What Is Keto? The Short Version :)

Bacon and eggs, dear? This is life for our keto pals - relying mostly on fat, a little protein, and very few carbs... It can be great for some, especially those who like rich, fatty foods!

“Keto,” which is short for “ketogenic,” is a nutritional approach or dietary strategy that causes your body to switch over from burning glucose for fuel to instead burning ketones, which are a byproduct of the breakdown of fats in your body.

Although keto is widely used today as a means for fat loss and body recomposition, it was originally developed to treat epilepsy, especially in children. Pretty cool, huh?

It has really enjoyed its most widespread fame in the fitness and weight loss community due to its ability to produce weight loss in individuals still eating high fat foods that they enjoy. Eggs, butter, and bacon for breakfast? Pepperoni and cream cheese for lunch? Some people LOVE it!

Is it for everyone? Definitely not. But then again, no diet is for everyone - you’ve gotta learn, evaluate, and try for yourself!

So how does it work?

For the fat loss application, which is most relevant in my line of work, keto is effective for a couple of reasons.

First of all, the idea is that if you are able to coax your body carefully into a state of nutritional ketosis, where your body is burning fats for fuel, then you will prioritize your own body fat as an energy source and thus lose weight.

By shifting your diet to be comprised of lots of fat (60-80% of total calories), moderate amounts of protein (15-30%), and very few carbohydrates (5-10%), your body is forced to break down fat into ketone bodies, or ketones, to use for energy in the absence of glucose.

This occurs because once your body’s glycogen stores have been depleted and dietary protein and carbohydrates are low, glucose is no longer an option for a primary energy source and your body shifts to fat for its fuel needs instead.

This is great in theory, but you need to know that creating a caloric deficit is still essential for weight loss - subsisting on a ton of cheese, butter, coconut oil and bacon CAN help get you into ketosis, but eating these calorie-dense foods with wild abandon can still leave you with a daily caloric surplus and cause you to gain weight.

In short, it’s not a free for all - you still have to be mindful of portions and calories. BUT, it is thought to help you burn more body fat than a similarly reduced calorie diet because of your body’s newfound reliance on your own stored body fat for energy.

The other way that it can work, even if you never enter a state of nutritional ketosis at all, is by satisfying your appetite naturally with fewer calories, thus creating a caloric deficit regardless of which energy source your body is primarily utilizing.

Be careful though - it’s not hard to compromise your body’s entrance into, or maintenance of, nutritional ketosis. Consuming too many carbs or even too much protein can cause your body to revert to burning glucose for fuel and reset your system, either preventing you from entering or “kicking you out” of ketosis. So even if you never achieve the delicate balance needed to keep you burning fats for fuel, you may still lose weight on keto purely through satisfaction alone.

So when some people say that they don’t have to count calories on keto and are still losing weight, chances are that they are satisfied by the foods they’re choosing to the point where they’re eating fewer calories naturally throughout the day than they are burning.

They may also possibly be in ketosis though, which would mean they are also further prioritizing the use of their own body fat for fuel - a double whammy!

But not everyone can have success without counting and measuring, just be aware! To me, it’s super easy to overeat these foods (I could probably eat 2 pounds of bacon without blinking an eye, to be honest) so when I tried keto I absolutely needed to record what I was eating to get my fat loss rolling…

So long story short, keto (when done correctly) can be very effective for weight and fat loss. I’m not sure a whole lot is known about the health effects of long-term adherence to a keto lifestyle, but I personally feel that for a finite amount of time it can be a totally helpful way to lose some fat, gain a little mental clarity, and keep your blood sugar levels low and stable.

Have you tried keto? If so, what did you think?

Please feel free to comment, upvote, or resteem if you’d like :)