Originally Posted by
Dahoon
I think an important point is missed in this and many other discussions about ketosis. Research has been done where they looked at amount of energy taken from carbs and from fat in cyclists before and after a few months of being in ketosis. Being in ketosis for some time will make your body burn more energy from fat than it did before, even after stopping the diet. This will lead to more available glycogen when you need it the most and will let you get by without having to eat as much sugar on the bike. No matter what else a keto diet will do this in itself is a win that I doubt any serious rider will leave on the table.
Originally Posted by
Iride01
But the pro riders and other high effort riders are having ketosis happen with out having to do a keto diet. That's an important part missed by those advocating a keto diet to those of us not needing a keto diet.
Well, no. "Ketosis" means that your brain is running on ketones. Your whole body runs on ketones and it has to because there are zero available carbs and there haven't been any for some time. This is an evolutionary adaptation to postpone death in times of starvation. It's how people used to get through the winter or times with no game.
That said, it's totally unnecessary because high levels of fat adaptation can be realized simply by riding lots. Every high end carb-burning rider on here can ride for 4 hours without eating. That's fat burning. However, and it's a big however, focusing too much on fat burning limits the power available through carb burning. Since carb burning is what you have to do to go fast, most folks focus on carbs and let the fat burning take care of itself.
See posts 50, 56, and 60.