Weight Loss Without Effort

Dr Jeff Volek has done a feeding experiment lasting five months where people only ate the meals supplied from the research kitchen. The group began in a very low carbohydrate diet (50g a day). There was a three week lead in period, so the subjects were already in ketosis to begin with.

Every three weeks the diet changed, but the calories in the diet were held constant. In six stages the carbohydrate in the diet was increased. The six steps were: 50g, 83g, 130g, 180g, 250g and 346g of carbohydrate per day.

Briefly, on less than 130g of carbohydrate a day, most people lose weight. From 130g to 250g of carbohydrate a day weight trends to be stable. Above 250g of carbohydrate a day weight tends to increase. So to lose weight you need to eat less than 130g a carbohydrate a day. But, if you get that amount down to 50g a day you'll be in ketosis and the weight loss will be more rapid and you'll fuel your body with ketones, rather than glucose.

Depending on your metabolism, somewhere between 130g and 50g of carbohydrate a day, there is a switch of metabolism from glucose burning to ketone burning. This switch takes a little time to settle in, seven to twenty days, perhaps longer if your diet is erratic. In the same way once ketosis is established, you tend to stay there unless you break the restriction several times.

There are two ways to do a very low carbohydrate diet. Choose not to be in ketosis. Eat about 130gm of carbohydrate a day, and have more carbohydrate options in your diet. Or, bite the bullet and keep you carbohydrates very low, aiming for 50gm a day. Being in ketosis will reduce the inflammation in your body, and you'll feel better for that.

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