Once our body is in a state of ketosis, there is an incredible hormonal advantage that is going to help dramatically to both lose fat and retain, and possibly even gain, muscle. The advantage that I speak of is the high fat nature of the ketogenic diet boosts the production of hormones in your body that are beneficial to both fat loss, and muscle gain. The main hormone I’m speaking of is testosterone. If you’re reading this then I’m assuming that your goal is to have a lean, and athletic physique that also functions like one. Whether you are male or female, testosterone will go along way to helping you accomplish this.
On a traditional diet where calories are restricted, the production of testosterone is actually suppressed. As our testosterone drops, so does the amount of muscle we’re carrying. As the amount of muscle declines, our metabolism slows as a result, and brings fat loss to a halt. The only way to get it started again is to further lower calories. This just causes the above cycle to repeat itself.
In ketosis, all that fat we’re consuming to give our body energy is also causing an increase in the production of testosterone. Increased levels of testosterone is a great way to build a little muscle tissue during this fat loss phase. Any increase in muscle will have a corresponding increase in our basal metabolic rate.
Now we’re burning fat 24 hours a day, as well boosting our metabolism. Name
me any other diet that can make these claims and actually back them up, and I’ll happily write about it as well.
Regarding all this extra fat that we’re consuming, I prefer to get as much of it from healthy sources as possible. We could live on a strict diet of bacon and sausages with some processed lunch meats thrown in for good measure, and make great progress. That progress will come at the expense of our health however, and the best way to have an attractive and healthy looking body is to actually have a healthy body.
This diet will be leaning fairly heavily on animal protein in the form of beef, chicken, eggs and some full fat dairy, but that doesn’t mean you have to be eating fatty cuts of meat to get the fats you need. You can still have leaner cuts of meat with the fats you need coming from nuts, seeds, and delicious and highly nutritious sources such as avocado.
Eating fat can help us lose fat, maintain, and possibly even gain muscle due to the extra testosterone being produced as a result of the higher fat intake. If we get the fat we need from healthy sources, then we can maintain a very healthy diet as well. The ketogenic diet and testosterone connection is not only a means to lose weight, but an effective lifestyle strategy to get fit, and stay fit.
Happy Lifting!
This Article Written and Researched by Matt Taylor
