Is It Possible to Shed Pounds on a Ketogenic Diet?

Let’s delve into ketogenic diets and their $33-billion marketing ploy.

The carbohydrate–insulin model of obesity, the fundamental theory that ketogenic diets possess some form of metabolic edge, has been experimentally disproven. Research conducted by proponents of the keto diet revealed the contrary: Ketogenic diets essentially place you at a metabolic disadvantage and decelerate the reduction of body fat. So, how much does fat reduction decelerate on a low-carb diet?  

As detailed in my video Keto Diet Results for Weight Loss, if you eliminate 800 calories of carbohydrates from your daily intake, you’ll shed 53 grams of body fat every day. However, if you cut the same number of calories sourced from fat, you’ll lose 89 grams of fat daily. Equal calories reduced, but nine slabs of additional fat melting off your body every day on a low-fat diet, in contrast to a low-carb one. Same calorie count, but approximately 80 percent more fat loss through lowering fat intake rather than carbs. You can view a graph of these findings below and at 1:07 in my video. The study’s title speaks for itself: “Restricted Dietary Fat Results in More Body Fat Loss Than Carbohydrate Restriction in Individuals with Obesity.”  

Solely gauging progress through the bathroom scale misleads the true outcome. Following six days on the low-carb diet, participants lost four pounds. In contrast, on the low-fat diet, they shed less than three pounds, as depicted in the graph below and at 1:40 in my video. Hence, based on the scale, it appeared that the low-carb diet emerged as the clear victor. This underscores the reason why low-carb diets enjoy such widespread popularity. However, the real story unfolds within their bodies. The low-carb group lost primarily lean mass—essentially water and protein. This reduction in water weight helps clarify why low-carb diets have been “a consistent theme for authors of diet books and a lucrative market” for publishers over the past 150 years. That’s their secret. According to one weight-loss specialist, “Rapid water loss is the $33-billion diet hoax.”  

When you consume carbohydrates, your body stores glycogen in your muscles for prompt energy. After following a high-carbohydrate diet for three days, you may gain about three pounds of muscle mass in your arms and legs, as illustrated below and at 2:34 in my video. These glycogen reserves deplete on a low-carb diet, drawing out water along with it. (Additionally, the kidneys flush out ketones, expelling even more water.) On the scale, this can manifest as an extra four pounds vanishing within ten days, yet that “was entirely accountable for losses in overall body water”—in other words, water loss. 

To sum up: Keto diets simply don’t retain water. 

The excitement of witnessing rapid weight loss on the scale often entices many back to the low-carb approach. When the diet proves unsuccessful, dieters typically hold themselves responsible, yet the allure of that initial, swift weight loss might lure them back, similar to indulging in alcohol again after forgetting the severity of the last hangover. This has been termed the “false hope syndrome.” “The diet industry thrives due to two factors—grand promises and repeat clientele,” something low-carb diets were designed for, particularly with the initial, swift water loss. 

What genuinely matters is body fat. Over six days, the low-fat diet extracted a total of 80 percent more fat from the body compared to the low-carb diet. It’s not an isolated study either. AsAs shown below and at 3:54 in my videotape, you can observe all the regulated feeding experiments in which researchers contrasted low-carb diets with low-fat ones, exchanging an equal amount of carbohydrate calories for fat calories or vice versa. If a calorie is merely a calorie, then all the investigations should have intersected that midway line, encompassing “favors low-fat diet” and “favors low-carb diet,” and indeed six did. One investigation displayed greater fat depletion on a low-carb diet, but every other examination leaned towards the low-fat diet—greater body fat reduction while consuming the same number of calories. When all the investigations are amalgamated, we’re talking about 16 more grams of everyday body fat lost on the low-fat diets. That’s akin to four more pads of butter liquefying off your body daily. A lower fat intake results in reduced fat on the hips, even when you’re consuming the same number of calories. 

This constitutes the third part of my seven-segment series on keto diets. 

This keto exploration stemmed from the exhaustive scrutiny I undertook for my opus How Not to Diet. (All earnings I receive from my publications are contributed to charitable causes.) You can gain further information about How Not to Diet and acquire it here. Also, please feel free to peruse some of my prevalent weight-reduction recordings in the associated videos below.