Teague242s keto journey 2018

I’ve decided to log this years spring cut. Last year I did Keto for 2-3 months and dropped from 205 to 185 or so. I learned a hell of a lot and this year I’m going to use that experience to get even better results!

Right now I’m sitting at 217. My lifts are as strong as they’ve ever been and I have put on a little more mass than last year. My goal weight is going to be 190... not sure what I’ll look like at that weight, so if I look good at 195 I’ll stop there and start a lean bulk for the summer.

Either way I’m excited to see what happens!

Today is day 3 of keto. I’m feeling a lot better than day 1 and I had a bit more energy in the gym today. Macros for the past couple days were around 2800 Cals with under 35g of carbs. I’m aiming for 200g of protein per day as well. So far so good.

I’ve lost 2lbs of water weight so far weighing in at 214 this morning. It’ll be a little lower tomorrow no doubt.

Today was leg day in the gym, day 2 of Arnold’s cutting program. Didn’t hit the gym yesterday so I did this today.

For squats I did 5 sets of 177 and 3 sets of 199... using KG bumper plates. Each set was 12 reps so I’m happy. Next week I’ll do 199 for the whole excercise. Did some leg curls and extensions. 5 and 10 sets respectively. Not too bad at all but I called it quits after 5 sets of curls instead of 10.

People were using the machines and I couldn’t superset... ran out of time basically.

Finished with 5 sets of 110x10 for abs on the crunch machine and 12 minutes of cardio.

Not a bad workout. Certainly more volume than I’m used to for legs so I’m happy. I’d like to get to 225x12 for the squats. I’ll give it a few weeks before attempting that.

All in all so far so good.

I took two pictures as well. I’ll upload them later

Well it’s been a week since my last post so a little bit of an update. I’m at 208lbs now. Everything’s going fine. Haven’t been too crazy with my calorie intake but I’m hovering in the 2700-2900 range.

I got two gym sessions in since the last post. Arms and chest/back. Would have been three but I had to leave during my cardio time.

My chest strength is down a little bit. I don’t feel like I can bench as much, but I’m doing flyes at a good volume and weight. Arms are as good as ever however I’ve went from 17” to 16 3/4”.

As far as looks goes I’m not much different at 208 than I was at 217. I definitely fit into my pants better though lol. I’ve uploaded pics to my BodySpace as I’m not too well versed on putting them on here.

In a week or so I’ll start dropping my calories and proceed with my weight loss. There hasn’t been any real negative effects of keto so far. The only thing I think is weird is I feel hungrier and more tired than I did last time I did this... I think I’ll add more fat and take some carbs away and see what happens.

Time for a little update. I’m at 206 now. My calories are at 2500 per day. Haven’t noticed much weight loss however I have been on the toilet all day. So I think I’ll be a few pounds lighter tomorrow lol. Keto does weird things to my digestive system...

Anyways all my energy is back! I trained legs today in a short squat session of 10 sets. No problems at all and I did 225x12 for one set. I’m gonna try and push myself and do 4 next week. Finished with some 135lb front squats... going to work my way up with that, but slowly as I worry about my spondy.

I’ve been doing lots of ab work and my torso feels nice and tight. I’m starting to see more veins and striations in my arms and legs. My quads are starting to show some separation too. I still have maybe 20lbs to go so I can’t wait. My obliques and serratus are showing themselves well... I just wish I would have trained them more often to bring them out before I started keto. They should all come out decently regardless.

I still have a decent fat pad hiding the muscles underneath my 4 pack. Abs are solid and tight above that. I think I’ll see an 8 pack at the end. Hopefully.

I’m getting pretty hungry at 2500. I’ve noticed more feelings of hunger this year. I can’t really explain it since last year it was almost nonexistent... but I think I’ll just work on meal timing more since my diet involves lots of small stuff at work.... I operate equipment all day and can’t heat meals up. So I snack on things like eggs and nuts.

I’ve been eating burger patties with thousand island dressing on them cold at work. They’re pretty damn good.

I’ll post another update next week.

Cold keto foods can be a bit of a challenge. I have to have cold meals occasionally when out of the office. Could always wrap the meals in foil and warm them on the engine block while you work, I’ve seen that done by some of our operators where I work.

Nuts don’t provide me much satiation either. I pretty much use them as a “treat” at the end of the day if I have cals left and have already hit protein. For myself, meat with added oil (avocado, olive) eggs, cheese, and avocados seem to be the best for keeping me satiated. I usually eat 6oz (8oz raw weight) of steak with Giardiniera everyday and it’s crazy how physically small that meal is but keeps me comfortable for 3+ hours.

That actually works pretty good. I forgot about that though... will have to try doing it again.

I’ve just been eating pepperoni, olives, cheese, pork rinds, a sandwich with low carb bread and stuff like that at work. All small stuff but it’s working I guess. When I get home I eat half of a chicken breast and that puts me at around 200g of protein.

What is giardiniera? I’ve never heard of it?

Avocados I try to get into but can’t stand the grassy taste lol. I have packets of guac in my fridge that I throw on things. Have you found a way to eat them raw with seasoning or something?

Currently I’m at 199lbs. A week or so ago I started dropping weight regularly. My cals are still at 2500 but I will be dropping them soon.

Still no loss of strength although I have been feeling a little drained while working out. In the mirror the difference from 206 is night and day. I still have a bit of fat to lose before I get to where I want to be. Maybe 10lbs?

I was at a local show this past weekend and saw some guys at single digit body fat. I’m definitely not quite there yet but I think I’m getting close to 10-12%. It definitely helped me get an idea of where I want to get to.

I also really need to work on my upper back when it comes time to lean bulk.

It’s been awhile but I’m at 189lbs today. I feel great and my lifts haven’t gone down much at all. Just finished chest/back day and I did flat bench 205 for 8 reps at the end of my sets. Not bad considering I was doing 225 for 8 when I started this. That was after my incline bench sets as well. Deadlifted for a few sets as well and pulled 243 for 6 no problem.

I’m weird with deadlifting... I have spondy and get scared when going heavy. Before my cut I think I was doing 315 for a few reps. Max was at 435 before I heard/felt the scar tissue in my back give out lol.

Oh well...

But anyways here’s a link to a crappy pose I did. There’s more pics on my BodySpace including this one. I’ve been taking progress pics in the same bathroom to try and keep the lighting consistent...

[url]https://imgur.com/a/1LUFmP2[/url]