High-Protein or High-Fat Ketogenic Diet

Question: I’m familiar with the “true” ketogenic diet of 90% fat which historically is a medical diet used to assist in controlling seizure prone individuals, but it has the added advantage of being a fantastic way to shed weight while keeping the brain fed. In your RAPID FAT LOSS diet, you say it’s basically a ketogenic diet but without the dietary fat – why? If I were to choose between the 2 ketogenic diets, why choose 90-95% PROTEIN over 90-95% FAT????

Answer: The issue, as always, comes down to a matter of context.  The original epilepsy ketogenic diet was developed, as you note to control seizures.  And for whatever reason, at least one aspect of that was developing very, very deep degrees of ketosis.  For this reason, a very high dietary fat content and lowish protein intake is necessary.

This is related to something called the ketogenic ratio which is critical for the treatment of epilepsy. … Keep Reading

The post Bodyrecomposition Mailbag 12 appeared first on Bodyrecomposition.

Too Much Cardio Followup

In the last mailbag, I addressed the question of what defines too much cardio.  In response to that I got the following question that will let me address a few relevant issues.

Isn’t to some extent, exactly what The Biggest Loser folks do? Restrictive diet in the 1k-1.5K calorie range, and then extremely high volume, low-medium intensity cardio for hours and hours? Essentially burn 2K or so cals in 4-5 hours of various stupid cardio activities and be 2K or so under Sedentary maintenance calories with their diet? Trying to make a 3.5k+ deficit every day?

Now I’ve written about the Biggest Loser before, along with having had the privilege of receiving some feedback from an ex-contestant.    In a similar vein I have also written extensive series on training the obese beginner.  However, I didn’t really address the question above. … Keep Reading

The post Bodyrecomposition Mailbag 11 appeared first on Bodyrecomposition.

Mixed Brain Fuel

Question: On a ketogenic diet, how rapidly does the brain flip between glucose and ketones for fuel? Can it use both fuel sources simultaneously?

Answer: The above question sort of encompasses a few different potential things and I’m not 100% sure which you’re asking so I’ll just cover them all.  First realize that one fuel that the brain cannot use is fatty acids, at least not directly.  This has led to the oft-stated belief that the brain can only use glucose. But this is incorrect as the brain has an alternative fat derived fuel which are ketones (or ketone bodies, the two major of which are beta-hydroxybutyrate and acetyl-acetate).

Ketones are produced primarily in the liver (from the breakdown of fatty acids) and exist predominantly as an alternative fuel source for the brain (they can also be used by skeletal muscle) during periods of low-carbohydrate availability. … Keep Reading

The post Bodyrecomposition Mailbag 10 appeared first on Bodyrecomposition.

Maintaining a Very Low Bodyfat Percentage for Women

Question: Hello. Do you know any females who are successfully and consistently living at at lower body fat 10-12% using a keto/ low carb diet? Thank you!

Answer: First and foremost, 12% is about the lower limit of essential fat in women.  While you will sometimes have women estimated lower than that, this is an artifact of the equations.   A woman at 10% body fat is dead.  Even at 12%, almost all women will show massive hormonal issues, a lack of health and vigor.  This shouldn’t even be a goal for women, it’s unrealistic and physically damaging in the long-run.

About the lowest body fat I’d suggest any woman even attempt to maintain long-term is 15-16% bodyfat.  She will have a cut upper body, 6-pack abs and legs should be fairly lean (depending on her body fat distribution patterns) but, assuming she’s not doing anything completely idiotic with her diet and training, she should be ok. … Keep Reading

The post Bodyrecomposition Mailbag 9 appeared first on Bodyrecomposition.

How Long to Take the EC Stack

Question: Hello! I have purchased your RFL handbook about 6 months ago. And have also been taking the ECA stack for about 5 months now. I really just want to know how long is safe to run an ECA stack!?? I have  only taken two doses a day instead of the suggested three. this is what it looks like : 25mg Ephedrine HCI , 200mg Caffeine, 162mg Aspirin once in the morning and another in the afternoon.

Answer: Since I appear to be officially out of ideas for things to write about (cut me some slack, I’ve got 500 posts on the site), I’m doing another Q&A this week.  For those unfamiliar with the acronyms, RFL is my own Rapid Fat Loss Handbook and ECA is a combination of Ephedrine Caffeine and Aspirin.

I don’t recall offhand when it really came into use but it was at least in the 90’s when it was found that the combination of ephedrine and caffeine were thermogenics (meaning that they increase energy expenditure), suppressed appetite, mobilized fat and had many other potential benefits for fat loss on a diet (other thermogenics such as green tea, capsaicin and nicotine were also studied).… Keep Reading

The post Bodyrecomposition Mailbag 8 appeared first on Bodyrecomposition.

Question: Hi Lyle, I am a big fan of your work and I have an important question. So I have ulnar nerve subluxation in my left arm and I am restricted in my training. I choose to avoid any pressing movements such as any bench press, any tricep movement, and any shoulder press. Every other lift I can do, I am cutting now and I am wondering what is the best way to go about preserving my muscle mass without bench press/shoulder press/tricep movements? Should I stick to heavy chest flies and Heavy shoulder raises? What about triceps? Thanks so much Lyle.

Answer: I wouldn’t diet while injured would be my suggestion unless you can find something workable for those muscles group.  You will lose muscle in them without some type of training stimulus.  If you’re determined to diet either accept the muscle loss or, I dunno, maybe isometrics of some sort. … Keep Reading

The post Bodyrecomposition Mailbag 7 appeared first on Bodyrecomposition.

Question: This may come across as sounding like a very rookie question so bare with me. I just had a question regarding my macros/calories. My current macros are at 46 fat, 165 carb and 144 protein and calories at 1650. However, recently I have been hitting my macros spot on but not my calories. I am aware that there is 4 calories per gram of carb/protein and 9 calories per gram of fat. What am I doing wrong?

Answer: This is going to be a very short Q&A since I am currently embroiled (perhaps better described as overwhelmed) in the editing of the The Women’s Book.  Just in case anybody is not familiar with the term, macros is simply short for macronutrients and refers to protein, carbohydrates, fats and technically alcohol.  It’s all nutrients that are consumed in large amounts (lots of grams). … Keep Reading

The post Bodyrecomposition Mailbag 6 appeared first on Bodyrecomposition.

Around Workout Nutrition During Dieting

Question: Should I continue with around workout nutrition while dieting?

Answer: Since summer time is approach and everyone (more or less) is dieting to look good at the pool, this is a question that comes up fairly often.  I’ll be honest that I spent years going around and around with this one in my head before finally coming to some conclusions about it.  These are those conclusions.

The usual rationale for avoiding around workout nutrition while dieting goes something like this: if you consume nutrients (especially carbohydrate) during or after training, you will either impair fat mobilization/burning by increasing insulin levels or impair the hormonal response (growth hormone gets brought up a lot) and slow fat loss.  Some suggest only consuming protein around training for this reason although they all seem to forget that protein (and especially the Branched Chain Amino Acids) raise insulin.… Keep Reading

The post Bodyrecomposition Mailbag 5 appeared first on Bodyrecomposition.

Heart Rate Monitoring and Metabolic Rate

Heart Rate Monitoring and Metabolic Rate

Hey Lyle, Huge fan of your work, it really has changed my life… just wish I’d stumbled upon you a decade ago, I’d be a machine by now! Anyhow, I was just curious about your opinion on heart rate monitors and wether they can be an accurate way of monitoring your metabolism during a cut. I have a Fitbit charge hr which seems to do a pretty solid job. I.e. When I use it to cut I lose weight, bulk I gain weight and my weight is pretty damn stable when I use it to maintain. I’ve noticed that when I cut my resting pulse rate progressively gets lower over the course of the cut and also that I start to burn less and less calories during my workouts.

Answer

In at least a general sense, a drop in heart rate is pretty normal with dieting to lower levels.  … Keep Reading

The post Bodyrecomposition Mailbag 4 appeared first on Bodyrecomposition.

Dietary Deficit and Fat Loss when Muscle Sparing is the Same

Hi Lyle. A nerd question: Since the only two things in human body which can: 1. store energy 2. be able to gain and loss in a huge range all year long (compare to glycogen which could only be gained and lost in a small range), are fat and muscle (is that ture?). So is that true all diet would result in exactly the same amount of fat loss, if 1. the deficit is the same and 2. the muscle loss or protection is the same? Ignoring all other factors like insulin level?… Keep Reading

The post Bodyrecomposition Mailbag 3 appeared first on Bodyrecomposition.