A Refresher on the Keto Diet

Just in case you aren't sure what the keto diet entails, here's a quick refresher [8]. According to keto experts, your macronutrient profile on the keto diet should be 70 to 80 percent fat, 15 to 20 percent protein, and five to 10 percent carbohydrates per day [9]. In order to find out if you're in a state of nutritional ketosis [10] — where your body is using fat instead of glucose (sugar/carbohydrates) as a source of fuel — you'll need to urinate on a stick or do a blood test; not fun, but they're the most accurate.

You may experience symptoms like dehydration, catch a case of the keto flu [11] during the initial weeks, or possibly end up with vitamin and mineral deficiencies while following the keto diet.

High-Fat Diets Won't Improve Your Metabolism and Help You Lose Weight

Now that you know the basics of the keto diet, it's time to explain why diets high in fat, such as the keto diet, won't help you lose weight. Dr. Arad referenced a study he helped conduct in which people ate either a standard American diet (low in fat and high in sugar) or a ketogenic diet [12] (low in sugar and high in fat) to see which would result in greater weight loss.

He said one of the hypotheses was that when you eat more fat, your metabolic rate [13], which is how many calories your body needs to perform functions that keep you alive (like breathing) would be higher. The caloric intake was the same for all participants; one group just ate a greater amount of calories from fat. The researchers believed that eating more calories from fat would result in greater calorie burn due to the body working harder to process the fat and, as a result, they would lose more weight.

"We found that wasn't the case," Dr. Arad told POPSUGAR. "When people say, 'I'm eating more fat and therefore I'm losing weight,' that doesn't seem to be the mechanism for that," he said. Eating a high-fat diet more than likely won't help you lose weight, but Dr. Arad did say that it will increase your satiety, help you feel more satisfied, and take your body longer to digest it. "A lot of people make a claim that when you eat more fat, your energy expenditure, your metabolism [14], is going up, and because of that, you're going to be losing weight," he said. According to Dr. Arad, that doesn't seem to hold true.

How to Lose Weight and Boost Your Metabolism

If you're following the keto diet or curious to try it [15], or you simply want to eat more fat, we're not going to stop you. We just want you to know that there's a high possibility you won't lose weight with it [16]. Other doctors have found that restrictive diets like the keto diet are hard to sustain in the long term; instead, they recommend finding a way of eating you can commit to following for years [17].

To lose weight (and increase your muscle mass) [18], you should begin to follow a strength-training routine — here's a four-week plan to get you started [19]. You should also eat nutrient-dense foods, eat in a healthy calorie deficit [20], expect to lose one to two pounds a week [21] (this will vary from person to person), and manage your stress [22].

To boost your metabolism [23], Dr. Arad recommends increasing your protein intake [24] because it has a higher thermic effect — it requires more energy for your body to digest, break down, and store it. You should also strength train in order to increase your muscle mass; muscle is more metabolically active than fat. Finally, watch your sugar intake, as it requires less energy to process and can easily be stored as fat.