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Week In Review

It’s tough to believe there are only 3 weeks left in the Ketogenic Diet Experiment. But it’s true. We’re in the final stretch.

While the end is getting near, I learned 2 important things this week that would’ve been nice to know in the beginning.

First, a ketone blood monitor is a really useful tool that I should’ve had going into this thing.

When you’re not getting the results you expect, an accurate reading gives you the information needed to be confident when making (or not making) a change. I plan to chart morning ketone readings on this page for the rest of the quarter… or until I stop. =)

Second, I’ve been consuming WAY too many calories which is something I plan to address this week. While there may be certain metabolic advantages to the ketogenic diet, calories do matter.

New Dietary Adjustments

• Decrease Calories Consumed
  • I will eat until satisfied and quit consuming food like a competitive eater. No offense, Kobayashi!

Results & Charts

• See new Weigh-in Results and Ketone Levels pages and charts.

Questions or recommendations? Would love to hear them. Leave a comment or contact me here.

Thanks for reading!

-mark

Week In Review

It’s Day 56 of the Ketogenic Diet Experiment, and it’s been a pretty eventful week.

The Tide lost an amazing Iron Bowl in unbelievable fashion, I nearly froze to death on a Thanksgiving fishing outing with my Dad and my body composition continues to spiral downward in the wrong direction.

On a positive note, Auburn still gives the state hope for another National Championship, I got lucky and side-hooked the biggest fish of the day, and most importantly, I get to make more modifications to the diet plan! =)

This week, I will be making a few changes to my pre & post workout nutrition to limit any muscle catabolism that may be occurring post-workout in hopes of getting this thing headed in the right direction.

New Dietary Adjustments

• Pre & Post Workout Nutrition & Between Meals
  • Pre-workout – continue to supplement with BCAAs as mentioned previously.
  • Post-workout – replace BCAAs with whey protein (what I used before introducing BCAAs) and add an additional 5g of glutamine.
  • Between Meals – supplement 5g of BCAAs mid-afternoon and mid-morning between meals.

Questions or recommendations? Leave a comment or contact me here.

More later,

-mark

Results*

Weigh-in Results

• Starting Weight: 10/05/2013 – 154.2 lbs
• Week 1: 10/12/2013 – 151.3 lbs
• Week 2: 10/19/2013 – 156.0 lbs
• Week 3: 10/26/2013 – 156.4 lbs
• Week 4: 11/02/2013 – 155.1 lbs
• Week 5: 11/09/2013 – 154.5 lbs
• **Week 6: 11/16/2013 – n/a
• Week 7: 11/23/2013 – 155.6 lbs
• Week 8: 11/30/2013 – 157.4 lbs

*The usual “results” disclaimer (first mentioned here):

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 reliable metric.

**No weigh-in recorded.

Week In Review

It’s officially past the halfway point of the Ketogenic Diet Experiment. Here are some positives and negatives thus far.

• Positives
  • My weight has remained pretty consistent.
  • I feel like my energy level has been more sustained throughout the day.
  • The larger meals are much more satiating than what I was previously doing.
• Negatives
  • Lean Body Mass – Though my weight has been consistent, my lean body mass appears to have definitely decreased. It’s difficult to say how much, but I’m planning to schedule a DEXA scan for later this year, and it will be interesting to compare the results to my BodPod measurement from 9/27. I’m not certain, but I think this may be due to unknowingly getting knocked out of ketosis from consuming too much protein on certain days. My plan is to monitor more closely in the future to see if the excess protein could actually be related.
  • Finding Good Ketogenic Meals – This has gotten much easier with practice, but still at times especially if eating at some place new, it can take a little work to find meals to meet the requirements.

New Dietary Adjustments

• Increased Sodium
  • I’ve done this over the past few weeks but forgot to mention it. I definitely noticed an improvement in my energy level. Check out authors Jeff Volek & Stephen Phinney briefly discuss why in this video.
• New Fish Oil supplement
  • This is a minor change, but I do like this product by Carlson Labs. And the fact that I can be confident that I have “the very finest fish oil” in the world because it’s written prominently on the bottle is a very comforting feeling.

That’s it for now. Thanks for reading!

-mark

Results*

Weigh-in Results

• Starting Weight: 10/05/2013 – 154.2 lbs
• Week 1: 10/12/2013 – 151.3 lbs
• Week 2: 10/19/2013 – 156.0 lbs
• Week 3: 10/26/2013 – 156.4 lbs
• Week 4: 11/02/2013 – 155.1 lbs
• Week 5: 11/09/2013 – 154.5 lbs
• **Week 6: 11/16/2013 – n/a
• Week 7: 11/23/2013 – 155.6 lbs

*The usual “results” disclaimer (first mentioned here):

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 reliable metric.

**No weigh-in recorded.

Week In Review

I’m out of town this week so there’s no weigh-in to record for the Ketogenic Diet Experiment.

Plan to pick back up next week.

See you then!

-mark

Results*

Weigh-in Results

• Starting Weight: 10/05/2013 – 154.2 lbs
• Week 1: 10/12/2013 – 151.3 lbs
• Week 2: 10/19/2013 – 156.0 lbs
• Week 3: 10/26/2013 – 156.4 lbs
• Week 4: 11/02/2013 – 155.1 lbs
• Week 5: 11/09/2013 – 154.5 lbs
• **Week 6: 11/16/2013 – ???.? lbs

*The usual “results” disclaimer (first mentioned here):

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 reliable metric.

**No weigh-in recorded.

Week In Review

Last week I didn’t make any new adjustments to the Ketogenic Diet Experiment.

But you knew that couldn’t last, right?

While my diet has remained pretty consistent over the past few weeks (carbs very low and primarily from fibrous vegetables, no alcohol, etc.) I believe my protein intake has gotten a little too high which could impact ketosis.

So I’m going to keep it simple – only one change this week.

New Dietary Adjustments

• Decrease Protein Consumption
  • Keeping in mind that I’m continuing to use BCCAs pre/post workout, I plan to limit protein intake from other sources (foods) to 100 grams per day.

Too Much Protein?

While too much glucose from carbohydrate sources might be the most likely culprit to jeopardize nutritional ketosis, excessive protein can have the same results. Both can lead to increased insulin levels preventing ketone production.

More later!

-mark

Disagree, have questions? Comment below or send me a message here.

Results*

Weigh-in Results

• Starting Weight: 10/05/2013 – 154.2 lbs
• Week 1: 10/12/2013 – 151.3 lbs
• Week 2: 10/19/2013 – 156.0 lbs
• Week 3: 10/26/2013 – 156.4 lbs
• Week 4: 11/02/2013 – 155.1 lbs
• Week 5: 11/09/2013 – 154.5 lbs

*The usual “results” disclaimer (first mentioned here):

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 reliable metric.