What happens if you're low carb (120g) but not in ketosis?

[silverfighter]

Just wondering, as I'd been in this state for the past few months.

Didn't know anything about nutrition but heard low carb was good for cutting, and assumed I should go low fat too

So I ate at roughly 1800 eating high protein, low carb and low fat. Although my carbs weren't low enough for ketosis, hovering roughly about 100g

What do you think my body did at this time? Burned muscle?

[MrBillson]

Well your calories were too low even if you had been eating fat so that's the first problem.

You probably did burn a fair bit of LBM.

Even if you're not doing keto, you still need to eat a good amount of fat.

[silverfighter]

Well your calories were too low even if you had been eating fat so that's the first problem.

You probably did burn a fair bit of LBM.

Even if you're not doing keto, you still need to eat a good amount of fat.

Yeah I went from 180 pounds to 165 pounds... main goal is to burn fat though, and concerned I burned muscle. You think I lost muscle?

[94jettameowpsst]

Depends on your starting weight.
120g carbs isn't that terribly low and it's way too high to even be close to ketosis, and on top of that the carbs you do eat when on a ketogenic diet all come from vegetables.
I've been on 1975 calories a day for 2 months now and every single lift has gone up since I started. 55-57g fat, 175-185g protein and the rest carbs which usually nets 135-155g.
If you lose lbm your lifts will all be going down. If I recall, a low carb diet literally is under 100/day. For me, staying low on carbs and a decent amt of fat works for my body. You should keep track of your lifts and if you start declining hard have a refeed day or simply add more carbs period.

Didn't see your starting weight, you should be okay regardless.

[silverfighter]

Depends on your starting weight.
120g carbs isn't that terribly low and it's way too high to even be close to ketosis, and on top of that the carbs you do eat when on a ketogenic diet all come from vegetables.
I've been on 1975 calories a day for 2 months now and every single lift has gone up since I started. 55-57g fat, 175-185g protein and the rest carbs which usually nets 135-155g.
If you lose lbm your lifts will all be going down. If I recall, a low carb diet literally is under 100/day. For me, staying low on carbs and a decent amt of fat works for my body. You should keep track of your lifts and if you start declining hard have a refeed day or simply add more carbs period.

Didn't see your starting weight, you should be okay regardless.

Thanks for your response man. My starting weight was about 180, currently I'm at 170 (in about 4 months time, although I also did Muay Thai heavily during that time)

Got you on that it's too high to be in keto. TBH I was surprised it was that high (I tried to eat low carb but didn't realize fruits were high in carb.) Is there even any benefit to being low carb but not in keto? I'm mostly concerned I've been burning muscle

[gbullock32]

No real benefit outside of personal preference.

[cls91]

Thanks for your response man. My starting weight was about 180, currently I'm at 170 (in about 4 months time, although I also did Muay Thai heavily during that time)

Got you on that it's too high to be in keto. TBH I was surprised it was that high (I tried to eat low carb but didn't realize fruits were high in carb.) Is there even any benefit to being low carb but not in keto? I'm mostly concerned I've been burning muscle

The simple way to maintain LBM during a cut is to keep the deficit small, ensure sufficient protein, and lift heavy/frequently.

Low carb won't have a direct effect, but can give you better/worse performance in the gym based on how you respond to different carb intakes, therefore indirectly effecting the third factor mentioned above.

10lbs in 4 months really isn't that much, and is quite surprising with your stats and caloric intake, especially if you were doing Muay Thai heavily which would only increase your TDEE and put you at a bigger deficit...


Although to be honest what happened, happened; at this point there's no point in stressing over how much of the weight loss was LBM vs. fat. If you're ready to start bulking then read the stickies, do your research, and bulk properly.

[silverfighter]

10lbs in 4 months really isn't that much, and is quite surprising with your stats and caloric intake, especially if you were doing Muay Thai heavily which would only increase your TDEE and put you at a bigger deficit...

I agree, this was my concern (that my belly fat is still present). Although to be fair I was down to 164 in January, but put on some more weight that could be either muscle gains or water weight. Could even have put on some fat although I'm not sure, I seem to put on ab fat pretty easily even if I'm just eating 200 calories over maintenance (Which I might have done on a few heavy lift days)