When they go on a completely ketogenic diet many people expect to immediately start burning their own fat, but often those are not the exact results they get.
Based on my observations there is plenty of misleading information strategically spread out, mostly by supplement companies, gurus and manufactures of coconut oil products. It commonly goes hand to hand with the narrow minded statements such as:
“Being in ketosis or burning fat for energy always equals loosing body fat”.
“Coconut and MCT oils help you loose weight/fat”.
“As long as you are on HFLC you are going to get shredded to the bone”.
“Food quantities, calories and number of meals per day do not count nor matter on KETO or HFLC”.
Because of what they have been told people believe burning fat for fuel always equals loosing one from the body’s stores, but in the rough reality things do not necessarily go that way.
Human bodies are designed to always make sure they will be able to survive during eventual periods of food scarcity. Essentially they are biological energy conserving machines.
I know this will probably break the hearts of many, but every time you ingest food/calories, your body always prefers to firstly use them instead of tapping to its own reserves for fuel. It prefers to keep what is already stored for later, so it can rely on it whenever is needed.
KETO or not going too overboard on the number of daily meals, calories and the amounts of food you consume will prevent you from mobilizing stored fat for fuel.
Does this mean you won’t burn fat ?
No, it doesn’t. When you go on a proper HFLC or KETO, but you consume too much, after a while your body will most definitely flip the switch from carbs to fats. Yes, you are going to burn fat, but it will be the one from your diet instead of your body’s storage.
This is the tiny detail companies I’ve mentioned really do not want you to know.
If you read my blog, you probably know I am a huge advocate of the ketogenic diet. It has amazing properties and applications for treatment of serious medical conditions such as seizures and epilepsy. It improves brain and many other functions of the human body, but this is not why the HFLC KETO living gained that much popularity during last 5 years.
The reason for it is the simple fact they finally found a way to capitalize of this HFLC lifestyle. They figured out how sell products under the name KETO approved.
We live in era where new ketone and coconut oil based products pop up everyday. Their developers will make everything possible to make you believe those products are vitally important for a successful HFLC living and you need to consume them, but the more you consume, the less allow your body to use the stored fat.
The perfect example for this is the whole craze with the buttered coffee, which please do not get me wrong, works fantastic.
It allows you to get mild presence of ketones, supplies long lasting sustainable levels of energy, tastes great and on top of everything, the coffee itself works as a massive hunger suppressor.
So you probably wonder what is wrong with it ?
Actually nothing as long as you use it for the right cause. Because of its properties this revolutionary invention can be either utilized as meal replacement or tool to make transition from carbs to fats. It can also help you reduce the daily number of meals during the early stages of your adaptation.
Just be aware of the fact every time you have one, your body will firstly use the fats from the butter and the MCT oil instead of burning already stored ones.
There is no problem with the drink, is simply the way your body operates.
If you use the recommended high quality ingredients, it will probably make you feel great, but for quite a while it won’t allow your body tap to its storages for fuel.
In my humble opinion it is probably one of the most effective tools for a beginners interested in KETO and/or OMAD adaptation.
But how about others who want to reach a point where during most of the time their bodies rely on the stored ?
Well, with another risk of disappointing many, I would like to say food restriction is the name of the game.
As probably most of you already know, there are two ways to enter the state of nutritional ketosis.
1st Intermittent fasting & absence of food.
2nd Eliminating dietary carbohydrates.
Reducing your daily food intake to a certain feeding window allows your body to mobilize the stored fat for fuel.
How to supercharge the process?
Exercise on empty stomach. I know you know this. What you don’t know is that staying fasted post workout is another powerful tool for fat burning. It is technique which contradicts most of the nutrition dogmas and completely crushes some major myths such as the idea of “meal timing”.
I discovered it by a total accident.
On top of everything you might add a very small caloric deficit, by consuming only few calories less than your expenditure. You will not imagine how much body fat you will burn.
The supplement companies will do their best in order to prove how bad or even dangerous IF is, but their agenda is not driven by your interest, but the the fact they are not able to make any profit from it.
This is also why some KETO and paleo advocates reject to give IF and OMAD credits for the amazing benefits their provides.
Based on years of training, researching and self experimentations I can tell the combination of healthy HFLC diet and one meal a day eating pattern is the most powerful tool when it comes to fat burning, but I also believe it is not the best option for everyone.
It simply requires some higher levels of adaptation.
I hope that makes sense.
Yours truly:
Peteonthebeat
