If you are even remotely into health & fitness you probably know that there’s a big hype around Ketogenic diets these days. Everyone is looking at these diets like this new big discovery which is going to wipe out obesity.
The funny thing is that actually, the keto diet has been around for almost 100 years now. Its primary purpose was to treat people who suffered from epilepsy back in the day when there were no other drugs around.
But recently it has been re-packaged and into a 21st-century diet which is not only going to help you lose weight, but it will also make you live longer, it will improve your brain function and it will make you feel like you’re 18 again.
What’s a Keto diet after all?
Keto diets follow a pretty weird macro splits. They are high in fat and low in carbs and proteins. There are many variations, but the most common one uses a macro ratio of 4:1. This means that for every gram of protein and carb you will need to eat roughly 4 grams of fat.
Another common variation of the keto diet is to keep your fat intake high, carb intake low, but bring up the protein quite a lot. This will look pretty much like a low carb diet, except the fact that you will be eating significantly more fats.
Anyways, the whole philosophy (or science) behind the keto diet is that it will make your body run on ketones instead of glucose.
To put this into perspective, the ketone is a byproduct of fat and glucose is a byproduct of carbohydrates. So it basically teaches your body to run on fat instead of carbs, which should help you burn body fat as well.
So that’s how you lose weight with a keto diet.
What are the characteristics of a phenomenal physique
Now, before I get started on this let me just get one thing out of the way. I know that looks or aesthetics are something subjective and some people may have different opinions than mine, or than the majority. I totally understand and respect that.
But, the vast majority of people, including myself, will consider a physique which is relatively lean and muscular (or at least toned up), better looking than a physique which is either skinny with no muscle, with muscle but also with a bit of extra body fat, or just skinny.
My point is that it’s not enough to lose weight in order to look amazing. You also need to tone up a little bit, put on some muscle and look like a healthy, active individual.
Why the Keto diet is not optimal for toning up
There are two main factors that will develop your muscles: physical training and proper nutrition.
Resistance training has been proven to be the best way to activate your muscles and make the grow. The weights act like a stimulus for the muscles, which react to that stimulus by growing bigger and stronger.
By constantly progressing to more and more challenging workouts, your muscles will constantly need to adapt to more difficult training routines. That’s called progressive overload and it’s one of the most effective training techniques.
Nutrition is equally important though. In order to recover from an intensive work out and get stronger, your muscles will need plenty of nutrients – protein to be more specific.
Protein synthesis is the foundation stone of muscular development. Amino acids are the building blocks of the muscle fibres and without a diet high enough in protein your muscles will not be able to grow as much as you want them to. Generally speaking, you will need at least 0.8 grams of protein per pound of bodyweight. So if you are 150 pounds, for example, you would need to eat at least 120 grams of protein each day.
Since most Keto diets out there are nowhere near that amount, you will not be able to build muscle effectively by following such a diet. No matter what you do in the gym.
Wait a minute, there are variations of the Keto diet which are higher in protein. Yes, but those will not be optimal for you either. Here’s why.
In order to be able to get in a good workout, you will need plenty of energy. More specifically, your muscles will need to have access to “fuel” at a moment’s notice. This fuel is also called glycogen.
You can look at glycogen like fuel which is stored in the muscles and used whenever we perform high-intensity physical activities such as weightlifting, sprint intervals, jump rope and so on and so forth.
Glycogen comes from the carbs. And as you guessed, on a Keto diet we don’t really have that many carbs available to us. No carbs, not glycogen. No glycogen, no energy to get in a good workout and effectively build muscle.
So are Keto diets any good after all?
I didn’t say Ketogenic diets are not good. I just said they are not optimal for building the physique of your dreams. If your sole goal is to lose weight, a Keto diet will work just as fine as any other diet out there. If you think you can adhere long-term to a Keto diet better than you would to another type of diet, by all means, go with it.
As long as you are staying in a caloric deficit you will lose weight. No matter what diet you will follow. At the end of the day is all about calories in versus calories out.
But if you want to lean down and get toned up at the same time, you will be better off with a high protein, high carb, and low-fat diet. Which is why the Keto thing is not optimal for athletes or active individuals in general.
Tyler is a NASM certified personal trainer with over 10 years of experience. In addition to training a wide variety of clients, Tyler is also the founder and senior editor of PTPioneer.com; a website designed to help people become industry leading personal trainers. You can also check out PTPinoeer’s YouTube channel as well.
