Im confused, help me out here.

When your body enters Ketosis, its because your depleted of glycogen, forcing your liver to produce ketones from stored bodyfat.

Ketones and dietery fat intake are now your primary source of energy, while protein goes towards keeping your muscles intact. I understand this... unless Im off the mark already.

If you are not following a ketogenic diet, carbs are ingested. Carbs are now your bodis main source of energy, the protein is still doing what it does best, and... If your running a deficit caloric intake, your body will eat away at stored body fat to make up for it...

Assuming Im not totally wrong here, while trying to lose bf, and consuming less calories than your BMR, how is a ketogenic diet any better than a moderate carb diet?

i just got done writing a 12 page paper on a ketogenic diet for my obesity and weight management class. the general idea is that once you've used up your glycogen storages your body starts looking for other resources to fuel the body. once carbs are gone, the next thing it will look for is fat. what makes ketogenic so good is once your body starts looking for that next source of energy it will feed off the energy storage (fat) in your body. this will result in an increase in fat metabolism. you dont want to stay in this phase too long b/c eventaully your body will start using protein and lean muscle for energy. so thats why there is a once a week carb reload. this helps prevent catabolism and spare the muscles form breaking down.

having a low kcal diet, your limited to the amount of energy your body recieves from food. once this is used up it will start feeding off itself (like the ketogenic) but since there is no "reload phase" your body will search everywhere to fuel itself, and will eventually break down muscle tissue. your basically starving yourself. with the ketogenic your amount of kcal remains the same, its just coming from different macronutrients.

The argument of which diet is better continues. there have been many studies but no concrete evidence one type of diet is better than another. you kinda have to see what your body responds to the best.

So on a restricted calorie diet, what are the benefits of using a ketogenic diet, if any?

And what are the benefits of increasing fat metabolism?
If you eat carbs on a restricted diet, your body will naturally start to metabolize stored fat at some point.

At the end of the day all that matters is Calories in - Calories out.

So whats so great about increasing fat metabolism?

Im not trying to shoot down Keotgenics. Im geniunly curious as to how it works? A lot of guys on these boards think its the best weight loss diet.

a ketogenic diet is not restricted. most people run it at maintence level. by increasing fat metabolism you burn FAT. pure fat. not calories, not carbs, but fat. thats the whole idea behind it. in theory yes calories in vs calories out. by using ketogenic you help retain more muscle while dieting than a low calorie diet. some people on low calorie diet get smaller everywhere (not what we want). ketogenic helps maintain the muscle and lose the fat (what we want).

if your very over weight or obese, then maybe the low calorie diet will work best. i kinda depends on your goal. however a lot of hospitals (especially in my city) are using a ketogenic method of weight lose with there patients.

So if I understand correctly, running a ketogenic diet at maintenance level will increase fat metabolism. And although I would be cunsoming enough calories to keep me going, since my body is in a fat metabolizing state, it will naturally start to burn stored fat, even though it is getting maintenance level calorie intake?

YES! =)

Thanks a lot, RyaRoberts.

You helped me out a great deal.

Even at calorie deficit, the Keto diet is more effective than a regular diet for a single yet key reason:

Hunger Management

On a Keto diet, your body spends much more time digesting food than on a carb-based diet. Fat is digested much slower than carbs, thus keeping your body satisfied longer. Moreover, insulin spikes cause hunger pangs as well, which is why you don't get full eating a sugar-stuffed candy bar; you get hungrier. Since your insulin levels don't suffer from extreme ups and downs during a Keto diet, you don't suffer from hunger pangs either. Because of this, eating deficit calories is much easier on a Keto diet.

In other words, a Keto diet provides its own appetite suppressant, making it much easier to follow. On a CKD, I never found myself opening the fridge looking for something to snack on. When I was truly hungry, I ate, and that was it. Since I've gone back to a carb-based diet, even after taking appetite suppressants, I find myself thinking about food more than I should, which makes me conscious that I am dieting, which in turn makes it harder to diet.

I'm currently at about 13% bf. I can see some ab definition so I cud possiblely be lower. Last week I began cutting carbs, and slightly increasing my fats, and about 150g of protein. I weigh 157 and I'm 5'9". So basicly for the past week I have been eating about 1200-1400 calories a day consisting of canned tuna/salmon with dark green vegitable and whey protein shakes. I read about keto dieting and as of today started a tuna and water diet. I'm eating about 100gs of tuna/salmon protein and also taking 30gs of fat from Cod Liver Oil so I'm totaling about 34g of healthy fat. I'm taking CLA, a multi-vitamin, RPN eviscerate and l-glutamine for my muscles. Should I take more/less fat to increase the keto process. I plan on doing this for 3 more days and then slowly add in good carbs from fiber and vegies. Am I doing everything right? Or is there something I could do to maximise the effect?

science gives us the reason to do it then it is up to us to figure out what works better for our body and mind. i am an absolute endomorph and for me keto is the only way to lose fat. if this helps.