I have been reading about Intermittent fasting and keto for over a year but my love of carbs have always limited my diet to just intermittent fasting. That all changed this month and here are my keto diet results 4 weeks later.
My plan was to go on the keto diet for 2 weeks, take time off, and return to it to see how I felt both on the diet, going into ketosis, and going off the keto diet.
I also wanted to see what happens to me and my energy and focus as I switch between my high carb low carb, high fat, low fat, and eating normal amounts of sugar.
Here are my keto diet results 4 weeks later broken down each week. After the first week, I was shocked with the results.
Week 0
Before I started, I weight around 160 pounds with most of my body fat resting around my middle section. I felt good but not great and I was slowly increasing my weights in the gym regularly.
My clothes are mostly a medium and I wear a size 30 pants. My chest is around 42″ and I have plenty of energy.
I have been doing intermitted fasting for 18 months where M-F I fast for 19 hours and eat for 5. On weekends I eat normally which is about a 12-16 hour fast with 8 hours of eating. Weekdays I skip breakfast and eat my first meal between 12-1 PM.
Week 1 (7/21/19)
I started the week at 160 pounds and 18.5% body fat.
I actually started the keto diet by accident. I was recording my food one Monday and realized that my carbs were below 50 (net carbs actually in the 30’s) and it was just a regular day of eating for me. I decided to repeat those same meals on Tuesday and I tested my ketones.
After just 2 days, I was in ketosis with no side affects, no keto flu, and no fuss.
I continued eating basically the same foods everyday. I went to the Habit burger restaurant everyday for lunch and got a modified Cobb salad worth about 600 calories, 50 g of protein, 50 grams of fat, and about 16 grams of carbs.
For dinner, I would eat another salad very similar to my lunch with 70 g protein, 40 g of fat, and 20 grams of carbs.
Several times during the first week I has a barbecued steak with grilled onions with a low carb vegetable. Life was good!
Daily Calories?
My daily calorie intake would be around 1300 calories with some light exercise burning about 300 added calories. My MBR is around 2200 so I am calculating a loss of about 2 pounds a week.
I repeat this all week. My energy increased as did my focus. I felt great!
Week 2 (7/28/19)
I started week 2 at 152.8 pounds and my body fat at 16.6%. I lost over 7 pounds and almost 2% in body fat in the first week.
This was a total shock and not what the math would have predicted.
The only way to explain it was the combination of Intermitted Fasting, Keto, exercising while in fasted state, and healthy eating multiplied the effects of weight lose.
This is what all the experts say and I can confirm they are correct.
Week 2 was a repeat of week 1. I would eat the same foods pretty much everyday, exercise early in the morning, and the results continued.
My performance in the gym remained the same but my energy and focus continued to surprise me. I was in the zone and loved it.
Week 3 (8/4/19)
I started week 3 at 147.8 pounds and my body fat at 15.9%. I lost 5 more pounds and almost 1% in body fat in the second week.
Week 3 was a very tough week for me personally having just learned that my job of over 20 years at IBM will be going away in a few months due to budget cuts and a business realignment. This I believe affected my weight loss for the week as I was distracted and stressed.
For week 3, I also changed things up and eat a diet higher in protein and lower in fat. I noticed right away my energy dropped and I was not as focused as I was during the first 2 weeks.
While doing the keto diet, I learned eating a diet rich in quality fats is critical to keeping your energy and brain working well.
My performance in the gym also declined. I pulled a muscle in my chest and had to reduce my exercises by 2/3 to avoid the injury and give it time to heal. My muscle seemed to have reduced but I couldn’t tell if it was just my body fat disappearing around the muscle or the actual muscle.
Week 3 remained pretty flat for me with minimal weight lost and body fat loss.
Week 4 (8/10/19)
Week 4 I decided to go off the keto diet to see how it affected me.
On 8/10/19, on my last day of keto, I weighted 147 pounds and a body fat of 15.5%.
I felt great but not as good as I did on my first 2 weeks while I was eating higher quality fats.
On 8/11 (my kids birthday party), I started eating carbs, cake, and pretty much anything I wanted.
On 8/12, I gained 3 pounds, and slowly gained about 1 additional pounds a day for the next 3 days.
I was still intermittent fasting and trying to eat well, I just added back carbs and sugar.
Life was great again. I was filling my carb and chocolate cravings with gusto and the spike in my weight showed it, but I strangely missed the way keto made me feel.
Now I was at odds. I have a strong craving for my keto fats and a craving for chocolate and carbs. How do I balance both cravings into my healthy lifestyle.
The solution was simple.
Summary
After my 4 days off keto, I decided to go back on it. Its not a weight thing for me as I can probably afford to gain some weight but I wanted that super energy and focus I felt when I was doing keto.
The biggest problem for me was the lack of small snacking and by cravings for carbs (pasta). I love bread, pasta, and a glass of wine when I cook. None of which fits at all in my keto lifestyle.
Another problem was the lack of flavor in my foods. I felt they were pretty plain and having a larger keto friendly recipe book would have made a huge difference. I will try to find on for my next go at it and share it here.
Keto Diet Results
To summary the experiment, here’s are my keto diet results 4 weeks later (actually 3 weeks since my last week was my return to carbs):
- Lost 13 pounds (160 to 147)
- Lost 3% body fat (18.5 to 15.5)
- BMI dropped from 23.7 to 21.7
- Body Water increased 59 to 60.9
- Muscle Mass decreased 124.0 to 118.2
- Subcutaneous Fat 16.4 to 13.9
- Visceral Fat 6.0 to 5.0
All my stats above were collected from my body fat scale that I ordered from Amazon. I did a full review called RENPHO Bluetooth Body Fat Scale Review on my TechLife101 website. I also did a full write-up on my Intermittent Fasting routine that you can read about called Intermittent Fasting Lifestyle – How I lost 40 Pounds in 4 Months.
What’s next for me? I want to give keto cycling a try. This is the balance between carb and fat cravings and I suspect a more natural and healthy alternative.
Keto Cycling
Keto Cycling is a method of doing keto for 5 days, and then taking 2 days off, and repeating.
My plan is to do keto M-F and then take Saturday and Sunday off with healthy eating, light carbs, and avoiding sugar at all costs. I will make sure to share my results but I am hopeful it will be a great compromise between keto fats and carb cravings.
If you liked this article, please consider subscribing to my email list and leaving a comment below telling me about your keto experiment and results. What worked for you and how did you resolve your carb and sugar cravings?
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