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When it comes to diets, everyone seems to be on one, but why are we not losing weight and maintaining that weight loss?
Let’s start by tackling what diets are currently out there that are highly popular and what each of them entail.
Keto Diet:
This diet usually gets under my skin for the fact that it cuts out an entire macronutrient, carbohydrates.
This diet aims to eat entirely fat and protein as your energy source. You aim to eat less than 50 grams of carbohydrates per day and it usually takes around a week for your body to understand and switch using carbs for energy and use fats instead. This puts you into what is called ketosis, which is just a descriptor for what you are using as your primary energy source
Low Carbohydrate:
This is similar to the keto diet but it focuses on staying below 130 carbohydrates per day. Usually low carbohydrate diets are focused on when people believe carbohydrates are the issue or want to find a way to lower their caloric intake. Some people start a keto diet intending to be under 50 carbs, but they usually end up on just a low carbohydrate diet.
Intermittent Fasting:
This diet takes many different forms. There are multiple eating window ratios. The ow — you fast for 16 hours and eat for 8 and is usually accomplished by skipping breakfast or dinner. This diet has no other restrictions beyond an eating window, which could be as extreme as a 2 hour eating window and a 22 hour fasting period.
Mediterranean Diet:
This diet is a very balanced one. There aren’t any restrictions based around food beyond keeping red meat. It uses high quality dairy products and uses a lot of vegetables, fish, fruit, grains, olive oil, and nuts. It has a great spread of foods for you to eat and has a high retention of return rate.
Flexible Dieting:
This diet is just like it sounds. This is slightly different than IIFYM (if it fits your macros). This diet places an emphasis on the 80/20 rule — 80% of your diet should come from whole food sources and you have the flexibility to eat food you truly enjoy 20% of the time while you track your macros.
No trick questions here!
What if we discussed the benefits of each?
Well.. if your goal is weight loss
Keto cuts out carbohydrates completely so it is easy to reduce your calories and thereby creating a calorie deficit
Low-carb reduces your overall carbohydrate consumption and creates a calorie deficit
Intermittent fasting cuts your eating window down to a specific number of hours and this creates less time to eat. This also results in a calorie deficit
Mediterranean encourages whole foods and a more balanced approach. Some of the food is higher volume and higher satiety and this can result in less overall calories consumed — a calorie deficit
Flexible dieting creates a calorie deficit by tracking your food and choosing to eat a specific amount. You are able to eat any food you desire while placing an emphasis on whole foods most of the time.
I’d think you have an idea of what each of these do. It really is up to your personal preference on any diet. There seem to be hundreds — vegan, vegetarian, paleo, gluten free, lacto-vegetarian, fruitarian, carnivore, south beach diet, weight watchers, Jenny Craig, raw food, etc. The list can go on forever.
What matters when it comes to diets is which one you can stick to long term. Personally tracking your food and making choices of what you want to eat makes the most sense to me. This is something that is long term because you have little dietary restriction outside of the amount you eat. You can incorporate any other diets you’d like to within it. Eat as little or as many plant based products you want, just stick to the numbers; eat as much or as little sugar as you want, just stick to your numbers.
What if my goal is to gain muscle?
Keto has shown to be kind of terrible for performance due to the lack of carbohydrates so muscle gain on keto may be a different type of uphill battle.
Low-carb also has some performance issues because carbs are low it can give some energy issues
intermittent fasting may cause some issues with being able to get enough food in your window if your energy needs become high.
Mediterranean can be used for muscle gain as there are no carbohydrate restrictions or eating windows.
Flexible dieting can be used for muscle gain as it generally is accepted that you eat a higher carbohydrate diet and there are no food or timing restrictions.
Making the decision on what diet works best for you is just that — pick one that works best for you.
What it comes down to is sustainability.
Which diet sounds like you could be on it for the rest of your life? Which one sounds easiest to fit into your life and not the other way around?
The answer to which diet is best for you, ultimately, is the one that you can stick to without changing your life instantaneously for.