Here is the follow up of the first 5 days of my ketosis and intermittent fasting experiment. If you haven’t already, look back at the original post of this experiment plans.

First off, 2am Sun to 5pm Fri of low carb consumption, and I’ve focused heavily on weighing my grams of ingredients in food and calculating my macros up to Thursday where I still ate very low to no carb, but didn’t calculate my macros.  My original weigh in for the week was 191.0 after eating a lot the Saturday beforehand, and was about 185 avg. Although I went from 191.0 Saturday night to 183.6 by Monday morning, I did complete a 32hr fasting between 2am Sunday to weigh-in on Monday. After ending my fast with about 1,700 calories of no more than 10 grams of carbs, I was up to 185.8 lbs.

My weight has not dropped much, but I have felt the results in my health quickly. Current weigh-in after waking Friday is 182.6 lbs @ 19.5% fat (35.6 lbs approx.), about 2lbs of fat loss taking in the other factors. Approx. 3lbs of water weight has been lost, and 1lb of lean mass has gone done (lean mass and water weight do overlap with muscle holding in water).

I purchased ketone test strips (smackfat brand) and from testing on Sunday with clearing not being in ketosis from my binge of carbs the day before it showed me having zero to a small trace of ketones, testing correctly. On Tuesday I was still showing the same results, since ketosis takes several days to a little over a week to get into the ketosis state, I wasn’t deterred from results, but more glad that the ketone strips weren’t giving me a false hope, but in fact tested correctly in my mind. Now after my 5th day in, my test strip shows at about 4.0 ketones, a moderate rating. The color was noticeably darker than the 1.5 (small trace) but a shade lighter than the true 4.0 (moderate). Estimating myself to be more around 3.0 ketones, and trying to reach 8.0 to 10.0 level.

By Tuesday I was feeling the brain fog that comes from your body transitioning from carbs as the main source of energy to moving to fat as the source of energy. Fat does generate more energy output then does carbs, I won’t go into scientific detail in this post about it, but that is one other aspect of ketosis that I enjoy, you can eat less frequent and thus feel far less bloat that comes along with water retention and frequent eating and hunger that carbs bring. I do love my carbs, not so much sugar sweets, but breads and pastas are cravings from time to time.

Nutrition has mainly been one meal a day, ranging from 1,700 calories to 2,200 calories consumed within a 45min period. Many intermittent fasting programs suggest 16-18hrs fasting and then a 8-6hr eating period, more around 4 hours is preferred. However, as you’ll begin to learn more about me, I do things to the extreme when I decide on doing something usually. Some things not so much, but if /when time allows, then I always prefer shooting for extreme results in order to at least reach usual expected results.

This Saturday I was planning to use as my cheat day or cheat meal, however, since ketosis takes nearly a week to initally begin its process, I have strongly decided against losing all my work and fasting over pizza and beer. I now plan to go another full week 25 grams of carbs or less a day, preferably closer to 10-15 grams. I have not been under 180 lbs for several years, and ultimately want to get below 170 lbs before I begin playing around more with my food and drink leisure. Ketosis diets do have flavor, which makes them easier to get on and stay on, but being a diet, it is difficult to stay on ketosis weekly year after year.

My goal is to get to my weight range I’m confident with and comfortable in my physical abilities with body weight exercises testing. Although I prefer free-weight training and the ability to easily calculate goals, sets, reps, etc. I do believe body-weight exercises are a very important factor in health and should be a testing ground to frequent on your health level. I was capable of 16-25 pull ups, now I’m more at the 1-2 strict pull-ups, and that frustrates me to a high degree. Burpees are another exercise I enjoyed since it quickly raised my heart rate, now I struggle completing 30sec without wanting to flop over on the ground.

The four exercises I listed in my original post of this experiment plans I do enjoy the simplicity and quick nature of them. I do have a home gym, which is a huge bonus for me with a small exercise plan, as I would not recommend doing this workout if you have to drive to a gym. If you have a gym at an apartment complex or close to work, then this may work.

With my shoulder press, I listed the suggested weight for myself as 0.75 x my lean mass (79 lbs) which came to about 58, but my weights I needed to use a total of 55 lbs. I completed 16 reps the 1st set counting 3sec coming down with the bar, and 1 sec pushing up as best form in a quick pace, and 14 reps 2nd set. Shoulders are an endurance muscle, so this rep range works, but I’ll probably kick it up to a full 1.0 x lean mass once a week to develop more strength.

Front squats I had complications with. I didn’t realize how much my ankle was still bothering my from my work injury until I added weight to the bar and went to squat. My heel of my right foot remains sore on the right side when I walk on it or stand for period of time for several weeks now, but I have full range without pain when holding my foot up and moving my ankle. However, once I began to squat, the left side of my foot that hasn’t bothered me, quickly began to hurt and seized up. I stopped and took off my shoe and sock, and felt an unusual bulging about half an inch away from my Achilles. Being the stubborn person I am, I took boxing hand wraps and wrapped my foot in place, and proceeded to attempt my two sets. I DO NOT RECOMMEND LIFTING HEAVY THROUGH INJURIES. I was lucky and didn’t further injure myself, but my range of motion was limited and rep range was far lower than usual. I’ll be dropping the weight down next week and focus on strengthening my stability in my ankle, and lower the risk of a worse injury.

Incline bench press I still need a lot of development, as my chest has always struggled to develop because I’ve let my shoulders take on more of the work. I’ve been researching proper techniques to bench press, and how to limit the shoulders to focus the develop of the chest. This practice will take some time though, but I do prefer incline press (30 degree) over flat bench as I as feel more chest activation when I perform incline versus flat.

Hex bar deadlift, still one of my favorites. Going heavier on this exercise I enjoy a lot. The hex bar makes the deadlift feel more in place for me, as barbell deadlift I’m still developing the proper timing of the technique. This exercise always causes me to become winded and feel exhausted, I love it. I feel more comfortable with this exercise because I standing in the hex bar, and hand placement feel natural. Also, unlike a squat, I don’t have all that weight pressing down on my spine (had a snowboarding accident the pushed out discs in my upper and lower spine), as well as if I need to bail from the exercise I can safely drop it.

All in all, health wise, I feel a lot better this week, and now that I’m over the hump of brain fog and muscle fatigue, I feel far better than I have in several months. Thursday and Friday I ate low carb, but didn’t fast, all days prior were between 24-32hr fasting. I plan to schedule a 72-80hr fast in the next couple weeks to really cleanse my body.

Until next time, keep LivingLife, and take care of yourself and those you love!

Have comments/questions? Please feel free to email me at my2cents@livinglife-blog.com

“Remember, I’m NOT a qualified doctor, trainer, physiologist, philosopher, or have any other certified qualification. I’m only someone who’s passionate to learn & develop personal skills, habits, goals & finding a balance life-style, while sharing my journey through experiences.

– Developer of LivingLife-Blog”