Let's see how keto works.. one month hardcore cut with weekly pics!

R

realworksuks

2
My Fitday Food Journal:



You can go here and see exactly what my diet is for the day.

END EDIT:

Hello!

I am going to do a hardcore ketogenic cutting routine for the next month starting tommorrow!

I have been bulking for the last two months and have gained about 14 pounds. When I get my bodyfat tested tommorrow I will tell how many pounds of that is lean mass and how many pounds is fat.

I don't feel like I REALLY need to cut at this point... but this is a good time where I can concentrate mainly on this. Won't be any tests in college or anything for a while since it just starts again tommorrow. Plus I want to cut off the fat that I have gained while bulking so far.

I have never done a ketogenic (low/no carb) type of diet before, so I am also looking forward to this just to experiment...

I am going to stop taking creatine during this cut to see exactly how much muscle I have gained and held on to.

So my stats are:

21 year old Male
163 pounds
5 feet 8.5 inches tall

MEASUREMENTS IN INCHES:
Waist 33.5
hips 34.5
chest 36.5
neck 14
right arm 14 flex 13 cold
left arm 13 cold 13.8 flex
right quad (one hand length from knee) 18.5
left quad 18.5

I will take starting pictures tommorrow and post them.

I am planning on doing lots of cardio and eating small... the only supplements I will be taking is whey protein, multivitamin, BCAA's, and fish oil.

I started the journal to keep myself motivated and also to learn from others..

Hope you stay tuned!
 
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On a keto diet I would imagine that you should focus your energy/attention on weight training to keep your muscle. And not so much on the cardio, leaving the majority of that to your diet. And just because you're keto doesn't mean you need to eat small, keep your protein high and your fat moderate. I also might look into temporarily looking into creatine to help keep the edge while lifting. All in all, if you take all or none of my suggestions GOOD LUCK!

& as always, happy lifting.
 
Looks interesting and I'll definately be following your progress

A question though, what are the rules for limiting carbs? Are you cutting all carbs or just starches?
 
mreik said:
On a keto diet I would imagine that you should focus your energy/attention on weight training to keep your muscle. And not so much on the cardio, leaving the majority of that to your diet. And just because you're keto doesn't mean you need to eat small, keep your protein high and your fat moderate. I also might look into temporarily looking into creatine to help keep the edge while lifting. All in all, if you take all or none of my suggestions GOOD LUCK!

& as always, happy lifting.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the suggestions! I wasn't going to do the creatine because I wanted to see exactly how much muscle I gained... but i'm so easily persuaded :p I'll stay on it.

And I agree, weight training will be my number one priority. I still plan to do quite a lot of light cardio work.

CCR said:
Looks interesting and I'll definately be following your progress

A question though, what are the rules for limiting carbs? Are you cutting all carbs or just starches?
Click to expand...

Thanks Drex and CCR! I am going to cut out all carbs except some leafy green veggies once in a while... mainly just spinach and broccoli i'm thinking. I definitely have to cut out all sugars, which means no gum :( (i'm like addicted)
 
Well I started my cut today.

I started the day off with three whole eggs and two egg whites cooked in canola oil. I also had two pieces of bacon. This was at 7:45

I had college classes from 8:30-11:20, I got into the weight room at 11:30 and I wasn't even hungry yet. I got my bodyfat tested. I gained 5 pounds since 12-20-07, the calipers showed that 1.1 pounds were fat and 3.9 were muscle, hell ya!

The calipers showed my body fat percent was 10.3%, 16.7 pounds of fat, and 146.3 pounds of lean mass. The navy measurements show that I am 19%, so I guess it's probably somewhere in there.

I chugged a protein drink and then started lifting.

I wanted to max my bench press to see how much I went up over my bulk. I started with a max bench of 205 and today I put up 220. I was pretty happy about it!

Otherwise I did chest, triceps, biceps, shoulders, and forearms. My upper body day. It was a great workout with a huge pump... I had been using a smithmachine to bench over the holiday season (in my hometown) and I can feel the free bench so much more.

When I got home I had another protein drink with about 20 g of carbs from dextrose....and also creatine. I read that even on ketosis you should keep doing the post workout insulin spike. Apparently it gets rushed into the muscles right away and doesn't take you out of ketosis? If anyone has any thoughts on that i'd like to hear.. I heard different opinions on it.

I left my george foreman grill back at my parents house when I came home over the holidays, so I am just going to have to get by on using my oven until I get my grill in the mail (my sweet mother agreed to ship it), so I am cooking some ribs in the oven right now.

I am very surprised so far at how full I am staying even though I haven't been eating very many calories... when I was bulking I would eat every two hours or less and be starved each time... heh.
 
MarkMyWords said:
I'm curious, what do you have after heavy lifting? I can't imagine not having simple carbs, let along no carbs at all!
Click to expand...

Good question, i'm still researching this, it seems like it's best to still do the post workout insulin spike. I will buy some ketostix today and see how long it takes me out of ketosis and do some experimenting.
 
What are your carb targets each day? What have you decided to do with the percents of protein and fats?

What type of food did you decide to eat on the low carb side of the equation? What have you decided to eat on the fat side of the equation?

In your target carb allotment---when have you decided to consume these carbs? How are you planning your pre and post workout meals (uh, ha, this is why I asked the carb timing question).........HEHHEHE.

When I went keto, I made a mistake in not tracking (closely) my proteins and fats. It still worked, but when I go this time, I plan to do it.

I will be checking you out , brotha! Wish you the best of luck. I KNOW from my own experience, that this diet can work. Its tough, but you are tougher!

If an old man can do it so an you! Dont let an OLD MAN show you up! HEHEHHEHEHE :)

Keep ROCKEN! RWS!



Be your best of ALL TIME!


Chillen
 
realworksuks said:
Well I started my cut today.

I started the day off with three whole eggs and two egg whites cooked in canola oil. I also had two pieces of bacon. This was at 7:45

I had college classes from 8:30-11:20, I got into the weight room at 11:30 and I wasn't even hungry yet. I got my bodyfat tested. I gained 5 pounds since 12-20-07, the calipers showed that 1.1 pounds were fat and 3.9 were muscle, hell ya!

The calipers showed my body fat percent was 10.3%, 16.7 pounds of fat, and 146.3 pounds of lean mass. The navy measurements show that I am 19%, so I guess it's probably somewhere in there.

I chugged a protein drink and then started lifting.

I wanted to max my bench press to see how much I went up over my bulk. I started with a max bench of 205 and today I put up 220. I was pretty happy about it!

Otherwise I did chest, triceps, biceps, shoulders, and forearms. My upper body day. It was a great workout with a huge pump... I had been using a smithmachine to bench over the holiday season (in my hometown) and I can feel the free bench so much more.

When I got home I had another protein drink with about 20 g of carbs from dextrose....and also creatine. I read that even on ketosis you should keep doing the post workout insulin spike. Apparently it gets rushed into the muscles right away and doesn't take you out of ketosis? If anyone has any thoughts on that i'd like to hear.. I heard different opinions on it.

I left my george foreman grill back at my parents house when I came home over the holidays, so I am just going to have to get by on using my oven until I get my grill in the mail (my sweet mother agreed to ship it), so I am cooking some ribs in the oven right now.

I am very surprised so far at how full I am staying even though I haven't been eating very many calories... when I was bulking I would eat every two hours or less and be starved each time... heh.
Click to expand...

How accurate are calipers and the measurements for the muscle you've gained, because 4lbs of muscle since the 20th is a lot, if its true then congrats because my body sure as hell can't gain that much muscle in 20days .
 
Here are some starting pictures... I look pretty fat in these, I didn't realize I was that fat until I took the pics really. I put two completely relaxed pics and 2 flexed ones.
 

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Chillen said:
What are your carb targets each day? What have you decided to do with the percents of protein and fats?

What type of food did you decide to eat on the low carb side of the equation? What have you decided to eat on the fat side of the equation?

In your target carb allotment---when have you decided to consume these carbs? How are you planning your pre and post workout meals (uh, ha, this is why I asked the carb timing question).........HEHHEHE.

When I went keto, I made a mistake in not tracking (closely) my proteins and fats. It still worked, but when I go this time, I plan to do it.

I will be checking you out , brotha! Wish you the best of luck. I KNOW from my own experience, that this diet can work. Its tough, but you are tougher!

If an old man can do it so an you! Dont let an OLD MAN show you up! HEHEHHEHEHE :)

Keep ROCKEN! RWS!



Be your best of ALL TIME!


Chillen
Click to expand...

Hey Chillen! Thanks for stopping by.

I plan on having less than 5% of my calories come from carbs, I am going to eat 1.5 grams of protein and fill the rest in with fats.

So far I am still trying to come up with foods to eat... I've just been eating meats, cottage cheese, eggs, and some nuts. I bought some spinach and broccoli today though, and once I get into ketosis i'll probably have a bit of those veggies each day.

I am not really sure what I should do for pre workout meals... today I just had a protein drink. Then post workout I had some dextrose mixed in with another whey shake... about 16g of carbs from it...

I'm making a 5oz pork loin right now... heh.

If you have any suggestions or anything let me know! What kinds of meals did you come up with Chillen? You kinda have to be creative don't ya? hah.
 
Phate89 said:
How accurate are calipers and the measurements for the muscle you've gained, because 4lbs of muscle since the 20th is a lot, if its true then congrats because my body sure as hell can't gain that much muscle in 20days .
Click to expand...

I can't say... all I know is that over Christmas break my lifts were going up faster than ever before and I felt really strong. I was eating more than ever before.. and training more than ever before..

But I can't really say how accurate it is.
 
These are pictures that were right before my bulk.. in this thread:

http://training.fitness.com/photo-gallery/opinions-little-over-year-hard-work-29101.html

I will get the same poses for comparison purposes either tonight or tommorrow.

EDIT: by the way, the calipers showed that I had 13.5 pounds of fat mass and 135.5 pounds of lean mass at the start of my bulk... and 16.7 pounds of fat mass and 146.3 pounds of lean mass at the end. But who knows how accurate that is.
 
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Well I just finished my last meal, all I have left to eat is some cottage cheese before bed.

This is the breakdown of the foods I ate today.

Calories 2581

Fat: 149 1343 53%
Sat: 53 476 19%
Poly: 24 216 9%
Mono: 50 452 18%
Carbs: 48 177 7%
Fiber: 4 0 0%
Protein: 252 1008 40%

16 g of those carbs were from dextrose and 16 were from cottage cheese, other than that they were just trace carbs.

I had planned to eat at my regular surplus, or whatever I was hungry for until I get into ketosis... it looks like I am right around maintance.

Any thoughts, comments, suggestions, etc.?
 
I had the same thing for breakfast today, eggs and bacon with olive oil.

I brought 7 ounces of summer sausage to college with me today and ate off that twice.

I worked out lower body today which for me includes back, abs, lats, and legs.

I had a whey shake before and after the workout... after the workout I only had one teaspoon of dextrose this time. I want to get into ketosis as soon as possible.

I was feeling really weird in school today... I was lightheaded. Kind of the feeling that I get when I start to get a bit drunk.

I am going to do a little bit of cardio tonight, some dance dance revolution in light or standard mode (not very strenous, aerobic activity) my energy levels have dropped... hopefully I get into ketosis soon.
 
Hey Chillen...

How many days did it take you to get into ketosis?

What kinds of food got you there?

I have been eating:

eggs
bacon
sausage
cottage cheese
nuts (sparingly)
steaks and other meat with no carbs
cheese
olive oil

I also had a serving of flax seed today and 1 cup of spinach...
 
realworksuks said:
Hey Chillen...

How many days did it take you to get into ketosis?

What kinds of food got you there?

I have been eating:

eggs
bacon
sausage
cottage cheese
nuts (sparingly)
steaks and other meat with no carbs
cheese
olive oil

I also had a serving of flax seed today and 1 cup of spinach...
Click to expand...


I want to point to something from my OneNote journal that may interest you:


Getting into, and maintaining ketosis isn't easy. Even a small amount of carbohydrate in your diet can reduce the production of ketones. While some people report feeling tired and mentally "fuzzy" when they start a ketogenic diet, these symptoms tend to ease off after the first week or two, as your brain gets used to using ketones (rather than blood sugar) as fuel.

========================================================

Remember the 50g I used, worked for me.

It MAY taker a lower number of carbs for YOU to enter ketosis. And, If you do not FULLY understand what IS GOIN ON in your body in reference to KETONES when going low-carb and attempting Ketosis, I suggest you READ on it.

The mainstay of my diet was: White and dark Tuna, Baked Chicken Breast, Lean Butt Roast 3 oz (180c)-most of the time (I can eat these until the some goes down and never get tired of it, and it just made food choices simple and not overly complex, though I was eating the same things).

NPB, nuts, butter (carefully selected), avacodos, and flax and fish oils. A large portion of my carbs/fats came from NPB and Nuts and some salads. I was a little low on the fat side, and extremly high on the protein side when I looked at my food journal. I didnt track the percents, but I did track what I had ate. After first a couple of days, I changed this to increasing fats and lowering protein, and this is really when it took off.

It took about 4 days (according to my journal) before I started to exhibit signs. Mainly a change in breath (like a sweet smell, not necessarily real bad--just dont ask my wife this question). I found drinking water seemed to help; however, it stayed with me while in ketosis, and went away in the carb up period. I did feel lethargic on the 3rd day and a few days after. But it did subside, but I had to FORCE doing things after the 3rd day, but after about a week, it went away and I did feel normal.



Basically, I met my goal in about 3 weeks, so the carb up period was really just going off the low carb in the first place and entering into a tradional diet. Edit: My fat loss and some water loss came quickly--but I was very active.

In addition, there are some Pee tests one can do, but they CAN BE inaccurate. RWS. Do NOT go into this blind, study the outward signs of being in ketosis. You may think because you lack energy, that you are in ketosis, when in fact this could not be the case. Track youself and make adjustments in the carbs after a "specified" period of time if you do not tend to exhibit outward signs.


Chillen
 
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Thanks so much for your reply Chillen! It's really awesome to hear from someone who has experienced this before.

I have been doing a lot of reading about ketosis and I think I fully understand what is happening here...

I have also read up about the side effects and how you can know your in ketosis (bad breath being the most obvious).

I also got some of those KetoStix (the pee test), and tried one out today. It showed no signs of ketones yet.

I'll just keep going with it and hope for the best.

You said that you met your goal in three weeks? Do you remember how many calories you were eating during those 3 weeks? Or a better question would be what was your calorie defecit if any? I read that you can eat "as much as you want" while on this diet.. I don't really buy that, though.

I think I may be eating too much... but i'm so hungry. How about cardio.. did you do any?

Thanks again!
 
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