Ketosis..healthy? - Personal Trainer Community - Forum

[beachtrainer]

I sat down with a new client today, a female, 27, nurse, of good health 165lbs, 5'7 and she informed me she was in the process of a ketosis diet plan. I reviewed some of the content and was taken aback when I found that exercise is PROHIBITED. Now, I train some elite athles as well as a lot of injury rehab stuff. I'm not really "in the know" about ketosis aside from some poking around I am working on this evening. Anyone have any suggestions whether I may want to suggest she go off this diet, or do I tell her to go back to a stagnant activity level? My belief is that weight loss should be attained through proper nutrition and being active, involving exercise, so on and so forth..little help..?

[Christina]

Hi Christopher and welcome. I would tell her that she needs to go off of this diet (as a nurse I would think she would know better but apparently not). Explain all of the reasons why. There is some great info on the internet about high protein diets and ketosis and how they are harmful to your health in the long run. Print out info from a reputable source (such as a .gov or .edu site) and present it to her and if she still wants to stay on the diet I would explain to her that there is no need for your services since the diet limits physical activity. I would also give her the name and number of a dietitian.

My 2 cents.

Christina

[Joe Cannon MS CSCS]

I agree with Christina and here are my additional 2 cents:

The diet probably doesn't want the person to exercise because if they did, they would soon discover that they wouldn't be able to for long!

Carbs are the body's preferred fuel source. Essentially when a person is in ketosis they running on fumes - the gas tank is empty! Nobody wins the Iron Man Triathlon on an Atkins-like diet.

Try to explain to her that in general when diet alone is performed about half of the weight that is lost is muscle. the other half is water and some fat. I personally wonder if the amount of muscle lost is increased on low carb diets because of gluconeogenesis (making protein into glucose)? nevertheless, if the person incorporates exercise, the percent of fat lost goes up dramatically (80-90% if I remember). remind her of what she should already know - when a muscle cell is lost, it never returns. She can lift weights until the cows come home, but studies have yet to confirm that humans can make new muscle cells. she needs all the muscle cells she has to offset sarcopenia (age related muscle loss) as she ages.
Hope some of that helps Christopher. Anymore questions just give us a yell
Joe