Hacking Cholesterol experiment

cholesterol
(Justin Hayes) #1

I’m planning on getting a blood test on Monday, so today was day 1 trying to replicate the cholesterol code drop protocol. The guidance doesn’t provide a lot of help in terms of getting to the calorie numbers, so I thought I’d document my food log and test results here.

Today:
Calories 4106
I tried to get to 5000, but I’m currently trying not to vomit. I’ll try again tomorrow, this time trying to “drink” more calories in bulletproof coffee. Today I tried to use macadamia nuts to get there… But struggling mightily to swallow the last few…

Protein: 212
Net Carbs: 37
Fat: 333

Too much protein, but I’m also recovering from a strength/mass building workout (Occam’s protocol) which does require a bit of extra protein.

Tomorrow I’m aiming for the 5k target, but I’m also hoping that 4k is enough of a surplus to get the same or similar results.

(Justin Hayes) #2

Also, worth noting that I’m prepping for an annual. The previous two annuals has similar results, but also had similar lead up diets where I was losing weight on a lchf diet. I’ll post those numbers too.

I’m 5’7", 200lb, probably 25+% bf, but I also lift and carry a good bit of muscle.

#3

Paging @DaveKeto… :wink:

(Dave) #4

Hi @Justin_Hayes – that’s fantastic to hear!

You don’t have to hit 5000 – just find your max and work your hardest to get there. Yes, if you’re doing it right, you’ll be so tired of food that you’ll wonder how anyone can do competitive eating for a living.

Good point on having added advice on getting to the calorie numbers. I generally shy away from getting too specific as people should eat what they’d prefer anyway, so long as they can hit those general ratios.

And speaking of – while your protein ratio is a bit high for keto, I think you’ll still do quite a bit with the fat at 333.

As always, please come back and share your results, whatever the outcome! :smiley:

(Justin Hayes) #5

Wow. So just working my way through breakfast on day 2. I’m trying to target about 1,000 kcals per meal. For breakfast i had some breakfast sausage and keto-coffee with 4 tablespoons butter. I use kerrygold, but only had the salted. That was almost unbearable to drink. I’ll pick up some unsalted today… Here is some dietary catchup:

Day 1:
Breakfast
Protein Shake
Scrambled Eggs with Chorizo
Sausage Patties x2

Lunch
Cheddar Cheese slices x2
Mazzarella Cheese String cheese x2
Macadamia nuts (1 cup)

Dinner
Red Wine (1/2 glass)
Fathead Pizza (3 slices)
Pepperoni (on pizza)
Cream cheese (on a knife… cream cheese is delicious)
Protein Shake

Snack
More Macadamia Nuts (x1/2 cup). This was PAINFUL to eat.

Supplementation:
Fish Oil
D3
Multivitamin (with potassium & mag)
PAGG (ref Tim Ferris)

(Justin Hayes) #6

Day 2 (Planned & Actual) - I’ll update this, but while i’m sitting here wanted to get my plans down…

Breakfast
Sausage Patties (Costco) x3
Keto Coffee x4tbs Kerrigold butter
1 slice cheddar cheese

Snack:
Macadamia Nuts x1/4 cup [[[CRAP, I RAN OUT OF MACADAMIAS]]]

Lunch:
Fathead Pizza (x3 slices - other half of pizza from last night)
3 slices Cheddar Cheese
Sausage patties (x3)

Snack:
Went to the store to get more… Macadamias. Also, unsalted butter.
Macadamias (1/2 cup)
Coke Zero - something to help wet the whistle.
String Cheese x1

[NOTE: It’s now 4:00pm - i’m not hungry. i’m unhungry. i’m basically tired from eating. I still have almost 1400 calories to go today, which is more than i eat on many days. This is not an experiment to be taken lightly.]

Dinner:
Protein Shake
Macadamia Nuts (1/2 cup)
Pepperoni Pizza Toppings Only (2 slices)
Sausage Patties x2

Day 2 Totals:
Calories: 4614
Protein: 185
Carbs (net): 40
Fat: 408

#7

Heheh makes me wish I had a test coming up so I could eat like this for a few days! :wink:

(Dave) #8

@Justin_Hayes – excellent work!

You’re almost there…

(Dave) #9

@Kirkor – see, you say that now…

(Justin Hayes) #10

i. hate. food.

i have no idea how i’m going to fit 4k kcals in before 6pm tomorrow!!!

(Dave) #11

You got this. Last day is the toughest – just repeat the mantra: “I’m doing this for science… I’m doing this for science…” :smiley:

(David) #12

or, “just n=1 more bite …”

(Justin Hayes) #13

Finishing up Day 2. I really wanted some wine, but i just can’t stomach anything but water… Managed to get a bit higher today - probably because of the forced drinking of the keto coffee in the morning. I bought unsalted butter, so hoping tomorrow is better.

Hard to imagine that only 3 days of eating can switch the levels of LDL and others - that its that fast. But, i’ll know in a few days. Cannot wait until i can stop eating tomorrow…

Also - its funny. Eating “too much” is making me really, well, tired.

(Justin Hayes) #14

I only have 5 hours left to eat another 2,000+ calories. I’m not sure i’m going to make it…
So, it is really difficult. Eating is almost impossible, but drinking is actually not too bad. I’m going to try and sneak in a few hundred extra butter calories via coffee towards dinner time to break through 4,000.

Here is today’s “plan”. Though i’ve already eaten through lunch…

Day 3 Eating Plan:

Breakfast:
Keto Coffee (3 tbs unsalted butter - MUCH better than salted)
Greek Omelette (3 egg + gyro meat)
Greek Sausage (Laukaniko) x2 links

Snack:
Macadamias 1/2 cup
String cheese x1

Lunch:
Sausage Patties x2
Cheddar Cheese x2
Keto Coffee (3 tbs butter)

Snack:
Macadamias 1/2 cup
Keto Coffee (3tbs butter)

Dinner:
Sausage Patties x3
Macadamias (1/4 cup)
2 tbs unsalted butter (keto coffee)
2 slices cheddar cheese

Total Cals: 4081
Protein: 117
Carbs: 28
Fat: 387

THANK GOD I’M DONE.

(Justin Hayes) #15

Ok. Lets put down some numbers.

I’ve done the 3-day protocol. Hoping that will drive down my cholesterol numbers tomorrow. It’s 6 pm and i’m done, and planning to go get blood drawn at 8 or 830 in the morning.

Previous Cholesterol Numbers:

Total Cholesterol: 302
HDL: 44
Trig: 209
LDL Particle: 2789
LDL Small: 740
LDL Med: 437
HDL Large: 5543

HA1C - 5.1

(Justin Hayes) #16

That last day - wasn’t as difficult as the second day. I think i had the most difficulty with the macadamias as a mechanism to get up the fat numbers. Transitioning to Kerrygold Unsalted better made it a bit easier on day 2. Still tried to eat 1,000 kcals of macadamias, but there is no way i could have eaten more. Flat out not enjoyable at all!

Also helpful were the Jones Dairy Farm Sausage Patties from Costco. They are pork, and have plenty of fat, but not as much “dryness” as the macadamias, which i felt became a struggle to eat. I think i could have also pushed my fat numbers higher if i added some coconut oil, but because you mentioned that it wouldn’t count (since it gets converted to ketones rather than through the liver), i stayed away.

Now, the waiting game on the results.

I did gain a bit over 2 lbs over the 3 days. Given i normally eat in the 1700 per day range (4100 kcals), and i averaged over 4000 (12,000+), that is a surplus of 7-8,000 cals, which does correlate to 2 lbs-ish. Interesting. I’ve read other results that longer periods eating at this rate does NOT result in continued gains - but i’m not inclined to test that!

I’ll post final numbers when i get them. Blood drawn at 9am, fast of 14 hours. Not very hungry, but i worked out, so today is going to be a protein day!

(Dave) #17

Again, fantastic work, Justin!

#18

FYI, I tried this in November 2016 and at the time I was averaging 1,200 to 1,400 calories per day and found it impossible to even eat 3,000 in one day, but your chronicle here has given me some great ideas for next time the doctor orders labwork.

Looking forward to seeing your results!

(Sigi Caron) #19

Had bloodwork at the end of January. Did it after 4 day fast. LDL went way up (192 from about 160 last year). HDL was a bit down (105 instead of 119). I’m going to try the 3 day protocol at the end of this month and redo. I’m female, 6 years keto, always been lean and athletic. Switched to keto for health benefits after looking at data from clinical trial I was running on diabetics…This is the first year I’ve added intermittent fasting to my normal routine. Do you think I need 5000 calories? I’m 5 foot 2 and weigh 105…

#20

Although @DaveKeto states ~5,000 calories, as well as “as much food as you can eat”, I wonder if this shouldn’t be represented as a multiplier of normal daily calories such as 2x or 3x.

A “High Day” will be like the Low Day above but with a very high amount of calories — but again, with the same or a higher percentage of total calories from fat. Unlike the Low Day, this should be as much food as you can eat. For example, my High Days for the Ketogains Seminar had these macros: 461g fat (82% of calories) 194g Protein (15%) 35g Carbs (3%) – total 5,037 calories/day.

The protocol currently increases total calories in the same macro ratios that one normally consumes, so @DaveKeto increased his protein and carbohydrates too and I wonder if he has any additional thoughts on just raising fat grams while avoiding the ones with MCTs that more easily get converted to ketones like coconut oil.