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Have any of you done the ketogenic diet? the one with no carbs at all. Wonder if it is possible to follow it while training, and how it will affect me. Would like to have a healthy diet.
Ketogenic diet - anyone?
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I hate hate hate keto diets. They are good for inactive obese people but they are terrible for athletes. Carbs are what fuel hard training and keep the muscle full. Glucose is the primary energy substrate used for anaerobic energy systems like lighting weights. It just makes sense to follow a carb based diet.
Too much carbs can cause fat loss, yes. That doesn't mean you need to eliminate carbs all together. Your best option is carb cycling. Carb cycling makes a lot of sense when you think about it. You get the best of everything. The high carb days are very anabolic where as the low carb days are fat loss focused.
I can tell you anecdotally from training hundreds of people that carb cycling truly does work. Here is an article I wrote that explains how to set up a carb cycling diet for fat loss with a full sample meal plan: http://www.evolutionary.org/cycling-carbohydrates
Too much carbs can cause fat loss, yes. That doesn't mean you need to eliminate carbs all together. Your best option is carb cycling. Carb cycling makes a lot of sense when you think about it. You get the best of everything. The high carb days are very anabolic where as the low carb days are fat loss focused.
I can tell you anecdotally from training hundreds of people that carb cycling truly does work. Here is an article I wrote that explains how to set up a carb cycling diet for fat loss with a full sample meal plan: http://www.evolutionary.org/cycling-carbohydrates
I feel like absolute shit on low carb diets so keto for me is a no go. I find I am much more consistent with a typical 40/40/20 split.
Ketogenic diet is like anadrol - it can be a winner, but there are also some considerable downsides to it.
Personally, I have followed it twice, and both times I have had contradictive impressions. On one hand, I did have a lot of energy, had an easier time waking up in the morning, and never really had any feeling of being hungry. Lost weight as well.
However, it is extremely hard to avoid carbs in such a strict way, and it is even harder to do so for a long time. Also, there is the problem of the smell. Once your liver starts to produce ketones, your smell and sweat get a specific and well noticeable smell, which is not good. You get used to it rather fast, and don't notice it, but others do notice it.
For me, carb cycling is a better approach - it is easier to carry out, and it is very effective. Besides, with carb cycling you are not excluding anything completely.
Personally, I have followed it twice, and both times I have had contradictive impressions. On one hand, I did have a lot of energy, had an easier time waking up in the morning, and never really had any feeling of being hungry. Lost weight as well.
However, it is extremely hard to avoid carbs in such a strict way, and it is even harder to do so for a long time. Also, there is the problem of the smell. Once your liver starts to produce ketones, your smell and sweat get a specific and well noticeable smell, which is not good. You get used to it rather fast, and don't notice it, but others do notice it.
For me, carb cycling is a better approach - it is easier to carry out, and it is very effective. Besides, with carb cycling you are not excluding anything completely.
Honestly, I haven't tried keto, but I've heard a wide spectrum of results. For some people it works perfectly, yet others cannot withstand the low energy levels of a no carb diet. There's probably nothing that anyone can tell you that's going to be more useful than trying it yourself. If you can make it to the 3rd day or so with no carbs then it should get easier and the fat should start melting away (theoretically).
