We hit a wall. Hard. Week 3 was a hectic week, in and out of the gym. We trained 1RM powerlifting maxes and competed in an uphill/downhill ski race. Then we hit a major wall, in the form of an inability to recover – potentially an unintentional caloric deficit or one of the problems with a ketogenic diet.

Moving forward, we’re trying to get back to what we initially laid out in our introduction post, where we explained that 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.

Hitting the wall:

In Week 3 we tested our Squat, Bench Press and Deadlift 1RM in preparation for a powerlifting meet we have in Week 6. Not only are testing maxes is a significant stressor on the body, but we also went and played in the mountains the same week. At the end of Week 3, we had lifted more weight than we ever had in our lives, spent two days alpine skiing, and capped it off with an uphill/downhill SkiMO race. By the time our squat training came for Week 4, both Lindsay and I were pretty exhausted. We stuck to the training cycle, but while doing our Bench Press work on St. Patrick’s Day, we hit a wall.

Neither of us could come close to doing the prescribed reps, sets and weights. I was exhausted just thinking about lifting. My joints were sore, and I could’ve taken a nap in the middle of the workout. So, while all of our friends went out drinking that night, we went home and tried to figure out what the hell was going on. Was it low calories? Too much training? Oncoming flu? Or something else…?

High-protein diets + strength training + Keto:

Ketogenic Diets are supposed to be High Fat, Moderate Protein, Low Carb. As strength athletes training for multiple competitions, there is one macronutrient that we hold near and dear: protein. For this experiment, we wanted to keep our protein intake at the recommended 1 gram per pound of bodyweight, as anything less than that could negatively affect our training. Unfortunately, by strict keto standards, that’s too high. In fact, our daily protein intake might be so high that it is the reason we’re not hitting ketosis on our blood readings.

For the past four weeks, we followed the advice of blog authors wrote things like:

For those who expend a normal amount of energy each day, the macronutrient percentages on the keto diet are generally…

The problem here is precisely the same as the problem with most calorie counting apps. They only account for the caloric needs expended during ‘normal’ exercise, not the recovery process from heavy work sets. An endurance athlete needs the energy during the activity, but their recovery process is considerably less than a strength athlete. For instance, after a typical training run, the body’s metabolic rate is elevated for 4-6 hours. After a heavy squat day, the body can be in a recovery mode and actively be calling for fuel for up to 48 hours!

The biggest reason why Lindsay and I won’t find out if traditional keto works for strength athletes is that we are not comfortable with dropping our protein to recommended keto ratios. By keeping protein above 30% of total calories, we were inadvertently starting a process called gluconeogenesis. Gluconeogenesis meant that our bodies were stealing amino acids (protein) from the recovery process and turning those amino acids into glucose to fuel our existence. This means that our bodies were still fueling off of glucose rather than fats. Again, the point of ketosis is that your body starts using fatty acids as energy, not glucose.

It took four weeks to realize what we were doing, as we continuously dropped carbs and kept protein levels high. Whoops.

Talk about a double-edged sword.

Gluconeogenesis explained:

The body’s preferred source of fuel is glucose, which it gets from carbohydrates on a typical diet. In the case of a low-carb diet, like ketogenic, the body will have to turn to other sources of energy. Gluconeogenesis is a fancy multi-syllabic word for the conversion of non-carbohydrates to glucose. Through glycogenolysis, glucose can be released from stored carbs (called glycogen) and shipped out into the blood. When the liver runs out of stored glycogen, it shifts to a backup system and creates glucose out of non-carbohydrate compounds. It can happen with fatty acids AND proteins.

In this case, proteins, or amino acids, are the low hanging fruit. It’s easier for the body to turn available amino acids into glucose than it is to turn fatty acids into ketones. Because of our high protein intakes, our bodies were taking the path of least resistance and using those amino acids for fuel. The problem as a strength athlete, in my case, is that my damaged muscle fibers were calling for 225g of amino acids each day. Becuase of gluconeogenesis, maybe only half of the amino acids were making it to the muscles for recovery.

Read more about how Too Much Protein is Bad for Ketosis

or

A Protein Intake Experiment by Bjarte Bakke

Adjustments for weeks 5 & 6:

The first thing we did after tanking on our Bench Press workout at the end of Week 3 was to increase our calories, primarily fat. At the time, we thought that we were both calorically deficient and unable to fully recover from the increased effort in our lifts. That helped some, for sure, but at the end of Week 4 the gluconeogenesis lightbulb went off. We were chasing a number on the blood ketosis meter that would never come.

A low-carb for strength athletes article by powerlifting legend Mark Bell helped get us going back in the right direction. We’re trying to test a healthy diet for strength athletes based on the principles of ketosis, not force strength athletes to follow a strict ketogenic diet.

We may change something for weeks 7-12, but for now, we are doing an evening carb-feed. I have more than doubled my carb intake to 100g/day, or 11% and Lindsay is at 80g/day, or 13%. We are taking all of our carbohydrates in a 4-hour window, from 4:00 pm to 8:00 pm in an attempt to maintain a fat burning state during the day but replenish glycogen in the evening and help protect our protein from gluconeogenesis.

Clay’s Observations: Weeks 3 & 4

1. Fatigue from skiing came earlier than I would’ve liked, but that could have been from a powerlifting-centric training plan right now.
2. Performance in the gym tanked after the 1RM week.
3. Joint pain, irritability, general exhaustion and low performance are all signs of crossing into over-training. A bit of rest and adding 500cal/day has helped all of it.
4. Sleep is still all over the place. Trouble getting to sleep/staying asleep but then trouble waking up in the morning.

Lindsay’s Observations: Weeks 3 & 4

1. I still surprise myself with increased mental clarity. Huge win.
2. Very groggy in the mornings.
3. Slow recovery from workouts. Not good.
4. I eat the food because I’m supposed to, not because I’m hungry for it.

Some things about this diet are working very well for me. The benefits of clearer thought processes (less brain fog throughout the day) are very evident. But the adverse side effects I’ve been experiencing is centered around being drowsy in the morning. Once I’m awake I’m okay, but getting out of bed is harder than before. After this experiment is over, I’d love to carry forward the high-fat diet practices. I need to figure out this problem with waking up, though; that might be a result of the diet or other lifestyle practices, like irregular wakeup times, our current hard training while we prep for competition, eating too late… I’m excited to figure this out. Well, I’m excited to be more awake when the alarm goes off.

The Measurements: Weeks 3 & 4

We bailed on the consistent blood testing because we never actually reached keto. The urine strips were reporting mild ketosis, but nothing consistent. Most importantly, my body fat and measurements in Week 3 are indicative of a significant caloric deficit! Fortunately, the caloric bump for Week 4 got things corrected. I’d like to be down to 10% body fat at the end of this, but not at 1.5% in a week!

I know we promised that the Week 3 & 4 would share our super-smoothie recipes and a little science on the fat conversion process in the liver. Because of the abrupt changes we ran into, I choose to focus on those and hit on that science later. The Week 5 & 6 post will focus mostly on how we feel our diet has prepared us going into a Powerlifting meet and Strongman in back-to-back weekends.

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).