KETO EXPERIMENT-Increasing Calories without weight-gain...
Hey guys!
So..being the curious/research-obsessed nutrition student that I am, I decided to use myself as the subject for an experiment I have spent quite a while trying to find more information on.
The gist of it is, I want to see what happens if I challenge the laws of basic thermodynamics..(ie. to lose weight you must eat less calories than you burn, to gain weight you must eat more than you burn) to see if I can INCREASE MY CALORIES on a KETO diet more-so than a regular (LFHC) diet.
For years, calories in vs calories out has been the premise for almost every diet plan I've come across (whether it's blatantly stated or not).
After my own experience with lifting and dieting down for a competition. I've wondered to myself the same questions I'm sure many of you have probably asked yourself "Is there a better way to diet?" "Is this really my only option?"
Thus, led to me researching every diet known to man.
During this time, I came across the KETO diet but always considered it "too extreme" and something "unattainable" for myself. (Note, this was also the time I was still accepting fat as a necessary macronutrient and not as "BAD").
But as I researched further and became better educated, I started to see how this idea of eating high fat with minimal carbs may actually have some logic behind it. (See my Youtube Channel for my first KETO experiment/to learn more about the studies I originally researched).
Insulin was a key word I came across in the research I read.
The believers in the KETO diet will tell you that Insulin and down-regulation of hormones is ultimately the culprit for fat-gain and that the idea of calories in vs. calories out might not be as simple as we'd previously thought.
Now I could go into detail about the proposed benefits and the reasons behind the creation of the KETO diet but I'll save you some excessive reading and just share a few key points:
1. Insulin, is kept low with a low-carb intake-less fluctuations.
2. Many studies have shown that an increase in fat calorie consumption on a LCHF diet leads to less/little weight-gain vs an increase in carbohydrate calorie consumption on a HCLF diet. (Sam Feltham is a great example).
3. Hunger is said to be curbed on a LCHF diet (likely due to more stable insulin levels)
With all of that said! Let's get to the numbers and my own experiment details...
For the past month my cutting* macros have been 1550 as compared to my typical 1850 maintenance.
I started doing cardio 3x per week (20 min HIIT or 20min steady state depending on the day).
Lifting 4-5x per week.
My macros were relatively high for fat at this point even, but carbs were also relatively high:
60F/133C/120P
On this diet I hadn't lost ANY weight. Now I know my fat macros could have been lower and carbs higher for better measure but this is where I'm starting.
Starting Weight: 125.5 (Height: 5'2.5)
Now currently for the past 4 days my calories have been upped to 2000. I have been eating less than 50g of NET carbs/day. (although 3/4 of those days it was lower than 30 NET carbs). For my macros, I am more so aiming to get the common KETO ratios until I am fully in ketosis then I will adjust as necessary but each day it's been in the range of 140-160F, <50g NET carbs(so around 45-70 actual carbs) and 105-125P.
Current Weight 4 days in: 124.0 Lowest Weigh-in: 123.5
I know for a fact it's just water-weight that I've lost thus far but it's also interesting that with the extra 250cals/day (sometimes up to 350 cals/day) my weight hasn't increased what-so-ever in 4 days of eating this way. (Again, this could be due to water weight, we will just have to see as I progress).
Current physical state:
Day 1, 2 and 3 I was pretty normal, energy was fine, didn't really even feel like I'd changed my diet. BUT DAY 4...
LET ME TELL YOU.
I feel like I was hit by a brick wall or like I'm walking around feeling the way you feel at the end of a long night of drinking when you're almost sober, tired and just want to go home, but still half out of it and kind of hazy.
As I am writing this I am debating stopping and just going straight to bed -It's 8:31PM, Normally I am a night owl and go to bed at 1-2:30AM.
SO I am assuming this is the so-called KETO-Flu setting in. I'm not sure how long it will last but lets hope it passes soon as I've already tried to put an egg in my waffle maker, apparently making the batter itself was no longer a necessity in my mind (I am off in lala land).
Anyways!! This got longer than I planned BUT I hope you guys jump in on this experiment as I am going to be posting daily, what I'm eating, recipes, how I am feeling, weigh-ins etc.
Let me know your thoughts, so long for now I am off to pass out.
My bed is calling to me.
Night,
~Sam~
P.S. Here'a a picture of my favourite KETO waffles to entice you to follow..
[img]http://i947.photobucket.com/albums/ad318/sammysamgurl/image1_zpsr6rwha1m.jpg[/img]
KETO-Friendly Cheat-No Weight Gain?- DAY-11
So I thought I'd share this now because I found it interesting...
Last night I'm not sure what happened but I finished my daily calories and was STILL hungry and craving food. Weirdly I wasn't craving carbs. Just more of the foods I had eaten.
So...Ended up eating a half container of the hickory smoked almonds and about 1/4 cup almond-coconut butter with a few sugar-free(high fibre) chocolate chips
My calories ended up somewhere over 3000 and my total Net Carbs came in at 29g.
I checked my keto strips a while after eating and was in deep purple ketosis (I wasn't very dehydrated either so that was weird). But good to know I stayed in ketosis the whole time! (I was worried all the nuts/nut butter may knock me out).
Anyways, woke up today and just had coffee with a tbsp of cream to push breakfast off for a while.
I ate about 2 hours later, usual eggs with avocado but I was already hungry about 2 hours after! I ended up eating more for lunch than usual because of this. (SO WEIRD because usually after a big cheat on carbs+fat I am not hungry at all in the mornings/afternoon)
I am trying to listen to my body so I'm not just entirely binging or anything.
But the strange part is, I woke up at exactly 121.0. NO WEIGHT GAIN. Plus very hungry...(I made sure it was hunger too and not thirst).
Not sure if this means my metabolism is working in overdrive or I just needed the extra calories that day lol but that's what happened.
Anyways, just thought I'd share!! I'll probably post again later tonight or tomorrow morning.
~Sam