Keto can be simple
If you’re just starting out or if you’re trying to get to those last 20 pounds after a long journey, this topic is for you.
Does it depend on the context? On the type of food you’re having? No, it doesn’t. This is going to surprise you, I think. The way to lose the first 20 pounds and the last 20 pounds is to be super-strict. Yes. If you want to lose fat and be an ultimate fat burner, you need to be super-strict on the low-carb diet. This way, you’re going to be maximizing your fat burning and getting to your goal as fast as you can. This might seem like it goes against what people have said. I think there’s one book I helped to write that says to add back carbs, but if you’re just starting out, what you need to know is, this can be simple. This can be easy. You can enjoy delicious foods; it doesn’t have to be hard, and there doesn’t have to be all the internet chatter about “keto flu” and all these things. The simplest way to be a fat burner – which is the way I teach a low-carb keto diet – is about burning fat from your body, not from the food you eat.
The simplest way to be a fat burner is to cut out all the carbs in your food. What happens is your body can either burn carbs or burn fat. When you don’t eat any carbs, or you eat very little carbohydrate, your body must burn fat instead. So, what happens is your body becomes a fat burner automatically. Just by not eating carbs, you start burning your body fat and your body generates ketones.
Keto is a fast, fat-burning diet
A low-carb, keto diet is the fastest fat-burning we know of and you can still have tasty foods like meats, cheese, chicken, fish or seafood, and eggs. These foods have no carbs so they don’t elicit the blood glucose elevation and insulin signal and they allow your body to burn its own fat automatically. If you want to lose 20 pounds fast, do a full-on keto diet.
It seems to be human nature to not want to do “all-the-way-keto.” But don’t you want to be a fat-burner? You can’t go from San Francisco to Hawaii halfway! You don’t want to be in an airplane that will crash. To become a full-on fat burner, which means you’re going to lose weight the fastest way possible, is to do a strict version of a keto diet. It can be accompanied by tasty foods. I had a young man who just ate at fast food restaurants and lost the weight. It doesn’t really matter where the food comes from. (Just keep the carbs very low.)
Sticking to the keto diet is key
If you’re trying to lose your first 20 pounds and then you’re at your goal, great. The only thing to be aware of is as you add carbs back in, you may regain that weight. This is the story you’ll hear: “I did the keto diet; I lost 20 pounds and then it all came right back.” Well, that’s because you stopped doing it! I’m at Duke University, I’ve studied this and I’m using it in a clinic. What we’ve learned over the last 20 years is that it’s okay not to eat carbs. (You don’t need to add carbs back in.) It can be very healthy as long as you’re following a properly formulated low-carb keto type of diet. Don’t be concerned if you’re just starting out.
Through the years I talked to a doctor who was working in Hollywood. I think he’s retired by now, but this was often a way that people would lose weight for a movie role. If you want to gain weight, you would pile on the carbs, not the fats. If you want to lose 20 pounds, do a keto diet and then watch what you’re adding back very carefully. You might just stay on keto because you feel so much better – your heartburn may be gone, you’ve got more energy, you don’t have brain fog, you don’t have the after-meal carb coma, that sort of thing.
Ketosis happens automatically on a keto diet
Some people will say, “I don’t really want to give up my fruit or my bread, pasta, rice,” but then you’re not going to get maximal fat burning because you have to burn through the carbs that you eat before you can actually burn the fat off your body. Remember, those ketones come from your body fat naturally. You don’t have to eat or drink ketones to be in ketosis. Ketosis is a metabolic state, it’s not a type of food. If we were precise about it, we would actually label meat and poultry as “keto foods” because they have no carbs. They won’t raise blood glucose and insulin. You can raise your ketone levels from within by just not eating the carbs. Meat and poultry would be keto foods as long as you’re keeping the carbs super low. (No breading or batter on the meat.)
Losing the last 20 pounds on your weight-loss journey with keto
If you’ve already been on this journey, you have to consider where the journey started. If you had type 2 diabetes or you had, let’s say 100 pounds to lose, and now you’re at the last 20 pounds, I would encourage you to pretend like you’re just starting over. Stay super-strict. What I’m finding is that people are tripped up by trigger foods. If you add back something that you can’t control, like nuts, this is called “carb creep.” If you were just starting out and getting to a stall or a plateau, we call it carb creep. The problem with carb creep, if you have diabetes or you’ve had a metabolism problem, is that it can trip you up and make things not work. You could be stuck at 20 pounds to go. If you feel like you’re waiting to get on the dock from the boat and you just can’t get there, pretend you’re starting over and get super-strict. Yes, it will mean getting rid of all those keto junk foods or nuts, seeds, and nut butters that have maybe been creeping in. Even pork rinds can become trigger foods.
Conclusion
To sum up, to lose the first 10 or 20 pounds or the last 10 or 20 pounds, become a really good fat burner by keeping the carbs super-low. We use 20 grams of total carbs per day – that’s not net carbs, but total carbs. Don’t subtract these things. Some clinics use 30 total grams of carbs. I use 20 because historically that’s what we have found to work really well. Once you’re at your goal, then start adding back carbs super slowly and see how you do over time.
Check out the full video here.