This diet thus far is absolutely fantastic.This is my 9th day being on ~keto diet (I am not measuring exact quantities of fat/protein I am just eating extra healthy fat (coconut oil, grass fed butter, olive oil etc) to balance out a moderate amount of protein and have cut out all fruits, sugars and any other non-green vegetable carbs. I am not completely winging it 
and have tested my blood for ketones twice this week (I don’t like the idea of poking a hole in my finger so that is the reason why only twice).
I don’t need to lose weight. In fact, I want to gain weight since I was 148-149lbs at 5’10’’ pre keto last week (very muscular with very low body percentage) and my wresting weight in senior year of high school was 152lbs (which I had to cut a to get down to a little, placing me at about 155lbs normal body weight). Then in college, I rock climbed and lifted some weights and I was around 162lbs. 2nd year after college I lifted weights regularly and got to 175lbs. Then I started to work more (50hours+) and dropped to ~160lbs then about 3.5years ago switched from working for a defense contractor to a top tech company and since then my weight has been less than 155lbs. Mostly due to not much lifting as much due to more demand on the job (time wise) and more stress on the job. Now I have lowered the time it requires me to be at the job to ~40 hours a week now and the stress is lowered but I am now starting a business on the side which again eats up my time. The lack of time makes it really hard to go to the gym, I still squeeze in a run or two a week but don’t nearly lift as much weights as I used to.
So the reason why I started to experiment with keto diet is to have more energy throughout the day.
- Day 1 - Breakfast: 10ml of MCT oil 1Tbsp of grassfed butter in green tea.
- Day 1 - Lunch: Don’t remember exactly some animal protein, extra fat and green vegetable salad.
By Lunch on Day 1 I started to feel like I have more energy and more mental clarity I mean it was awesome.
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Day 2 : went on a short run. Felt like a machine I would do interval sprints and wouldn’t feel winded after doing a sprint it was insane.
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Day 3 - Breakfast: 15ml of MCT oil 1Tbsp of grassfed butter in green tea.
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Day 3 - 2nd Breakfast: 15ml of MCT oil 1Tbsp of grassfed butter in green tea.
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Day 3 Lunch: Was at restaruant ordered a salad and swapped the chicken for Falafel (which I confused for swarma when looking at the menu) Anyhow I ate 1.5 of the Falafel balls. And didn’t feel as good that day, had a headache.
Almost decided to try to switch off the diet and try a slow carb diet or some other less extreme diet instead on Day 3. Good thing I read up more and found I was making mistakes such as not taking extra electrolytes (which made me struggle to retain water).
So now I am at day 9 of keto and feel phenomenal I have more energy and mental clarity and fell much more awake throughout the day. I just went on a run and felt like I am a machine when I did interval sprints on the short run. I was on vocation this week (learning acting at a workshop for fun) and going back to work tomorrow (I work as a software engineer) so am keeping my fingers crossed that mental clarity and awakeness that I felt at the workshop will translate to my job as well.
Another benefit that really makes me want to be able to do this diet long term (I am a bit worried whether there are negative consequences doing this long term) is that I am much less angry. I have an anger problem that used to explode into fights when mixed with alcohol in my college years. Since then I have learned how to contain the anger within but the anger would still spark up that required to be mentally contained. I feel so much more at peace and balanced since I have started the diet its unbelievable how it has positively affected my mood balance and just overall happiness :D. I have tried a vegan diet for a week few months ago and didn’t feel any such effects.
I am still very much learning the things I need to do right. Right now my biggest mistake is not enough Sodium (I started to drink water with electrolytes and taking Potassium, Magnesium, D. MultiVitamin & Omega3 supplements but I still have way less than suggested 4000mg-5000mg Sodium for keto diet and so I am currently weighting in about 147lbs). I drink broth daily but I don’t like salt very much and today I was shocked today when I measured 2 Tbsp of Himalayan salt which is about 4800mg of sodium, I tried to put the salt in water and my butter tea but then the salt ruins my butter tea and makes me not like water very much so that doesn’t work. I wonder whether taking Sodium in a pill form would be the best route for me. Anyway thus far I am super glad I found this diet!
