I was a cool dude (not popular, but cool) back in high school. Hard to get me riled up.
I have the same body (if not better) that I did back then - now I just need to recover the calmness and chillitude (its a word!.. if you’re cool enough). 
Karim's muscle gain carnivore adventure
Karim_Wassef
(Karim Wassef)
#542
Karim_Wassef
(Karim Wassef)
#544
More convinced after my heavy lifting today that my Friday DEXA & RMR was flawed somehow.
I just feel too good physically.
I’m going to try and go for another this week.
carolT
#545
Just be careful if you’re traveling with it. I saw recently where TSA, among other entities, were arresting poeple for possesion of it. The cases got tossed out later, but it sounded like a really stressful experience. Crossing state lines with all the different laws regarding legal CBD could be a nightmare.
Ilana_Rose
(mole person)
#546
It’s not that it is necessarily flawed, it’s that the change in lean mass isn’t necessarily reflective of a change in muscle tissue. I feel that you keep losing sight of this and worrying about your negative lean mass delta in spite of the fact that you are actually getting stronger. Being able to lift more is a much more accurate reflection of increased muscle tissue.
Dexa is great for seeing changes in fat and bone but it throws everything else together in a single measure of “lean mass” and lean mass can change for many reasons especially if you are altering diet substantially which you do constantly in your experiments.
For muscle gains there is no better measure than your actual changes in strength.
Karim_Wassef
(Karim Wassef)
#547
I mean that it’s wrong because it’s not representative on the true state. I’ve been researching error in DEXA and the biggest contributors seem to be food and hydration.
Basically, if there’s food in the gut, it registers as abdominal mass. If that food is lean mass, it registers as lean mass… if it’s high fat, it registers as fat. I can have pounds of food in or not in.
The biggest error seems to be hydration. Fat cells and lean cells are mostly water and in a sea of more water. If I eat something that spikes insulin and drink a couple of gallons of water (which I can), that can easily add 7lbs and that weight gets categorized as lean or fat.
Glycogen in the muscles can add mass too (or lack thereof).
DEXA is just a snapshot and the same errors gat plague the home smart scale seem to hit DEXA.
Karim_Wassef
(Karim Wassef)
#550
Here’s this morning’s shirtless update
My midsection has deep vacuums on either side of the abs. I think it looks ok, but not sure why it’s so deep vs the front.
I see improvement. Today is chest day…
Karim_Wassef
(Karim Wassef)
#551
I’ve begun to correlate the number of hearts I get with my blood glucose and it’s inversely proportional … less hearts = higher glucose.
Math is great, isn’t it?
Karim_Wassef
(Karim Wassef)
#553
Notice that I said correlation not causation… so maybe low hearts make me sad… or my sadness makes low hearts… or something entirely different does both.
See? Math…
Karim_Wassef
(Karim Wassef)
#554
ok… with over a month of data now… I am at an impasse…
I can get my formula to align with my data but only if I use a REALLY high value of protein g/lb of lean mass. This means that, in my current state, my body will go through GNG regardless of what I do and I need to compensate by eating enough protein. That protein will only go towards building muscle AFTER enough has been diverted to create glucose and satisfy my cortisol driven requirement.
I thought it was 0.7g/lb lean mass, but that does not fit the data - at all
I need to be at 1.3g/lb lean mass to fit the data. That means to grow muscle, I need to eat more like 1.6g/lb and eat less fat to make up for the increased intake. That would make me hungrier and less ketogenic - since I’m in glucose burning mode.
That’s what makes the prediction fit the measurement for my body.
this explains why I eat so much protein and still lose lean mass - my body needs more. So I have to eat more meat, eat less fat, lift harder and accept that with higher glucose and lower ketones, I’m not going to find the pleasure of satiation… not if I want to gain muscle.
so to gain muscle - no satiety
and to lose fat - eat to satiety
that’s where I’m at and I’m not happy about it.
I’m using the RMR data from my DEXA/RMR to project forward as a function of lean mass. It’s not perfect, but it also seems to fit the formula.
My new targets (used to be 150g of fat and 150g of protein) are now 100g of fat and 240g of protein.
That projects me out to eventually be back in balance at 240g of protein and 240g of fat by November 1st, when I’m sub 10% bf… if I can keep it up.
Now I have to be an obligate meat eater - or chill out enough so I can get out of cortisol driven GNG.
Karim_Wassef
(Karim Wassef)
#556
I find that it’s not easy to get that much protein without fat. I’m literally having to resort to old body building tricks … chicken breast and whey protein isolate (dairy), in addition to steak and eggs. I can eat all the liver and bone broth I want too… almost.
Good thing I kept all those egg whites for macaroons and meringue… protein cookies coming up!
Karim_Wassef
(Karim Wassef)
#557
Today, my results were substantially better
Not sure if it’s just me chilling out or if figuring out my formula last night just gave me massive relief… but I’m feeling much calmer and my numbers show it. Could just be the 1lb ribeye last night just making me feel good all over… or the anticipation of meringues and macaroons.
Karim_Wassef
(Karim Wassef)
#558
Of course, if my chillaxin persists, my formula may prove inconsistent and I’d have to change it again … 
I’ve modeled many dynamic systems but this one is much more nonlinear and transient-driven… so many decisions made by so many cells driven by so many hormones and inputs. And I’m trying to make it into the most basic system and fitting curves to it…
Bound to fail, but what a learning experience.
Karim_Wassef
(Karim Wassef)
#559
I think that this transitional stage is going to be more Atkins than Keto. I did this back in college when I was weightlifting then too and it worked. I’ve been attributing the difference in response to age (25 vs 45) but this is another difference.
I realize it won’t help me lose much fat and I’m going to miss my ketones’ effects on mood and mental strength, but this is my muscle building phase. I’ll still be “technically” keto because I’m targeting less than 5g of carbs, but all that protein is going to be counterproductive to fat loss. I will stick to OMAD though… except on vacation in July where I’m going for 2MAD.
I hope I don’t gain fat, but that’s what self experimentation is about. Try, measure and share.
Today will be eggs and ribeyes again but I’ll supplement with whey isolate.
