Is Ketosis Dangerous?

[Agent Zero]

I am thinking I am gonna switch to a low-carb diet and possibly go into ketosis. Is this a dangerous thing to do?

 

[Warboss Alex]

Well, you don't seem to have researched going into ketosis so I'd do that before you go on a low carb diet.

Longterm ketosis is catabolic, yes. For certain dieting phases, it's fine.

 

[stronglifts]

As long as you go low carb & carb up in a systematic way (carbs cycling) you'll be ok. Check the Anabolic Diet for an example of a carbs cycling diet.

 

[Throttle]

dangerous? not if you do your research. advisable? not necessarily. need to know more about why you're considering it, what your diet & exercise look like right now, and what your goals are.

 

[Agent Zero]

My diet right now is 2700 cals, 49% carbs (unfortunately just realized this), 34% protein, 17% fat. I lift 3x a week now and I'm focusing on getting stronger. I'm 6'3", 205, about 12% bf, but I feel like my bf is going up and it seems eating fats aren't as bad as one would believe and its carbs that are the problem. Eventually I want to get to about 225 lbs. and less than 10% bf.

 

[Warboss Alex]

My diet right now is 2700 cals, 49% carbs (unfortunately just realized this), 34% protein, 17% fat. I lift 3x a week now and I'm focusing on getting stronger. I'm 6'3", 205, about 12% bf, but I feel like my bf is going up and it seems eating fats aren't as bad as one would believe and its carbs that are the problem. Eventually I want to get to about 225 lbs. and less than 10% bf.

then a carb cycling diet is for you. you don't HAVE to do a ketogenic diet, indeed they're far from optimal for gaining mass (they do work especially if you have strong endo tendencies).

you have a few options depending on how fast you want this. the ideal would probably be a carb day every 4th day, the rest of the time no carbs except maybe a few post-workout. or do a regular timed carb diet with just pwo/ppwo carbs and 1-2 carb days a week. or the anabolic diet with a 36-48hr carb up. or even a 40/30/30 diet with carb cutoffs and cardio.

choose a plan and roll with it. they all work if you stay true to the principles (some will work better than others of course).

but you'll need to be eating at least a thousand kcal more than you currently are.

 

[Jariel]

I'd recommend carb cycling or carb cut off points over ketosis any day. Ketosis can cause bad breath, high cholesterol and loss of muscle mass...that's enough to put me off!

Lately, I've been dieting by reducing my overall calories and limiting my carbs to a couple of slices of (wholemeal) toast at breakfast. My bodyfat is melting away and my muscle mass is looking as good as ever! Ketosis really isn't necessary.

 

[Warboss Alex]

Ketosis can cause bad breath, high cholesterol and loss of muscle mass...that's enough to put me off!

Bad breath and muscle loss yeah.. but tell me how ketosis affects cholesterol in a negative sort of way?

 

[Jariel]

Bad breath and muscle loss yeah.. but tell me how ketosis affects cholesterol in a negative sort of way?

When reading the Atkins diet, I saw that it lists a rise in cholesterol as one of the side-effects.

Basically there are two causes. The first applies if you're on a high fat/low carb diet, where the fat intake is bad for cholesterol levels. The other cause is when body fat is used for energy instead of carbs and converted into ketones. Apparently, it's only a temporary rise and should stop once you reach your ideal weight, however. But I did wonder how this would affect someone on a long term diet.

 

[Warboss Alex]

When reading the Atkins diet, I saw that it lists a rise in cholesterol as one of the side-effects.

it will normalise in the longterm, especially if you're not ONLY taking in bacon, cheese, cream etc - if you balance your fats with mono's and poly's you shouldn't have an issue.

 

[stronglifts]

Cholesterol is more of an issue of caloric overdose & lack of exercise.

 

[Agent Zero]

Just re-ran my diet numbers and now my new diet is:

3040 cals, 14% carbs, 35% protein, 49% fat (don't know where the other 2% went)

Would it be better to cut down the fat and up the protein? Also I wish I could cut more carbs (I'm at 100 grams), but my carbs come from my protein shake (26g * 2), peanuts (15 g), carrots (16g) primarily. Does anyone have any further advice to fine tune this? Thanks.

 

[Warboss Alex]

Just re-ran my diet numbers and now my new diet is:

3040 cals, 14% carbs, 35% protein, 49% fat (don't know where the other 2% went)

Would it be better to cut down the fat and up the protein? Also I wish I could cut more carbs (I'm at 100 grams), but my carbs come from my protein shake (26g * 2), peanuts (15 g), carrots (16g) primarily. Does anyone have any further advice to fine tune this? Thanks.

What is your goal? Protein should be 1.5g per lb bodyweight in nearly all cases as a minimum. If it's not up there, make it up there.

100g carbs isn't too bad, it's not that low carb but could work depending what you want to do.
But to lose some more carbs:
Cut out the peanuts and replace with another fat source/lower carb nut.
Swap carrots for green veggies: broccoli, spinach, sprouts. These generally have a lower carb count.
Can't really do anything about the carbs in your protein drinks unless you get zero-carb protein powder.

 

[Agent Zero]

What is your goal? Protein should be 1.5g per lb bodyweight in nearly all cases as a minimum. If it's not up there, make it up there.

100g carbs isn't too bad, it's not that low carb but could work depending what you want to do.
But to lose some more carbs:
Cut out the peanuts and replace with another fat source/lower carb nut.
Swap carrots for green veggies: broccoli, spinach, sprouts. These generally have a lower carb count.
Can't really do anything about the carbs in your protein drinks unless you get zero-carb protein powder.

Just realized I had the wrong #s for the protein drink. It's 17 g of carbs per drink (12g from milk). Now I am at 2880 cals, 12% carbs, 35% protein, 52% fat....seems like too much fat so I will try to look for another kind of nut. Also I am at 87 carbs which I think is fine for the time being especially since I was doing 49% carbs before...I should notice a pretty big difference. I only have 1.2 g protein/lbs so I need to up that. Do you know any other good protein sources? I am already eating chicken, fish, nuts, cheese, yogurt.