The Keto Experiment

Background:

You maybe asking why Keto?

Well, I'm about to turn 40 this year and as most do people you start thinking about your life and what you have done and what's left to achieve. As part of this process I decided to get medical insurance as waiting lists on the NHS ( National Health Service ) are getting longer and just to see my doctor takes three weeks.

I joined up with Vitality who I had some health checks done with and apart from the obvious fact that I was overweight my blood sugar was high and cholesterol too. I needed to get some real blood tests done.

As somebody who lives hard and plays hard this was a surprise and not a surprise. I like the additional desert here and there but did not realise how much sugar there was in everyday food.

I did research on diets to lower my blood sugar and came across keto. I've done most diets and enjoy them for a week or two before getting bored. I have also lost around 13kg this year already but after reading about ketogenics I thought let's give it a go. I also opted to go with Intermittent fasting. There were two reasons for this. One its during Ramadan so I will be fasting most days for 19hrs. Even though Intermittent Fasting allows for Water, Ramadan doesnt. Secondly, I've had been reading about its benefits and had already started doing this a few weeks prior to test it.

What is the Keto Diet:

The ketogenic diet is a diet that is high in fat and very low in carbs which forces your body to start a process called ketosis. When you body is on Ketosis it starts to burn stored fats for energy instead of glucose due to the lack of its availability.

Ketosis is based around the premise that your body was designed to run more efficiently as a fat burner than a sugar burner.

When you eat something that is high in carbs (donuts, fries etc), your body produces glucose and insulin.

Glucose is the easiest molecule for your body to convert and use as energy. This is always the preferred energy source for your body.
Insulin is produced to process the glucose in your bloodstream by transporting it around your body.
By shifting to Keto diet you need to ensure your body is still able to function and has all its nutritional needs. To do this your diet moves to eating high fat foods such as Salmon, Olive Oil, Avocados, Eggs and Nuts.

To calculate what I used this calculator. https://ketogains.com/ketogains-calculator/

What is Intermittent Fasting:

Intermittent Fasting( IF) is periods of fasting and eating preferably healthy.

IF has now become popular and there are now various versions of intermittent fasting.

The concept is pretty much the same: Eat pretty much whatever you want, between certain hours. Here are a few common iterations:

The 5:2 program: Eat normally five days of the week, then, follow a smaller diet of only eating 500 calories for two days.
16/8 Eat only within an 8-hour period each day and fast entirely for the remaining 16 hours
Eat Stop Eat: Fast for a full day one to two days a week, and eat normally the other five or six days a week
The Warrior Diet: Fast for 20 hours a day and eat one large meal every night

Combining the Keto Diet with Intermittent Fasting:

By combining both keto and IF, it is the perfect system to feel the benefits of both methods.

Fasting can help your body achieve ketosis faster as an empty stomach forces your body to look at other reserves for energy. This has additional benefits as when your in ketosis your body generally experiences fewer hunger pains.

Tracking Results for Keto:

Throughout this diet, I will use the following key measurements to track my progress:

Reductions in body fat percentage
Reduction in Fat Mass
Improvements in Strength at the Gym
While I have calculated measurements of these pieces of information, the real test will be the blood tests once completed.

All of my results and findings will be recorded and tracked on a spreadsheet and will be uploaded every week.

Start Date: 01/06/2018

Finish Date: 01/08/2018

My BMR: 2447 kcal

Calories Consumption Allowance: 2196 kcal

The Process:

The ketogenic diet will be followed for 60-days. I will allow myself a break for a total of 10 days in that time. A break will be one day where I can eat other things but not to the point where I crash. This will allow me to be more motivated. I will be fasting intially for 19hrs per day with no water during ramadan. After this I will revert to an 18hr fast with a 6 hour window.

I aim to workout four times per week minimum. This will be majority weight training with a bit of HIIT cardio. Even with the training I won't alter my macro diet. During the fast the only thing I will be consuming is water and a keto coffee. I aim to drink a minimum of 3 litres per day.

I will document everything including my workouts.

My Baseline figures:

For the sake of this diet I made sure I had figures to work with

Firstly, some blood tests were taken to measure HDL, LDL, Liver, Glucose, HbA1c and thyroid function.

Secondly, I measured my weight , Body Fat Mass, Body fat % and BMI.

Here are the results:

Measurement Tools:

To help me through my logging activities during the 60-day diet, I’ll be using the following tools:

Blood Ketone Meter — I will use this to test my blood and confirm that I have reached ketosis. There are other ways such as strips but the meter is the most accurate.

Excel Spreadsheet — This will be used to track my workouts and body measurements.

Keto Diet App - This app allows me to measure my food intake as well as the macros.

Zero — This app will be used to monitor the amount of hours im fasting each day.

Time to Start the Keto Diet:

I have now fully outlined what i'll be doing over the next 60 days. I will take videos of the food im eating where I can and also my training.

The next 60 days will be very interesting.

Hope you guys come along for the ride.

If you have any questions or want to join me on this journey feel free to get in contact.