Do Calories Still Matter on Keto? The Original Recording, and Where the Idea Went
This is the original camera file of a video that's already on YouTube. The words match the upload of Do calories still matter on a ketogenic diet? start to finish. The file runs a few seconds longer (about 4 minutes 14 against 4 minutes 1). If you want the full write-up, with the metabolic-ward studies and diet trials, it lives on that post. This page does something else: it follows the idea forward into the Lives that came later.
In this recording
- [0:02] Do calories still matter on keto? Most of the debate traces back to Dr. Jason Fung's work on insulin. In my opinion and in what I'd read, yes, they do.
- My reading of Fung's "calories are irrelevant": he thought the focus on calories in, calories out was misplaced, and saw the problem as mainly hormonal.
- [1:00] I described comparisons where low-carb groups told to restrict calories and low-carb groups not told to ended up eating about the same, going by their food diaries. Cutting carbs made appetite work better, so counting calories added little.
- [1:48] That's what "count carbs and let the rest go" means, and why I said if you're doing keto hungry, you're doing keto wrong. Month one is for getting insulin and hunger under control and starting fat adaptation.
- [2:30] Once hunger drops, you can run a deficit without being hungry, tired or miserable. The calories you drop should come from fat. Protein is set by lean mass, carbs are a limit, and fat fills hunger, so fat intake can fall a lot around weeks three to six.
- [3:19] The close: calorie deficit matters, calorie restriction is not advisable. Eat until you're full; at some point you'll get full earlier.
Then vs now: from a slogan to working rules
"Deficit yes, restriction no" was a principle in August 2017. Over the next two years it turned into specific rules, and you can watch that happen in the unedited Lives.
December 2017: the holiday version. If you go off plan, I said, go over on calories or eat unusual carbs, but don't do both, because carbs on top of a surplus is when glycogen refills (live LXTA1256). That's the same calorie idea turned into damage control. See the holiday clip.
January 2019: the maintenance version. When a member asked how to do maintenance after reaching goal, I said to add about 50 to 100 grams of fat back, usually by picking fattier proteins, like rib eye (live LMPM3790). Fat is the dial in both directions: it comes down as hunger drops in weight loss, and goes back up when you stop losing. See the Q&A.
March 2019: the fat-adaptation version. For people in fat adaptation, I said keep protein high, keep fiber high, and when in doubt bring the fats way down (live KPDK8043). Same structure as 2017: protein and the carb limit stay put; fat moves. See willpower vs habits.
So the 2017 video wasn't a one-off opinion. It's the spine of how I set macros for the next two years.
The claim worth unpacking: protein stays, fat moves
Why protein is the macro I wouldn't cut has more support than my insulin story. In one trial, raising protein from 15% to 30% of energy while keeping carbohydrate the same cut what people ate on their own by 441 kcal a day, and they lost 4.9 kg over 12 weeks (19 adults, Weigle et al., 2005). That's the "eat until full and you'll get full earlier" effect, measured, and it came from protein.
What still lacks direct support is my mechanism: insulin down, so hunger down. Free-eating trials measure the result, not the reason. Over 12 months, healthy low-carb and healthy low-fat came out close (−6.0 kg vs −5.3 kg, not significantly different, DIETFITS). Keto can help you eat less. It doesn't get around the eating less.
If you take medicine for diabetes or blood pressure, talk to your doctor before cutting carbs hard; cutting total carbohydrate has the most evidence for improving blood sugar (ADA, Evert et al., 2019), so doses can need changing. If you have an eating-disorder history, "eat to full" or "drop the fat" should go through your care team first.
Key points
- Same recording as YouTube video 8Jk5ShSUpFY, a few seconds longer.
- Calories matter; forcing a number all day isn't the method I argued for.
- Fat is the dial: down as hunger drops, back up 50 to 100 g in maintenance (live LMPM3790), down again when in doubt during fat adaptation (live KPDK8043).
- Higher protein lowered what people ate on their own in a trial (Weigle 2005).
- Diabetes or blood pressure medication, or an eating-disorder history: doctor first.
Related
- Guide: Energy balance · Hunger · Protein and satiety · Medications · Eating disorders
- Blog: Do calories matter on keto? · Eat fat to satiety? · Eat less fat to lose weight on keto
- Videos: The YouTube upload · Holiday eating · January 2019 Q&A · Willpower vs habits · Still hungry on keto? · Eating too much fat?