How to find your own personalized keto diet?

[Don_Q]

In my specific case, my use of the “keto diet” has put me at the low end of safe weight range for my age. I have no “reserve” for fasting, and am at an age where losing muscle mass is definitely a “probability.” Eating to satiety would seem to me to be insufficient to put on weight that includes both protein (lean muscle mass) and a fat reserve for use in a 2-3 day fast.

We take for granted that our satiety signals are valid, but that’s not necessarily the case. Sometimes we need to guide our satiety signals a bit to give us the result we want. A pretty obvious example is that if we’re overweight, and typeII diabetic, we stop eating carbs, and eat a ketogenic diet so that our satiety signals guide us to a healthy bodyweight. You don’t have that problem, but it doesn’t mean that your keto satiety signals are optimal for your health goals either. If you are experiencing sarcopenia (not inevitable), eating insufficient protein, and have insufficient bodyfat for health, you’re satiety signals might need a nudge.

One thing that you might consider is adding one 15 minute resistance training session and one 15 minute HIIT session into your week. If you did, your satiety signals would likely change dramatically. My guess is that your daily caloric intake would increase by 10%-20%, and you would begin craving protein. I found that eating to satiety the day after my 15 minutes weightlifing workout is 3500kcal -4500kcal! There are very few things increase hunger (higher satiety threshold) as much as exercise, which is why Dr. Fung (Obesity Code) advises it should be avoided or in the very least kept to a minimum during fat loss. That certainly matches my experience.

Even just one 15 minute resistance training session per week will quickly begin reversing sarcopenia and satiety will automatically guide you to more protein. I really like the Body by Science workout, which was originally designed to safely reverse sarcopenia and improve bone density in the elderly (bodybuilders stole it because it’s so time-efficient, safe, and effective!). Similarly, just one 15 minute HIIT workout can dramatically improve mitochondrial function, cardiovascular fitness, and blood sugar management.

Here is a link to an study in the Journal of Cell Metabolism that shows just how significant of an impact resistance training and/or HIIT can have in just a couple months.

https://www.cell.com/cell-metabolism/fulltext/S1550-4131(17)30099-2

[Mohembo]

Thanks a lot for this informative and useful input, Don/Rick! I intend to take it seriously.