Why I’m Doing This
Before we get started, you need to answer a simple question.
How bad do you want to know why I’m doing this whole Keto Diet Experiment thing?
Is it bad enough to devote the next few minutes of your life that you will never get back and learn way more than you wanted to know and becoming frustratingly no closer to a satisfying answer to this question? Ok, good. Here’s some background.
Last quarter I set a health-related goal for myself. It was simple. In Q3 of 2013, by the end of September, I would improve my lean body composition, fat vs fat-free mass, to an all time best. How?
The same way we all would. I would either: 1) increase overall fat-free (lean) mass or 2) reduce overall fat mass. Simple enough, right?
I chose method #2. It wasn’t because I wanted to “lose weight” (which the goal would require); it was the fact that method #1 wasn’t an option for me.
I was rehabbing a very minor back strain and knew I wouldn’t be able to put forth the physical exertion that method #1 required without jeopardizing my progress.
While I was willing to accept it, there was one glaring problem with my goal that I knew going in.
The Problem: I didn’t know my current lean body mass, lacked the tools of getting an accurate assessment and would therefore have no way of knowing if I were achieving an all-time best.
The Solution: Use my weight (instead of lean body mass) to measure my progress, since all good goals need to be measurable, right?
The plan was to lose the weight slowly, approximately .5-1.5 lbs/week, in order to preserve lean mass, and was comprised of 3 steps. Again, nothing new here.
- Estimate my daily calorie (kilocalorie) intake to maintain current weight using the Harris-Benedict method to get my basal metabolic rate (BMR) which would give me an idea of the number of daily and weekly calories my body needed to maintain my current weight.
- Generate my targeted daily caloric intake by reducing the number of calories I plan to consume based on the goal of losing .5-1.5 lbs/week.
- Monitor my weight weekly to ensure I stay on track.
The diet consisted of lots of protein, lean meats (mainly fish and chicken), fibrous vegetables, plenty of salads (shout out to the SRI 3000), high-quality fats, etc. There were a few more details, but that’s pretty much it.
So at the end of September, I stayed the course, lost the weight and accomplished the goal. I even got a Bod Pod measurement (which are fairly accurate, but there are better tools) on the last Friday of the quarter that confirmed the results. Mission accomplished; I was feeling good, so I thought.
It wasn’t until it came time to set some health-related goals for the last quarter of 2013 that I realized I wanted a change. While I enjoyed the feeling of accomplishment of the previous goal, I knew it was missing something.
It just wasn’t fun, and I felt like there was a better way. That’s as simple as I can put it.
My energy was low 5-6 days/week, my system was way too high-maintenance and didn’t contribute to my larger goals. And I knew if I felt better, had a lower maintenance system that my time could be better spent elsewhere, on more important things. So I began looking for something new.
And well, that’s where I found bacon…
What I’m Doing
Listen. I’m tired; you’re tired. I’m wrapping this thing up. Trying to work on a 3 hour bacon* fast was a terrible idea. I will report back more specifics next week at some point.
In the meantime, if you’re interested in learning more about nutritional ideas that have challenged me and may challenge you as well, this is a good place to start on Peter Attia’s blog.
I encountered his research a few months back when I posted about an increase in my cholesterol which turned out to be nothing to speak of.
And remember, he’s an expert. I’m just having fun.
*Full disclosure: I’ve only had bacon twice thus far. But wow, I mean, yeah… good stuff.
Results
I added the weigh-in results last not to build suspense or force you to read everything else, although that did work out well. The reason the results are last is because it’s the least important part of the experiment to me.
I don’t have a weight goal; the closest thing would be lean mass, and I have no consistent way to measure that weekly. Also, my weight fluctuates a lot based on activity and hydration, and it’s just not a meaningful metric. I do plan on getting blood work done at the end of the year and will compare to earlier results.
But numbers are fun and self-quantification has a special place in my heart, so why the heck not!
Weigh-in Results
- Starting Weight: 10/05/2013 – 154.2 lbs
- Week 1: 10/12/2013 – 151.3 lbs
More later,
-mark