The Journey To A Six-Pack - Keto Style

[phabphour20]

Well Dru, I have been considering doing the same thing myself, but I am afraid of the implications for the gym. I am not sure that the body was meant to lift heavy weights repeatedly until failure quite so often as we do. So, I'll be very interested to see your results. Keep us informed.

As for me, carbup starts tonight!

-PP

Edit: What I mean to say is that there are a different set of implications for serious bodybuilders. A person who doesn't lift weight regularly can easily not carbup, but I am not sure about someone who depletes muscle glycogen so quickly and fully. Very interested in your results.

[Druluv75]

I have been thinking hard on this decision, but the science does support my logic on this.

I'm going totally on the idea that fat loss in directly affected by hormones more than the calories I eat. So on this path keeping endocrine systems working optimally is where my journey takes me. Reduction of energy to cells will impede any fat loss especially belly fat. So even when we reduce food calories we still want fat cells pick up energy slack to cells. This can only happen if hormonal systems are working right. So eating the least amount of food without getting hungry is the key. The question is: What is least amount of food needed to be satisfied? When there is no insulin present in the blood the body can be a good indicator for its direct needs. So instead of counting calories, we should pay attention to physiological needs of hunger. So I don't know what my day to day calorie requirement, but hunger will let me know.

Overtraining or excessive cardio will cause endocrine systems to operate inefficiently. This will bring fat loss to an immediate halt. Everyone believes that you need to work out balls to the wall on every workout, But workouts that are short and intense and use relatively lighter weights produce more growth hormone, and stimulates more testosterone. Growth hormone is a fat liberator plus muscle builder and testosterone helps belly fat be liberated. So in essence we should we should do more work in less time in order to lose more bodyfat.

I'm not worried about fatigued muscles, because muscles have no problem using fatty acids for the work out.

If muscles are so depleted that it needs glucose, the body will create more from proteins or from fats. The hormone that's responsible for the conversion of non-carbohydrates to glucose is glucagon, which is also happens to be a liberator of fat from the fat cells.

The body also uses IGF-1 to mimic the effects of insulin, while not as powerful as insulin it will still get the job done. IGF-1 is also another fat liberator. So I suspect, Intense but short duration exercise should do the trick to stimulate musles, without over-training them.

All these fat liberating horomones get suppress when insulin is present

[Druluv75]

Radio Interview with Gary Taubes: Click Extended Interview on Right
http://www.peoplespharmacy.com/archi..._calories.php#

[Druluv75]

Well I made it over the weekend without a carb up, I didn't really have any cravings for carbs so I was pretty much happy with that. I'm checking to see if I suffer any set backs in the gym, because I'm adopting a full low carb lifestyle. I was able to keep cravings at bay by eating well high fat meals. One of my favorite anti-craving meals is ground beef, liberal portions of sour cream, and shredded Mexican blend cheese. If you are craving carbs, this meal will put a quick stop to it. I even went to a bar to catch the pats and cowboys, and I ordered un-breaded buffalo wings/ blue cheese and a couple of low carb beers. What was important about that bar trip was my ability to function in a high carb environment and still have fun without eating any fattening carbs.

The true test will see how I perform in the gym today. My muscles feel fine and I feel invigorated, but until you do your first neck press, you will know if holding off on carb ups was a smart decision.

I have been experimenting with my new PreWork out stack of BCAA/EAA and NO2/. So I'm using vasocharge, Xtend, and Primal EAA. So far I like how full my muscle feels while I'm taking this stack. So this may be a constant PreWork out strategy.

Last week was a good week. I was able shrink my waist measurement over my belly button by an inch. I am very happy with that because my belly is the hardest place to lose fat on. But I started using new techniques as far as my diet goes. I'm not motivated by hitting daily caloric totals or daily protein requirements, I use hunger to as my guide. At meal time, if I'm not hungry I will just eat a little bit, and if I'm hungry I will eat until satisfied. I have come to trust my body a little bit more, and I feel in a low carb environment that the body will make the best decisions. However, any carb cravings will be dealt with as an addiction trying to return, and I must try and fight it.

[phabphour20]

An inch off your waist, damn, good job. Mine hasn't budged in almost 3 weeks.

What is your lifting/cardio schedule like at the moment?

[Druluv75]

I was having the same problem of not losing any belly fat for awhile. Luckily I read cover to cover "Good Calories Bad Calories" and the book broke it down to all hormones or at least that was my take home message. I let hunger be my guide to amount of food I am consuming. I have abandon all calorie requirements, and all protein requirements, and just go by how I hungry or how satisfied I feel. Now that inch came with no weight loss on the scale, which actually baffles people when they ask how much more weight did I lose, because I let them know I haven't lost any scale weight for the past 2 months. I just notice my "fat 6-pack" is starting to coming in, I can see the muscle separation in my midsection, but its covered in fat; I don't know if this makes sense though.

I far as training, I downgraded my workouts to 20 - 30 minutes. I alternate my workouts. I do Chest,Back, Shoulders, and triceps for one workout, and I do Thighs, Hamstrings, Calves, Biceps, and forearms on the next day. I leave my gym bag home on Wednesday for a mandatory rest, because if I bring it I will go to the gym. The Wednesday rest day is the most important rest day of the week for me. If losing fat is all hormonal, Muscles as well as endocrine systems need their rest to. I have notice with me that excessive and too much weight lifting can put a strain on the body's hormonal system, and this can lead to fat loss stalls. So I carefully watch my weightlifting intensity. All I really want to do is stimulate, not annihilate the muscle.

I don't do any cardio, I can't really see the point. For me, I don't lose fat any faster by doing it. In addition, it can add unneeded stress to the body which can lead to overtraining. Eating less will stress the body less than 1hr of cardio. For men we really need to watch for overtraining because it will drop your testosterone levels; any drop of testosterone can stall fat loss especially around the midsection.

On my Alternative Hypothesis on Obesity tread, I will go into how fat cells really operate in relation to how body uses fat stores, its going to be exciting. For a juicy tidbit.

Its a myth to think that fat cells are just used for emergencies when there is a energy deficit. Fat cells are constantly being used for energy needs whether its a high carb or low carb diet or whether there is deficit or not. You don't need to create a deficit to lose fat body fat!

[phabphour20]

Yeah, I read the book too. I feel better, and my fiance tells me that my face looks leaner and she keeps squeezing my muscles. The scale isn't really changing, but neither is the tape measure around my waist.

I added 10 pounds to my bench yesterday, which made me feel good. I feel strong. I did about two weeks without cardio while lifting 4-5 days a week. I ate clean keto all week and then did a carb up (fairly dirty, so maybe this is part of it) on Fri night/Saturday. I wonder if it is possible that I am adding enough muscle to completely offset any fat loss, and maybe the fat loss is coming from places other than my waist. I don't know.

I gave in and did some cardio yesterday for the first time in a while. I guess I'll have to see if I start to see better results with the cardio. It is just frustrating to think I am doing things correctly but have no tangible results.

Keep up the informative posts Dru. I appreciate it.

-PP

[Druluv75]

PP just watch that cardio, the first sign of overtraining, you'll need to cut back. Like Gironda said overtraining puts too much stress on hormonal systems. And Gary Taubes laid out the science of how hormonal systems impact fat loss. Those are two powerful reasons to keep an eye on cardio and overtraining.

Well today was a weird day, my stomach was feeling a little bit flat so I measured my waist and found, am 1" down from last weeks measurement and a full week hasn't passed as of yet. I then step on the scale and found that I'm down 4lbs from last week Friday. The thing is that I can't really pinpoint any real reason because I changed a lot of things I was doing.

Some of the changes

Supplemental Changes
I added Xtend as a during workout supplement
I added vasocharge & primal as prework out supplement
I added Acetyl L-Carnitine supplement

Diet
Hunger is my guide

Exercise
Reduced all workouts from 45min to 25 min( 8reps/8sets to 12reps/4sets)
Instead of two a day, I do one a day


Carb ups
Currently suspending weekend carb ups.


so it could be a little of all for a synergistic effect.

So far I'm really causious since I suspended carb ups. I haven't really missed a step in the gym as of yet. But I don't want over do. If I'm losing weight with the reduce load, then I'm happy.

[phabphour20]

Man, I am starting to get real jealous of all these lbs you are dropping. And especially all the inches.

So, one workout a day for 25 mnutes. No cardio. Eat until you are full. What general ratio? 65/35 or so?

[Druluv75]

It just started to come together. When I spliced Gironda's techniques with Gary Taubes's book it all makes sense now. Gironda always preached about healthy endocrine systems but I always ignored it. After reading Taubes' book, he spent a great deal explaining how hormonal systems work and a light bulb went up.

I AM WORKING OUT TOO DAMN HARD FOR SMALL RESULTS.

I have been doing keto for over 10 months now, and that calorie counting is a waste of time. When insulin is low, your body becomes a better indicator of what it needs. When insulin is low there are 8 known fat liberating hormones that are running through the blood. Why disrupt hormonal balance with overtraining and excessive cardio. Excessive Long duration cardio is the worst, and I learned that early on my journey; I just didn't know why but I know now. Gironda was very intune with this concept, and his philosophy is built off of this. He always spoke of keeping nervous energy down, and proper rest after training. He always said "train 21 rest 7" . He knew that the body is better adapted for short & intense training, rather than a long duration effort. Get f*** in and get F**** out and rest and eat.

Forced low calorie eating and lots of training is where we mess up. If you calm the training down, and pay attention to appetite and hunger cues, you can easily eat less without feeling hungry. Decreased appetite and Vigor is a clear sign that fat cells are giving up some fatty acids.

Once I understood how the fat cells worked, I was able to create my diet and training around this concept. That's why quickly abandoned carb ups, because I want to keep this hormonal environment up. I will not, and never talk badly about carb ups, because it help me knock my carbohydrate addiction.

In addition sleep is probadly the best time for fat burning too, so the more you sleep the more fat you will burn. So rockstars get your sleep!

[pacificgrl]

hey, your posts help even the science challenged like myself to understand why exactly why the keto food plan i'm doing is yielding such great results. huge thanks for that.

right now i'm a slave to fitday. i just did a post in my journal wondering about macros and grams and this and that. i've never been one to count calories but since adapting to keto, i've had to start trusting that more FAT won't make me FAT. your post is perfect timing. since my carb-up on sunday, i'm absolutely not hungry but yet i'm off to fry up my dinner. oh the cycle....

[Druluv75]

Its funny when we start eating closer to what we evolve on, the easier fat loss becomes. The reason that I say "Let Hunger Be Your Guide" , is that hunger is a better indicator of the body's needs then setting an artificial caloric meal plan. The body will automatically adapt to the same amount calories if you provide the same amount of calories every day. Deceased hunger between meals, loss of appetite, and increased vigor are key signs that fat cells are releasing stored fatty acids into the blood. So it seems that we need to consume the least amount of food without getting hungry. However, you cannot ignore the hunger impulse, because this is where problem will arise. Ignoring hunger will only lead to a lowered metabolic rate and a loss of lean mass. Also if you try to make this into a low fat / high protein diet , it will not work either. The body is intune with both energy sources, if you skimp on both, the body will lower its metabolic rate and stress out hormonal systems. Supplying your body with fat keeps insulin low, and starvation red alerts down in the body.

[Druluv75]

Low Carb Beer Comparison Chart
http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art14302.asp

[Druluv75]

Is dieting or exercise better for weight loss?

http://www.boston.com/yourlife/healt...r_weight_loss/

[Druluv75]

Well its almost two weeks since my last carb up, I didn't notice any bad results as of yet, but trust me I'm the look out. Carb cravings are nil, and I'm really glad about that. Since my last journal entry, I'm down another 2lbs without much effort. I started the week at approx 257, and now I'm down to 251. Its really hard to pinpoint why this week is a fat melting week, and the other weeks were little weight loss. This week is my most successful week since starting in January. I finally just broke under 40" on my waist around my navel. This is very big considering that most of my fat lost has been around my arms, hips, and legs. To start attacking the waist area is very motivating to me right now.

Regarding the fatloss is very touchy right now, because I don't know what to do. How healthy is it to lose 6lbs in a week; the funny thing is that I did it on less effort. So today, I need to see if I lose another pound, if I do, I need to see if I should slow it down. How much fat loss is healthy in week? However, the only way to slow it down would be to eat more carbs, but eating carbs is just too risky right now. With my addiction to carbs low, I don't want to wake up those pathways again.

[RU4A69]

. Excessive Long duration cardio is the worst, and I learned that early on my journey; I just didn't know why but I know now.

Forced low calorie eating and lots of training is where we mess up.

....

I'm gonna subscribe just for your sagely wisdom dru.

I have notice with me that excessive and too much weight lifting can put a strain on the body's hormonal system, and this can lead to fat loss stalls. So I carefully watch my weightlifting intensity. All I really want to do is stimulate, not annihilate the muscle.

I don't do any cardio, I can't really see the point. For me, I don't lose fat any faster by doing it. In addition, it can add unneeded stress to the body which can lead to overtraining. Eating less will stress the body less than 1hr of cardio. For men we really need to watch for overtraining because it will drop your testosterone levels; any drop of testosterone can stall fat loss especially around the midsection.

[toasty]

amazing job so far. really inspiring especially for someone like me who has been hesitant to start keto.

[Jglinatsis]

Regarding the fatloss is very touchy right now, because I don't know what to do. How healthy is it to lose 6lbs in a week; the funny thing is that I did it on less effort. So today, I need to see if I lose another pound, if I do, I need to see if I should slow it down. How much fat loss is healthy in week? However, the only way to slow it down would be to eat more carbs, but eating carbs is just too risky right now. With my addiction to carbs low, I don't want to wake up those pathways again.

I don't think it's anything to worry about to be honest Dru, but your only option to slow down the weight loss isn't so much just add more Carbs, you could slow it down by eating more when your not hungry, that worked to keep your weight loss slowed for the past 8 months right? Prolly more correct to say you were pushing your calories very high to ramp up your BMR and do all your experimentation, but its kind of the same from what I have read.

I'm always very impressed to see what your thinking and doing and I hope you keep it up...

JG

[Druluv75]

....., the simplest possible explanation for feeding behavior is that we eat to maintain this flow of energy to cells -- to maintain "caloric homeostasis" -- rather than maintain body fat stores or some preferred weight. If cells themselves are receiving sufficient fuel to function, the size of the fat reserves is a secondary concern.

As Friedman and Stricker explained, "Hunger appears and disappears according to normally occurring fluctuations in the availability of utilizable metabolic fuels, regardless of which fuels they are and how full the storage reserves."

Here is a quote from the Good Calories Bad Calories: Carbohydrate hypothesis III, Here is a good theory on why we may get hungry.So if we are not hungry then the body's cells are getting enough energy.

So the trick is, How can we release more fat from the fat cells.

[Phenix Soul]

Good luck on your quest. I am currently taking a break on my keto stent. I havent seen no weight loss on scale but tons & tons of fat loss in mirror images. Sorry no progress pics. I hate myself in pictures.

My first keto experience was in 2000. 1-1-00 at 289lb i needed a change. In seven months i dropped from 289lb to 214lb. I counted calories & fitday'd my life for at least 3 or 4 months. After that i knew what my body needed & wanted.

Now i am not really sick of keto, but i guess eating eggs, brocolli / caulflower & steak, beef,chicken all day for the last 2 months kind of got to me after being on keto for the last few years on / off.

Also i want to do an test on myself through winter to see how i look eating carbs (good carbs) clean diet.

When you reach your goal weight "druluv75" you will be a monster.

Peace

[Druluv75]

Well some good news, I lost another 3lbs from last week Friday, so I'm down to 248lbs. I also lost another inch around my waist. I feel that reducing my carb loads is really helping right now, I also started fat cycling my meals; so my middle meal is grilled chicken breast. It seems that fat cells will always try and reach equilibrium, so you have to adjust fat levels to get the fat cells to release some more of the fatty acids. Work Outs are still short, but I have been able to get stronger even though I'm eating less. What I have found is that when you eat less, and the fat cells are releasing fatty acid to make up the difference, you still end up at maintenance even though you eat under maintenance. So while dieting, you can drop calories as far down as you want, as long as the fat cells are releasing fatty acids to make up the difference. However, once you get hungry you have to eat.

[Druluv75]

Thanks for the love Phenix Soul,

For me and the way my insulin works, I can not abandon a high fat/low carb diet. While a Ketogenic will help fix insulin problems, going back to a high carb diet will bring back the same problems I avoid while eating low carb. To me there is no such thing as clean carbs. As long as carbs increase insulin production, I know I need to decrease the amount of carbohydrates in my diet. Both clean and bad carbs both impede fatty acids from being released from fat cells, and if you have the propensity to fatten, advoiding both carbs will help keep fat off the body.

[Druluv75]

Want Proof Of What's Healthy? Fat Chance
http://www.brandweek.com/bw/magazine...03661005&imw=Y

[Druluv75]

Well I think the Gary Taubes, pissed off some people. Apparently, the council of wheat foods basically suggests that Gary Taubes book is another fad diet book giving carbohydrates a bad name. Here's the link: http://grainblog.wheatfoods.org/?p=52

The wheat council in a nutshell believes that it boils down to calorie in/ calorie out. A calorie of protein is the same as a calorie of carbohydrate, is the same as a calorie of fat. To believe this, a person has to believe that 1500 calories of Twinkies has the same weight loss potential of 1500 calories of Steak, sweet .

Well alls good with the diet, I was able to drop an additional 1lb to bring my weekly total to 4lbs, and the week is not over as of yet. I'm starting to get my props too! The manager of New York Sports Club came over to me to congratulate me on my transformation. He said that I was one of the two, who truly used the gym to transform their body, and I was proof that dedication is the key to weight loss. So that made me have a good day. People in the gym seem baffle that my workouts are short, and cardio is none existent, and I still lose weight. In a friendly way, I let them know you are working your body too hard, but they laugh at me, because they believe that exercise is the only way. So I just keep it moving, and do my own thing.

I have strengthen my position that carbs should not be part of a post work out meal. I direct this to obese or over weight reducers. Lean people can do what ever they want, but over-weight reducers should take out the post work out sugar. It seems after a workout, muscles are very insulin sensitive, but so are fat cells, and both require nourishment following a workout. If you ingest sugar, muscles will stop burning fatty acids after your work out, and switch to use up the available dextrose ingested. After insulin drops, fat burning will begin again. Again, depending how fast and how much insulin get pump this will determine how long it stays in the blood stream trapping trapping fat in the fat cells.

[phabphour20]

So, have you modified your thinking on whey post-workout? It seems to be insulinogenic as well and might have some negative effects for fat loss.

Also, fantastic job man. Fantastic.

-PP

[Druluv75]

That's the thing, if whey causes insulin to be secreted, I would skip the whey pwo just to keep the fat burning environment up. When I get to 10%bf, I would add whey, but mix it with heavy cream to lessen the chance of or the amount of insulin in the blood stream. I think our naturally leaner folks can use the sugar & whey and get good results, but if we have tendency to fatten, I would rather skip the sugar and whey and have whole food (protein and fat) meal.

[phabphour20]

That's the thing, if whey causes insulin to be secreted, I would skip the whey pwo just to keep the fat burning environment up. When I get to 10%bf, I would add whey, but mix it with heavy cream to lessen the chance of or the amount of insulin in the blood stream. I think our naturally leaner folks can use the sugar & whey and get good results, but if we have tendency to fatten, I would rather skip the sugar and whey and have whole food (protein and fat) meal.

That is what I am thinking as well.

I certainly "have a tendency to fatten." LOL.

[Mo_ria]

Well I think the Gary Taubes, pissed off some people. Apparently, the council of wheat foods basically suggests that Gary Taubes book is another fad diet book giving carbohydrates a bad name. Here's the link: http://grainblog.wheatfoods.org/?p=52

The wheat council in a nutshell believes that it boils down to calorie in/ calorie out. A calorie of protein is the same as a calorie of carbohydrate, is the same as a calorie of fat. To believe this, a person has to believe that 1500 calories of Twinkies has the same weight loss potential of 1500 calories of Steak, sweet .

Well alls good with the diet, I was able to drop an additional 1lb to bring my weekly total to 4lbs, and the week is not over as of yet. I'm starting to get my props too! The manager of New York Sports Club came over to me to congratulate me on my transformation. He said that I was one of the two, who truly used the gym to transform their body, and I was proof that dedication is the key to weight loss. So that made me have a good day. People in the gym seem baffle that my workouts are short, and cardio is none existent, and I still lose weight. In a friendly way, I let them know you are working your body too hard, but they laugh at me, because they believe that exercise is the only way. So I just keep it moving, and do my own thing.

I have strengthen my position that carbs should not be part of a post work out meal. I direct this to obese or over weight reducers. Lean people can do what ever they want, but over-weight reducers should take out the post work out sugar. It seems after a workout, muscles are very insulin sensitive, but so are fat cells, and both require nourishment following a workout. If you ingest sugar, muscles will stop burning fatty acids after your work out, and switch to use up the available dextrose ingested. After insulin drops, fat burning will begin again. Again, depending how fast and how much insulin get pump this will determine how long it stays in the blood stream trapping trapping fat in the fat cells.

Oh god, my fat cells are probably screaming to be fed! That is such a scary thought. I think they are in the buffet line at the Bellagio as we speak...
Congratulations on your losses and your inspiring progress!!
I am laughing at the council of wheat foods being mad about Gary T's book...you could never eat wheat or grain anything again and be perfectly fine. The brainwashing of the American public as far as food goes is totally crazy...I see all aspects of it at my job. *Shiver*

[Druluv75]

Low-Carb Diet & Protein Turnover

Check This Out :

The major finding of the present study was that muscle protein synthesis increased despite strict carbohydrate restriction and a marked reduction in the daily exposure to insulin. This increase in protein synthesis was accompanied by an increase in whole-body proteolysis.

http://weightoftheevidence.blogspot....-turnover.html

[Druluv75]

Well today I lost .5lbs today, I need 1lb more to bring my total weight loss to 60lbs. One thing I noticed with my low carb not no carb weekends, is that I'm losing the same amount of weight scale wise as if I totally carb up. What I mean is, When I totally carb up, I would gain about 8lbs - 10lbs of body weight, after keto-day 1, I would lose the same 3lbs, and I would lose the rest of the 8lbs by Friday, sometimes I would come in lower than last week, and sometimes I would not. However, going low carb over the weekend kept my weight stable, and now I'm 10lbs lighter. Now I don't know how fatten is the CKD version of the carb up, but I do know that I have to keep it low carb in order to keep the loses coming. This realization is pretty upsetting to me, I have been on this new lifestyle for over 30 weeks, and if I had done the weekend as low carb, I would of reached my goals quicker. I won't cry over spill milk, but I needed to get this of my chest.

What I'm learning since grasping the way the body works, is that the obese need a different way to get results. I lot of these diets don't really address the needs of over-weight reducer.