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The ketogenic diet is the perfect way to kill your climbing hopes and dreams. Hop on this diet wagon and your weak fingers will slide down those ramps like they’re covered in the bacon grease that anchors your eating plan. Why?
First, it helps to know what the ketogenic (or ketogenic) diet is. Ketosis refers to the metabolic state your body will enter if you are on an extremely low-carb diet, around 20 to 50 grams of carbs per day. This is generally around 60 to 80 percent fat and around 10 to 30 percent protein. A medium apple has about 25 grams of carbohydrates, half a full day’s worth. This is an extremely low carbohydrate intake, especially for an active climber.
When your diet consists of very few carbohydrates, you look for other ways to metabolize substrates to meet the demands of life. This is when ketosis occurs. Ketones are basically a substrate that your body uses for fuel, rather than the preferred glucose. Ketosis is not a state your body likes to be in, it is a difficult metabolic adaptation that occurs in the absence of sufficient carbohydrates.
From a climbing standpoint, ketosis is not a good idea. Your brain and skeletal muscles prefer carbohydrates as a fuel source. Limiting it to a measly 20 to 50 grams per day is a recipe for fatigue.
At lower intensities, your body uses both fat and carbohydrates as fuel sources. When you work above 60 percent of your maximum effort, your body uses carbohydrates. The nature of the climb usually changes intensity, like doing a long trad route with a powerful crux or rock trouble with a dyno. These high-intensity efforts require carbohydrates. If your body gets fat and protein with very little carbohydrate, it’s difficult or impossible to be powerful. If you’re a speed climber, forget it.
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Training adaptations are also reduced on a low-carbohydrate diet. Carbohydrates are the key to powering movement during training and fueling recovery.
During decades of research on the ketogenic diet and athletic performance, no study has shown an improvement in performance. Research reveals:
- Same performance but higher rate of perceived exertion
- Decreased performance
- reduced power
- Longer time to fatigue
There are a few other drawbacks to the ketogenic diet, which limit food options. Cereals, beans, lentils, fruits and many vegetables are omitted. This can lead to:
- Digestive problems
- Poor heart health and increased risk of cardiovascular disease.
- Low satisfaction and adherence to the diet.
- disordered eating
- Limited food options while traveling, refueling, living in a van, or backcountry adventures
To lose weight, it is true that the ketogenic diet can be a slimming method. But it’s more complicated and nuanced than just “going keto” and shedding pounds. Initial weight loss occurs, which is simply water weight as your body uses its glycogen stores to fuel your daily activities. Since glycogen (the storage form of sugar in muscles and liver) is stored with water, water is removed when these stores are depleted. Magic! (Not really.) You lose two to five pounds of water weight in a couple of days.
Beyond the initial water weight loss, true fat loss only happens on a ketogenic diet if you’re in a calorie deficit, like any other diet. There is nothing specific or advantageous about a ketogenic diet for weight loss.
Avoidance of low energy availability is more advantageous than weight loss for climbing performance.
So, wipe off that bacon grease, buy yourself a pasta dinner, and go smash your project.
Marisa Michael, MSc, RDN, CSSD is a board certified specialist in sports dietetics and the author of Nutrition for Climbers: Fuel for Shipping. She is a member of the medical committee for USA Climbing and has a private practice in Portland, Oregon. Find her online at nutritionforclimbers.com or on instagram @realnutritiondietitian for nutrition training, workshops and writing services.
