Being Fat Adapted Versus "In Ketosis" (Pt.3/3)

Now that the issues of fat adaptation and fat loss versus ketosis—or the lack thereof—have been clarified, let’s move on to a related issue that drives me crazy: newbie low-carbers freaking out if they eat something that not only takes away that beloved purple, but—gasp!—causes the scale to go up a few pounds.

When a low-carber who doesn’t understand some basics about human physiology gains weight after indulging in a pile of something sweet or starchy, they go absolutely apoplectic. Not knowing any better, they step on the scale the next day, see that their weight has gone up a few pounds, and they Just. Freak. Out. I can’t count how many times I’ve seen people post to forums and message boards either in tears or in a raging anger, because they ate a donut, or a bagel, or two slices of pizza, and gained, say, four pounds the next day. They then fall into thinking that their body is so fundamentally carbohydrate intolerant that after indulging in one carbohydrate-laden meal, they gained, overnight, four pounds of fat. (Never mind that the total weight of the amount of food they consumed for the entire day probably didn't even weigh four pounds, let alone that one bit of carb splurge, so I don't see any logic to how they think this works, but I digress.)

I’m not really sure how to talk about this without expressing grave concern over these well-intentioned folks’ ignorance as to the inner workings of their own bodies. (And by “expressing grave concern,” I mean, “shaking my head at the utter lunacy out there.”)

Time for a quick lesson in glycogen storage. 

Glycogen is the stored form of carbohydrate in our bodies. It is stored in the liver and in the muscles, but the muscles have a much greater storage capacity than the liver. For every gram of glycogen stored, the body also hangs onto about 2.5 grams of water. That’s right—over twice as much. If someone is following a low-carb diet, generally speaking, their glycogen levels will be lower than if they were eating lots of carbs. (Glycogen is never fully, completely depleted, not even when someone “hits the wall” or “bonks” during an endurance race.) So when they decide to indulge in a carbohydrate-heavy meal, their glycogen stores are champing at the bit to be refilled with all that nice carbohydrate. The obvious result will be a relatively quick increase in scale weight, thanks to all the water being hoarded along with the glycogen.

Remember, too, that insulin affects sodium retention in the body, and the physiology adage is that "water follows sodium." Higher insulin levels ---> more sodium, and therefore, more water, being retained by the body.  

This is NO BIG DEAL to people who understand that this is just water, and in a day or two of getting back to their normal low-carbing, it’ll be gone. Remember when you first went low carb and lost a bunch of weight rather quickly? Well, some of that was all the water being released as your glycogen stores were being reduced. The rapid gain of scale weight is simply this process happening in reverse. It’s not body fat, and it has not, in one fell swoop, completely undone whatever progress has occurred up until then. Most veteran low-carbers know this, and a bump of a few pounds here and there doesn’t worry us. It’s usually the newbies who feel completely dejected. My advice to them is: STAY OFF THE SCALE, SILLYHEADS! Now that you know a carb-fest will cause the scale to go up a little for a day or two after, why do that to yourself? Why subject yourself to the mental torture you know will likely ensue? Stay off the scale for a couple of days, until your body has let go of that very temporary extra water.

But that’s specific to weight. What about ketosis and fat adaptation? Well, the answer is different, depending on how long someone’s been low-carbing, and how well adapted they are to running on fat. The longer someone’s been at it, and the longer they’ve been fat-adapted, the less impact an occasional carb-fest will have. On the other hand, for someone who’s new to this, the more often they stray from low-carb, the more difficult it will be for their body to even become truly fat-adapted, never mind staying there in the face of a big carb onslaught.

As I explained in the previous post, ketosis is fragile and fleeting. Fat adaptation is hardier. It’s quite easy to get rid of ketosis. It’s much harder to undo years (or even several months) of fat adaptation.

To share another example from my own personal experience with all this (any of you getting tired of me talking about myself?), I’ll share with you what happened the first time I attempted a low-carb diet, and then what I’ve learned more recently, after having been a low-carber for several years.

The very first time I tried to lose weight via low-carb was in 2000. I was a college senior, and I guess I just wasn’t quite ready to really do it. I would start the day very well, but invariably, I would eventually be confronted with temptation. Whether it was someone bringing in cake at my work-study job, free cookies at an editorial board meeting for the literary journal, or just me being tempted by pretzels, rather than string cheese, in the campus grab-and-go snack shop, I don’t think I made it even two days in a row of sticking to low-carb. Not surprisingly, my body never got into that awesome zone where it was running primarily on dietary and stored fat. Every time I ate a cookie, or savored cake frosting, I was putting up a roadblock to my body becoming  a “fatburner,” rather than a sugar-burner.

Fast forward sixteen years, and I know far more about all this now than I did back then. I’ve been low-carbing for about twelve years now (having finally started and stayed with it since mid-2003). And while I have always made it clear that I am by no means super-strict all the time, overall, even on my highest-carb days, and through my longest bouts of slightly higher carb intake, I was and am still low-carb compared to anyone eating the standard American diet. So my body is quite well fat-adapted, whether or not I’m in ketosis. And the occasional carb bender really doesn’t affect me much. I don’t get a headache the next day, I don’t feel sluggish, there’s no brain fog, and I don’t crave yet more carbohydrate. Sure, I’ll be a little bloated, but that’s just water, and I know it’ll be gone quickly. (Even more quickly if I work out, with the intent to get rid of that glycogen & water asap.)

I began the first post in this short series with a list of things urine ketone strips are not good for. So let’s end with what they are good for: 

• Encouragement
• A confidence boost
• Visual confirmation that, at least to some degree, your body is burning fat. (They cannot tell you, however, whether it is the fat from your food, or the fat from your arse. [Or your belly, hips, thighs, upper arms, or second chin.])
• Visual confirmation that your body “works.” (Meaning, it is doing what it’s supposed to do when you cut back dramatically on carbs.)
• At least some feedback about the metabolic state of your body around the time you tested.

In conclusion, urine ketone test strips are not useless. They can be quite handy, provided we understand how to interpret the information they give us, and provided we use them as tools to help us reach our end goals, rather than using dark purple as the end goal, itself. (After having attended a conference on ketogenic & metabolic therapies this past weekend, I'll be posting an addendum to this series at some point, and I'll talk just a little more about how much we don't know yet about whether higher ketones [say, BOHB at 3-5mM, rather than 1.5-3mM] are important for anything except bragging about them on social media. They may or may not be helpful for managing certain medical conditions...a lot is as yet unknown, but we do know that higher ketones do not cause magic fat loss.)

For more on this topic, check out what other folks have to say (all of whom are far more succinct than I am): 

• Keto Gains: Will This Kick Me Out of Ketosis?
• Keto Gains: Don’t fall victim to ketone envy. Ever wanted to know what it means to have more or less ketones, and how should we measure them?
• Keto Diet App: Do Ketones Matter?
• Ketopia: Why You Need To Stop Worrying About The Color Of Your Ketostix

P.S. Regarding getting rid of water and glycogen after a little carb-up, whether intentional or unplanned: there are ways to speed up the process. First, drink plenty of water. (Yes, even though you’re trying to get rid of some.) Fasting will help, too, even just 12 hours or so. Just try to go several hours without eating. This will reduce liver glycogen. The extra weight & water you’re carrying, however, is mostly wrapped up in muscle glycogen, and the way to reduce that is through physical activity. An intense workout would be best—maybe some sprints, or something else hard & fast. (Umm...) You could start the morning with a fasted walk, which will help, too, but at some point during the day, something intense will be more effective. Your mitochondria will thank you.

P.P.S. I have never used a blood ketone meter, but I am most definitely interested in getting one, if any manufacturers out there want to send a meter and some test strips my way. ;-)  (To my Australian readers [if there are any of you] – I’m told you can get these much cheaper than in the U.S. If this is true, and you’re interested in a little deal, let me know!)

Remember: Amy Berger, M.S., NTP, is not a physician and Tuit Nutrition, LLC, is not a medical practice. The information contained on this site is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any medical condition and is not to be used as a substitute for the care and guidance of a physician. Links in this post and all others may direct you to amazon.com, where I will receive a small amount of the purchase price of any items you buy through my affiliate links.