We live in the information age. Anyone with an opinion can share it with the world and that has led to some major nutrition misunderstandings. Some of these keep us from losing weight, make change harder or keep us from taking action. We’re clearing them up today!
We’re tackling a whole bunch of topics including:
- Why eating every few hours isn’t needed to “keep your metabolism going”
- Why urinary ketones might not reflect ketosis
- Misleading information about muscle loss when fasting
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Resources
Episode 469: Is Extended Fasting Healthy?
Episode 470: Anti-Aging Strategies for Fat Loss
Keto Mojo Blood Ketone Monitor
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Dear Elizabeth, Thank you for another science-based episode. They are my favorite! I especially like the series you’ve been doing on food as medicine. I have a question that emerged from one of the last things you said in this episode. You reminded us that if the body is using glycogen, it isn’t burning fat in a workout. o.k… got it. So, if I am following the golden rules and holding off on consuming healthy carbs until later in the day and then I am doing my fasted workouts in the morning, am I really getting the desired result of burning fat or am I simply running through my glycogen stores from the night before?
The second part of this question revolves around the fact that I am coming off of a 7 week stint in ketosis and trying to decide how to make some adjustments. While I had some good fat loss and that’s great, I also saw noticeable declines in my strength. I write resistance down on a chart to make the workout go faster, so I know I lost strength over my reset and stint in ketosis (The geek in me wanted metrics, so I know I stayed in keto between 1.3 and 1.6 over the course of the reset). Now I want to add some carbs back in to see if I can get some strength back, but I don’t want to mess with my fat adaptation as I still have some fat to lose. My first step has been to eat an apple after a workout. I’ve also heard that I should just wait it out a bit longer in the strict keto diet and the strength will come back. Do you have any suggestions from your stores of knowledge about how to regain strength and maintain fat/keto adaptation?
Hi Mary – to your first question: are you losing fat? What do your measurements tell you? There’s no way I can know “in theory” because it depends on how full your muscle glycogen is (how long it’s been since you truly depleted it) and how intense your workouts are and how much protein you’re eating because excess protein generates glucose in order to store excess which contributes to muscle glycogen.
In my experience, keto eating doesn’t lead to a loss of strength so to me this points more to either you weren’t fueling right for YOUR body in how you were doing keto (not enough fuel, not the right fuel for your body) or something related to how you’re training. Sure, you could eat an apple after your workout but I don’t think that will contribute to strength.