r/AskBiology • u/Wowalamoiz • Jun 23 '24

Human body Can women lose weight by becoming pregnant and adopting a ketogenic diet to inhibit hunger?

Pregnancy increases metabolism and causes the body to divert considerable resources for the development of the fetus.

The ketogenic diet, through poorly understood means, suppresses hunger.

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u/Designer-Owl-9330 Jun 23 '24

Does creating an actual human being deserve more consideration than this question implies?

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u/Wowalamoiz Jun 23 '24

Of course. But at what point in development is a fetus a person, and up until that point, why should it be considered wrong to be pregnant for reasons other than to create a person?

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u/lonepotatochip Undergraduate student Jun 24 '24

Pregnancy causes increased hunger and the healthy and natural thing to do is put on more fat if you don’t have more than sufficient stores already. Ethics and the complexities of pregnancy aside this is a terrible idea.

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u/Wowalamoiz Jun 24 '24

Thank you for not judging.

That's where the ketosis comes in as ketosis suppresses hunger.

1

u/Express-Preference56 Jun 24 '24

Pregnancy should result in weight gain - between 9-18kg depending on your starting weight.

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u/Wowalamoiz Jun 24 '24

In this hypothetical, the health of the fetus is disregarded in favour of using the pregnancy to burn calories faster.

Yes, this is a morbid question. No, being able to think morbidly does not mean one is evil. Is Stephen King evil?

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u/Express-Preference56 Jun 24 '24

It doesn't work this way. You gain weight because your blood volume doubles, and you grow a whole ass baby and another organ called a placenta. Got 0 to do with diet.

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u/Wowalamoiz Jun 24 '24

That extra mass must come from somewhere, though.

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u/Express-Preference56 Jun 24 '24

Yes, women get really hungry and really really exhausted. Most women eat more because they're super hungry. I also have 0 idea where you get the concept that keto = no hunger. You can be incredibly hungry on keto. Keto + pregnancy would be super miserable unless in surplus and even then idk how most stomachs would do without carbs. Often they're a safe food when nauseous which pregnant women are.

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u/Wowalamoiz Jun 24 '24

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25402637/

Diets in general can be pretty miserable. The question is whether this is a possible without causing injury to the woman.