Recently, Wendy wrote a blog of the top 10 keto myths. Once she finished the blog, we realized how much there was to say about each one! So, she decided to break each one down into its own blog. The next one on the list is that Keto Is to Just Lose Weight Quick and I’m going to be handling this one.
YOU WILL LOSE WEIGHT QUICK
For this myth we need to be very honest from the onset. I don’t take exception with the “lose weight quick” part of the myth. We take exception with the wording of “just.” In reality, you will lose weight quickly when you first start keto.
As your body enters ketosis you will begin to flush out a lot of water in your system. Carbs require a lot of water for the conversion to glucose. When you deprive your body of carbs it burns through what you have quickly and no longer needs that extra water. That water being expelled from your body is what causes both keto flu (dehydration) and rapid weight loss.
That first weight loss can be very motivational, but it is water weight. There have been reports of people losing up to 20lbs in their first week. I personally lost 14. That was incredibly motivational to me and will be to you, but please remember it’s just your body making the switch. It won’t maintain that kind of loss over the long term.
PROBLEM #1 WITH JUST LOSE WEIGHT QUICK
The first problem I have with this myth and the “just” is it makes people believe they can cycle in and out of keto when they need to drop a few pounds. As we discussed above it will likely work, but you’re not losing any fat, just water.
Keto is meant to switch your body to an alternative fuel source in fat. Switching back and forth from carbs to fat is a confusing experience for the body. There is very limited research on cycling keto, but there is lots of research on yo-yo dieting.
When you cycle to keto you will lose that weight, when you switch back to carbs it will pile back on. That is yo-yo dieting. Healthline states that yo-yo dieting or gaining and losing weight rapidly causes fatty liver, high blood pressure, diabetes and heart disease. Don’t cycle.
PROBLEM #2 WITH JUST LOSE WEIGHT QUICK
Problem number two is the definition of just. Just is defined according to vocabulary.com as, “and nothing more” with synonyms of merely, only, and simply. Just means that keto is only good for losing weight quickly.
Although research into keto has not reached the level of absolute it will be in the future, preliminary research shows many health benefits to keto. These are well documented on our site and include things such as:
– Triglycerides, which cause heart disease will drop.
– HDL or good cholesterol will increase.
– Blood sugar levels and insulin will stabilize.
– LDL or bad cholesterol will decrease.
– Weight loss.
This is just a small list of clinically proven benefits. Anecdotal evidence points to keto aiding in things like fertility, diabetes maintenance, and Alzheimer’s. On the other side of that, if we got into the lifestyle benefits, we would be here all day. “Just” isn’t fair when it comes to keto.
WEIGHT LOSS IS A BENEFIT
You will notice in my small list of documented health benefits weight loss was listed there. Losing weight improves both your health and your lifestyle. Losing body weight is easier on your joints, organs, and self-esteem (mental health).
From a medical standpoint the benefits of weight loss are immense. According to the CDC losing just 20 lbs of body fat will reduce your risk of:
– High blood pressure (hypertension).
– High LDL cholesterol, low HDL cholesterol, or high levels of triglycerides (dyslipidemia).
– Type 2 diabetes.
– Coronary heart disease.
– Stroke.
– Osteoarthritis (a breakdown of cartilage and bone within a joint)
Keto will make you lose weight and help all these items, but it’s not the only thing it can do for you.
WE NEED TO BREAK THE MYTH
This myth needs to be broken for several reasons, but the main one in my opinion is it makes keto come off as another scam. By pointing out the quick weight loss first people can tend to skip over it thinking keto is just the “next” diet in a long line.
We’ve found from this article that keto does so much more then help you lose weight. It improves your health and your lifestyle. It gives you back your life when you thought you were trapped in that broken body forever. For us it gave us a new passion. Attaching the word “just” to keto is “just” not fair.
Excuse me now, I have some ketoing to do. Bill
