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  1. #11
    Ride The Lightning

    EXP: 166,794, Level: 17
    Level completed: 83%, EXP required for next Level: 3,206
    Level completed: 83%,
    EXP required for next Level: 3,206


    Storm Veritas's Avatar

    GP
    25,550

    Name
    Storm Veritas
    Age
    39
    Race
    Human
    Gender
    Male
    Location
    Corone
    Day 8 - (April 9)
    Weight - 185.0 lbs

    WEEK ONE TOTAL - (8.1 lbs)

    What a morning! Nothing greets a fresh week like a damned-near two pound loss! Went to see the Black Panther last night at one of those restaurant/theater hybrids with my wife and Brother/Sister in law. Movie was great, and dinner was pretty awesome. Ended up with a Bacon Cheeseburger (no ketchup, no bun), and a side salad with full-fat Italian dressing. Had to grab myself some cashews when I got home because I was starving.

    All told, it -DOES- feel like this diet dehydrates me quite a bit. When I run, my range is limited because I sweat like a priest on the playground. Powerade Zero has been nice - tasty, easy to drink fast and has some salts to replenish electrolytes rapidly with. I'm also now eating a simply incredible amount of spinach on a daily basis. Spinach, eggs, almonds, cashews, and just meat in general - these are my "go-to" foods that I just absolutely feast on.

    My wife also made "coffee bombs", pre-made bullet coffee cubes. Simply, she melted and mixed coconut oil and Kelly Gold butter, added in a little Truvia/Stevia based pumpkin spice. You then pour the mix into flexible ice cube trays, and put them in the fridge. With a little hand blender, my daily coffee provides an extra energy burst, lots of flavor, and tastes fantastic. Look into this if you're considering Keto; it's really great.

    Using the test strips, I am in full-blown ketosis and feel good. I've also already noticed a little firming; my love handles have become a little less generous, although my front belly fat is still about ten pounds away from giving up the fight.

    Loving it!

  2. #12
    Ride The Lightning

    EXP: 166,794, Level: 17
    Level completed: 83%, EXP required for next Level: 3,206
    Level completed: 83%,
    EXP required for next Level: 3,206


    Storm Veritas's Avatar

    GP
    25,550

    Name
    Storm Veritas
    Age
    39
    Race
    Human
    Gender
    Male
    Location
    Corone
    Day 9 - (April 10)
    Weight - 185.0 lbs

    I'm starting to sense a pattern here. Honestly, after a huge loss day, I will happily take a stay-flat day and avoid giving back any weight. I drank a ton of water and powerade yesterday, rehydrating as I had been feeling a little drained. Made steak&cheese subs yesterday for dinner, using romaine lettuce wraps to encapsulate shaved steak, full fat cheddar, and sautéed peppers, onions, and mushrooms. They were absolutely incredible. A little leftover steak to go on the side of my morning eggs was pretty great, too.

    Note: cashews are NOT a great keto-friendly choice. Turns out a small handful has 8-10 carbs in it, which is almost enough to pull you out of ketosis. I put those in the back of the pantry and bought some macadamia nuts. Macadamia nuts taste incredible, are very rich in fat and protein, and only have 1.5 carbs/serving. The danger is simply that I could eat about 2000 calories worth of macadamia nuts in one serving if I kept them in front of me. They're also very expensive, running about $1/serving.

    I've found running to be a little frustrating on Keto. With your body stripped of salts, you sweat like crazy. In the cold New England spring air, sweating while running in the 35 degree (2 degree for you metric systemers) air just sucks. Additionally, on long runs I find myself cramping up because of dehydration and having to stop to stretch fatigued muscles too frequently.

  3. #13
    upon the cheek of night

    EXP: 224,444, Level: 20
    Level completed: 0%, EXP required for next Level: 0
    Level completed: 0%,
    EXP required for next Level: 0


    Breaker's Avatar

    GP
    38,725

    Name
    Joshua Breaker Cronen
    Age
    30
    Race
    Demigod
    Gender
    Male
    Location
    Corone
    As recently as a few years ago, I was pretty crazy about understanding the latest and greatest of exercise and nutrition science. It's possible I've forgotten and misremembered things, and also possible some of my knowledge base has been disproven in the interim, so take what I say with a grain of salt. That said, I do have considerable experience with a number of diets and exercise programs, including the ketogenic diet.

    Your body will definitely hold onto less water on a high fat diet than on a carbohydrate rich diet, which is the main reason people typically see significant weight loss early in a ketogenic diet. I remember running into this problem when I was experimenting with different diets and practicing MMA. Rather than spend a lot of money on sports drinks, I just started putting a pinch of salt in my water. Anecdotally, I found that this made me sweat and urinate less, and also kept me from feeling like I wasn't getting enough sodium in my diet. If you google "putting salt in water" you can find a number of articles on the health benefits of supplementing your drinking water with small amounts of either Himalayan rock salt (my fav) or sea salt.

    Another facet of dieting which has proven to have a number of health benefits is intermittent fasting. You may already be doing this, whether intentionally or unintentionally, but I didn't see it mentioned above so I figured it bears mentioning. Basically this means that you restrict your eating to certain hours of the day. I don't currently follow any specific diet (other than avoiding foods I have sensitivities to, which sadly, are many), however I do usually only eat between 12 noon and 10pm. This means that I only eat during a ten hour period each day, leaving the other fourteen hours as a fast. A lot of people who are more disciplined than me will fast up to sixteen hours each day, limiting their eating window to eight hours. Among other benefits, intermittent fasting is known to increase longevity and encourage your body to burn fat as its main energy source. This, and the fact that a protein/fat rich diet makes controlling when you eat easier, makes intermittent fasting go hand in hand with a keto diet quite nicely. Naturally, I'd encourage you to do your own research before trying it. For extra points try googling "intermittent fasting ketosis", there is lots of information available on using the two simultaneously.

    All in all, to the best of my knowledge it seems like you're doing a lot of things right. Kudos to you for finding both the time and energy to exercise so much. Since you're planning to only follow the keto diet for thirty days, I might suggest re-introducing carbs gradually, and sticking to mostly vegetables, legumes and fruit rather than grains when you do. Otherwise, you may find that you quickly gain back a lot of what you've lost in water weight.
    "The breeze did not stir. The stars did not twinkle. The trees did not sway and the brook did not babble.
    For the world did not turn when Am'aleh wept, and a tear had tumbled down her cheek."


  4. #14
    Ride The Lightning

    EXP: 166,794, Level: 17
    Level completed: 83%, EXP required for next Level: 3,206
    Level completed: 83%,
    EXP required for next Level: 3,206


    Storm Veritas's Avatar

    GP
    25,550

    Name
    Storm Veritas
    Age
    39
    Race
    Human
    Gender
    Male
    Location
    Corone
    Thanks for your input and advice! Looks like there are three items to touch on:

    - You're exactly right on salt being the main staple that needs to be taken in to manage the Keto diet in a healthy way. Sodium is the one we all know best, but Potassium and Magnesium are also super important. I've made the jump from standard table salt to Himalayan Pink; I'm not sure if there's a difference or not because I've changed too many other variables to isolate it, but it's delicious! You're also correct on being able to displace "electrolytes" via Powerade Zero with adding salt to water, but that one is a low priority for me. Powerade Zero is portable, cheap, and tasty. I bought a case of it at a good price so it's not much of an imposition for me to drink it.

    - I have done fasting occasionally; I really enjoyed the process and thought it is a great diet for people. I still fast every Good Friday as a blend of Catholic sacrifice and reintroducing the challenge. I find it creates problems for my running, though, so I don't do it with any regularity.

    - Definitely on board to resume my "normal" diet after the 30 day test. When I'm operating efficiently, it's still bread-free; I just allow myself fruits, sugary vegetables (like sweet potatoes) and beans, as you mentioned. I think ultimately that's a healthier diet than Keto because there are so many nutrients from those foods that I am currently missing. For the month, I should be fine. Long term, that's a lot of fiber/Vitamin C/potassium/etc. to have to make up through supplementation or inefficient greens and meat.

    Stripping away salt is also a strategic move for me. I lead a high stress life; the only real knock against my health is my blood pressure (a much more serious concern than my weight). My doctor encouraged me to try this diet, since he felt it could help jumpstart my body's ability to metabolize salts.

  5. #15
    Ride The Lightning

    EXP: 166,794, Level: 17
    Level completed: 83%, EXP required for next Level: 3,206
    Level completed: 83%,
    EXP required for next Level: 3,206


    Storm Veritas's Avatar

    GP
    25,550

    Name
    Storm Veritas
    Age
    39
    Race
    Human
    Gender
    Male
    Location
    Corone
    Day 10 - (April 11)
    Weight - 185.8 lbs

    YIKES

    Didn't fall out of Keto; I just simply gained weight last yesterday and I'm not precisely sure why. In fairness, I ate a LOT yesterday. Had a huge salad and a ton of chicken for dinner. Fixed myself a whiskey as a late night dessert, and stayed up late watching the Andre special on HBO (which was awesome).

    Hopefully this is just a blip on the radar, but I am being very, very sharp here today with my diet. Can't afford a big backslide.

  6. #16
    Ride The Lightning

    EXP: 166,794, Level: 17
    Level completed: 83%, EXP required for next Level: 3,206
    Level completed: 83%,
    EXP required for next Level: 3,206


    Storm Veritas's Avatar

    GP
    25,550

    Name
    Storm Veritas
    Age
    39
    Race
    Human
    Gender
    Male
    Location
    Corone
    Double Update Day!

    Day 11 - (April 12)
    Weight - 185.4 lbs

    Day 12 - (April 13)
    Weight - 185.0 lbs

    Not great here. My weight loss definitely stagnated, although I suspect a lot of it has to do with water retention/water management. I also did not run yesterday (which sucks, because it was gorgeous out), so I am not all that upset about today's (April13) weight. I'm hoping now that I've stabilized, my hunger is still very very manageable, perhaps I can do a better job of managing calories AS WELL AS remaining essentially carb-free.

    I will pat myself on the back in one regard - my eating discipline with respect to the ketosis diet has been beyond reproach. I haven't cheated at all on the diet, and we've found lots of new foods (shaved coconut, sausage links, atkins bars) that can be inserted. Every day I've tested positive for ketosis.

    I'm hoping these last few days are just a rebound period, like Week 2 of the Biggest Loser. The difference, I pointed out to my wife, is that those people lost like 25 lbs during week one, and I lost 8. Her reasonable counterpoint is that they wanted to lose 250 lbs, and I wanted to lose 20, max.

    Fair enough, but I'm not giving up. Eyeballing a longer run today to make up for yesterday's short one (hopefully).

  7. #17
    Ride The Lightning

    EXP: 166,794, Level: 17
    Level completed: 83%, EXP required for next Level: 3,206
    Level completed: 83%,
    EXP required for next Level: 3,206


    Storm Veritas's Avatar

    GP
    25,550

    Name
    Storm Veritas
    Age
    39
    Race
    Human
    Gender
    Male
    Location
    Corone
    Day 13 - (April 14th)
    Weight - 183.4 lbs

    Woo Hoo! Went for a long run yesterday, and it was ROUGH. 6.4 miles, very hilly, and it was brutal on me. It's strange when your body doesn't have the glycogen to pull energy from; my muscles get super sore quickly even when I'm as hydrated as one can be.

    Went for another run this morning after weighing in - that was terrible but got 4.6 miles in and weighed just under 182 after my shower. I'm not counting that number because it was clearly hydration-skewed, but still always nice to see a lower number on the scale.

    It's a huge relief to see a little more progress. The diet has become very manageable for me and I have no issues with hunger or cravings (exception: fruit. I'd really like a banana/apple/grapes. They are delicious and I miss them.)

  8. #18
    Ride The Lightning

    EXP: 166,794, Level: 17
    Level completed: 83%, EXP required for next Level: 3,206
    Level completed: 83%,
    EXP required for next Level: 3,206


    Storm Veritas's Avatar

    GP
    25,550

    Name
    Storm Veritas
    Age
    39
    Race
    Human
    Gender
    Male
    Location
    Corone
    Day 14 - (April 15)
    Weight - 183.0 lbs

    Nice follow up after a great day. Went out to dinner and managed to not have any significant problems. Hoping to keep the momentum through a Sunday, even though I know a big salad will inflate my apparent weight tomorrow.

  9. #19
    Ride The Lightning

    EXP: 166,794, Level: 17
    Level completed: 83%, EXP required for next Level: 3,206
    Level completed: 83%,
    EXP required for next Level: 3,206


    Storm Veritas's Avatar

    GP
    25,550

    Name
    Storm Veritas
    Age
    39
    Race
    Human
    Gender
    Male
    Location
    Corone
    Day 15 - (April 16th)
    Weight - 183.9 lbs

    Well, damnit. I knew this was coming because I ate a metric ton of lettuce last night and it just hadn't... ahem... processed, but it still is a swift kick in the rocks since I go back UNDER 10 lbs total lost. Nonetheless, as long as I can stay hydrated, this remains pretty easy. I must confess that sweets are really starting to appear much more tantalizing to me; I'd really love to swan dive into a bowl of cereal right now.

    Maybe part of it is the weather. Spring has been a goddamned disaster here in Boston. It's cold as shit and rainy; a part of me just wants to hibernate and maybe my stomach is calling to store food for the 12 week power nap.

  10. #20
    Viator Mundi

    EXP: 155,108, Level: 17
    Level completed: 18%, EXP required for next Level: 14,892
    Level completed: 18%,
    EXP required for next Level: 14,892


    Shinsou Vaan Osiris's Avatar

    GP
    7,753

    Name
    Shinsou Vaan Osiris
    Age
    34
    Race
    Telgradian
    Gender
    Male
    Location
    Corone

    View Profile
    Some really interesting results here mate. How are you keeping the cravings under control?

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