer. It’s also the most affordable in the long run since you can test your breath as many times as you want without having to get refills or anything. I ordered mine from Ketonix (pictured above) for $150 and it really helped me in the beginning keep me on track. So if you’re looking to try keto then I’d recommend ordering one.

The ketogenics diet works. My friends keep asking me how long I’m going to do this for as if its a temporary thing but right now I don’t have an issue staying on this till whenever. I’m enjoying all the food I’m eating, I’m burning body fat without even trying and I feel good. I’m now aiming to get my body fat down to 12% within the next 3 months but I’m also going to be adding cardio two or three times a week. Now keep in mind, I’m not a dietician, so if you’re interested in trying keto watch or listen to the podcast I’ve posted on top and then read up on it.

58 replies on “The Ketogenics Diet Works”

they’re not the same though, atkins is stricter requiring you to eat specific things. keto is more general with eat whatever you want as long as its 75% fat 25% protein. this is from the internet:

Keto is a descriptive term for any general low-carb, high-fat diet that should induce nutritional ketosis.

Atkins is a detailed, specifically regimented weight-loss program that restricts many specific foods throughout its various stages and also restricts overall carbohydrate intake. It often induces nutritional ketosis and could be considered a ketogenic diet.

Carbs are evil. I have been on a Paleo/Low Carb diet for over two years now. Not only have I lost weight, but I kept it of. I exercise almost daily and I only eat meat, fish, nuts, fruits and vegetables. No rice, no pasta, no bread and no potatoes. I don’t crave any of them. They are just empty calories that transform to sugar and fat in your body. Most people eat way too many carbs and they don’t exercise regularly. That’s why they are fat.

I was on Paleo/Low Carb for some time and hated it because I was always craving food and I had to cheat at least once a week, I felt like I was on a diet. This is the biggest difference for me with keto, I don’t crave, I don’t cheat and it doesn’t feel like a diet.

But really I’m pro all the healthy lifestyle diets since they have the same aim end of the day. Whatever works for someone might not work for someone else and if something works for you then stick to it.

Carbohydrates aren’t evil. You need them in certain chemical reactions such as cellular respiration. It’s a main source of energy and aren’t all merely empty calories.

Well if you’re on keto it’s not longer a main source of energy but in any case you don’t go off carbs because of calories. The main idea is that grains in general aren’t good for us and that’s why you cut them out.

Have u checked your blood lately. Are your cholesterol levels ok with all that fat intake? We wouldn’t want your heart to get all clogged up u know!

Cheers.

i do this amazing diet called calorie counting. basically i eat whatever i want and count the calories.

less calories eaten then burned = fat loss.

What about cheat meals? How do you deal with cravings for Junk food such as Pizza, Burgers, etc.?

I don’t crave things I can’t have like a a burger or pizza. Instead I crave things I can have like kebab heja, a Slice chicken box with extra special sauce, pan fried halloum cheese in butter, my delicious chocolate avocado ice cream.. etc..

thing is when you don’t have bread or sugar for awhile you stop craving them because you break the addiction and you forget how they taste like. it becomes easier to not want them because why would you want something you don’t even remember how it tastes like you know?

I love my sugar, I have been eating fruit as a solution to chocolate and the rest of the bad stuff. If I use this diet what kind of sugar craving can fulfill it? can you give me ideas?

I’ve been on keto for about 2 weeks now. Unlike you, I am fairly overweight (okay very overweight dammit..), and I’ve been going on and off of diets for as long as I remember. Nothing really ever worked for me because I always end up craving every single food that I cannot have, which leads to a cheat day, which leads to a cheat cheat day, then a cheat week, and we’re gone. The worst part was that I hardly lost any considerable weight.

Keto changed it all. First week I was down 4 kilos. By the end of the second week (yesterday), I was down 9 kilos in total. I literally no longer have any pair of pants that are my size, and even the belts do not do their job any more. I think I’m 2 sizes down now (I’ll find out tonight since I’m going shopping)
The fun part is, I haven’t been to the gym in 4 weeks!
I hardly feel hungry any more, and I have absolutely no cravings except for what I can eat, which is A LOT, and I just feel really good and energized!!

I don’t have any ketone measuring device, I simply count carbs (by the cucumber and garlic clove) and I try not to exceed 25 grams a day. I don’t even keep track of my fat and protein intake.. it just works !

I’m gonna start going to the gym again in a few days. Hopefully this will kick things up even more!

Show me how many athletes use the keto diet in training.

Vegan is certainly healthier than keto in the long run, not that I’m saying keto doesn’t work, I’ve thought about trying it myself, but I make healthy eating my norm rather than relying on and short-term diets.

Lots of people suffer side effect when going keto, like headaches or nausea. Having said that, I’ve seen lots of people on reddit fitness who’ve had great results on the keto diet. Where do you get your fibre from and have you noticed any lack of energy in the gym?

It’s a great result to go from 24 to 17% body fat in such a short time, especially with no extra training.

Dude a ton of athletes use keto including triathletes, cyclists and ultra-runners. Fat as a fuel lasts a lot longer than carbs which is why long distance athletes get on keto. Mark Sisson the guy I mention in the post is an ultra runner himself and in the podcast explains how useful it is for ultra runners.

I don’t know why you think keto is short term, if anything I find vegan a lot more short term and a lot less healthier. I don’t know any vegan who doesn’t look malnourished.

Regarding the side effects you’re talking about they only occur the first few days when people who were on a carb heavy diet suddenly cut out carbs. they call it the carb flu. Since I was already low carbing before starting keto i didn’t get the carb flu.

Finally i haven’t noticed any lack of energy at the gym, in fact its the opposite i’ve got more energy at the gym and i’m less tired. the reason from this i understood is because my body is no longer fighting grains and so my body is less inflamed and has more energy.

I can see why people doing long distance endurance sports such as ultra or Ironman would do keto. In those events you want to be using fat as your main source of energy. Any sport that requires high intensity also requires carbs so you won’t find any footballers or tennis players on keto.

Lots of Ironmen, ultra-runners and endurance athletes are also vegan, as is Venus Williams and nobody would say she looks malnourished!

As you said, whatever works for you is good. I’m tempted to try keto as I do a lot of long distance low intensity exercise but I’ve eaten a high-carb diet for so long I would miss my morning porridge and I can’t even contemplate a life without naan bread, fajitas or peanut butter on toast.

I can see why people doing long distance endurance sports such as ultra or Ironman would do keto. In those events you want to be using fat as your main source of energy. Any sport that requires high intensity also requires carbs so you won’t find any footballers or tennis players on keto.

Lots of Ironmen, ultra-runners and endurance athletes are also vegan, as is Venus Williams and nobody would say she looks malnourished! That being said, it is as possible to be an unhealthy vegan as it is an unhealthy carnivore.

As you said, whatever works for you is good. I’m tempted to try keto as I do a lot of long distance low intensity exercise but I’ve eaten a high-carb diet for so long I would miss my morning porridge and I can’t even contemplate a life without naan bread, fajitas or peanut butter on toast.

Really Mark? I always respected you but is it so hard to google “vegan athletes” before you say something like that?First link in the google search ( https://www.greatveganathletes.com/ ). I get that you have your diet and you believe in it, but it doesn’t mean that the vegan diet isn’t a healthy diet that athletes can thrive in.

Going FULL vegan full time is definitely not the best for our bodies. But cutting back on meat and dairy products a bit is really good.

spirits contain 0 carbs. beer is full of it, red/white wine has a bit.

so get off the pints and have a bit more liquor 😉

Mark, do you have a list of food to eat for the first 21 days? I am interested in trying that diet especially that I can eat what ever the hell I want 😀

Nutella for snack? yes please lol

Nutella is all sugar and carbs haha. I don’t have a list but I keep it fairly simple, I usually consume protein outside the house and then my fats at home. So I get my fats mostly from my Icecream, cheeses and macadamia nuts.

I’ve been on this diet for a few months, it’s called eat sensibly, and I don’t need to breath into a vibrator.

right now as I type this i’m having ice cream but usually its tea with butter and mct oil (bulletproof tea i guess). Fridays its turkish eggs at cocoa room.

Been following it for one year and lost 26kgs. Agree with everything Marc has said. Suggest you do a blood test every two months to check cholesterol and sugar levels

The biggest thing I take away from Keto is that it helps with cravings. Cravings are hell and make diets feel like diets. I don’t think Keto is the only way and definitely not lifelong for me but the results are there, just as they are for Rawtil4 vegans…. diet plans are only as good as the people following them

I am starting to count macros loosely again. That has been my diet saver BUTTTTTT I crave Banoffee daily and wish I could kick that.

Once I started Keto I stopped everything and am only taking Creatin at the moment. By everything I mean whey protein, my pre-workout supplement and BCAA.

A ketogenic diet is a great way to lose fat and keep it off, Keep in mind you may lose some muscle as well. Its very difficult to gain muscle on a ketogenic diet. It also differs from person to person as it may not work for everyone. Also some people can be in a state of ketosis in as quick as 7 days. The more you exercise the faster your reach ketosis in the beginning. You should try the carb backloading diet if you want to have fun with food and gain some muscle while burning fat. Keep in mind Keto is an important part of Carb backloading. Google it if interested.

I am sooo not interested in carb loading, there are a number of benefits to ketotis other than just burning fat like improved energy, improved brain function (memory and learning ability) and most importantly for me improves focus. I’m doing keto for the other benefits more than the burning fat benefit.

I don’t have it on me right now but it’s one of the first ones when u google keto avocado chocolate ice cream. It’s avocado, whipping cream, coconut milk, cocoa powder and stevia

Hey mark,

I have been on keto diet for 2 weeks now, just wondering were do you get mct oil and stevia here in Kuwait.Are you still doing it?

Cheers

Hi,
Could you give us the recipe for keto ice cream. And do you know where I can get some artificial sweeteners and coconut flour?

Hi, been searching things to read about Keto diet specifically here in Kuwait. I’m glad I came up with your post… I’m on my 3rd day already and although I don’t want to check my weight now, I can already feel the difference being not bloated and to top it all… my cravings for sweets and pastries which are my weakness are simply suppressed. I want to do it right, so I need to know where I can buy Keto ingredients to make my own bread and foods. I downloaded an app that will deteriorate the macros I should have daily.
Will appreciate any suggestions. More power!

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