COMMON MISCONCEPTIONS ON THE KETOGENIC/ATKINS

Arguably the biggest misconception about the Atkins Diet (which is a very low carb ketogenic diet) is that you can consume unlimited calories and still lose weight/body fat. This implies that somehow basic thermodynamics (energy in vs. energy out) is being affected somehow. That ketosis somehow increases calorie expenditure to compensate for caloric intake.

The thing is that Atkins NEVER said that this would happen (although I have a feeling that he wanted people to read what he said that way, as a marketing gimmick). What he said was that, as long as you ate less than 30 grams of carbs, you could eat as much protein and fat as you liked and still lose weight, which is not the same as an unlimited quantity. He was basing this on studies done in the 60’s and 70’s showing the following fact: When individuals remove all carbohydrates from their diet but are told to eat ‘unlimited’ protein and fat, they will generally reduce their caloric intake to between 1400-2100 calories/day. This creates a caloric deficit and weight is lost.

That is, there’s no magical fact of ketosis that allows weight/fat (not counting the water loss that occurs) to be lost while eating above maintenance (or even maintenance calories), you still have to have a caloric deficit for fat loss to occur.

So you may ask why bother with a ketogenic diet? The difference between a ketogenic diet and a non-ketogenic diet may be in the proportions of fat and muscle lost for a given caloric deficit. That is, ketogenic diets may cause more fat and less muscle to be lost compared to a non-ketogenic diet for the same deficit. But the deficit MUST exist.