Five Down, Eight to Go!

Time flies when you’re having fun! Let’s see how I’m doing.

The Weight Loss

Net weight loss is at 15 pounds, so I’m staying on track. I dropped below 200 pounds this week, which is probably the first time in a decade I’ve seen a “1” as the first number on the scale. That’s a significant personal milestone for me. I’m still averaging a net weight loss of 3 pounds per week, which is perfect. I’ve decreased my body fat percentage by 3.1 percent (from 23.6 percent to 20.5 percent), and I’m really excited about that.

I’m still a long way from my goal of ten percent body fat, but my focus is going to shift next week, and I think the results are going to begin speeding up.

What Went Well

I like the change I’m seeing in my body. It’s crazy to think that I was just carrying around an extra 15 pounds everywhere I went and that I’m likely going to drop another 15 to 20 by the time this journey is over.

Work was crazy this week, which means I didn’t make it to the gym as often as I wanted. The fact that my weight loss continued at the same rate shows what we know: fitness is 80 percent diet and 20 percent exercise.

Staying hydrated and restricting eating times to stay within my intermittent fasting window continue to get easier; in fact, it’s not even something I think about now. I drink about a gallon of water per day and am going with an 8/16 IF window; if/when I cycle off of keto, I don’t see these realities changing drastically. I feel amazing and love how these habits contribute to that.

I mentioned last week how I’d realized my eating habits changed during the weekends with my kids. I’m happy to report that I was able to stay disciplined and on track between Friday and Sunday nights (for the most part). There are still some improvements to be made, but knowing what the problem is and being intentional about addressing it is huge.

What Was Hard

Honestly, I don’t know what to put here this week. I’m cruising. I’m fat-adapted, have formed great habits, and am comfortable with this new cooking and eating style and schedule. I’m consistently losing weight and seeing the progress I want, both on the scale and in the mirror.

This diet works, guys. It’s not a crash diet: the experience of virtually ever crash dieter I’ve ever heard is that it’s pretty much sheer torture and they’re holding their breath to get through it. I’ve changed my lifestyle and have found that I really do prefer it this way. Yes, I miss cake and pancakes and Krispy Kreme doughnuts, but when I compare the temporary pleasure I’d get from indulging in those with the price I’d pay for it—nah. I’m good.

The Next Week

OK, so here’s the part I’m excited about. I’m GoingKeto in two main phases, and the first comes to a close over the next week. This initial stage was all about becoming fat-adapted: losing an initial chunk of fat, getting my body used to ketosis, and forming good habits. That’s done.

The next phase is all about building muscle, and I discuss that in more depth here. This has to be approached very intentionally on the ketogenic diet. To grow muscle, you must have an excess of protein in your system, but if you start consuming too much before you’re fully fat-adapted, your body will be tempted to convert some of that protein into glucose, potentially knocking you out of keto.

As your body gets more efficient at being in ketosis, you can begin to increase your protein intake and still stay in keto. This gives your body the building blocks it needs to develop more muscle mass.

I’m still putting the finishing touches on my workout routine, but I’ll publish it next week when I transition. The primary themes involve decreasing the number of reps in each set, increasing the weight, and simultaneously upping the amount of cardio I’m doing.

The cardio part is essential for a couple of reasons. First, although I can consume more protein, I need to consume more fat to keep my ratios relatively intact. In the article I referenced above, I estimated that I’ll increase my daily protein intake by 50 percent, or 65 grams per day. I can’t leave my fat intake at the same level and reliably stay in keto, so that gets increased as well (carbs, as always, remain unchanged).

When you combine both macro increases, I’m upping my food intake by approximately 850 calories per day. My body will use all that protein and a good bit of the energy provided by the fat in muscle synthesis, but it still leaves an increase of several hundred calories I need to take care of. Increasing my cardio is a great way to expend the additional energy while simultaneously accentuating the results I want.

Final note

We launched a new Facebook community over the past week, and I love what I’m seeing there. Nearly 3,000 people have already joined, and the encouragement, information sharing, and pretty phenomenal recipes I’m seeing are inspiring. Check it out!