Chapter 8:
General Dieting Principles
Before discussing the details of the ketogenic diet, it is necessary to first discuss some
general concepts which relate to body composition, metabolic rate, dieting, and fat loss. Most
dieters tend to focus on bodyweight as the only measure of a diet’s effectiveness. This is an
incomplete approach and may be partly responsible for the failure of many mainstream weight
loss approaches. Simply put, changes in bodyweight do not tell the entire story during a diet.
Rather the prospective dieter needs to change focus to look at body composition: the ratio of body
fat to total body weight.
Experience has shown that most dieters tend to reduce calories excessively. While this
causes rapid initial weight loss, a plateau occurs as metabolic rate slows. This drop in metabolic
rate may increase the chance for weight regain when the diet is ended.
A discussion of the various components of metabolic rate is followed with equations to
estimate maintenance calorie levels as well as how to estimate caloric intake for fat loss and
muscle gain. Most dieters, especially those who are used to starving themselves to lose weight,
are surprised to learn how much they should eat for optimal fat loss.
Section 1: Fat loss versus Weight loss
Most individuals starting a diet as well as most diet books tend to focus solely on one
measure of progress: changes in bodyweight. The scale has been used for years as the only
indicator of whether or not a diet is working. While this is a problem on any diet (for reasons
discussed below), it can be of even greater importance when discussing low-carbohydrate diets
and low-carbohydrate diet studies, due to shifts in water weight. To accurately know whether a
diet is working or not, we have to be more specific in our measurements than simply bodyweight.
Bodyfat vs. Bodyweight
The primary distinction that dieters should consider is between weight loss and fat loss.
Weight loss is easy: Don’t drink any water for three days and you will lose three to five pounds by
the scale. This obviously isn’t ‘real’ weight loss since it returns when you drink water again.
Whether they know it or not, most dieters want fat loss to occur.
Fat loss is a more specific type of weight loss. While this seems a trivial distinction, it is
not. Without knowing where the lost weight is coming from (fat, muscle, or water), an individual
cannot know whether their diet and exercise program is working optimally. Ideally, lean body
mass (which includes muscle mass) will increase or stay the same while fat is reduced. In
practice this rarely occurs. Any calorie restricted diet will cause the loss of some muscle through