Ketosis/burning fat page

[Daffy]

I am confused. Do you have to be in ketosis for your body to burn fat ?

Mark says our bodies should burn fat for energy and not carbs. He recommends 100 - 150 carbs a day for maintenance. But if we are not in ketosis doesn't this mean we aren't burning fats for energy ?

[Grol]

You can burn body fat in ketosis or not. Once dietary fuel is spent your body will burn it's own fat or muscle. Ketosis is a more elegant conversion of fat to fuel, and the low carb foods are satiating making the elegance easier, but you can certainly lose fat in other ways.

[wyldeslash]

I dont think it is as simple as being between the 100g-150g a day for maintaince. The body will use a combination of fats, carbs and sugars to produce energy so i would say if you maintain a zero carb diet the main source of energy will come from fats. I dont think its like a switch if you reach 0 carbs thats when you switch to fat burning i think the body will adapt to the primary source nutrition for its energy.

high carbs diet = carbs for energy
high fat diet = fat for energy

Please correct me if this is mis-information.

[lmyers04]

I dont think it is as simple as being between the 100g-150g a day for maintaince. The body will use a combination of fats, carbs and sugars to produce energy so i would say if you maintain a zero carb diet the main source of energy will come from fats. I dont think its like a switch if you reach 0 carbs thats when you switch to fat burning i think the body will adapt to the primary source nutrition for its energy.

high carbs diet = carbs for energy
high fat diet = fat for energy

Please correct me if this is mis-information.

not entirely

going 0 carb for an extended period of time is proven to slow metabolism, and your body will more readily turn to muscle for fuel, not to mention your brain requires 30 grams of carbs a day. 50-150 grams of carbs a day is a good area to be in, to keep carbs low enough as to primarily burn dietary and body fat for energy, yet still be eating anough carbs to replenish depleted glycogen, help muscle growth, and maintain a more dynamic metabolism.

You can burn fat while not being in Ketosis. you've been doing it all your life, actually, unless you weigh 1000 lbs. or something.

[Guy_From_Amelie]

A few years ago, I did a couple trials of Lyle McDonald's ketogenic diet, testing my pee with ketostix and all. The darkness of the ketostix (hence level of ketones produced) increased linearly with carbs as I went from about 60 to 20.

Note that the brain can use ketones increasingly, the longer you are low carb.

And also that an occasional big carb refeed, depending on how chunky you are to start, largely negates any muscle loss, at least in my experience.