WARNING! 4 Reasons Why Long-Term Keto is NOT Healthy For Women

blog you tube Feb 28, 2023
4 Reasons Why Long-Term Keto is NOT Healthy For Women

Is long-term keto doing more harm than good for you?  This video reveals the shocking 4 hidden dangers of sticking to keto for too long for women.

Hey there! I'm Lesya, a Nutritionist who specializes in fat loss for professional women.

If that sounds like you, consider subscribing to this channel where I share all things related to fat loss based on a clean keto and carb cycling lifestyle.

Today I want to talk about The 4 unexpected consequences of long-term keto for women.

At the end of the video, I'm going to share a simple hack you can do to prevent these issues from happening to you.

Now, before I get into it, I want to preface this by saying that I am a huge advocate for the ketogenic protocol

Keto has helped me lose all of my baby weight from both of my girls, regulated my periods, improved my digestion, and I don't think I would be able to create an online business while being a stay-at-home mom without the help of the energy that ketones gave me.

But if I could go back to 2015 when I first started keto, I wish someone had told me that doing keto long-term, without taking breaks, could lead to some issues that I want to share with you today.

So, let's dive in.

The first reason why long-term keto sucks for most women is that fat-burning slows down.

As your body fat drops, the survival part of your brain sets off an alarm, thinking that you're running out of fuel and it starts slowing down your metabolism and fat burning.

Keto helps you lose excess fat, but losing all of your fat is not good and it will send your body into survival mode.

And staying in ketosis too long may cause your body to actually start storing body fat because it's trying to protect its precious fuel source.

This is what happened to my client Kaleigh before she joined my carb cycling coaching program. She came to me while on keto, eating 800-1,000 calories per day, and could not lose any weight.

I increased her calories to 1,700 per day and her carbs went up and to her surprise, she lost weight.

Now not only does she get to eat more food, but she also enjoys the occasional treat yourself day and doesn't gain any weight.

The second reason is that insulin gets too low so you become Glucose Intolerant.

Glucose intolerance is a new term and all it means is that your body forgets how to use glucose.

If you experience bloat, weight gain, fatigue, and energy crash anytime you bring back carbs, you're most likely already glucose intolerant.

Don't worry, at the end of this video, I'll share what you can do to start correcting this starting today.

This happens because long-term keto can trigger a rise in blood sugar by driving insulin levels too low.

And when insulin stays too low, your liver gets signaled to increase glucose production to avoid your body going into "starvation mode".

Even though your brain runs on ketones and fat, it still needs about 15% glucose to function properly.

And if you follow keto too long, your metabolism will shift to breaking down muscle to hold on to fat stores.

That's why if you stay on keto too long, you can begin to lose muscle and gain fat. Otherwise known as "skinny fat."

I bet you know someone in your life that is "skinny fat." I know I sure do.

The bottom line is, your body is trying to survive and it needs carbohydrate calories to sustain you.

I had a client Karen who lost 40 pounds on keto but every time she tried to bring back carbs, she would gain weight and feel tired because her body had become glucose intolerant.

I put her on the "wean off of keto" protocol inside my program and she didn't gain a single ounce. She is happily eating 140g of carbs per day and hasn't gained any of the weight back.

The third reason long-term keto is not a good idea for women is it can lead to hormonal problems, specifically with your thyroid, adrenals, and cortisol.

The thyroid regulates your metabolism and being in ketosis for too long or severe calorie restriction can reduce thyroid function. 

Here's why:

One of the hormones produced by the thyroid is T4, which is inactive.

In order for the body to use T4, it must be converted to T3, the active form of the hormone.

Insulin, which is produced by the pancreas, plays a crucial role in this conversion process.

Insulin helps transport glucose into cells, which in turn triggers the release of T3 by the thyroid.

If there is not enough insulin present, or if the body is resistant to insulin, the conversion of T4 to T3 may be hindered, leading to a condition known as hypothyroidism.

Then there are the adrenal glands.

The adrenal glands are responsible for releasing hormones, including cortisol, which is known as the "stress hormone."

When you're under stress, your body produces more cortisol, which can increase your appetite and lead to weight gain.

Since keto decreases insulin levels this can lead to an increase in cortisol levels.

When cortisol levels are high, it can make it difficult to lose weight, even when following a strict keto diet.

I experienced this firsthand after 5 years of strict keto when I started gaining weight on keto due to my cortisol being very high.

So in short, stress can make you gain weight on keto by increasing cortisol levels, which can lead to increased appetite and put your body in the "flight or fight" state where it holds on to calories for survival reasons.

The way I describe it to my clients is: Imagine your body thinking that it's being chased by a lion, tiger, or bear (oh my).

The last thing it's going to do is help you burn fat.

Instead, it will hold on to everything you eat to make sure you have the energy to run away and survive.

That's exactly what happens to your body when you're in a chronic state of stress.

Your body doesn't know that the stress is caused by your kids screaming or your boss giving you an unreasonable deadline- all of those things trigger the stress response.

The fourth reason is the lack of variety and no feasting benefits.

Our bodies have evolved to adapt, but if you don't change your diet, you aren't forced to adapt.

By making your metabolism adapt to new dietary patterns, you increase hormone sensitivity, raise growth hormone, and strengthen your microbiome.

And when you don't change your diet or to keto for too long without taking breaks, you don't get the feasting benefits.

Many benefits of fasting don't occur until after the fast is over.

Since keto is a fasting-mimicking diet, you don't get any feasting benefits if you're constantly in ketosis.

You need to "refeed".

During the refeeding phase, muscle breakdown stops, fat burn starts again, and the stress of the fast improves your health.

The rebuilding of cells and tissues happens during refeeding.

If you stay in keto too long, you aren't able to benefit from the refeeding phase.

This is what happened to one of my clients Sarah. She was on keto for years and hit a stall. She tried to cut carbs even lower and started fasting more but could not break her stall.

I put her on the stall busing protocol inside my program and she released 5 pounds within the first week.

I want to know, Have you experienced any of these issues on your journey? Let me know in the comments.

So what's the solution? I recommend you try carb cycling. Specifically, carb cycling alongside keto.

What I recommend you start doing starting is adding in healthy carbs from fruits and starchier vegetables once or two times a week.

Although, I have to warn you; You have to do this strategically or else you will gain weight and feel like crap.

It doesn't have to be a lot, just enough to remind your body how to use them and that you are safe.

If you want to know how to do this step-by-step, go watch the training I created for you teaching this exact process in more detail.

I'll leave the link in the description.

I'll see you in the next video where I will cover Keto VS. Carb Cycling-Which one is better for you right now?