What science says about the ketogenic diets and why they probably won't get you "dry" much.
There are many different ways of eating, many of which even have pretty good names, such as the South Beach Diet, Weight Diet, Dietthe Atkins diet, the HCG diet, the volumetric diet, the light diet, IIFYM (literally “If It Fits Your Macros” - “if it fits your KBJU”), reverse-loaded carbohydrates(carbs-backloading), the ketogenic diet, will be discussed today.
One of the most widely used diets is ketogenic. Despite the fact that many people use it to burn fat, there is still a lot of misinformation on the diet.
Perhaps the most misunderstood aspect of the ketogenic diet is how it affects athletic performance and your ability to gain muscle and increase strength.
Ketogenic diet - slowly "ketosis"
Ketosis is a metabolic condition that occurs when the amount of carbohydrates in your diet is so low that your body only needs to use fatty acids and ketone metabolism for energy. It seems that everything is simple, but let's learn this process to understand why our bodies fall into ketosis.
Our bodies need enough energy in the form of ATP to function.
ATP is a universal energy source for all biochemical processes in the living system.
A person needs an average of 1. 800 calories per day (you can calculate your personal rate on the fitness calculator) to produce enough ATP and maintain viability. At the same time, the middle brain needs about 400 kcal per day and uses glucose almost exclusively for energy. This means that a personneeds to consume 100 g of glucose per day just to maintain normal brain function.
What does this have to do with ketosis? With the ketogenic diet, we remove almost all carbohydrates from our diet, which means we are depriving the brain of glucose. But we need our brains to function somehow. Fortunately, the liver stores glucose in the form of glycogen and can donate small amounts of glucose to our brain to stay active. Our liver can store an average of 100-120 grams of glucose. With a severe lack of carbohydrates for the brain to function, the liver keeps us functioning normally throughout the day. In the end, however, the liver's glucose reserves cannot be replenished quickly and carbohydrates don't just need the brain, which is why we have problems.
Our muscles are also a huge store of glucose - they contain 400-500 grams of glucose in the form of glycogen stores.
However, glycogen stores are not primarily designed to feed the brain. Unfortunately, our muscles are unable to break down glycogen and release it into the bloodstream to eventually feed our brain, due to the lack of a muscle enzyme that breaks down glycogen (glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase).
In the absence of carbohydrates, the liver begins to produce ketones that are carried through the bloodstream to our brain and other tissues that do not use the fat for energy.
Let's quickly go through the biochemistry of these processes. When you "burn fat", the fatty acid molecules in your body are converted to acetyl-CoA, which in turn combines with oxaloacetate to start the Krebs cycle.
During ketosis, our liver uses so much fat for energy that excess acetyl-CoA begins to form ketones (beta-hydroxybutyrate, acetoacetic acid and acetone).
Gradually,with a frequent deficiency of carbohydrates, the body reaches a state such that the process begins to occur continuously and the level of ketone bodies in the blood increases significantly, thenWe could say that we officially fall into a state of ketosis.
What is a ketogenic diet and how does it differ from a “low carb” diet
Low carb diets and ketogenic diets are not the same.
Low-carb diets use fats and carbohydrates for our daily energy needs. Our bodies do not store ketones in the blood, and our tissues do not use ketones for energy.
With the ketogenic diet, our body reaches the point where the ketogenic body is produced in large quantities and used as fuel. During such dietary ketosis, the level of beta-hydroxybutyrate can range from 0. 5 to 3. 5 mM / L. You can even buy ketone test strips in the blood and measure yourself.
Low-carb diets limit the amount of carbohydrates in the diet (usually just under 100 grams per day), but beta-hydroxybutyrate levels don't reach 0. 5 and 3. 5 mM / L.
How to follow the ketogenic diet
As we discussed above, the ketogenic diet should be high in fat and low in carbohydrates.
In a traditional and strict ketogenic diet, 70-75% of daily calories should be obtained from fat and only 5% from carbohydrates. The amount of carbs you can consume while in ketosis varies from person to person, but you can typically consume up to 12% of the calories from carbs and maintain ketosis.
The amount of protein is also important. Most people who exercise are instilled that they consume large amounts of protein, perhaps one of the factors of a unsuccessful ketogenic diet.
As we discussed earlier, theprotein when consumed in high doses can be broken down into glucose (during gluconeogenesis) and therefore you cannot enter ketosis.Basically, if you consume more than 1. 8 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight, then this will be enough to get rid of ketosis.
Ideally, to improve ketogenic status and maintain lean muscle mass, your diet should be about 75% fat, 5% carbohydrates and 20% protein.
"Adapt" to the ketogenic diet
If you read the literature on ketosis you will see a general trend. There is a special "adaptation" stage, in which people experience a state of cloudy mind, feeling sluggish, and losing energy. Basically, people feel really bad during the first few weeks of the ketogenic diet. This may be due to our body's lack of essential enzymes, which are needed to effectively oxidize certain elements.
In order to survive, our bodies attempt to regenerate themselves to use other energy sources and learn to rely solely on body fat and ketones. Usually, after 4-6 weeks of adapting to the ketogenic diet, all these symptoms will go away.
Ketosis and Sports Performance: A Review of Scientific Research
Let's see a few studies that can answer this question.
Study No. 1The first study involved 12 people (7 males and 5 females, ages 24-60) on a ketogenic diet. self-appoint for an average of 38 days. The subjects performed moderate to intense workouts, their blood count, body composition, and maximum oxygen consumption were measured.
The study authors themselves concluded: “A radical reduction in carbohydrates had no significant effect on running performance, based on how long the subject began to fatigue and maximum oxygen consumption, butbody mass composition improved, the participants lost 3. 4 kg of body weight and gained 1. 5 pounds of lean muscle mass. "
Consequently, the study participants lost weight, but there was no noticeable change in athletic performance. In addition, the subjects reduced their body's resilience.
Study No. 2Another study involved 8 men around 30 years old with at least 5 years of training experience. The subjects went on to a 4-week mixed + ketogenic diet and extended stationary bike exercises at different intensities.
The ketogenic diet also has a positive effect on body mass composition, as in the first study.
Interestingly, the relative values of maximum oxygen consumption and oxygen consumption at the anaerobic threshold increased significantly in the ketogenic diet. The increase in maximum oxygen consumption can be explained by a decrease in body weight. However,maximum workload and lower anaerobic threshold workload following the ketogenic diet.
This means that theketogenic diet leads to weight loss, but also significantly reduces explosive strength and the ability to train at high intensity. Would you like to become stronger and train harder? Then don't assume that the ketogenic diet is a good choice for this.
Study No. 3A third study looked at a 30-day ketogenic diet (4. 5% of calories from carbohydrates) forto performance in the following exercises: leg lifts, floor pushups, parallel bar pushups, rafters, squat jumps and 30-sharp jumps seconds. The scientists also measured the participants' body composition.
Here is the conclusion:
- The ketogenic diet causes a "spontaneous calorie reduction" compared to a regular diet.
- No performance reduction was seen when testing the ketogenic diet exercise, however, no performance improvement was found.
As with other studies, there is a noticeable difference in body weight composition after the ketogenic diet: participants can lose weight. However, it should be noted that the participants selected for this study were quite dry (about 7% body fat).
It should also be mentioned that none of these tests view the fecal process as an energy source, they are more tests to test for explosive power, phosphagenic systems and tests. test for muscle fatigue.
Study No. 4In this study, 5 experienced cyclists took the maximum oxygen consumption test and the test. exhaustion period (TEE) before and after the ketogenic diet 4 weeks.
Since this research is quite long, I just want to focus on the performance aspect and muscle glycogen level. The TEE test shows huge differences between the participants. One subject improved TEE by 84 minutes over 4 weeks, the second increased by 30 minutes, while two subjects decreased by 50 minutes in total and one subject remained unchanged:
Regarding muscle glycogen storage, muscle biopsy showed thathad almost half as much glycogen storage after the ketogenic diet than normal. This fact suffices to say that high performance can be goodbye.
Research results on ketogenic diet
Let's see what these four studies have in common:
Improved body composition.Every study has resulted in a qualitative improvement in body composition. However, there is a controversial fact that this is the magic effect of the ketogenic diet, rather than the spontaneous restriction of calories. Because if you do any research on any kind of diet and body composition, any calorie-restricted diet will improve body composition.
In the third study, subjects consumed an average of 10, 000 kcal less for 30 days (minus 333 kcal per day! ) than on a regular diet and of course they lost weight.
It's possible that the ketogenic diet might still provide additional benefits in terms of body composition changes, but research has yet to show this.
It should also be said that there is no literature supporting the idea that a ketogenic diet can help build muscle. It only helps with weight loss.
- Impaired performance at high intensity load. The first two studies showed a decrease in subjects' ability to exercise at high intensity. This can happen for two reasons: first, a decrease in intramuscular glycogen intake and second, a decrease in liver glycogen stores during intense exercise.
- Decreased intramuscular glycogen reserves. Studies have shown that decreased athletic performance during intense exercise is a marker of decreased intramuscular glycogen levels. It can also negatively affect athlete's exercise recovery and muscle's ability to grow in size.
The mistakes people make when they go on a Ketogenic diet
While there is no obvious benefit over regular calorie restriction, the ketogenic diet can be a good weight loss tool. If you're looking to lose weight (perhaps also through muscle mass), then maybe you should try it. Now let's take a look at the mistakes ketogenic dieters make so that you don't make them.
Lack of full adaptation
Switching to a ketogenic diet can be difficult for some people. Very often, people quit the diet during the adaptation phase without completing it. The adaptation phase can last for a few weeks, during which a feeling of weakness, dull consciousness is felt, but after 2-3 weeks, energy levels return to normal.
If you want to try the ketogenic diet, take a lot of time to adapt.
Eating too much protein
As we have learned, too much protein can prevent ketosis. People often replace low carbohydrate intake with high protein in their ketogenic diets - this is a mistake.
Use a ketogenic diet for intense exertion
For intense anaerobic exercise, our bodies rely mainly on blood glucose stores, liver and muscle glycogen, as well as creating gluconeogenesis.
Because the ketogenic diet lowers the amount of muscle glycogen, it is difficult to train with high loads.
Try a carbohydrate instead of a ketogenic diet if you want to train at a high intensity.
Ketogenic diets prevent muscle gain
A ketogenic diet plan can help you lose weight, but not gain muscle.
CD will make it impossible to train at high intensity and gain lean muscle mass, so if these are the goals you are pursuing during your training, then it is better to go fromCancel the intention to practice CD.
Consuming both protein and carbohydrates together produces a greater anabolic effect than just consuming these nutrients. In the ketogenic diet, you cut down on carbohydrates. And since you need both carbohydrates and protein for optimal muscle growth, you are lacking one or both of these important nutrients.
Conclusion: the ketogenic diet is neither optimal nor effective for building muscle and improving athletic performance. However, they can help you lose weight - just like any other type of calorie restriction below your personal daily value.