Week 1 saw me get a little leaner, but I decided to re-try keto starting week 2 (6/30/22). These past two weeks lead to unprecedented physique progress!

Highlights:

• Bodyweight 196.4 (down from 215 mid-May!) I don’t think I’ve been under 200 lbs since my sophmore/junior year of high school 🙂
• Bodyfat probably 10-12%, but certainly the leanest I’ve been in my life (after two weeks of dieting!)
• Occasional hiccups in subjective well-being (GI distress/nausea, lethary, anemia, acidosis…) but all were correctable on the scale of hours. Everything leveled off by the end of week 2
• Weekend carbohydrate ingestion for metabolic flexibility and psychological rest

The diet:

• Shakes: 20g collagen, 30g C8 MCT powder
• Meals: 1 tin sardines in water, 2 tbsp EVOO, ~10 pumpkin seeds

Week 2 I added glutamine to the shakes to stave off catabolism, but week 3 i switched to BCAAs (ideally just leucine since it’s purely ketogenic, but couldn’t source isolated leucine yet). I think the BCAAs accelerated body composition changes and fended off fatigue compared to glutamine.

I ingested a lot of ketone salts week 2 and the start of week 3, but had serious GI issues (literally just constant diarrhea ) and I think some acidosis (uncontrollable sweating, weakness, no heat tolerance). Mid-week 3 I added the BCAA and cut out the ketone salts and felt a lot better.

I ate 500-1500 cal/day from the above menu most days until mid-week 3. Did my regular workouts M-F and hiked on the weekend between weeks 2 and 3 when I re-carbed. Also threw in my first caving experience week 3 Wed which was waaay harder (tighter squeezes) than I expected. Week 3 Thursday I was exhausted, anemic, acidic, hot, and generally miserable. This prompted iron supplementation, BCAA addition, and I just finished week 3 feeling super strong and looking by far the leanest I have!

Just re-carbed tonight (week 3 Friday) and am going to do a sprint workout tomorrow (Sat) morning to utilize that glycogen 🙂

I generally really like this model: weekdays keto + leucine + Zone 2 cardio + weights

• Weekdays: keto + leucine + Zone 2 cardio + weights
• Saturday: recarbed sprints
• Sunday: salad (!) + hiking

I’ll probably stick with this until my bodyweight levels off as low as feels healthy, then play with things from there 🙂

Notes:

• Collagen prominence because of amino acid profile I consider longevity-optimized (low sulfur, high Gly/Met ratio)
• lots of supplements (separate post)
• Sardines for EPA/DHA and satiety, EVOO because I think it’s one of the healthiest foods on Earth