What is a ketogenic diet? A ketogenic diet is a high fat, moderate protein, no carb diet. The idea is that if you restrict the amount of carbs you ingest (no more than 30-50g), then your body will fracture fats into ketones and use it as a source of fuel.
There are many variations of the ketogenic diet. The ones that bodybuilders should be concerned with are the "cyclical ketogenic diets" (CKD). With these diets, you follow a high fat, moderate protein, no carb diet for 5 days; then follow a high carb, moderate protein, low fat diet for a day and a half. Dan Duchaine's "Bodyopus" diet and Dr. Mauro DiPasquale's "Anabolic Diet" are both CKD's. Both are based on the original CKD, Mike Zumpano's "Rebound Diet."
Promoters of CKD's claim that their diets will get you ripped to the bone. They also claim that it's anti-catabolic, slowing muscle breakdown to the point where you actually increase lean muscle mass. Keep these things if you decide to go on a CKD:
CKD's are, by far, the best diets for losing bodyfat. You will be extremely ripped while on this diet. Your muscular definition and vascularity will increase so much that you will receive stares and comments inside and outside the gym. As long as you follow the diet correctly, you will be contest ready for as long as you're on the diet.
CKD's are extremely difficult to follow. If you can't even follow a conventional, low calorie diet, then don't even think about trying a CKD. During the 5-day no-carb phase, you will go nuts. In fact, if you have a history of mental illness, then you shouldn't follow this diet. Your cravings for carbs will make you extremely irritable, and you will start craving for carbs that you didn't even care for before the diet.
The other difficulty of this diet is that your menu will be very limited. Mostly meats, poultry, fish, eggs, and pure protein drinks. Sounds reasonable at first, until you find out that you can't have too much seasoning or sauces because of their carb content. A max of thirty grams of carbs per day might seem reasonable, but carbs are everywhere. A few grams here and there throughout the day can add up quickly. Two slices of toast, and you've already expended your 30g daily allowance. Even eggs have a gram or two of carbs. So if you eat out all the time, forget about CKD's. You won't be able to order anything on the menu.
CKD's are not very anabolic. Despite it's initial name, the Anabolic Diet (also known as the Metabolic Diet) will not increase your lean body mass by very much. Although the diet is very good at preserving muscle mass, but anti-catabolism and anabolism are 2 different processes. Much of the size increase that you will experience while on the diet will be due mostly to the weekend carbo loading. If you're looking to get big off of CKD's, then you won't be big all the time. Carbs constitute a significant amount of a muscle's size, and without them (i.e. 5-day ketogenic phase), you won't look as big or as muscular as you'd want to be all the time.
There are other problems, too. For one thing, you can't use a lot of supplements during this diet. Creatine, for example. If you use creatine during the 5-day no-carb phase, then you will get a bad case of diarrhea. You have to ingest mega amounts of creatine only during the carbo loading phase. Your body, however, will be saturated with creatine for only a few days before your muscles start to deflate again.
Another problem revolves around training. Because of the absence of carbs and the fluids normally retained by these carbs, you won't be able to train intensely for most of the week. Most your training during the week will involve high rep, high volume, low rest, quick tempo training to help flush out the carbs and keep you in ketosis. Only during the carbo phase can you train like a regular bodybuilder. Thus, you'll miss out on the various anabolic training methods. And if you're an athlete, then you wouldn't use a CKD, since carbs are crucial for peak performance and for peak recovery.
So to sum up, cyclical ketogenic diets are best for people who want to lose fat and who have an iron will when dieting. I don't recommend it for people looking to gain muscle mass or for athletes concerned with performance. A CKD is an excellent pre-contest diet; just be sure to start the diet way beforehand to get it right (3 months).
For more info on CKD's and other bodybuilding questions: http://strengthandphysique.blogspot.com
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