7 Keto Geniuses You Need to Follow to Lose Weight!

We are hearing more and more about ketogenic diets, The Keto diet, and how it helps you to lose weight. If you are like me and want to understand the what and why, there are many resources and many experts out there that will help you to understand what it is and why it works. Depending on your understanding of the human body and scientific terms, you can get as in-depth as you want. I prefer the Keto for Dummies version, but this list will be inclusive. I have included researchers and fitness experts in my list, as well as authors and bloggers. This list is not exhaustive. I am not saying these are the best of the best. These are simply the experts that I have found that have made my keto journey (as young as it is) easier to understand and comprehend.

1. Mark Sisson

I need to list Mark first because he has been my diet guru. He brought the idea of keto to the front of my awareness with his recent book, The Keto Reset Diet. I was following his Paleo teachings after reading his book The Primal Blueprint, and using the suggested exercise program and seeing results. I decided to buy his new book when he released it and mentioned it in his blog and his emails. A friend mentioned to me that she had lost about 20 lbs because she was eating keto. It’s funny how the world aligns and brings things to your conscience when you are ready for it. She only started doing keto, because she was dating an exercise buff that was using keto to lose weight. In an effort to impress him, she decided to try it out. She eventually dumped him and kept the keto.

I have mentioned The Keto Reset Diet in my blog before. The book explains that you should go Paleo for 21 days, and then transition into keto. After going through it, I can see why. By limiting the carbs for 21 days down to approximely 100 g per day, you start to feel the affects of low carb, high fat. Start by planning your diet, so that you limit fruit and dark chocolate that are high in carbs. Fill yourself up with fats and some protein. (Before this I never would have thought of using butter in my tea, but now I do). You also start experimenting with Intermittent Fasting. After you can successfully get through your day on 100g of carbs, it isn’t that far to reduce further to 25g to 50g of carbs per day.

2. Dr. Peter Attia

Peter is a surgeon who not only lives the keto life but also speaks about it and writes a blog. He discusses his own journey from being overweight to being fat adapted. He also discusses the scientific facts around the food pyramid that the American government presents to Americans. The food pyramid outlines the amount of servings from each food group that its citizens should eat to stay healthy.

In the video that I have attached, he goes into detail about the flawed science that is used to support the food guide. A big part of keto is that you need to increase the amount of saturated fat, more than the food guide recommends. The food guide recommends that saturated fats should be less than 5%. The keto diet recommends saturated fats in the 40% range. Peter outlines his own research and explanations in his blog.

3. Dr. Eric Westman

Dr. Westman is considered the Diet Doctor. He is an Associate Professor at Duke University and he does clinical research and clinical care with regard to diabetes, obesity and tobacco dependence. As a research doctor, Dr. Westman ensures that the diet recommendations that he makes to his patients are designed to ensure his patients lose weight. He is the co founder of Adapt Your Life, and the Chief Medical Officer and Co Founder of Heal Clinics. Dr. Westman is also the Past President of the Obesity Medical Association.

He helps his clients with various medical consitions associated with being overweight, such as diabetes type 1 & 2, hypertension, obesity and medical syndrome. He wrote a book that is available on Amazon called “A Low Carbohydrate, Ketogenic Diet Manual.”

4. Dr. Peter Defty

GM of VESPA, (a company that makes all natural amino acid supplements), a nutrition expert and ultra athlete who developed a safe, healthy approach to fat adaption for endurance athletes called “Optimized Fat Metabolism” (OFM). Peter got into running circa 2000, going from carb burner with poor results to a fat burner with success in racing. He’ competed in the Western States 100, among many other events, and also coaches ultra athletes on using fat as fuel.

5. Dr. Stephen Phinney

Stephen co-authored a book along with another Keto guru, namely Dr. Jeff Volek. The book title was The Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Performance. Dr. Stephen Phinney is one of the most knowledgeable gurus on keto. He has written more than 70 peer reviewed papers and chapters on a wide range of topics from the effects of diet and exercise, and inflammation. Dr. Phinney also has 20 years of clinical experience and also directs multidisciplinary weight management programs at 3 locations. He has given hundreds of presentations on eating low carb, keto based diets. Check out the video below where he explains how to live a low carb life!

6. Dr. Jeff Volek

Jeff was Dr. Stephen Phinney’s co-author of their book The Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Performance. They also wrote another book called “The New Atkins Diet”. Dr. JEFF VOLEK is an Associate Professor in the #1 ranked Department of Kinesiology at the University of Connecticut where he teaches and leads a research team that explores the physiologic impact of various dietary and exercise regimens and nutritional supplements.

Dr. Volek’s most significant line of work has been a series of studies performed over the last 15 years aimed at better understanding what constitutes a well formulated low carbohydrate diet and their impact on obesity, body composition, adaptations to training and overall metabolic health. This line of work has shown profound effects of carbohydrate restriction on overall health and well-being, as well as peak performance. He has also performed some of the seminal scientific work on dietary supplements such as creatine, carnitine, caffeine, whey protein and a variety of other ergogenic aids. He has published 250 scientific manuscripts and presented over 100 talks at scientific and industry conferences in eight countries.

7. Maria Emmerich

Maria is one of my favourites. She is just fun to watch. She is so positive and energetic. Maria Emmerich  has been leading the charge in the ketogenic movement, authoring a total of 9 books including the international best-seller, “The Ketogenic Cookbook.” She is the founder of Keto Adapted, a health and wellness website where she provides hundreds of keto-friendly recipes, meal plans, detoxification guidelines, and keto supplement advice.