What’s this all about? Well, in our introduction post, Lindsay and I are embarking on an experimental Ketogenic Diet for Strength Athletes. Clay is interested in body recomposition (decrease body fat), and Lindsay cares most about the reported increase in mental clarity. Now in Week 2, we monitor our progress and take a deeper dive into how we are doing the diet.

Daily Meal Breakdown:

One of the most common questions we get is “what are you eating every day?”. Click the image to the right to open my daily food plan. Food prep takes a little longer than average, but it isn’t that bad. You’ll see that we have a lot of leafy greens in our lunch to ensure we are getting fiber and minerals. We also packed protein, fats, micronutrients, and (more) fiber into a morning midday super-smoothie.

The super-smoothie is a way to disguise a high volume of fats into a meal. Otherwise, we would just be drinking shots of olive oil. One thing that we have learned in the last two weeks is that foods have hidden carbs in everything. Even the Nuun tablets that we put into our water bottles or balsamic vinegar (which has been taken out of the diet this week). The final thing to point out is that this experiment isn’t supposed to be a culinary punishment. Every night we get a full square of dark chocolate, which doesn’t sound like a lot, but it’s a nice present at the end of the evening!

Modifications from Week 1:

During Week 1 we were getting far too many carbs to be in actual ketosis. Carbs are everywhere, and it took us some time to figure that out. I didn’t account for the carbs in balsamic vinegar, Nuun tablets, dark chocolate, or hot sauce, just to name a few. By working those into the overall total program, we had to reduce our smoothie carbs and evening carbs. That meant taking out coconut water and 2% milk from our smoothies and replacing them with almond milk. The original Ben Greenfield plan had us eating small amounts of sweet potato, quinoa or wild rice in the evening meal, but he designed his program as an endurance athlete. Because we are not doing nearly as much endurance work, we took the carbs out of the evening meal and only have vegetables with low net carbs.

If you’re looking for a resource on finding vegetables with low net carbs, check out this article from the Diet Doctor.

Effects on Strength Training

Even though we both felt like we were coming down with a cold or flu, we still have had a phenomenal week with a barbell in our hands. Lindsay PR’d her Bench Press at 140lbs and I PR’d my deadlift at 620lbs. There have been no adverse effects on high-weight, low-rep strength training; in fact, we’re progressing better than we have in a long time. Some of this progress is undoubtedly attributed to a reduction in inflammation from not consuming alcohol or processed carbohydrates.

The most significant effect of the diet is on our higher-rep accessory work after we have performed a heavy squat, bench or deadlift routine. I have found that I run out of gas at the end of a workout. Usually, I could power through my accessory work in about 30 minutes, but that has started to take twice as long now that I need to have longer rest in the workout. This need for increased rest is likely a result of depleted muscle glycogen stores and our bodies learning to use fat as a fuel source. Interestingly enough, even with lower endurance, the weights involved in my accessory work are still increasing.

Clay’s Observations: Week 2

1. Not consuming refined carbohydrates is doing wondrous things for my joint pain.
2. My sensitivity to sweetness is increasingly quickly; even kombucha is tasting sweet.
3. I really missed not having a beer and hamburger after a day of skiing.
4. Still having a lot of problem getting to sleep at night, but definitely less reliance on caffeine during the day.

Lindsay’s Observations: Week 2

1. Hard to maintain a real-life balance with a strict keto diet – had a Sunday lunch with friends and it was hard to participate.
2. Eating just 3/4 of a cup of rice at that Sunday lunch made me feel like I had an entire Thanksgiving dinner.
3. Wished I had a sandwich to eat on the chairlift – but that was out of habit, not because I was low on fuel.
4. Pretty sure I’m not true in ketosis yet.

The Measurements: Week 2

The blood testing device we bought to monitor our state of ketosis has not been very consistent, so we ended up buying urine test strips as a backup. Those have been giving us a reading of being in “light ketosis.” I’m guessing that we are not getting a deeper state of ketosis because of the vegetables that we add to our dinner at night, like cabbage and cruciferous veggies.

In the Week 3 post we’ll share our super-smoothie recipes, any modifications we’ve made in week 3, and a little science on the fat conversion process in the liver.

NOTE: I am writing a weekly journal to document our experiences in a quasi-scientific manner throughout the next 12 weeks. The intent of this 12-week journal is to share personal experience, resources, and observations for people looking to start a keto diet (and we will attempt to share the best academic articles along the way too).