I was watching a YouTube video recently where a personal trainer with a popular YouTube channel posted a video where he was debunking the ketogenic diet, claiming that the weight people lose on keto is mostly just water weight and that the diet does not offer any real metabolic advantage. He stated that the only way to lose weight is by a calorie deficit. There is some truth that when you switch to a keto diet, the first few pounds are often just the water weight.
Glycogen is a substance deposited in the bodily tissue as a store of carbohydrates. It is a multibranched polysaccharide of glucose that serves as a form of energy. It is also the main form of glucose (sugar) in the human body. Think of glycogen as a sponge which absorbs water. The average person may carry several hundred grams of glycogen in the muscles and liver. Depending upon body size, activity levels, and food consumption, the total glycogen stores may hold roughly 1,500-2,500 calories of stored carbohydrates in addition to several pounds of associated water.
Most of the health advice is:
- “Just eat less.”
- “Move more.”
- Have better discipline.”
- Make better choices.”
That is great advice if everything is simple. But our bodies are complex. A person can have incredible willpower in many areas of their lives and still struggle with food because biology is constantly influencing their behavior. The willpower myth often ignores a person’s hunger hormones, insulin levels, food quality, metabolic health, cravings and energy regulation.
The American modern diet has trained us to be sugar burners. In actuality, the majority of us are addicted to carbohydrates. The modern food environment has an increase in refined carbohydrates, numbers and quantities of ultra-processed foods, the availability of these foods leads to constant snacking and sugary drinks. Not to mention the marketing campaigns that stress that we cannot live without these.
I am 58 years old and trust me, it has taken me several years to figure out how much damage I have done to my body. I am not talking about drug use or alcohol. I was working first as a deputy sheriff then as a police officer. Long patrol hours usually involve the daily 7-11 runs for sodas, the burger joints or other fast-food places for a quick meal. Obviously, this is not anywhere close to the ideal diet. On my days off, I would work out while being lazy to cook a whole and health meal.
Just using common sense, what do you think that does to someone over fifty-eight years and a twenty-year career. When a person eats high amounts of carbohydrates, which sadly is the majority of us, our bodies adapt to what it is constantly given. In a more technical term, we change our body’s homeostasis. Homeostasis is the tendency towards a relatively stable equilibrium between interdependent elements, especially as maintained by physiological processes.
For example, if our normal body weight when we were younger was 175 lbs. but continually exercised an unhealthy diet of eating excessive carbohydrates and ultra-processed foods. And for the definition of “younger”, I mean after reached our adulthood and stopped growing. We would change the homeostasis of our body convincing it that our weight should be 195 lbs. Then after a couple of years with the same bad habits, we are now 220 lbs. This happened to me. I tried different diets. I tried the keto diet and even five-day fasts.
My first initial attempt, which was motivated after my divorce, I dropped my weight from 220 lbs. down to 167 lbs. You will never guess what happened next. It was smooth sailing at about 170 lbs. for a while, then 180 lbs., then 190 lbs., then all the way back up to 205 lbs.
But why did this occur? The simple answer is that I went back to my old eating habits and didn’t understand that it needs to be a lifestyle change. It has to be a lifestyle change because the most important goal should be to undo the change in homeostasis that I spent changing over 58 years.
How is this done? In my case, I switched to a 100 percent carnivore diet and would do a five day fast maybe once every one or two months. Let’s look at why this is the case.
Your body has two main energy sources, Glucose (sugars) and Fats. Consumed carbohydrates are converted into glucose. Since glucose is easily converted to energy, you have convinced your body that glucose is the preferred fuel. Any extra carbohydrates are converted to glucose and are stored. When our body burns fat, the stored fat is released and is used for energy. Our bodies produce ketones to enable the conversion from fat to energy.
Let’s not forget that after years of eating carbohydrates that you have trained your body that carbohydrates and glucose are the preferred fuel. This means that when you decide to diet and strictly just cut calories, what do you think happens? You get hungry. Your body is forcing you to eat more because it wants glucose. This is in all definitions a “Carbohydrate Addiction”.
The Keto diet is not entirely a way to lose weight. It is a path to undo the damage, or more accurately “the training” and changes to your body’s homeostasis of depending upon carbohydrates.
This might sound like I am preaching to give up all the food you have ever loved to eat. At first, during the initial process of forcing your body to burn fat for fuel, this is true. But just like a person with alcoholism, you would not tell him or her that a drink once in a while is ok.
I have been retraining my body for the last 3 years. I have vacations and I go on cruises. I don’t limit my food consumption or alcohol intake while on vacation but upon my return, I continue with forcing my body to burn fat over carbohydrates. If I don’t do this and go back to the “Modern American Diet”, what do you think happens to my body weight. Like I said, I have to correct roughly fifty years of bad habits.
If the carnivore diet is too strict for you, intermittent fasting and the keto diet are recommended. Keto can help you control your hunger with a higher protein intake which results in improved fullness after a meal, and it supports maintain muscle. With stable blood sugar, you will have fewer energy crashes throughout the day. Lower insulin levels allow easier access to stored fat for energy.
For many people, keto works not because it violates the laws of calories, but because of fullness, it decreases hunger and makes controlling calories easier. If it is done honestly, I have found that I never have to count calories.
“The next time someone says they cannot lose weight because they lack discipline, we should ask a different question: Are they failing because they lack willpower, or because their body has been trained to rely on a fuel source that keeps them hungry?”
“Changing your metabolism is not about punishment or restriction. It is about teaching your body that it has another source of energy available.”
