High Protein Modified "Keto + Fasting" muscle building with low fat


(Karim Wassef) #561

Traveling all over the country… Boston, NYC, Dayton… interesting week.

Mostly eating small cuts of salmon filets at exorbitant prices. Planning on a steak today though.

Soon as I get strict avoiding nuts, my numbers snap in place… 63G, 0.8K


(Karim Wassef) #562

Thursday was Michigan and Indiana. Six states in 5 days- TX, MA, NY, OH, MI, IN

Back in TX for the weekend.

Next week is California and New Mexico

I am struggling with my muscle mass. I usually have to eat out and I basically do as much animal protein as I can with a little green veggies and avoid the nuts. I got glucose as low at 50 and ketones above 3.0 doing this but I’m not gaining muscle.

I do push-ups and weightless squats in hotel rooms but it’s just not enough.


(Karim Wassef) #563

Today I’m going for home grilled steak, gym time + sauna + UV

Also supplementing with a heavy protein + heavy cream shake.

I feel that I need to make up on the weekends for the wasted time during the week.


(Karim Wassef) #564

On the “nuts” front… I’m substituting salted shelled pumpkin seeds for my almonds. The idea is that I need the salty taste and I need to pace the carb intake. The shelled seeds take a lot more work and time which substantially limits the mass I can consume. Even an entire night of shelled seeds is a fraction of a single bowl of almonds. (Yes- I said bowl).

Started this morning with 89G and 1.5K so a lot of energy. My hormones are off though and I can tell because my natural drive to go lift is diminished.

But being home feels good. Even fixing things around the house and the girls’ constant bickering is pleasurable.


(PJ) #565

Is it possible this could be hormonal?


(PJ) #566

I literally never have that drive. I used to. And I was larger than this size when that started. I’ve begun taking pregnenolone and only occasionally DHEA, and that has actually helped a surprising amount, but not enough to put me in motion.

50mg each when I do. I’m thinking of upping the dose. I initially took 50mg of each and after about 10 days felt better than I had in 20 years and had tons of energy. Then I read too much internet, expecting to wake up bald and bearding, and dropped the DHEA. The positive mood and memory stayed with the pregn, but the energy fell when I dropped the dhea to occasional.

Glad you’re back with the fam.


(Mame) #567

I use salty seaweed snacks for my salt fix…but then I have never been a huge nut eater so that might not be helpful. :slightly_smiling_face:


(Karim Wassef) #568

I love salted roasted seaweed myself. I’ve been traveling so much that I’ve forgotten to replenish my stock


(Neil) #569

@Karim_Wassef I miss your updates! Hope you’re doing well and settling in to your new gig.


(Karim Wassef) #570

Thanks man… it’s fun and exciting but time consuming.

I have settled and started a new membership at a Gold’s gym. Got access to fresh food but no steak just yet.

Weight is hovering between 175 and 185 and bf% between 21.5% and 22.5%. Glucose ~ 65-95 Ketones ~ 0.3 - 0.7… It’s not great but it’s what you get when you don’t measure and are at the last 20lbs of fat to go.

I have tried something new (by accident) and the results were astonishingly powerful… suspense… more to come


(mole person) #571

Do tell!!


(Karim Wassef) #572

Ok. My travel schedule is hectic but I’ll take a breath and share. I’ve logged 40,000 miles in 8 weeks.

Here are my observations - all results are in a low carb state (<20g)

First - I’ve been cycling fat without intending to. This means that Mon-Fri I go high protein low fat and then on the weekend, I go high protein high fat. This wasn’t intentional, it’s just a biproduct of my hectic pace. The fat cycling makes my lean days very effective at fat burning as indicated by very high ketones (>1.5) which used to be very hard to achieve without fasting.

My theory is that the high fat sets up an expectation of fat availability and usage. Then the lean days continue to demand that fat availability from my own fat.

Second - supplements seem to really effect my hunger. Again, I’ve been unintentionally skipping my supplements or taking them later (after eating my OMAD). This really seems to make me very hungry.

My theory is that my hunger is due to nutrient needs, not caloric needs.


#573

Interesting…can you share more info on your fat cycling, ie how were your meals different?


(Karim Wassef) #574

During the week, I don’t have time to cook, so living out of a hotel room and my meals come prepared from a local grocery… no kitchen and just a teeny fridge…

Grilled tuna, roasted chicken, etc… in the mornings, I’d have black coffee. I’d have the whole chicken with the skin but no real source of good fats.

On the weekends, I’m home with the family so I’m adding heavy cream to my coffee, grilling up ribeyes and eggs and bacon with avocados in olive oil… basically, I splurge on the weekends with the family and then I go spartan during the week.


#575

Interesting, thanks…something to experiment with :slight_smile:
I frequently feel like protein doenst satiate me, however strong and fatty food does. I could defintely try this and observe my hunger levels. I drink black coffee, so I will keep it black and simple. Chicken, tuna, lean pork (loin, tenderloin) and lean beef during the week, with a salad (1 tbsp EVOO and ACV) without eggs, avocados and butter, weekend would be fattier cuts of meat, avocado, eggs, butter and salad (1tbsp EVOO and ACV). I cant have cold cuts and dairy, so my options are limited and I belive good for testing :slight_smile:


(Neil) #576

Happy to see you back here, Karim!

I keep bouncing back and forth on how I feel about protein vs. fat and the satiety of each. For me personally, the satiety effect of each of the three macronutrients is roughly as follows:

  • Protein: Immediate satiety. If you gave me a buffet table full of nothing but different cuts of lean meat, for example, I would eat up to the point where I felt full, then I would lose all interest in eating and stop. I would then continue to feel the same level of comfortable fullness over the next few hours.
  • Fat: Delayed satiety. If you gave me a buffet table full of nothing but cheese, I would eat and eat and eat and eat until either I emptied the table or I had overeaten by about 3x, at which point I might finally lose interest in eating more. I would feel fine right after I finished eating, but 1-2 hours later I would feel very overfull, to the point of feeling physically uncomfortable. That feeling of being “stuffed” would gradually dissipate over the next 24 hours.
  • Carbs: I think the response to this is pretty universal around the Keto forums and well understood. I would initially feel full, then a couple hours later I’d get very hungry.

The question is… what to do with that knowledge? Previously I followed the school of thought that said “high fat, low carb, moderate protein”. But the “high fat” part of that would lead to me feeling overfull after eating, so I tried dialing the fat back and switching to “high protein, low carb, moderate fat”. That’s been hard to accept, though, because fat is delicious!


(Karim Wassef) #577

Try cycling… I think the body needs some level of cycling to change


(Karim Wassef) #578

Another unintended experiment…

High potassium- I usually take 3 x 200mg a day.

However, I decided to take 6 x 200mg and had a yearning for pickle juice (finished a jar of pickles) and an avocado…

Haven’t run the total but I woke up in a very agitated state… almost hyper but in a bad way. Felt like I wanted to get out of my own skin. Very thirsty.

It wore off after drinking enough water and flushing it through.

Too much of a good thing…


(Windmill Tilter) #579

How about an update @Karim_Wassef? I know you’ve been travelling a ton, but I wanted to check in to see how things are going. :blush:


(Karim Wassef) #580

I’ve attempted to maintain my high protein Keto and got a second gym membership in NJ at Gold’s. So I now go to LA Fitness on Saturdays and Gold’s on Tue, Wed, Thurs.

I fly out every Monday morning and return every Friday night. Sunday is my day off.

I will eventually drop LA Fitness but not just yet.

My goal was to get to 190lbs with 160lbs lean.

My new role is very time consuming so I don’t get a lot of food prep or gym time really. So it’s less productive. I also get less sleep but the stress is a healthy energetic kind of stress.

I usually eat one pre-grilled chicken and 6 eggs a day or just 12 eggs a day depending on whether I had a heavy lift. All OMAD. Fridays I usually just skip altogether so I get one 48hr fast a week.

Still struggling with my nut-addiction… almonds and macadamias. I find that getting them raw (not spicy or salty) significantly reduces my cravings.

Results- I generally rest at 74-78 Glucose and 0.3-0.7.

I’ve gained weight overall but it’s not easily visible. I’ve gone from 169lbs last December to 188lbs this December. So that’s ~20lbs! But my clothes don’t fit much differently and the wife says she doesn’t believe it… so I got close to my weight gain goal but it’s not the muscle weight I want…

Lean mass went from 136lbs to 142lbs so that’s a good 6lbs… but the balance of 13lbs is fat. It’s not terrible but I’ve lost the vascularity I had a year ago. The ratio is the same though: 2lbs of fat for every 1lb of lean I put on. The fat weight looks to be all in my waist though…

I’ve been investigating hormone testing because of my age - 47 next year - and testosterone was low. Basically, I’ll be getting less gains for my effort than I would have 20yrs ago. I’m considering the options with my Dr but I really don’t want to go there since I would need to stay on it permanently…

I’m still supplementing and I’ll say that everything else hormonally based has been outstanding… teenage energy like. However, I’m finding that the hormones that bind to sex receptors reduce the available testosterone for hypertrophy…

Still learning and trying. Sorry the updates are many months apart but I still read up on the updated posts here :slight_smile: