I see a lot of bro science with keto and muscle building so as someone who has been pretty much non stop keto since 2016 I think it's time we had a place to discuss practicality, challenges, keto adaptation etc.
My experience:
I am nearly a 38 year old female who was pre-diabetic but not massively overweight before my bodybuilding journey and competitions.
For 4 years before keto I tried carb cycling, timing carbs around workouts, etc. Didn't work. I was working out 5x per week, lifting heavy but varying the routine (sets/reps) ever week. I am a certified level 2 trainer with a strong interest in nutrition (although this is not my primary career).
I stumbled across keto due to the prediabetes thing. I also had higher blood pressure - all my life before I put on 13kg I had low blood pressure. My family is very healthy, no history of cancers, diabetes or hypertension. So this was all lifestyle and bad diet/drinking 3x per week. But still, weight wouldn't shift.
Then I tried keto on my own and for about 3-4 months every time I got the keto headache (which is brutal and doesn't respond to regular pain killers) or weakness I would have carbs and that would be it. I never realised how difficult keto adaptation is in the first 2-3 weeks and this is the reason why many decide not to stick with it. Because they believe that their body isn't responding to it.
Anyways - one day I decided to stick with it, no matter what. Keto headache for 5 days. Weakness at the gym. Tired, exhausted you name it. I was also incredibly thirsty with a weird taste in my mouth. I had a nurofen plus X2 for the headache. It worked. Not ideal but still - small amount of opiate-based pain killer and the headache is gone. Only if it's absolutely unbearable of course.
After the initial 3 weeks of feeling like crap, I started waking up rested and clear-headed.
Strength slowly came back over the weeks and I ended up being able to lift more than I used to, albeit the higher reps (15+) were more challenging due to lack of glycogen reserves.
Excessive thirst subsided as did the weird taste. This all lasted 3 months!
My body was learning to create new enzymes to bread down the newly formed ketones into usable energy. This process takes time people!
So whoever wants to do keto, you must realise that it will be hard for the first few weeks.
I stayed strict keto for 2 years, no carb-ups, cheating etc.
I did 9 competitions in this time, but also managed to somehow put on 3kg of muscle whilst in a calorie deficit for most of the year. I also did the dexa scan before and after comp prep to see how much muscle I've lost while on prep and it was 0.01% loss - basically nothing. I was doing 60min cardio and weights for 1.5 hrs 6 days a week.
I should mention that I started off as an ectomorph. I was a very hard gainer pre-keto. I was never obese or fat but did get a bit chubby by the time I hit 27.
Hopefully this information will help the prospective keto-ers struggling to adapt.
My experience:
I am nearly a 38 year old female who was pre-diabetic but not massively overweight before my bodybuilding journey and competitions.
For 4 years before keto I tried carb cycling, timing carbs around workouts, etc. Didn't work. I was working out 5x per week, lifting heavy but varying the routine (sets/reps) ever week. I am a certified level 2 trainer with a strong interest in nutrition (although this is not my primary career).
I stumbled across keto due to the prediabetes thing. I also had higher blood pressure - all my life before I put on 13kg I had low blood pressure. My family is very healthy, no history of cancers, diabetes or hypertension. So this was all lifestyle and bad diet/drinking 3x per week. But still, weight wouldn't shift.
Then I tried keto on my own and for about 3-4 months every time I got the keto headache (which is brutal and doesn't respond to regular pain killers) or weakness I would have carbs and that would be it. I never realised how difficult keto adaptation is in the first 2-3 weeks and this is the reason why many decide not to stick with it. Because they believe that their body isn't responding to it.
Anyways - one day I decided to stick with it, no matter what. Keto headache for 5 days. Weakness at the gym. Tired, exhausted you name it. I was also incredibly thirsty with a weird taste in my mouth. I had a nurofen plus X2 for the headache. It worked. Not ideal but still - small amount of opiate-based pain killer and the headache is gone. Only if it's absolutely unbearable of course.
After the initial 3 weeks of feeling like crap, I started waking up rested and clear-headed.
Strength slowly came back over the weeks and I ended up being able to lift more than I used to, albeit the higher reps (15+) were more challenging due to lack of glycogen reserves.
Excessive thirst subsided as did the weird taste. This all lasted 3 months!
My body was learning to create new enzymes to bread down the newly formed ketones into usable energy. This process takes time people!
So whoever wants to do keto, you must realise that it will be hard for the first few weeks.
I stayed strict keto for 2 years, no carb-ups, cheating etc.
I did 9 competitions in this time, but also managed to somehow put on 3kg of muscle whilst in a calorie deficit for most of the year. I also did the dexa scan before and after comp prep to see how much muscle I've lost while on prep and it was 0.01% loss - basically nothing. I was doing 60min cardio and weights for 1.5 hrs 6 days a week.
I should mention that I started off as an ectomorph. I was a very hard gainer pre-keto. I was never obese or fat but did get a bit chubby by the time I hit 27.
Hopefully this information will help the prospective keto-ers struggling to adapt.
from Bodybuilding.com Forums - Nutrition https://ift.tt/2OE3pD7
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