Keto and exercise log with progress photos.

[aaaaaaaaaachooo]

Looks great!! On depletion days, I would advise more reps instead of 5x5.
Keep it in between 10-30 reps for all the lifts.
Good stuff though man!!

How much water did you drink?
I'm a big stickler for water on this diet, but LOTS of water during the carb-load is essential.
How do you feel?
What do you think you would change for next time?

[Shelk87]

Also, worth noting in regards to my daily Keto diet... I'm currently finishing my two-three weeks at 2250cals, tomorrow I will be doing my first day at 2500cal daily. This carb up I was approx 178-180 before I had my pre-carb up meal. I will continue to track over the next week weeks to make sure that I am not gaining. When I start to gain, I will stay at the gaining week for 2 weeks to ensure that it is from the calories and not a poor carb up.

Currently my macro's are like this:
Fat - 223.5g
Protein - 104.5g
Carbs - 86g
Fiber - 56g
Net carb - 30g

Cals:
Fat - 2011.5
Protein - 418
Carb - 344
Fiber - -224
Net Carb - 120cal

Total cal - 2521

%'s
Fat - 79.8%
Protein - 16.7%
Carb - 13.6%
Fiber - -8.9%
Net Carb - 4.7%

I've essentially kept the diet I had at about 1750 cals from back when, I have just been adding more EVOO and MCT oil to my shakes/meals to bring up fats/cals. I'm currently at 60ml MCT oil, and 60ml EVOO split between two shakes. One shake I use as a PWO with some whey, and the other is my 'last meal' with casein.

[Shelk87]

Looks great!! On depletion days, I would advise more reps instead of 5x5.
Keep it in between 10-30 reps for all the lifts.
Good stuff though man!!

How much water did you drink?
I'm a big stickler for water on this diet, but LOTS of water during the carb-load is essential.
How do you feel?
What do you think you would change for next time?

Noted. I do typically try to keep higher reps, this week I did a bit of heavier ones to start to make up for the lack of lifts prior to depletion.
This week I was a little lacking in the water. Usually I drink about 3-4L during Keto days, and about 5-6L on carb up days. However, I had some family things going on and was unable to keep my water bottle replenished. I was probably at about 3-4L this carb up day .
I felt amazing, and still do at the moment. It's crazy how leaving the depletion workout I felt barely able to drive home. But as soon as I drank my first PWO shake (100g dextrose, 50g whey) I felt like I could do it all again within minutes. After the second one two hours later, I felt incredible.
Next time I will definitly go back to drinking more water, I felt bloated throughout the day which kept me from eating. I had to cram at certain points to make sure I filled some macro's after my dinner.

[aaaaaaaaaachooo]

Noted. I do typically try to keep higher reps, this week I did a bit of heavier ones to start to make up for the lack of lifts prior to depletion.
This week I was a little lacking in the water. Usually I drink about 3-4L during Keto days, and about 5-6L on carb up days. However, I had some family things going on and was unable to keep my water bottle replenished. I was probably at about 3-4L this carb up day .
I felt amazing, and still do at the moment. It's crazy how leaving the depletion workout I felt barely able to drive home. But as soon as I drank my first PWO shake (100g dextrose, 50g whey) I felt like I could do it all again within minutes. After the second one two hours later, I felt incredible.
Next time I will definitly go back to drinking more water, I felt bloated throughout the day which kept me from eating. I had to cram at certain points to make sure I filled some macro's after my dinner.

Glad to hear it went well !!

Next carb-up drink 8L of water & report back.
(Srs)

[Shelk87]

Yesterday I fell off the wagon so to speak. It was a friends work party so I gave into carbs for the night. I figure I will push my carb up from Saturday to Sunday, which will still give me 4 days of training in between. Today I did about 30min of HIIT before work, and I will do an hour to two of MISS tonight before bed to help bring me back into keto. Thursday/Friday/Saturday I will finish the last three days of lifts I have in my program, and do an extensive depletion on Sunday my '24'hr carb up. Monday I will start my lifts again to reset myself back into my proper routine.

At the end of this week I'll be finished my 12 week push/pull program. I think I will do a week of conventional liftings to see some of my progress before setting back into a strength based 12 week push/pull program vs the hypertrophy push/pull program I just finished.

[Shelk87]

Yesterday was my carb up and depletion, went pretty well. Details below!

Depletion: I did 5 sets of 20 reps for all exercises unless otherwise noted.

DB Bench - 70lb/65lb/60lb/60lb/60lb
DB Inc Bench - 45lb x all
DB Dec Bench - 50lb x all
Trap DeadLifts - 110lb x all
BB Calf Raise - 225lb x all
Narrow Leg Press - 220lb x all
Lat Pulldown - 105lb x all
Cross Over Cable Rows - 40lb x all
BB Underhand Rows - 95lb x all
Kneeling DB Shoulder Press - 45lb/45lb/40lb/35lb/35lb
DB Side Raise - 15lb x all
BB Shrug - 305lb x all
DB Curl - 30lb x all
Rope Pulldowns - 75lb x all

This whole depletion took me about 2 hours and 45min. I ran out of time for doing abdominal work, so I left and went home. When I got home I did some mild abdominal floor work, but I don't think it was enough for abdominals. Any suggestions on where I can cut a bit to fit adominals in? I would like to keep it to 2hr 30min at most, I didn't even notice the time. I just could barely finish those pulldowns and checked my phone.

I had two PWO shakes, containing 110g carb, 55g protein, and 5g fat. I drank one slowly throughout the depletion, and slammed the second one immediately after. I had 50carbs, 20 protein, 10 fat 2hr's prior to my depletion this week. My final carb up numbers were (excluding pre-carb meal): 700g carb, 150g protein, 40g fat. On top of this, I had a belgian waffle meal with hashbrowns at Denny's. I couldn't find nutritional value for this, but I imagine it would bring me close to my targets which were: 877g carb, 183g protein, and a max of 79g fat.

Im glad to say I was able to get down about 8L of water as well! By the time my carb up was done I was already 3L in. Got to 5L by Denny's (late lunch time), and polished off the last of my 8L around 1am before bed with my last carb snack. It was a lot harder than I had thought. Mainly because it made me feel full, trying to keep the water up with the food intake kept me pretty full all day. I need to find a larger water bottle however, when I was at home I just filled up a measuring cup to 4L (only thing I had bigger than my 700ml water bottle) and drank it with a straw while I did w/e. At the start of this carb up, I remained 182lb dispite raising my calories this week to 2500cal. At the end of the carb up, I was 190lb. Next week I will compare, but I will remain at 2500 for two more weeks for good judgement and tracking before either increasing to 2750 or considering a 10% cut (where the real fun begins!).

[sambshep]

Contracting your abdominal muscles during lifts to keep your core tight should work them out enough. How come you didn't do any barbell squats?

[aaaaaaaaaachooo]

Sounds like an awesome depletion & carb-up. Did you train today? Tomorrow?
You should have some serious strength after doing a proper depletion/carb-up/water-up.

[Shelk87]

Contracting your abdominal muscles during lifts to keep your core tight should work them out enough. How come you didn't do any barbell squats?

Usually I do them instead of the leg press, however this week the squat racks were busy and lined up. Just settled with leg press instead, which did not work nearly as well. Next week I will try to snipe a squat rack mid-routine if needed.

Sounds like an awesome depletion & carb-up. Did you train today? Tomorrow?
You should have some serious strength after doing a proper depletion/carb-up/water-up.

I didn't train today. I'm still new to the 24hr carb load, when doing the 36hr there was a day of rest after depletion so I just kept that for the 24. Would you suggest training the day immediately after depletion/carb load, or keeping the day of rest? Tomorrow I will be lifting, my 12 week push/pull program is over so I will likely be doing more conventional training this week until I make my next 12week plan. Likely Chest/Bicep tomorrow, then Leg/back, Tri/shoulder, cardio with some additional leg/back (my area's in need of most improvement), then back to depletion on Saturday.

[sambshep]

Yeah my school's gym only has one squat rack, ONE. Nine times out of ten if someone is using the squat rack, they're not doing squats, it's so annoying.

[Shelk87]

Yeah my school's gym only has one squat rack, ONE. Nine times out of ten if someone is using the squat rack, they're not doing squats, it's so annoying.

I always see this one guy using it for BB curls. I don't understand some people's logic when it comes to using equipment. My gym has two, and a smith machine so it's usually not too bad. But if I end up going in the mid afternoon instead of the morning I can kiss a rack good-bye.

[Shelk87]

Tuesday 8th: Chest / Bicep

BB Bench – 205lb x 3 | 4 | 210lb x 3 | 185lb x 5
BB Inc Bench – 115lb x 5 | 135lb x 5 | 155lb x 5 | 165lb x 5 | 175lb x 5
BB Dec – 135lb x 5 | 185lb x 5 | 205lb x 5 | 4
Push Ups – BW x 25 | 25 | 25 | 25
DB Curl – 60lb x 3 | 2 | 55lb x 5 | 3 | 50lb x 5 | 5
EZ Bar Curl (lb without bar added) – 90lb x 5 | 100lb x 0 | 90lb x 3 | 70lb x 5 | 5
Chin Up – BW x 5 | BW + 25lb x 4 | BW + 20lb x 4 | BW x 3

I have mixed feelings about this lifting session. My BB Bench has suffered, but I think it’s because I was still sore from the depletion, or doing something to my pecs. Unsure. It also could be that I no longer have a spotter, and I’m a little timid about crushing my body under a BB bench. But my BB Inc Bench has gone up a fair amount, which I’m pretty stoked for. Also today was the first day that I’ve been able to curl 60lb without butchering form, which is another bonus as well as being able to do a chin up with added weight. The BB Bench still hurts though, so I think on the Friday I will have another go at Chest/Legs and see if I can go better. I recall doing 225 before with a spotter, and close to 240 even at some point. Regardless, moving on.

Wednesday 9th: Legs / Shoulders

BB Squat – 135lb x 5 | 155lb x 5 | 185lb x 5 | 205lb x 5 | 225lb x 5 | 245lb x 3 | 250lb x 3
Calf Raise – 225lb x 10 | 275lb x 10 | 295lb x 5 | 5
Front Squat – 95lb x 5 | 105lb x 5 | 115lb x 5 | 125lb x 5 | 135lb x 5
BB Shrug – 225lb x 5 | 275lb x 5 | 305lb x 5 | 335lb x 5 | 405lb x 2 | *did the same going down in weight again.
Kneeling Single Arm Shoulder Press – 30lb x 5 | 35lb x 5 | 40lb x 5 | 45lb x 5 | 50lb x 5 | 55lb x 5 | 60lb x 6
Side Raise – 15lb x 5 | 20lb x 5 | 25lb x 5 | 30lb x 5 | 35 lb x 5 | 40lb x 3

I was over-all pretty happy with this lifting session. My BB Squat is about the same as it was the last time I checked, but my form was better and I was quite a bit more confident doing the heavier weight. Calf raises has gone up from all the jump rope, and my BB Shrug is still improving. I bought some lifting straps today so the next time I do them I may be able to do more. My grip failed on 405lb.


Today 10th: Back / Triceps

Trap DL (lb listed is not including trap, unsure of its lb) – 90lb x 5 | 140lb x 5 | 160lb x 5 | 180lb x 5 | 200lb x 5 | 230lb x 5 | 255lb x 1
DB Bent Over Row – 80lb x 5 | 85lb x 5 | 90lb x 5 | 95lb x 5 | 100lb x 5
Lat Pulldowns – 105lb x 5 | 120lb x 5 | 135lb x 5 | 150lb x 5 | 165lb x 5 | 180lb x 5 | 190lb x 2
2H Overhead Press – 80lb x 5 | 85lb x 5 | 90lb x 5 | 95lb x 5 | 100lb x 5
BB Close Grip Bench – 135lb x 5 | 145lb x 5 | 150lb x 5 | 155lb x 5
Rope Pulldowns – 90lb x 5 | 105lb x 5 | 120lb x 5 | 135lb x 5 | 150lb x 5 | 165lb x 5 | 180lb x 5 | 195lb x 2

Today was good. I’m pretty happy with my trap DL, I’ve never done that much before. Assuming the bar is 45, which I think it is but no way to check for sure, it would put me to a 300lb DL. I use the trap bar over the BB since every time I’ve done heavier DL with the BB I tend to hurt my lower back. Having the weight in front of me instead of at my sides throws me off. I don’t think there is much of a difference in terms of doing one over the other except for where the weight is. If there is a reason why I should practice BB DL over Trap, please let me know.


This weekend I have a bit of a dilemma regarding my carb up. It should be on the Saturday, ending Saturday night starting Keto again on Sunday. However, my family is having a dinner on Sunday. I currently don’t work on Saturday or Sunday, but I am on call for both days. Either I keep with my scheduled plan on have my carb up on Saturday only, or I could push it back to Sunday only or do a 36hrish carb up over the two days. Being on call for carb up days is a little brutal, since the amount of food I would need to pack to work is intense. With having little to no notice it’s a gamble no matter what I do. I’m leaning more towards doing a 36hr carb up and stressing low fat. Starting my carb up on Sunday throws off the week a bit, so that is not really an option.

On the plus side, I am still 182ishlb first thing in the morning. So overeating that bit on this previous carb up has had no negative effects. Also being at 2500 for the last two weeks (as of Sat) has had no negative effects. I’ll keep 2500 for a third week then increase to 2750. I’m at a bit of a loss for ways to increase fat however. I’m currently at about 105g protein, 86carb (56 fiber, 30net), 224fat, with calories at 2520ish (after fiber reduction). I have about 60ml EVOO and 60ml MCT oil in my diet already, so inceasing another 250cal in fats in oil seems like it will be over-kill. Any suggestions on other straight fat items I can add? I was thinking of dropping some of the EVOO oil and using some heavy cream with some sweetener to make a ice-cream of somekind. This would be a bit of a hassle to do daily, but most likely worth it. I may even be able to do it just with the 250cal added as heavy cream, it would be small but possible. I’m weary about increasing protein, but if it would be okay to do so I could. Thoughts?

[Shelk87]

My weekend dilemma has been solved, I have been called in for Sunday. So my carb up will remain on Saturday for the single day.

I went to my gym today to find it closed due to some kind of issue with their systems. I did 45min of LISS/MISS today and some ab work at home. Tomorrow is depletion. I'll likely keep the same program I did last week except change out deadlifts for squats. I'll also try to cut it to 25reps @ 4 sets to save some time.

[Shelk87]

Depletion + Carb up:

Depletion –
BB Bench – 135lb x 25 | 25 | 115lb x 25 | 25
BB Inch Bench – 95lb x 25 | 25 | 85lb x 25 | 25
ISO Dec Bench – 40lb x 25 | 25 | 25 | 25
Romanian DeadLift – 135lb x 25 | 25 | 25 |25
BB Squat – 135lb x 20 | 20 | 20 | 20 | 20
BB Calf Raise – 225lb x 20 | 20 | 20 | 20
*superset with Squats
Lat Pulldowns – 75lb x 25 | 25 | 25 | 25
Cable Rows – 90lb x 25 | 105lb x 25 | 25 | 90lb x 25
ISO Row – 45lb x 25 | 25 | 25 | 25
Front Raise to a Side Raise – 15lb x 15 | 15 | 15 | 15
BB Shrug – 300lb x 25 | 25 | 25 | 20
2H Cable Curls – 60lb x 25 | 25 | 25 | 45lb x 25
V-Bar Pulldowns – 90lb x 25 | 25 | 25 | 25
Leg Raises – 20 | 20 | 10
Bikes – 20 | 20 | 10
*Super set the ab exercises.

Start @ 10:40ish, finish at 1:15ish.

Depletion felt great. I was able to do some super setting to save time, and was peeling myself off the ab mats to get home.


Carb up -

Before Depletion/Carb up I weighed 182lbish. Still the same weight from the last week. After the carb up I weighed 187ish. This morning at the start of a Keto diet, I weighed 185lb. Gain of 3lbish. Normal for my carb ups.

Pre-Workout Carbs: 10g Fat, 30g Protein, 55g Carbs. Made some Vanilla Blueberry Fluff and ate that with a piece of pumpkin pie. Delish. The Fluff was amazing, I’m going to try and find a way to have some fluff throughout my normal Keto diet, minus the blueberries of course.

PWO Shake – 5g Fat, 55g Protein, 110g Carb (Dextrose). x1 Normally I have a second one two hours later, however this time I decided to make another set of fluff that matches these macro’s. I did not use blueberries though due to the fructose. Normally I don’t bother much with the type of carb, but I know the first few sets of refeeds are more important than the following. Either way, this batch was horrid. Next week I will likely return to two shakes to save time and give myself more of an eating window during the remaining hours.

Total Carb up numbers:
Whole foods - 46g Fat, 81g Protein, 605g Net Carb, 30g Fiber
PWO Shake + Fluff – 10g Fat, 110g Protein, 220g Net Carb, 10g Fiber
Total = 56g Fat, 190g Protein, 825g Net Carb, 40g Fiber
Water intake – 7L

I was a little shy on my carbs, about 60 short of my actual targets. However, I had the last of the brownies I had saved from my works bake sale a few weeks ago. So I imagine those 3 small brownies would fill those carb numbers, as well as a bit closer to my max fat of 79g. Regardless, I’m under my fat close to or above my carbs and slightly over my protein. Pretty good carb up on paper, I feel great today and I’m looking forward to tomorrows lifts. I’m either going to do another week of conventional lifts, as I feel I robbed myself of BB Bench last week, or I will put together my next 12 week push/pull program which will focus this time on over-all strength gains vs the previous 12 weeks of hypertrophy. It will come down to how much time I’m able to pull together after work today to put the program together. Or if I am not called in tomorrow I will build it tomorrow prior to lifting. Time will tell.

Random question as well, anyone else get horrendous gas on carb up days? Normally during the week it’s not bad, just what a normal person would have I suppose. On carb up days, it almost brings tears to my friends faces. It’s brutal, perhaps it’s something I’m eating?

[Shelk87]

I decided that this week I would do a de-loading lifting week. I have not done one for about 4 months, so it’s long over-due. After this week of de-loading I will do my 12 week push/pull strength program.

Monday Oct 14:
Chest/Bicep De-load
BB Bench – 135lb x 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8
BB Inc Bench – 135lb x 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8
BB Dec Bench – 135lb x 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8
DB Curl – 45lb x 8 | 8 | 8 | 25lb x 8 | 8
EZ Bar Curl – 20lb + bar x 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8

Today Oct 15th:
Legs/Shoulders De-load
BB Squat – 135lb x 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8
BB Calf Raise – 135lb x 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8
BB Sumo Deadlift – 135lb x 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8
BB Shrug – 135lb x 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8
Kneeling Shoulder Press – 40lb x 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8
Side Raise – 15lb x 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8


With the holiday season around the corner, I have decided to return to a glucose diet. Today is my first day back with carbs, using the DCA method. I will still be aiming for 2500 calories this week, and increasing to 2750 for the next following weeks to find my maintenance. I will likely return to Keto around April or May to get myself ready for the summer. I want to thank all of you who have answered any questions I’ve posted, and kept me motivated during my Keto experience. I may keep this log for lifting purposes, to keep myself honest and on track with my lifts. I’m unsure of that yet, as I may create a new one in the nutrition section so it’s in the appropriate forum. Regardless, you’ll see me again.