Turning into a meathead- mid life crisis

[coachcalande]

My keto experiment day 2. Weigh in at 283 in sweatpants.

Aiming at approx 3000 cals but not limiting myself as this is an experiment based on satiety.

I started off by trying to eat 5 meals a day with a MIN of 50 G protein per meal. Looking at about 600 cals a meal. I’ll expect to routinely hit 300-400 G protein as I’m not going to intentionally pile on far, just what I need to be satisfied.

Cooked up the usual 8 whole eggs and two cups of whites but dropped the oats and added 3 oz ham and two oz cheddar.

This gives me 1100 cals, 126 G protein, 65 g fat in meals 1 and two. (Pre and post lift)

In general I will try to stay under 5 g carbs per meal but probably tough likely hitting 25-30 g total on the day.

There is scientific evidence showing a metabolic advantage in keto allowing for an additional 200-300 cals per day vs more traditional eating. We shall see what my own experiences provide. I’m anticipating 3000 as my satisfaction mark on keto while typically I’d be satisfied with 3600-4000 with carbs.

After all the egg meals…

The next two meals will be built around chicken, turkey and salad. Ranch and hot sauce.

Dinner will probably be tuna, mayo, cheddar…should again be at about 2800 cals on the day.

[coachcalande]

Todays keto lift
Bench 255x4x6-8 reps
Incline 235x4x5-6 reps
Flyes 4x50s 8-10 reps
Rows 4x260x6-8 reps
Wide pds 4x 200x8-10 reps
Npds 4x200x6-8 reps

[coachcalande]

Was starving between meals 2/3 but now its time for meal 4 and Im not hungry at all. I suppose this is how and why it works.

I can force food in or wait…


Usually im just always hungry.

[coachcalande]

5 am - eggs, whites, ham n cheese
9 am - eggs, whites. Ham n cheese
12 noon- chicken and turkey over a salad
3:30- 8 oz turkey
7ish?

[coachcalande]

279.2 this am.

Last night I cooked up a pack of ground beef, chopped an onion, threw in broccoli…then added 8 eggs and two cups whites and cooked it all up….I’ll be eating more of that today!

So far appetite surprisingly under control which obviously is why keto works, this allows you to more easily accept eating less and dipping into a deficit. I could have easily stayed at about 2400 cals yesterday but with my lifting I want that protein!

Going to keep targeting five meals a day but won’t hesitate to eat 4 or 6 based on appetite.

I’m not going out of my way to add fat like some do….just a bit of ranch or mayo where it’s needed.

Eggs
Meats
Cheese
Green veggies

Then a carb up day once or twice a week as needed if lifting energy poops out (Anabolic Diet)

It’s leg day! See how it goes.

[coachcalande]

Ssb 325x4 this morning
Depth seems good
Minor left side glute strain?

https://youtu.be/cbKWaW46Dec


Ssb 325x4,3,3,2
Happy with the depth on all four sets.

Smith front squats 4x 165
Leg ext 4x170
Leg curls 4x 135/145
Calf raises 4x 145

Not bad at all. A bit of a grind to finish but not sure if it’s the carbs or the lack of sleep and festivities over the holidays.

In all I feel good and after just two days low carb overall inflammation of belly area is noticeably reduced. Obviously water weight.

[coachcalande]

This is just so easy…

Breakfast- Ham and cheese omelette
Second breakfast- ground beef, eggs, broccoli
Lunch- chicken breast dipped into mustard/ranch mix
Second lunch- egg white omelette with turkey, cheese and olives

Feel really full! Never really got hungry today and certainly not HANGRY.

One meal to go if I want it…probably tuna/mayo or more eggs/beef

Drinking diet soda a bit, water, tea, black coffee.

[coachcalande]

For my notes, I’m not sure what I’m going to call this concoction, maybe ANABOLIC MEDLEY?


All mixed together…

Ground beef
Chopped onion
Egg whites
Whole eggs
Chicken breast
Broccoli
Cheddar
Hot sauce


Probably will add green beans, jalapeños or tomatoes.

[coachcalande]

Up before 4 am. About 6 hours of sleep is what I get these days.

Weight is at 277 this am.

Something I’ll pay attention to is quality of sleep and overall mood as well as productivity levels. I’ve ALWAYS seen an increase in productivity when my blood sugar is stable.

Today is shoulders and arms, have some chores to do so this is a good day 4 test.

What will I eat? Eggs, meat, cheese and veggies.

[coachcalande]

Big attempt at seated press…

https://youtu.be/EYpt9RXgFDE

[coachcalande]

Workout done. 5/5 stars

Shoulder press 240 fail, 185x4x5-7 reps
Upright rows 115x4x7-8
Side laterals x4 sets
Ez curls 85, 105, 125, 105
Pushdowns 66, 88, 88, 88
Alt db curls 4x50s
Skull crushers 135-145 for 4 sets

Great energy and intensity, no issues without the carbs.

[coachcalande]

It’s 7 pm and I ate just four meals. This is leveling my blood sugar and diminishing my appetite.

Incredible.

Tonight’s dinner was a beef patty with bacon, egg whites with cheddar and some spinach.

I also had an egg white omelette with lunch meat and cheese earlier, two servings of “anabolic medley.”

This single meal dropped is probably 600-800 cals and 60 G protein.

[coachcalande]

Keto experiment day 5

Body weight change 276.6/283

Appetite change is HUGE as I ate just 4 meals yesterday and was NEVER HUNGRY - not HANGRY at all. I am trying to stay above 300 G protein. Im not counting cals (maybe 2500-3000)

Planning steak and eggs to start the day.

If I went purely by how I feel physically…I’d never eat any other way. I know it’s early to say that and I fully expect training performance to drop as weight drops …but it’s weird how my thinking is changing along with my appetite. I’m very focused on trying running again. (Calves are kind of sore from leg day ha ha)

[coachcalande]

I’m evaluating my eating plan with several things in mind.

Rank these:

How you feel (physically/pain free)
How you think (attitude/mental wellness)
How you perform in weight room/athletics
How you look
How much you weigh
Satiety/absence of hunger
Energy/motivation
Blood work positive?

I’m finding that I FEEL GREAT here on day 5 of my experiment.

[coachcalande]

Starting off the day with a large plate of steak (alittle cheese) and fried eggs over easy.
Probably 320 cals in the eggs alone…and this is probably 12 oz steak. Let’s see where this goes..
I have chicken breasts and one more serving of “anabolic medley” all set for today. Myfitnesspal says 900-1000 cals here..


Second meal was anabolic medley

Meal three was delicious- 3 strips bacon, added a cup of whites, 6 oz chicken, 2 whole eggs and some jalapeños…all cooked in that bacon fat. Amazing. Now I’m not all about the fat, to me, it’s flavor! The 2 yolks and bacon grease was more than enough and that 70-80 grams of protein was incredible. It’s always good for me to skip the cheese now and again. About 732 cals here.

Dinner will probably be chicken thighs and maybe pickles or green beans.

Snack before bed, handful of turkey wrapped in a slice of cheese.

My son just commented on thin my legs look…that’s inflammation pal!

[coachcalande]

276.2 this am. That’s a .4 lb drop even after a healthy dose of calories yesterday.

Something worth noting, typically “keto” is considered a high fat diet. So far every day for me, my protein has been 50% or more of the cals. Typically something along the lines of 51% protein, 4% carbs, 45% fat. The key here has been in not slapping a bunch of extra fat on foods I like.

For example- Tuna, add mayo but can also reduce cals by mixing with less mayo and more mustard…

Ranch dressing? Sure, use it but mix with hot sauce…cheese? Sure but try and stay under 4 oz a day….eggs? Sure, but use whites liberally too. Keep eating whites, chicken breast, tuna, lean meats …aiming for PROTEIN first.

[coachcalande]

Keto day 6 lifting notes-
Great attitude and energy
Performance is very good
Bench 255x8,8,6,5,5
Incline 235x4,4,4,3
Narrow pds 175x12,200x10,9,8
Wide pds 200x7,6,6,6
Rows with 269x6-8
Flyes with 50s x 8-10

Great energy

[coachcalande]

Todays eats…

Eggs and steak

Anabolic medley

Anabolic medley

Tuna melt on spinach, pickle

Egg whites, bacon jalapeños

No idea how many cals. Almost guaranteed to be 400 G protein.

[coachcalande]

276.6 now eating a ton.

It would be difficult to actually gain weight eating this way.

I ate five large meals yesterday and started today off the same way with a large omelette.
1 cup whites, 4 whole eggs, 3 slices ham, 2 slices cheese. I topped it off with olives.
Lunches will be anabolic medley. Two of those should take me through until after work.
The question is always 4 meals or 5 where it used to be 5 or 6?

Now last night it was unmistakable that I was excreting ketones. This am, I felt smaller everywhere, flatter belly and just smaller.

Not sure if I’ll carb load this weekend or not.

[coachcalande]

276.6 today, burning ketones for sure.

Anyway ate a big omelette and went to work on squats. Left glute strain is still there so performed sets cautiously at
235x6
255x5
285 x4 pause squats
305x1 pause

Moved on to front squats with 165x6 x3 sets
Three sets leg curls, 3 sets calf raises.

Rate this workout a 3/5

Sleep last night was poor as I was awake at 1pm for a good hour.

Possible carb load this weekend…let’s see how tomorrow’s lift goes.

[coachcalande]

Marvel at the change in energy and mobility. I’m so less stiff and arthritis is under control as I got out of the car with ZERO PAIN or stiffness and immediately went to work in my house, cut my hair, bathed the dog and walked him, vacuumed too.

Keto, after just 6.5 days is making a huge difference and it’s not about weight or physical appearance, it’s about feeling good.

It’s crazy to think that my meals are like 80-120 G protein each I’ll bet…and then it’s 4-5 meals.

The comfort between meals is sooo much better….now today, I grazed eating half a container every few hours and that was very nice.

[coachcalande]

My dinner was delicious.

4 eggs, 1 cup whites, two pickles wrapped with turkey slices. Incredible.

[coachcalande]

Look and feel thinner.

It’s only day 8, the water weight loss appears to be done and body weight stable at 276-277 with me absolutely eating as much as I want, sometimes even forcing myself to finish what’s on my plate. I can’t really count cals the way I’m preparing tubs of food with mixtures of eggs, meats, cheese, dressing and veggies.

I’ll figure out a way to maybe calculate cals in my mass cooking and then compute a weekly total …daily average.

Right now I typically eat a large brea At 4 am

Then I graze on two tubs of anabolic medley at work.

After work around 5 a big dinner…may eat again at 8 pm but not consistently. Say…1/3 of time.

I’m not worried about losing weight, just avoiding gaining and avoiding sacrificing…Im eating for satiety. I happen to enjoy this very much and feel quite good!

One change I have noticed, I’m much more productive both before and after work. I’ll take it!

[coachcalande]

I had a theory that productivity was a result of caffeine being absorbed without the starchy carbs around but even before coffee I’m getting things done effortlessly in comparison to before. There’s. A pep in my step when I get out of bed.

[coachcalande]

Todays meals
4 am - eggs, whites and beans
8-anabolic medley
12- anabolic medley (about 1/2 of tupperware)
…will probably eat remaining portion between 1-3.
Dinner- steak

[coachcalande]

Todays lift
Seated shoulder press
4x 165

Up rows 4x 115
Side laterals x4

Pushdowns and curls for 25 min

[coachcalande]

Day 8 keto notes:
1- 5/5 💥💥💥💥💥 training session
2- good solid sleep
3- energetic all day at work
4- date night plans
5- zero inflammation/pain or stiffness (this is life changing)
6- satiety, zero cravings, no hunger issues
7- will postpone scheduled carb up
8- new separation in quads

Also, less gassy, less bloated, face is thinner, no triple chin, only real negative is when after a higher fat meal like a tuna melt with mayo, I can definitely get that keto taste, metal mouth…fruity breath. I’m scheduled for two days high carb with low fat buuuut….I feel so good I’m going to postpone at least another day.

[coachcalande]

Keto day 10. 276

Ate 3000 cals yesterday and 50% of that protein, just 4% carbs.

Today I thought I’d have a crappy lift but was treated to a 5 stars lift.

255x10 on bench
235x6 inclines
225x7 pulldowns
225x7 narrow pds
300x8 on seated chest supported rows

Feel great, eating like a king and mood and energy through the roof. Off the couch so much more.

[coachcalande]

Keto day 11
275.2 lbs

Took in roughly 500 G protein today after training legs this am. Estimate 3800 cals, 179 G fat, more than usual since I ate four chicken thighs with skin for dinner.

Anyway…felt great all day and was pleased with leg workout.

Did a pyramid of smith squats 235-255-285-305-315
Then smith front squats at 165
Supersetted leg ext and calf raises
Finished with leg curls.

Most likely, as I maintain or maybe even lose alittle, no more PRs in my near future….but sure was wild seeing those big pulls yesterday.

Sleep is good, skin looks better, no hunger pangs, changes in bloat and inflammation…all positive.

[coachcalande]

Today I’m bringing 1.5 lbs of meat to work. I cooked up bacon and eggs (8 whole eggs, two cups whites) and ball park 2100 cals 320 G protein excluding whatever I have for dinner.

Only 80ish G fats and typically I think I fall in at about 125-150 a day.