If ever there was proof that losing weight requires more than simply creating a calorie deficit and dispelling the myth that “a calorie is just a calorie”, one only has to read this post.
Last year was about getting lean and after achieving that, the plan was to get really ripped.. as in getting “six-pack abs ripped”.
I played around with a few diet methods late last year to test my body’s response before embarking on the more extreme methods that I had planned for Jan 1. Ketosis was first on the list. Since I have seen great results with low-carb and carb-cycling, I was certain that achieving keto, while cutting calories even further, would be all I needed to finally shred the last bit of fat.
I bought the keto strips and tested every day and night to ensure that I reached the enlightened state of ketosis [que heavenly ahhhhhs].
I decided to go with the cyclical keto diet and have a weekly re-feed day.. with a slightly longer window in the first week as keto can take a while to set in.
Aside from shooting for an all new low on carbohydrate intake, the other major change was a drastic reduction in calories. Hey.. if 1500 calories a day was showing me slow results, 1000-1200 a day would have to work even better, right?
It didn’t.
My Keto Results
After almost three weeks of keto and only two re-feed days, while on a drastic calorie cut, I am exactly the same weight as when I started.
If your initial thought is that I somehow under-calculated my calories, I can ensure that didn’t happen. I weighed and measured everything I ate. I more often ate at 1,000 calories but never went higher than 2,000 except on my re-feed days, where I ate 2,500 calories.
The only carbs I got were from broccoli, green beans and the occasional half-avocado. Daily carbs never exceeded 40 grams and that kept me in ketosis.
I’d like to believe that I somehow lost fat and gained muscle but I simply can’t make that claim. The mirror doesn’t show it and my strength is exactly where I started.
Operation Ketosis with a severe caloric deficit = FAIL.
No worries though.. every “fail” is one more piece of information I have on my way to success.
Calories vs Hormones
It seems pretty clear to me that losing the last bit of fat is more about controlling hormones and less about controlling calories.
I’ve read it many times before and I’ve never doubted it (just look at what steroids do to the typical body builder in manipulating hormones) but I also believed that I could circumvent the process and achieve similar results by focusing solely on a calorie deficit
No more.. I’m giving the proper attention to hormonal responses.
As world renowned Olympic trainer Charles Poliquin so emphatically teaches, every time we eat, we release hormones into the body. The type of calories we eat determine which hormones get released. Hormones have a huge effect on our insulin levels.. levels that are different in all of us. The secret to a successful diet and leaning out is a successful diet coupled with your natural and diet affected hormonal states.
In short.. I’m going to eat a lot more. As I don’t have access to the bio-metric screening methods employed by the industry leaders such as Poliquin, I can only be sure that I’m affecting hormones by eating a wider variety of food.. and more of it.
I’ll start focusing more on creating the caloric deficit through exercise.
I still have hopes for a nice six-pack by end of March but should I fail, the quest will continue.
As for Ketosis, I may revisit it after getting my calories back up around 2,000 and seeing a slow drop through the addition of exercise. For now though, I’ll start with a low-calorie diet and hit a little carb-cycling.
Carb cycling was a proven winner for me last year when I was losing the bulk of my weight.
Ketosis is likely a winning strategy for fat loss so don’t let me discourage you. Ketosis with a severe calorie deficit, however, is just a recipe to slow metabolism and get fat.
@LeanGainsGuide
Latest posts by Jeff Kastner (see all)
- Thyroid and Rapid Heart Beat - April 30, 2013
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- The Key to Successful Dieting and Getting Ripped - February 19, 2013
I don’t understand how you could name your site leangainsguide and seemingly not put much faith into the LG method. Please do not take my advice as condescending, but I have been following your experiments for a couple months and getting very frustrated for you. I appreciate your scientific approach and eagerness, but you have been spinning your wheels – something of which I know firsthand. I too fell prey to the heavenly allure of ketosis, and the mighty CKD. I quickly found out, though, that they sound great on paper, but are horrible in practice. IMO ketogenic diets are great for slightly to very overweight people trying to reset their insulin response, and horrible for healthy weight individuals seeking to reach very low levels of BF% and progress in strength training. Read this article -> http://www.leangains.com/2010/06/intermittent-fasting-and-stubborn-body.html. Over the years I have done a lot of experimenting as well; however, the more I strayed from the very basic LG principles (calorie and carb cycling centered around High Intensity – Low volume training, and a daily 16/8 fast) the more I spun my wheels. I have never worked WITH Martin, but I was around before all of this stuff got super popular, and his FB page was like a Q&A forum. From the information gathered in the early years, I have written a very detailed guide that fills in a lot of the blanks that Martin intentionally left out. If you give me an e-mail address, I would be more than happy to send that to you. I am sure that you and your readers would benefit from the guidance. Please learn from the experimentation (read : mistakes that has resulted in months if not years of wheel spinning) that I have done. I would love nothing more than to hop on your site one day soon and read about your success, rather than your failed experiments.
I agree with the above comment. I have worked with Martin and his method works if you see it through.
Hi Dan,
Thanks for commenting. It’s nice to hear of the success that others have had with Martin’s methods. I spoke to Joshua and his comment above, via email and it ultimately led to a great post he created here.
That said, I would love to say the method has produced the desired results for me.. but it hasn’t. After Joshua created his post, I immediately jumped in.. corrected the things I had been doing wrong… and still couldn’t lose. I tried a greater calorie deficit, lost strength and a pound with no fat loss. The next week was the same.
I suspect many people will think I’m not eating right, but I’m not only eating what I should, I stick to it 100%… so, it’s been frustrating, but.. I won’t lie to anyone about my results. I’m not giving up… just not getting the same results others have reported.
Thanks a lot of your comment!
I bet somewhere along the line the chain was broken or not in alignment. From your early post on IF I see that your recap of Martin’s recommendations where off according to how Martin set things up for me…. The frequency of DL and Squats where to much… The lifting cycle isn’t right, the macro nutrients where off… among other things….. Anyway one thing to take into consideration that Martin does take things and base it around ones needs and variables…. I bet it just needs to be dialed in better and adhered to…….. longer term… Patience is the key….
Best of luck!
I suspect you’re right, Dan. I know it’s the little things that all add up to make a difference in the end. I have seen some success.. and I’ll continue on with the goal. I still believe it will happen for me.. I’m too committed. And in the end, I think the struggles I endure will help others that are trying to get under 10% and having trouble. It’s been surprisingly more difficult than I had ever expected.
I’ve told my wife that I was actually considering issuing a $1000 challenge to any trainer that can get me 3% lower on body fat. I’m curious to see if working with a trainer would make a difference.
All that said.. I’m still at the lowest body fat percentage I’ve seen since being a teen and look pretty damned good.. so not complaining too much!