The Problem With The Keto Diet & Fat Loss

Recently I was talking with a new client who’s been struggling with his weight.

He’s a fit lad though.

In the gym at least 3 times per week, gets 10,000 steps every day, and does a bit of cardio, too.

He even does fasting and follows a keto type diet (most of the time).

So he avoids carbs like breads and pasta as much as possible.

And yet, he’s not saw any fat loss or changes in the mirror.

I had some suspicions what may be happening.

So I asked him about meals.

And he told me …

“My first meal today was just ribeye steak and 3 eggs with an avocado. Sometimes I’ll have bacon with that. Then I’ll usually snack on a bag of cashew nuts. And tonight I’ll probably have a large plate of chicken legs with veggies.

Sometimes my boy wants me to have ice-cream with him, so that probably happens a few times per week”.

… I knew it!

My first gut feeling was on the money.

Did you spot what might be sabotaging his results?

It’s not the ice-cream (and anyone who ever talks shit about my ice-cream will have me to answer to).

It’s his dietary fat intake.

Here’s what I mean:

You have 3 macronutrients (aka ‘macros’)…

1. Protein: 4 calories per gram.
2. Carbs: 4 calories per gram.
3. Fats: 9 calories per gram!

1g of fat has more calories than a gram of both protein and carbs combined.

And our man here was eating LOTS of fats.

Listen, I’m all about eating whole foods.

And healthy fats are critical for building testosterone (and muscle). 

But we only need small amounts. 

If you want to see something remotely pretty in the mirror, you must also respect the calorie. 

Because if you consume more calories than your body needs to lose, or maintain your weight, it will simply be stored in reserves (body fat).

Make sense?

Let’s look at those meals again:

> Ribeye (around 50% of it’s calories from fat)

> Egg yolks (all fat).

> Bacon (high fat meat).

> Avocado (fat source).

> Cashews (Fat source).

> Chicken legs (Very fatty cut of meat).

So although our guy had good intentions and was eating mostly whole foods, he’d been given some extremely bad advice about carbs and fat loss. 

Which lead him to cutting out perfectly healthy carbs and replacing them with foods  more than double the calories. 

Which actually increased his calorie intake. 

See the issue here?

Here was my recommendation …

1. Swap ribeye for sirloin and rump steaks.
2. Take some egg yolks away but always leave at least 1.
3. Half an avocado, rather than a full one.
4. Ditch the nuts. Don’t ever snack on nuts.
5. Don’t snack… let some hunger pangs show up between meals. It’s healthy and will help you burn body fat.
6. Swap the chicken drumsticks for breasts, turkey steaks, or home made burgers etc with low fat mince.
7. Eat more (smart) carbs… Like fruits, sweet potato, and whole grains.

These changes will boost his protein and fiber intake, whilst drastically cutting calories.

And reveal a fine looking physique under all that cushion. 

That’s all from me today, hope it helps!

Dean