# Using fat for fuel.



## MS1605 (Dec 8, 2015)

So I have read probably damn near every book that has ever been written about ketosis. Due to my body type, it is something that interests me. That being said, over the past few months of being on workmans comp, I have watched quiet a few video interviews with people competing in physique and found a lot of them share the same dieting protocol for the same reasons. High protein, high/med Fat and low carb year round. Most of them claiming that they get most of their energy through the fats. Here is the thing, their Carb ratio is still too high and their Protein ratio is still too high (as the body will turn protein into glucose in the absence of glucose...) for these guys to be in Ketosis. 

So my question is, If you are not in Ketosis, will your body ever use fats/ketones as fuel? I thought this was the whole point of staying in ketosis? From what I understand, Unless you are in ketosis, your body will not use the fats you eat as fuel?


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## DocDePanda187123 (Dec 8, 2015)

The fat you eat will be stored as fat in the body. It's rarely ever used for fuel until AFTER it's been stored. 

Yes, you can use fat as fuel even while not in ketosis. Low carb diets don't provide enough carbs to use as the only energy source so stored fat will be used as well. The amount of carbs vs fat used to provide your energy needs happens on a continuum. Is rarely either extreme and generally somewhere in the middle depending on your macro intake.


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## MS1605 (Dec 8, 2015)

DocDePanda187123 said:


> The fat you eat will be stored as fat in the body. It's rarely ever used for fuel until AFTER it's been stored.



This part makes all of it makes sense to me. 

So I guess on paper, Ketosis would be better for dropping body fat but not the greatest for strength and endurance where as low carb might be a little better for strength and endurance but wouldn't possibly burn as much bodyfat as you would being in ketosis. Again, on paper.


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## DocDePanda187123 (Dec 8, 2015)

MS1605 said:


> This part makes all of it makes sense to me.
> 
> So I guess on paper, Ketosis would be better for dropping body fat but not the greatest for strength and endurance where as low carb might be a little better for strength and endurance but wouldn't possibly burn as much bodyfat as you would being in ketosis. Again, on paper.



In Reality though there is no metabolic advantage of low carb or keto over a high/er carb diet though. Lyle even touches on this in a few articles I believe. On paper I think it's assumed keto would be better for fat loss due to glycogen depletion but that hasn't manifested in reality from what I've researched. Not to mention many people's intensity in the gym and training would suffer from going low carb.


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## ToolSteel (Dec 8, 2015)

The main reason keto w/ reloads works for me is because it is the easiest diet for me to stick to. That is the hardest part IMO. There's tons of diets that work. But none of them work if you can't stick to it.


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## MrRippedZilla (Dec 8, 2015)

Ketosis is irrelevant when it comes to losing body fat and offers no magical advantage compared to other dietary approaches over the long run.

Short term it may, on paper, have benefits for fuel utilization in the obese (who tend to have poor metabolic flexibility, don't use carbs well, can adapt to higher fat diets quicker, etc) but long term...not so much.
Most of this is down to certain hormonal adaptations your body makes on low carb diets in general that, basically, prevents it from being better at fat loss compared to other dietary approaches.


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## MS1605 (Dec 8, 2015)

ToolSteel said:


> The main reason keto w/ reloads works for me is because it is the easiest diet for me to stick to. That is the hardest part IMO. There's tons of diets that work. But none of them work if you can't stick to it.



This is one half of the reason I use it.  I can eat fish, almonds and whole eggs for every meal for the rest of my life.   Being in keto never makes me feel like im on a diet. Only food I crave when im in keto is sushi because im ****ing addicted to it.


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## mickems (Dec 8, 2015)

I used to eat high fat/ high protein/no carbs. carbs only on Sunday. lost a lot of weight in a short time period. not a lot of strength when training but, still made gains while losing fat.


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## NbleSavage (Dec 9, 2015)

mickems said:


> I used to eat high fat/ high protein/no carbs. carbs only on Sunday. lost a lot of weight in a short time period. not a lot of strength when training but, still made gains while losing fat.



I use a similar approach. Carbs only surrounding a workout and then only a limited amount. Rest of the day is protein & fat with a 'cheat day' if I'm feeling like it on the weekend.


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## SuperBane (Dec 9, 2015)

mickems said:


> I used to eat high fat/ high protein/no carbs. carbs only on Sunday. lost a lot of weight in a short time period. not a lot of strength when training but, still made gains while losing fat.



I can say the same.


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## thqmas (Dec 9, 2015)

I did UD2, The Anabolic Diet, you name it.

The results were no near what I expected, I felt that ketosis was indeed irrelevant (as RippedZilla said) to losing fat, and that the same results could of been achieved just by restricting calories.

Now a days, I carb on Saturday and when I feel I need it (around workouts as NbleSavage mentioned).

The only time I find that doing a keto diet is beneficial for me, is after a long period of bulking and carbing. A short 4 weeks of limiting carbs and only carb loading a day per week, seems to "fix" any problem with insulin sensitivity that was caused by the long period of high carbs consumption. It's like an "insulin sensitivity restart". then I'm going back to my original macros.


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## gymrat827 (Dec 9, 2015)

for me.....low carb & 4-6iu gh pre WO.  


shuts off fat storage enzymes.......to some degree


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