Keto and FT can it work ?

[Scott Stevenson]

So bassicly just zero carbs (not counting greens , I love veg lol )
V hight fat and moderate to hight pro ,

So it would just be an experiment for me realy as , my non training days as usually zero carb , or carbs only before bed , but I just function of very low carb high fat , so mainly just wondering can you still gain size in keto , and recover just aswell ?

You can still gain size, yes. I would say - and this comes from years and years of playing around with keto diets and discussing this on a list serv (actually with Lyle McDonald and others many years ago) - that you will not gain as well on a keto only diet (that is not cyclical in nature, e.g., at least a CKD or a TKD).

There may be some scientific data on the way out suggesting that one can gain just as well on a keto diet once a carb-up is permitted (to fill up the previously carb-depleted muscle cells), but I will await replication of this data. It simply doesn't fit well with experiences that I've had and many others.

If you did want to try to gain on keto only diet, I would say that using a lower volume training regime might be your best bet, simply because you'd be skirting the issue of glycogen depletion that can greatly impact training loading during a higher volume regime.

If you're just having a single carb measl 3-4 x / week, you may be pretty well keto adapted already, so you could just drop those meals and get a pretty good idea of how doing so long term might affect you. For someone not keto adapted, the first few weeks of the diet would not necessarily reflect how well they might do a month or so into it.

I think it would come down to how well you gain, not whether you can or cannot when following a keto vs. a non-keto diet.

Without carbs you can run into training intensity (loading) issues. You'll also miss out on the cortisol-reducing effects of an intra-workout drink and anabolic potential of elevating insulin (which can increase protein synthesis when elevated with hyperaminoacidemia). The cell swelling effect of high levels of glycogen status will also tip the cell toward anabolism, too, if eating more carbs.

So, keto would be disadvantageous from a "cellular swelling" (intrinsic anabolism), hormonal (call it extrinsic anabolic effect) and training intensity (stimulus) standpoint.

-S