Welcome to The Keto Cut - a series that will follow my daily routines as I cut for the summer on a ketogenic diet. These posts may not be for all of you as they are intensely focused on fitness and nutrition. Health is one of the most important parts of my life and I take it very seriously and I figured I would share my experiences and daily "logs" with all of you who may also be interested in this topic.
Definition of a Keto Diet:
A Ketogenic diet (Keto diet) refers to an extremely low-carb (carb = carbohydrate) diet. The number of carbs that one can eat on a ketogenic diet varies from person to person and can be dependent on activity levels and many other factors. I typically keep my carbs below 30g (g = grams) per day in order to stay in Ketosis.
Ketosis is a "starvation" state that your body enters when it is deprived of carbohydrates. While in Ketosis, your body will burn fat for fuel rather than carbs in a process referred to as ketogenesis. Ketogenesis is a process where your body converts the fatty acids from stored fat and dietary fat into ketones which are used as an energy source for your body.
Some people consider this diet to be "unsafe", not practical for the average person and a "fad". Research on the body and the effects of the ketogenic diet have found these statements to be false and have actually proven that a correct Ketogenic diet can actually lead to far superior results when compared to just about every other "diet program" out there. I and many others look at Keto as a lifestyle rather than a diet.
Lifestyle is a much more fitting term as it purports that we should live a certain way rather than force some dreadful dieting program down our own throats.
The Greatest Piece of Advice for Anyone Following Keto:
I wanted to include this both as a reminder to myself and as a great tip for anyone else who decides to adopt a Keto program:
Focus on what you can eat, not on what you can't eat.
Honestly it sounds really simple, but I and many of my friends have fallen prey to a really constricting "voice" in our own heads when we've tried keto before - this "voice" in your head constantly questions why you're doing this and why you're giving up such an "amazing" thing - carbs. Carbs are everywhere in sight - cereal, toast, cake, strawberries - you name it and it probably has carbs in it.
I have to force myself to avoid thinking like that. I keep a list of foods that can be eaten on a ketogenic diet, rather than a list of foods that can't be eaten on a ketogenic diet. Both lists are very long, but it's a glass half full or a glass half empty type of situation. Focus on the positives - what you can eat, not on the negatives - what you can't eat.
Day 1
Day 1 Weigh-in: 198 lbs (note: I'm 6 feet tall and at approximately 24% body fat).
Workout Routine (leg day):
- Barbell Back Squats
- Squat Press
- Leg Extensions
- Lying Hamstring Curl
- (Superset 1) Seated Calf Raises
- (Superset 1) Standing Calf Raises
The first several days (3-7, depending on the person) are what's known as the "adaptation period." These days are going to be the hardest and the days where your body fights back the most. When you first remove all the carbs from your diet, you'll notice yourself feeling tired, hungry, irritable and many other things that culminate into what is often referred to as "keto flu." I'll keep my description of this to just what I've written so far, if you want to do more research on the adaptation period, just google: "Keto-adaptation".
Today was my first day without any carbs. The first day is usually not that hard because your body is still able to catabolize the glycogen stores in your body. It's when we get into the next couple of days where your body can feel extremely sluggish and weak. This is because the glycogen stores are slowly depleting and your body hasn't fully adapted to catabolizing fats for fuel.
In order to speed up this adaption period, I do intermittent fasting coupled with what is referred to as a "fat fast." My intermittent fasting routine is a simple 16-8 fast - I eat for an 8-hour window in the day and I fast for the other 16 hours (most of which are while I'm asleep).
The "fat fast" is where I eat 90% of my calories from fat, 10% from protein, and I keep my carbs as close to 0g as possible (note: I count my carbs as net carbs which means that I subtract the # of grams of fiber from the total carb count. This is because fiber cannot be broken down for energy by your body). This fat fast will last for about 3 days as my body adapts to ketosis and rids itself of glycogen stores.
Disclaimer: I'm not a health professional and nothing here is meant to be taken as nutritional advice. Please do your own research and consult your doctor if necessary.
Here's the Question of The Day, don't forget to post your answers in the comments!
This is a very new style of post for me, I haven't really shared the fitness side of my life before so please let me know if you have any questions about this post and if you have any suggestions for future "Keto Cut" posts!
Thanks for reading! Don't forget to leave your thoughts below and I look forward to seeing you in the comments!
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