Recently, the Keto Diet has been all the craze! A few years back, (and for some people still), the Atkins diet was the “in thing.” This post shows the features of both the Keto diet and the Atkins diet; and how they compare to an individualized Worthy Weight Loss plan.
If you are on the Ketogenic (“Keto”) or Atkins diet, you are most likely eating high (and often unmonitored) amounts of fat and calories. Both the Keto and Atkins diet plans limit carbohydrate (“carbs”) intake to 20 grams or less daily. However, at Worthy Weight Loss, we base our nutritional advice on current research that allows us to individualize a nutritional plan that includes specified amounts of protein, carbs, fats and total calories, uniquely designed for you. Our nutrition plan requires that you consume daily amounts of adequate protein and controlled carbs, not just low carb!
Based on your medical history, family history, physical exam, and blood test results, we are able to recommend how much protein, carbs, and calories you should consume daily. This is not a ‘one-size-fits-all plan.’ Establishing limits on your daily food intake helps you limit the number of unnecessary calories that you eat daily. Eating unlimited or poorly controlled amounts of fats and calories, (which is often the case with the Atkins and Keto diets) can stop you from sustaining healthy weight loss.
So why do we set a protein requirement?
Current science shows that the daily minimum required amount of protein for weight loss is about 0.8gms/kg (about half a gram of protein per pound of ideal body weight). Other weight loss studies have also shown that eating about 30 grams of protein, three times a day, can help you avoid muscle loss during your weight loss journey. Plainly stated, consuming adequate amounts of protein during weight loss helps you avoid muscle loss and improves your overall weight loss.
A very low carbohydrate diet, when coupled with high fat intake, produces a biochemical condition in the body called “ketosis.” When your body doesn’t have enough carbs (sugar or glucose) for energy, it starts burning stored fat for energy, instead. This process produces chemicals known as “ketones”. In the absence of ingested carbs (sugar or glucose), the body then uses these ketones as fuel for energy. This process is called ketosis. Both the Atkins and the Keto diets promote putting the body into some form of ketosis.
Both Keto and Atkins can be effective when monitored by a trained bariatric professional. However, the problem arises when you come out of ketosis. If you haven’t learned how to manage your carbs, you’re likely going to gain back the weight that you lost while in ketosis. Our goal at Worthy Weight Loss, is not to totally take carbs away from your diet, but to teach you how to manage your carb intake in a way that still allows you to lose weight, and keep it off.
Keto and Atkins diets can both be effective depending on your weight loss needs. However, because every individual’s carbohydrate requirement during weight loss is different, your own requirement must be tailored to your specific medical needs. As you lose weight and your biochemistry changes, the amount of carbs that your body needs can change too. That is why it is very difficult to lose weight based on the advice from a “book” or a “one plan fits all” approach. Here at Worthy Weight Loss, we teach our patients in Dallas, Plano, Frisco, Allen, McKinney, Richardson, Garland and Decatur, how all these different dietary tools can be best utilized in order to attain sustained weight loss.
