Is A Ketogenic Diet Superior for Fat Loss?
The truth about the effectiveness of a ketogenic diet for weight loss
The primary reason, in fact, the only reason for weight loss with any diet is the maintenance of a calorie deficit over time.
This is an irrefutable fact that has been shown in life and research time and time again. See here, here, here, here, here, and here.
It’s also evident in the way every diet works:
- Intermittent fasting: creates a calorie deficit by skipping breakfast and reducing the time you have to eat all your meals
- The Ketogenic diet: creates a calorie deficit by removing carbohydrate from your diet and increase the consumption of the 2 most filling macros, protein and fat
- Paleo diet: creates a calorie deficit by removing all grains, legumes, dairy and more from your diet
- Low-fat diet: creates a calorie deficit by restricting the amount of fat you can eat, therefore removing the most calorie-dense macro from your diet
- Weight watchers: creates a calorie deficit by controlling your portion size to reduce the total amount of food you eat
Any diet that restricts or removes a macronutrient will see an immediate reduction in food and therefore total calories consumed. (1)
A ketogenic diet is one such way of doing this and by cutting out carbs you will, in most cases, eat less than you were before and be in a calorie deficit.
This means when evaluating the proficiency of the ketogenic diet as a weight-loss tool it needs to be viewed in the context of its ability to help you create and then maintain a calorie deficit over time.
The Ketogenic Diet & Weight Loss
Regardless of your feelings about the ketogenic diet, there are several studies with results showing how participants have lost weight and improved health using it. (2, 3, 4)
Which means the keto diet can be a useful weight-loss method.
As for whether it’s superior, existing research shows that there is no statistical difference between a low-carb keto diet and the standard moderate to high carb diet. (5, 6, 7, 8)
Case closed.
Well, not quite…
Sure, the question is no longer, “is the Ketogenic diet superior for fat loss?”, but this does present us with the opportunity to answer another question, “can the Ketogenic diet be used to lose fat in a sustainable way?”
This is an important question to answer as weight loss comes down to being able to maintain a way of eating that creates a calorie deficit.
To this end, there is research showing that low carb ketogenic diets high in protein can reduce hunger and overall food intake more than a high protein, moderate carb diet. (9)
This is because protein and fat (the 2 main components of a ketogenic diet) both take longer to be broken down and digested by the body.
This makes you feel fuller for longer after eating and will be less likely to snack or overeat, both of which are hugely beneficial when it comes to hunger management and overall calorie control.
There is also research showing that a ketogenic diet may be superior at decreasing fat storage and increasing fat burning, which could reflect an improvement in your ability to create and maintain a calorie deficit. (10, 11, 12)
There is even some evidence that a ketogenic diet can suppress your appetite after normal eating (i.e. higher carbs) has been reintroduced. (13)
Bringing this all together and you can see that the ketogenic diet may offer some benefits when it comes to being able to create and maintain a calorie deficit.
For this reason, some people will use this method of eating effectively to lose fat. However, other people will struggle to maintain this way of eating, finding it too restrictive and limiting or simply unenjoyable.
In the end, what it really boils down to is doing what you can maintain. Whether that’s using a ketogenic diet, doing intermittent fasting, 3 square meals a day or something else is entirely up to you.
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