One Down, Twelve to Go!

Well, one week down and twelve to go: it’s time for an update on GoingKeto!

The Weight Loss

I stayed on track with my macros and saw daily progress, losing just shy of 6 lbs this week. That’s mostly water weight, of course: each gram of glycogen stored in your body retains 3-4 grams of water with it. As you begin keto, your body burns through that glycogen and it isn’t replenished; the associated water goes with it, causing a rapid and significant decrease in weight.

How much glycogen is in your system depends on a number of factors, including how carb-rich your diet was before you began keto, how much you weigh, how in shape you are, etc. The numbers you see in the screenshots here are indicative of where that glycogen and water weight is stored: skeletal muscle and the liver. Although the sensors in my scale indicated both fat and muscle loss, it’s really glycogen and water loss within muscle and fatty tissue. That’s the “bad” news: I haven’t really lost any fat yet.

The good news is that I’m on track: this is the first step, and it’s indicative that my diet is on point, I’m staying low-carb, and the real fat burning will begin soon.

What Went Well

Although I knew that my energy levels would stabilize as I switched from carbs to fat, it was amazing to feel it happen. The ups and downs were muted and I experienced slow, steady energy throughout the day. I’m just at the beginning and I know I’ll see more progress as my body becomes more fat adapted, but the difference I’ve already felt is noticeable.

I’ve been able to stick to my workout routine, which is awesome. The first few days consisted of a lot of soreness, of course, but after that things have settled down and the recovery window has shortened each day. As anyone who has gotten back into lifting after a long hiatus knows, it takes a bit to dial in your numbers. You’re not as strong as you were the last time you checked your maxes, but you’re not sure exactly where you’re landing now. That’ll take time, but I’m enjoying the process.

The meal plans from Tasteaholics were incredibly helpful. Creating a menu for a week while trying to figure out macros and shopping lists can be difficult—the meal plans puts the weekly menu, macros breakdown by both day and meal, and a complete shopping list in one PDF. That’s definitely something I’d recommend.

My favorite meal was the crustless bacon spinach quiche from one of the meal prep plans. This jewel actually isn’t published on the site yet, so I’ve included a few screenshots below to give you an idea of what the meal plans look like.

My favorite recipe this week, though, was bulletproof coffee. To be completely honest, I’d never tried this before. I, like most coffee lovers, had the specific way that I enjoyed my morning brew and that’s just not something you mess with. I tried this and… wow. I’m not going back, even if/when I cycle off of keto.

What Was Hard

Switching to an entirely new mode of cooking wasn’t too bad, but it certainly wasn’t easy. One thing that made the adjustment simpler was slowly experimenting with keto meals before I went whole hog (or, in honor of Thanksgiving today, whole turkey) on the diet. Having an idea of what kind of meal prep and ingredient substitutions I’d be dealing with helped tremendously.

I’m still struggling to dial in my Intermittent Fasting window. I’m on a 16:8 schedule, meaning I need to eat all of my food for the day in an 8-hour window and then let my digestive system rest for 16 hours. There are a ton of benefits to this, but getting your body on track can be difficult—especially when you’re a serial snacker like me.

I ended up feeling nauseous several mornings in a row until I realized that I was eating too much fat and not enough protein. I adjusted my macros slightly, and that fixed the issue almost instantly.

The Next Week

Today is probably going to be one of the toughest during GoingKeto: it’s only one week in and I’m facing the greatest meal day of the year. Thankfully, low-carb recipes abound, and I’m dedicated to seeing this through, so no cheating is allowed! I might slightly exceed my portion, though… (shhhhh).

I’m planning on experimenting with a few more low-carb snack options this week; I’ll let you know which ones I like the most. This week I kept it simple and stuck with string cheese, walnuts, pickles, hard-boiled eggs, and bacon. I think I’ll explore a few of the sweeter options available, such as sugar-free jello, Keto Lava Cake, and Avocado Chocolate Pudding.

Now that I’m past the soreness of lifting, I’ll be adding in some evening cardio. One of my performance goals was to jump rope for 15 minutes straight without stopping. I’m starting with 5 minutes a day on Sunday and will increase that by a minute per week until I get to 15 a week before GoingKeto ends.

Overall, the journey is going really well. I’m pretty stoked about the results I’ve already seen and what’s to come!