This is a summary of the 100 day challenge I am running on FB, pulled from the program PDF. It’s a free group program supported by patreon. Disclaimer: I also have a business as a nutritionist helping people one-on-one. Not a doctor, not your doctor, but happy to work with your doctor.
100daychallenge.pdf (684.4 KB)
Why do ketogenic diets fail?
Traditionally ketogenic diets from the usual diet coaches are formulated by beginning with some arbitrary caloric deficit, and then subtracting calories from a minimum number of grams of carbs, an adequate number of grams of protein, and the rest from fat to determine what your keto macros will be.
We’re going to do things a little differently. For a start we’re not going to impose a constant caloric deficit, because that can lead to metabolic slowdown. By eating only low carb foods the amount of energy from carbohydrates will naturally be low so we’ll still be dialling down our insulin thermostat . We’re not going to impose a minimum amount of protein or a maximum amount of fat but rather we’re going to simply choose from whole foods that aren’t always trimmed of fat.
What is really going to lower your insulin is maximizing the time you are not eating a meal. The time you are in a fat burning mode between meals. So, firstly we’re going to remove snacks between meals. But most importantly we’re going to change when you eat a meal, and we’re going to keep changing it up to convince your body to stay in a “fat burning” mode for as long as we can during the day. Without having to be hungry until it’s time to eat. And the real trick to this is that when we are eating a meal, we’re going to having large satisfying meals, and not leave the table hungry.
What is different about this challenge
The first thing that is different is that we’re not going to be eating calorically depleted meals.
We’re going to be eating large satisfying meals, but once the meal is done, we’re not going to eat until the next meal. And we’ll be changing up how many meals we have each day, every day. One day you’ll have an up-day where you might have 3 square meals, and the next you’ll have a down-day where you might have just one square meal. That’s a 3:1 pattern.
If that sounds a little hard core, then maybe you want to start out with 3 meals on an up-day, and 2 on a down-day. That’s the 3:2 pattern.
But maybe you want to go a little harder core and eat 2 meals on the up-day, and 1 meal on the down-day. That’s the 2:1 pattern.
Everyone is individual so not everyone will settle on the same pattern, and the pattern you start with may not be the one you will always do. Once you get close to your ideal weight you will likely want to change up the pattern again to something that works for you to maintain your body weight effortlessly. It could well be a 3:3 pattern which would be great because remaining weight stable on 3 squares a day is an excellent goal.
Why an up-day down-day instead of intermittent fasting?
I don’t want your body to get used to a consistent calorie limit, because I want you to avoid metabolic down regulation as your body adapts to reduced calories. So the idea is to be consistently inconsistent.