Weight lifting 3Y IF + KETO blood tests

keto
science
fasting
food
#1

Summary of my performance:

  • Doing 12 years fitness/bodybuilding (5-times a week full body) in the Netherlands
  • Age: 30 year, male, lenght: 2m and weight is around 95kg. Bodyfat is variabel around 12 (bulking) to 8% (lean).
  • Have a historical jojo effect. Winter season heavy weight 110kg and summer season around 90kg with lower fat %.
  • Main goal: lower fat % and maintain/grow muscle

What i already done:

  • Traditional bodybuilding contest preps (chicken/rice/brocolli etc.)
  • Low carb/high carb
  • Carb backloading (good and bad carbs)
  • IF (18 hours fast daily)

Current situation:

  • Still Doing IF for 3 years. Feel great with having calories at night after training session.
  • Activity level is high: Training weights for 5 days a week. Daily walk and doing 2 cardio sessions a week for 1 hour. Daily job: sitting at a desk.
  • Calories tracked by MyFitnessPall (grams): Winter season: + - 4500cal (pro:200 carb:600 fat: 100
    Summer season: + - 3750cal (pro:350 carb:50 fat:300
  • Source: chopped raw beef (1kg)/brazil nuts(200gram)/peanut butter(100gram)/walnuts(100gram)/4 whole eggs/little vegie (tomato)

Current plan to main goal:

  • Following IF + KETO and drop 150 calories a week for lower fat % and maintain/grow muscle.
  • Right now this is the 8th week of KETO(<50 gram carbs/no sugar)
  • Yesterday measerd my blood glucose and keto value after fasting for 20 hours and heavy legg training with no food.
    Results are: glucose: 4.8mmol/L and keto: 0.5mmol/L.

My question: after many days keto (no sugar) still in low-keto. How can i progress with this current situation? Feel free to ask more if its nessary.

Thank you for this great forum,

To a happy life, and healty body.

(Full Metal KETO AF) #2

A 0.5 ketone level is in the dietary ketosis range. You’re probably doing fine, you might want to lower your carbs more for better results, but you seem to be in ketosis so you’re probably ok with <50g., one of the lucky ones. Just stick with it, KCKO or Keep Calm and Keto On as we say. :cowboy_hat_face:

#3

There’s a lot of different directions you could go with. You could keep going the way you are if you’re happy eating this way and wait and see, your results may stall, in that case most add some carbs back in (good ones). As you know from the backloading they act a little different post workout and at night than they normally would over the course of the day. I use a Carb10 supplement to add in 25g of carbs post workout to keep muscle glycogen higher than it would be otherwise which definitely makes a difference in pumps and recovery and doesn’t screw with blood sugar / insulin so your ketones aren’t really affected any more than they would be for the couple hours post workout. If you’re still competing a big difference for lifting on keto during your contest prep is NOT starving/dehydrating yourself before your show. Won’t bloat you up the way it does on carbs, gotta stay super hydrated which is total opposite of what you’d do otherwise. KetoSavage has touched on his contest prep and how he goes about it. If you’ve never heard of him, him name is Robert Sikes, he’s keto and has his pro card.

#4

Thank you for answer!
Since a couple of weeks i am doing some little changes but now (saturday) i am amble to control the values of the blood tests. 0.5 is still in the lower range, a little higher would be safe.

Changes are:
-200 gram cashewnuts --> 200 gram brazil nuts (because higher carbs)
-400 gram chopped raw beef --> 2 whole avocado (because to much protein weekly is not the way)
-Put some extra cardio session in weekly (-500 cal)

Totals are now:
3900 cal
300 pro
36 carb (sugar 18gram)
295 fat

How can i go lower in carbs for better results if my keto is 0.5 level at 36 carbs?

#5

Interesting! I feel ok with the plan i follow and continue zero carb (keto). It has been a while when i am eating things like oats, rice, fruits. I loved them it just doesn’t help to achieve my goal. Currently i no longer compete as a guy like Robert Sikes. Thanks for this forward, i will delve into his approach.
I am currently gaining a lot of knowledge about keto/carnivore diet from Danny Vega. I love the way between knowledge and practical experience.

(Karim Wassef) #6

You’re in a different place than most here. You’re going between 9% and 13% bodyfat which is exceptionally lean and muscular.

What are your goals? You ask about input for progression but what direction do you want to progress? You seem to be doing an outstanding job as it is.

#7

Yes, i am not a typical person that is satisfied of losing 5kg. My goals are seasonal but overall i want to put some muscle mass and have a good health and positive mindset. I want to learn my body and the reaction of a way to eat. I learned a lot during my competition period. But year on year at 5% bodyfat is not healthy and it doesn’t make you feel better. The direction which i used always is a little fat gain in the period 09 till 03 of the next year. After this i will drop my calories and choose for more cardio activities so that will result in a lower fat %. Every year i hope to see some benefits and to see a bigger lean physical.

(Karim Wassef) #8

So your goal is to continue to gain lean muscle without fat.

Correct?

#9

Current situation (summer): Drop bodyfat % and gain lean muscle. The dream of every bodybuilder :slight_smile:

(Karim Wassef) #10

Ok. I’m going to say that what you’re looking for is similar to what I’m looking for and it’s beyond what keto alone can do. You’re going to push the envelope and maybe we can learn from each other.

I’ve lost 95lbs on keto and now I’m lifting to build muscle without fat but I’m at 21% bf targeting 18%.

Check out ketogains.com and watch some of Luis Villasenor’s videos. I don’t agree with everything they say but it’s one interesting perspective.

My current approach is high protein low carb low fat. So I aim for 240g protein, <85g fat, <20g carb. No carb cycling. I lift 5 days and week and do low intensity cardio (not HIIT) intermittently.

But I’m also much older than you. I’m 45, 5’10” and 177lbs with 140lb lean. So your mileage may vary (YMMV).

(Full Metal KETO AF) #11

Get rid of the sugar and you’re golden! Also when you’re metabolism is healthy and you’re in ketosis there may not be a high level of ketones detected because you produce them on demand and are probably using them with efficiency, so levels are low when testing. :cowboy_hat_face:

(Karim Wassef) #12

You can strict keto but athletes have a bigger budget for carbs. It could allow for more intense lifting and that can drive more muscle damage.

I personally don’t do carbs but some people who are into bodybuilding do. Thomas DeLauer advocates focused carb cycling (not cheating)

#13

Nice to hear that there are others with the same goal. At this situation i followed the podcasts from Danny Vega(done) and right now KetoSavage. A lot of information and great to tweak my way to go. Latest information that i hear and often comes back is a couple of days fasting and carnivor. If i speak for myself i do IF for 3 years (20 hours fast/4 eat) and i loved it. But 3 whole days of fasting seems to much of not consuming protein for muscle recovery and grow.

#14

The sugar that i count are only come from nuts/peanut butter and veggie.
When i started keto i ate a lot of cashew nuts and that brought me to the 70 gram carbs and that probably blocked my ketosis. If i will eliminate my nuts intake (brazil nuts/pecan/hazelnuts) i do a carnivor style of diet.

#15

Other question and maybe improvement needed : Currently i take a vitamine cocktail first in the morning with 600ml water. This supplementation is:

  • Vitamine C1000
  • Vitamine D3
  • Multi-Vitamine
  • Calcium/Magnesium/Sinc
  • Iron

Before training:

  • 10 gram Creatine mono
  • 5 gram beta alanine

During:
Water with 10 gram BCAA

After training:

  • 10 gram BCAA

After 20 hours fast i take digestive enzyme and take my food.

(Bob M) #16

Why do you take iron? (If there was one thing I think I would not take, it would be iron.)

#17

Because your body can handle till 75 gram. I think i can not make that just without food.

Vitamine update:

  • From 8.000mg Vitamine C (to high) i down size to 2.000mg. One supp first in the morning. One supp after workout.