It's not a myth bro. But like I said you can still be on a keto diet and do it in a way that doesnt cause damage. One way to keep from damage is being hydrated enough to help your body properly digest and filter. Keto diets are also known to reduce or compromise muscle tissue. From studies the best way they found was cycles of the diet for three weeks at most then returning to a normal diet for a week. Then returning to the keto diet for as many cycles is required to obtain the necessary weight loss, many have found after coming if the diet cycles the weight returns in less than 6 months.
It is hugely important to stay hydrated always, especially when on keto, or anytime you're rapidly losing weight.
But sorry, I just have make sure others reading this know that the thing about cycling is simply not correct. At All.
As well as that about muscle. Keto is the most muscle sparing diet there is. It's one of the biggest advantages of it.
Normal diets cause your body to consume muscle and fat at about the same rate, but ketosis is forcing your body to prioritize burning fat, while you're consuming higher than normal amounts of protein. You can even build muscle while on a keto diet. Tom and I both are right now.
But the cycling is a bad plan. Certainly not before becoming fully fat adapted. Which usually occurs between 6-8 weeks, or as much as 12 weeks.
Bouncing back and forth before that time is just gonna make you feel like crap. Especially doing a whole week at a time.
And if someone wants to be low carb but not in ketosis, they can eat fruit, sweet potatoes, red skin, potatoes etc. There's no need to eat anything made with white flour. As soon as you do, after not having it for a while, you'll realize how bad it makes you feel.
But I've been deeply immersing myself in this stuff the last few months, and haven't seen any studies or evidence recommending that. that form of cycling is a bad plan. It will not help lose weight or help keep weight off.
Now, after several months of dieting sometimes people Plateau. That can be because now that they're smaller their maintenance calorie requirement has gotten lower and they need to cut their calories further. But if their numbers are still good and they're still in a stall after 2 - 3 weeks, sometimes eating one carb heavy meal, one day, will create a metabolic shock, kicking them back into weight loss. But some people can't eat just one cheat meal, they'll follow it up by going right back to eating like crap, so they're better off just working through the stall. It will break and there will usually be a quick drop in weight after.
Some serious athletes cycle by eating healthy carbs one day a week,(after becoming adapted) but there's a lot of disadvantages to that, and it's not recommended at all for the average person.
People have trouble keeping the weight off after any diet because they either binge, or go back to eating the way they were before. But they gain weight faster because since they've been on a diet, their metabolism has adjusted to a lower calorie intake and can't handle as much per day.
The way to go back to eating a higher calorie level is to slowly add more calories by about 5% a week, but maintain healthy eating and physical activity. It's sometimes called "reverse dieting.
Those are some of the biggest myths about keto. And that misinformation is believed and even repeated by nurses and some doctors. It's embarrassing. It's not what the studies show.