My 6-Month Experiment
My Reasons, Motivations and Expectations
After quitting veganism in April 2019, I started experimenting with a ketogenic diet, to see if I could: 1) fix my digestion, 2) improve my performance at the gym, 3) burn some body fat more easily. I was also curious to understand what kind of impact it might have on my energy levels and overall focus. I officially began my experiment the last week on May, and concluded it at the end of November.
My Protocol
As I was expecting (based on the literature I had read and the video I had watched), the first couple of weeks were the toughest ones. The principle of ketosis is that, instead of using glucose from carbs as your primary source of energy, your liver produces ketone bodies from short-chain fatty acids (SCFA) which travel across your body and supply energy to organs and tissues (thus sparing glucose supplies for your brain — as it can’t work without). Shifting from carbs to fats can take some time and can cause brain fog, lack of energy, headache (the so-called ‘keto flu’). So, as you can imagine, the first couple of weeks can be very painful. To reach ketosis and stay in it, all you need to do is:
- Fast until you’ve depleted all of your glycogen stores
- Consume a diet high in fats (60-75% of your calories), moderate in proteins (20-30% of your calories), and very low in carbs (5-10% of your calories, usually coming from low GI vegetables and fruit, such as cruciferous veggies, green beans, lettuce, peppers, tomatoes, berries etc.)
- Avoid high GI foods (starch, grains, most fruit, sugar, syrup, honey, etc.)
- Limit your daily meals to 2-3, as you don’t want your insuline to spike, or it’ll prevent lipolysis (the process of fatty acids being released from the adipose cells to be used for energy).
As I work out everyday, and as I like to keep my workouts’ volume quite high, I adjusted my macros so that my carbs would never go below 50g a day, to be split between pre- and post-workout meals (what is commonly called a ‘modified or targeted ketogenic diet’). So my typical day looked like this:
- 4-6:30 am. Breakfast: water and lemon, coffee, peppermint tea
- 10-11am. Lunch: 3 duck eggs, butter, rocket leaves, sardines or mackerel, anchovies
- 2-3pm. Pre-workout shake: whey isolate 97% protein powder, 1 small green banana or 1 cup of grapes
- 6pm. Dinner: salmon/lamb mince/beef mince/steak/liver/kidneys/lamb heart cooked in butter or coconut oil, steamed or baked vegetables (courgettes, aubergines, tomatoes, bell peppers, spinach, green beans), coconut yoghurt with frozen berries, 100% dark chocolate.
My Results
As I’ve anticipated, the first 2 weeks were really tough and my performance at the gym suffered quite a bit. Due to the lack of glycogen in my muscles, I couldn’t cope with high volume training, so I decided to lower my rep range and increase the weight (this way I could solely rely on the phosphocreatine energy system, in which ATP is more efficiently replenished than in the lactic acid energy system). Once in ketosis and fully adapted to using fats, however, I was able go back to my usual workout routine for most exercises. As the body becomes more efficient at using fats, indeed, the process of gluconeogenesis (namely the production of glucose out of fats and amino acids) also becomes smoother and glycogen can be stored in muscles just as easily as when running on carbs. However, I never managed to go back to my usual range of reps in exercises such as hack squats and pull-ups, in which the demand for glycogen is too great for the tiny amount produced by my liver and kidneys from other macronutrients. According to some studies on rats (Fournier et al. 2002) and on humans (Fournier et al. 2004), glycogen can be replenished even in the absence of food. However, it also depends on genetic predisposition, and, at this point, I think my body is not as genetically efficient at producing glycogen as someone else’s.
The other aspect I wanted to scrutinise was my digestion. Although I was on a low FODMAP version of a ketogenic diet, the high amount of fats would occasionally get me bloated and slightly constipated. However, my energy levels were always high (after the first couple of weeks), and my appetite significantly decreased (as I wasn’t relying on insulin anymore). This subsequently improved my focus and my sense of balance and stability.
Surprisingly, although most people go keto because it is one of the most effective ways to lose weight, I must admit that the aesthetic effects of the diet is the only aspect of my experiment that has disappointed me. Regardless of what the literature says, my muscles never seemed to be fully replenished with glycogen and would appear flat most of the time (as I said, it might be that my genetics is not really efficient at producing glycogen). Moreover, even though staying in ketosis can be an excellent way to lose fat, it makes it really hard to gain weight. When I started my usual bulking after summer, I found it really difficult to put on weight beyond my maintenance. For this reason, at the end of November, I decided to go back to my typical 5-6 meals a day, increasing my carbs and lowering my fats until next spring (at least).
My Advice for You
Overall, I’ve become more efficient at using fats and much less sensitive to blood sugar fluctuations. Moreover, increasing the amount of fats also increases the amount of fat-soluble vitamins (A, D, E, K) that can be absorbed and can be beneficial for your health. For both these reasons, I would encourage everyone to try. Here’re my tips and strategies if you’re interested in trying:
- Set a realistic timeframe for results to occur (at least 8-12 weeks) and be mentally prepared for the first 2-3 weeks being extremely tough
- Plan your meals and shopping list in advance: although most keto recipes are very easy to make, you might not be used to cooking with butter and eating fatty cuts of meat or fish, or, in the initial phase, you might have some sugar cravings that you might want to satisfy the ‘sugar-free way’ (there’re plenty of keto-friendly dessert recipes online and many require just a few ingredients). The further you go with your diet, however, the less cravings you’ll have
- Make sure you eat enough calories (i.e. make sure you replace the calories you’re taking away from carbs with the same amount coming from fats). The rule of thumb is this: 1g of fat has slightly more than twice the amount of calories of 1g of carb. Therefore 50g of pasta or rice can be easily replaced with 20-25g of butter or hard cheese, to give an example
- Make sure you keep your diet varied and never boring. Try to learn 1 new recipe every week using 1 different low GI vegetable and 1 different fatty cut of meat or fish. You’ll be surprised by how delicious such recipes can be!
- Enjoy the process and don’t be too hard on yourself if you cheat from time to time. Remember to embrace the growth and the wisdom that experimenting with a new lifestyle will bring you but keep it fun, easy and realistic!
If you’ve liked this post, stay tune because I’m planning to share some ‘guilt-free’ keto recipes for delicious cakes or desserts. 🙂
References
Fournier PA, Bräu L, Ferreira LD, Fairchild T, Raja G, James A, Palmer TN. 2002. ‘Glycogen resynthesis in the absence of food ingestion during recovery from moderate or high intensity physical activity: novel insights from rat and human studies’. Comparative biochemistry and physiology. Part A, Molecular & integrative physiology (Nov)133(3):755-63 (DOI: 10.1016/s1095-6433(02)00254-4).
Fournier PA, Fairchild TJ, Ferreira LD, Bräu L. 2004. ‘Post-exercise muscle glycogen repletion in the extreme: effect of food absence and active recovery’. Journal of sports science & medicine (Sep)1;3(3):139-46.