I may have been slightly mislead, I took the author of a text on keto at their word that the sources showed keto outperforms low fat diets, looking into them a little bit it shows it suppresses appetite and other things. Perhaps if I looked into them more the author would be vindicated. Reading this is mostly what convinced me of the benefits of a keto diet, along with the results achieved by a couple of people on a Facebook weight loss group I joined.
I also Googled US News & World Report and looked how they ranked the keto diet. It wasn’t quite the worst and a lot of it’s bad score was due to being hard to follow (and unhealthy). They actually ranked it second for fast weight loss.
waits for battle to commence
But also please keep keto verse non-keto debates scientific and reasonable.
True. It ranked joint 38th out of 41.
At the end of the day you need to do what works for you. One note of caution though, although it was ranked second for fast weight loss, it scores very poorly for long term weight loss (2.3 out of 5) so you will need to ensure you have a plan to keep the weight off once you’ve lost it…
Maintenance is a long way away but calorie control and a balanced diet should work for maintain I think. Huel as an aid of course
You might have heard Keto turns you into a mean fatburning machine. And yes, your fat oxidation increase significantly. Because your diet will consist of mainly fat sources… It’s a shift in fuel source. The body is clever and adaptive that way. But theres a difference between using fat as fuel and fat loss. The bodycomposition and fat loss through a ketogenic diet and any other diet will be the same. There’s plenty of controlled studies showing this.
If you go through the Pubmed stuff the article use as source, they actually show the same thing.
You can find results anywhere with any type of diet/food. Keto, LCHF, carnivore HCLF, low fat, vegan, chocolate-diet, Huel etc. All that matters is a calorie decifit. A sustainable diet and weightloss is however, all up to individual preferences.
The plus side of a low carb diet is, it might cause people to eat more satiating food and thus reducing hunger, compared to their normal food intake. Those pesky well tasting high processed carbs are rarely very filling
I did wonder if different macronutrient ratios might affect how much energy the body can use from fat as one page I read told me there was a limit to how much fat the body can use as fuel and I figured keto would have a higher limit before using protein as a source (seeing as it uses carbs as primary I think?). Is this nonsense or is there a limit?
Maybe you can clear something else up if you know your stuff, how much protein does the body need to maintain lean muscle mass because one recommendation for protein levels is based on your weight while another is as a percentage of total calorie intake and while running a defect they conflict?
Maybe I’ll test the science myself and switch in and out of keto after a period of time and try other strategies or go back on Huel. Then I’ll know if the macro balance is important for weight loss in myself beyond adequate protein. Time will tell.
The general consensus I can recall is that in normal individuals fat oxidation is limited to roughly 1g/min during exercise. In keto athletes it has show to be a tad higher. I don’t see how it matters in regards to weight loss though.The body will use what you give it to keep the wheels running. You eat stuff, the body use or store it to be used for energy to keep the body functioning. Fat oxidation is only one part of body fat loss. A person on a keto diet eating in a calorie surplus, will gain weight even if his fat oxidation is higher than someone on a non keto diet. What determines the fat gain/fat loss/no change is the net energy balance. Calories in vs calories out. The macros are of little significance and will just complicate the goal unnecessarily.
I’m not sure what your idea is behind this thought:
“I figured keto would have a higher limit before using protein as a source”.
It’s a tough process for the body to convert protein into an energy source, partly due to the way it’s stored. If fat or carbs are available it will generally use that first. Keto does not increase bodyfat loss vs muscle loss compared to any other diet, if that is your concern. A sufficient/high protein intake seems to aid in keeping lean body mass during weightloss.
Regarding protein consumption for maintaining muscle mass. From that question I’m guessing you do physical training, perhaps some resistance training? When overweight calculating protein intake on lean body mass instead of bodyweight is the way to go. Since most of the bodyfat we carry around is just “dead weight”. Aiming for 1.6g - 2.2g/kg LBM/day is a sensible ballpark (this is g/kg, you silly lbs people will have to convert it to g/lbs). It’s possible and perfectly fine to have a higher protein intake than the mentioned, whether it’s needed is still a bit controversial.
Lean body mass consist of bones, skin, water, muscle, organs, etc. If you know your bodyfat percentage it can be calculated: LBM = weight x ((100-bf%)/100). If you don’t know your bodyfat percentage, you can just base protein intake on your approximate ideal/normal bodyweight. You might not be able to achieve this high amount of protein on a big calorie decifit. Don’t fuss too much about it.
I’m a big advocate for whatever diet fits the individual. Keto is great for those who can adhere to it and live with the possible bad breath. Huel is great for those who can adhere to it and surpass the possible stage of flatulence… A sustainable weightloss is finding a diet you enjoy - usually it will be a non-restrictive diet including the type of food you actually like/fits your lifestyle and not relying on what works for somebody else.
Thanks for your reply Peanuts. I like Huel but would find a slightly less restrictive version of what I’m doing easier to stick to. Last night I “cheated” by having a 66 calorie cup of soup as I was pretty hungry. Could have had a small Huel but the soup had less calories than a 1 scoop and my goal is weight loss not being precious about 100% Huel.
I found this which cites a study suggesting low carb diets cause an increase in calories burned for the same amount of activity. What do you make of it?
Day 5, 8 lbs and roughly 2.5cm of waist (which I’m now more accurately tracking) lost. Actually it’s more than that but I know I’ve lost at least that amount of waist.
The article relay their interpertation of the study. The study itself is somewhat iffy. Mainly due to meassurement methods and lack of control of the participants. Dietary trials where the participants roam around free combined with some inadequate meassurements in several ways, is not to be blindly trusted. The study is not directly examining weight loss but maintenance after weight loss, energy expendiure and the role of insulin levels.
Summarized I would be very cautious to apply their findings to conclude low carb yields a greater effect on fat loss compared to a different macro ratio.
With that said, there can be benefits from a low or moderate carb diet. It’s just not magic. Carbs or lack of carbs does not defy the laws of physics in energy balance.
Great to hear you lost some weight. Well done! And I wouldn’t call food a “cheat”. It’s just food. Fuel for your body. I hope you’re giving yourself a pad on the back instead. You’re running a calorie decifit. Most of us would be contemplating eating the person standing next us.
Btw. you could drop a bit of Huel into the soup, to make it more satiating. Probably best not to do in warm soup though.
Thank you peanut. I get what you’re saying about energy balance. The more things I write here to debate it then Google, the more I end up pressing the delete key. The only way for me to prove it to myself is to experiment. I do wonder why my waist is shrinking as well as losing weight when theoretically I should only have lost 1.6 lbs of fat, the rest presumably being water?
Today I learned that restricting calories reduces your BMR so it being a matter of calories in vs calories out is nuanced. It’s possible the type of diet you do has an effect on BMR is it not? I’m not aware of any studies looking into this.
After a longer period of being in a calorie decifit metabolism will adapt a bit. It doesn’t break, stop or reverse. The small adaption is normal and to be expected due to a lower bodymass than before. Eg. a 100 lbs generally doesn’t need the same amount of calories as a 200lbs person.
Since the metabomic adaption is due to a lower bodymass, the type of diet does not affect this. If that were true, it would mean a small person would need to eat a different type of food than a larger person. And that doesn’t make any sense. An apple is an apple and has the same amount of calories no matter who’s eating it.
Metabolic adaption is not worth spending thoughts on, until a significant amount of weight have been lost. And even then, all it means is there will need to be a change in calorie intake or exercise done to offset it.
I’ve lost over 70lbs now following keto. I bought a portable indirect calorimeter, my metabolic adaption is -598 kcal different to BMR calculations. It did adapt, it did slow down relative to BMR formula, a lot.
I’m fairly convinced it’s the calorie deficit that matters not keto but if it ain’t broke don’t fix it?
Keto is rumored to help with hunger but being the only diet I’ve tried other than going straight from around 4000 kcal a day to 1500 odd on Huel (mistake, but I needed to learn that myself) it’s the only diet I’ve tried so nothing to compare it to.
Really I’m only sticking with keto because I’m T2 diabetic and a very low carb diet should be helping to reverse that. My doctor elected not to test me again for 6 (from the start of June) so I won’t know until December.
How do T2 diabetics fare on Huel? I’m curious if Huel would leave me as hungry as it once did now I’m adapted to eating less. What does Huel think of the idea of a low carb Huel?
Also Huel your XXL t-shirts are nothing like, it was the largest size you did so I ordered it as a test for when I could fit into XXL t-shirts (was XXXXL). I now do in all brands I’ve tried but the huel t-shirt is still far too tight.
Congrats!
You got it, it’s the calorie deficit that matters.
This is quite well known but the hard bit for many is sticking to a keto diet because it’s so restrictive.
It can vary because of individual responses. In theory Huel is suitable for both type 1 and type 2 diabetics. It is based on oats and is high in fibre. As with all food, if someone is using medication to help control their diabetes they should structure your intake of Huel appropriately. Huel is low in sugar, has a low GI of 27 and you can accurately measure the amount of carbohydrates you’re consuming in each meal; this may be useful depending on what medication or insulin regimen someone is following.
It’s an interesting idea. I’m not sure if it could be considered nutritionally complete but you never know.
Apologies, they are a tight fit but we will take the feedback on board.
@vanquish
Transition is an important principal for just about everything.
Sudden change always causes more problems than gradual change. Give your body time to adjust !
Unless it’s really deep, you’ll hurt yourself.
Because most people who do go in straight for 100% end up with gut problems and never come back/complain online about how bad Huel is, and those that ease themselves in don’t get gut problems and are happy Hueligans. It’s not in our interests to get people using Huel 100% when it causes problems for many. If you want to go 100%, ease yourself in.