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7 day water fast and keto - a journey to build a better vehicle [+ indept explanation of keto and fat adaption]

AlexDep89

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(Scroll down if you just want to know the results after 7 days of water fasting)
(Also the process of going into keto and fat adaption is explained in a later post, since it was added later, so scroll down even a bit more ;) à

Intro:
An essential component of becoming an entrepreneur is having confidence. To start something, you need to at least kind of believe it will work or that you can withstand (temporary) failure. My feeling of self-worth and self-confidence has been low for a long time. It kind of feels like I personally need a pre-fastlane journey. Its like I can see the fastlane, but with my beat up car, I might be in trouble on the fastlane. This is the methaphor, but this translates in knowing that at this time, I'm to lazy, to weak, not stress resilient enough, not focused enough,.... to go onto the fastlane.

Building a better vehicle:
The past 6 months have been a journey for me into becoming a better me. Building a better vehicle. Some of the things I did to achieve that is going into therapy, finding natural ways to deal with ADD, having a heart to heart conversation with my parents (after reading "no more mr nice guy"), being more open about feelings in general towards my girlfriend, exercising,..... (the journey actually stared earlier with a break-up with my girlfriend after she caught me being a porn addict, and just getting my ADD diagnose last year - done by a neurologist and neurophysiologist)

Things I have done so far that I'm kind of proud of:
* Went from 120 kg (265 lbs) to 103 kg (227 lbs). 17kg (38 lbs) in one year. No spectacular transformation, but it is start
* Building my stamina: going from hardly being able to run for a minute to completing a 10 mile race in May (speed: 10km/h = 6,22 Mph)
* Quit smoking (now smoke free for 4 weeks): I do use some pharmaceutical help. A drug called Champix (active component being Varenicline) prescribped by my M.D.
* 63 days being porn & masturbation free. (Been porn free for longer, but 63 days of no masturbation and accompanied sexual fantasies)
* Having a much better relationship with my parents (i'm 30 years old fyi). I use to only kiss (on the cheek) and hug my mother when leaving my parents after a visit. For some reason (never being part of the way we act with each other) I did not do this with my father. After a good heart to heart talk we made it part of our acting toward each other. We talked about him having a good but emotionally colder father, and how he didn't want to be like that, but he didn't know better. And how I have the emotional treats of my mother, and would love to build a stronger and more deep emotional connection with my father. I now also kiss and hug my father goodbye + I actually told them face to face that I love them and that i'm really great full and that they can be proud as parents. And they told my they loved me, and are proud of me, and would support my in anything I do (withing boundaries of being legal and not dangerous towards my health and such)
* Learned that light dose of CBD (3% oil, 3x4 drops a day) really helps for my ADD.

Issues I still struggle with:
* Maldaptive daydreaming
* Weekly use of THC in terms of vaping THC oil
* Feeling stuck at work
* ....

Why a 7 day water fast
* To jump start phase 2 of my fat loss (went from 120kg to 103kg, but have been on this weight for 4 to 5 months)
* To aid in my phase 2 of my fat loss by increasing insulin sensitivity, breaking mental addiction to food, going into deep ketosis,.
* To build mental discipline
* To enjoy the health benefits: lowering inflammation, counteracting neurological degenerative disorder, help cleanup my body after smoking, rejuvenating,...
* To do something really hard. Because this is a great way of building confidence in yourself. Doing hard sh*t, completing it and leave you thinking: Hell yeah, I did that.

Results
Fun fact: I thought about posting this on day one of my fast. But I was afraid of posting a start of something I did not know if I would be able to complete.
Measurements were taking in the morning. So day 1 is just after eating around 8 pm and then having slept.

DAYWeightWaistStomach
Day 1103,6 kg - 228,4 lbs98,5 cm - 38,8 inch108,5 cm - 42,7 inch
Day 2100,5 kg - 221,6 lbs97,5 cm - 38,4 inch106 cm - 41,7 inch
Day 399,8 kg - 220 lbs97 cm - 38,2 inch106 cm - 41,7 inch
Day 499,4 kg - 219,1 lbs96 cm - 37,8 inch105 cm - 41,3 inch
Day 597,9 kg - 215,8 lbs94,5 cm - 37,2 inch104 cm - 40,94 inch
Day 6no measurementsno measurementsno measurements
Day 796,4 kg - 212,5 lbs94 cm - 37 inch103,8 cm - 40,87 inch

* Day 6: We had my sister in law over. She slept in the guest room which is also where i had kept scale and measuring tape. She was still asleep when I left for work. And I rather skip a measurement then weight on a part of the day that is inconsistent with the rest.

So totals:
Weight loss: 7,2 kg - 15,9 lbs
Waist reduction: 4,5 cm - 1,8 inch
Stomach reduction: 4,7 cm - 1,9 inch

I also bought a tools to measure ketones and blood sugar. It arrived on day 7 (the tool is meant for my follow up).
The tool is use is the "CareSens Dual Blood Ketones and Bloods sugar meter".
The results :
* Blood glucose: 3,6 mmol /L -64,8 mg / DL => Great. Under 3,8 mmol/L (< 70 mg / DL) is often seen as hypoglycemia. But in a state where ketones are present, you are fine even below 3,8. Then it seems the lower limit is 2,8 mmol / L - 50 mg/DL
* Ketones: 5,4 mmol/L - is exactly the value to expect when a normal adult without underlying health issues goes into a multiple day fast.
* GKI (Glucose Ketone Index) = Good measurements to combine both values and view the real metabolic state you are in: 0,67 (devide glucose levels / ketone levels, both in mmol/l). => Highest therapeutic level of ketosis, only to be reached by a water fast or a diet that is almost purely fat.

! Fun fact: Keto peeing strips are worthless. Even while being into deep ketotis, there were no ketones in my urine. So the strips showed nothing. This just means, the ketones in my body are being used. Even in a keto diet, it is actually normal that ketones no longer show up in urine. If you have ketones in your urine, that actually means that you are overproducing ketones and that is a process your body will not continue to do. Another reasons for ketones to show up in urine is a rising blood glucose levels. This means, if you f*ck up a little during keto diet, you eat like 100g of carbs, and the next day you check (am i still in keto?) with a strip: you will see high readings of ketones (because your body has produced ketones, but you gave it sugar to use, so now excess ketones are peed out) and you might believe you are still in deep ketosis, while you are actually less ketonic. Ergo keto sticks: worthless for keto diet (They are usefull for the purpose they where made for, to track down ketoacidose for people who are diabetic)

Post re-feed measurements:
I did a re-feed with some self made chicken broth + some vegetables and I binged on nuts. Way to many nuts. And the heavy spiced, roasted kind of nuts. My girlfriend bought them for here and here sister but there was much left. Being in the fast is was able to say no to them. Once I started eating, I really craved them. But besides from a heavy stomach, no ill side effects.
Weight: 98,3 kg - 216 lbs
Waist: 96,5 cm - 38 inch
Stomach: 105,5 cm - 41,5 inch

re-feed versus day 1 and day 7:
Weight: -5,3 kg (- 11,7 lbs) / + 1,9kg (+ 4,2 lbs)
Waist: -2 cm (-0.8 inch) / +2,5 cm (+1 inch)
Stomach: -3cm (-1,2 inch) / +1,70 cm (0,67 inch)

I believe that if I can keep the rebound weight under 2kg (4,5 lbs) and essentially weigh less then 98,4 kg (216,9 lbs) by next week Sunday, I will be very happy.

What is next
This was only the stepping stone to further success. My goal now is to go into strict ketosis with carnivore type diet (high fat meat, fish and eggs - no dairy, no vegetables, no fruit, no artificial sweeteners,...) for at least 30 days. This combined with my regular 16:8 fasting routine, my 3x/week weight lifting routine (RPT routine), and my 3x/week running routine (building up to half a marathon within 7 weeks).

Projects going on:
* Carnivore diet for health, weight loss, breaking sugar addiction, building mental strenght and seeing the effects of ketones on long distance running
* Preparing for running half a marathon
* Preparing for my 1,5 year degree in Cyber Security. A degree payed by my employer. Lucally, education is much cheaper in Belgium, and total price is like 2000 EUR. And for each 3 months I continue to work for my employer after getting this degree, I have to repay 25% less if I leave. (So If I leave 6 months after the course, I pay like 1750, If I leave after a year, I don't have to repay anything). Fastlane aside, degree aside, I'm very interested in Cyber Security (I already work as a Systems Engineer in IT) so I want to do this course for the knowledge.
* Keep working on my "nice guy" problems.
* Handle my maladaptive daydreaming and use of THC.

I will use this main post, to continue to write about the diet. Might start other posts to talk about those nice guy problems, the use of THC, my old porn addiction, my plan of doing business in the realms of cyber security,.....

Resources:
* nr 1 resource for anybody who wants to do keto is www.dietdoctor.com I don't have affilate account. I use a payed subscription. Just thousands of keto recepeis and many, many week plans. Access many hours of videos, presentations, audio books,... and even full length videos.
* Info on the GKI: Glucose Ketone index (GKI)
* Very extensive blog by a medical center of the effects of fasting: https://idmprogram.com/fasting-physiology-part-ii/ (Attention: If you are a into biology this site might take up some of your time. The blog has post from fasting - part 1 , all the way upto fasting part 29. Each part is between 1 up to 10 pages - if you would print them out. And then they have side branches like they might talk about Autophagy and then have a link to a 4 part blog post about mTOR and autophay - a biology nerd like me has read them all)
* My training routine: https://leangains.com/reverse-pyramid-training-guide/
* My CareSense Glucose and Ketone meter
 
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AlexDep89

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People might ask - why no pictures? Well, I did make some pictures, but due to different lightning, angle,.... you can't see that much difference. Also I don't really like the body I have yet, despite having lost already so much. I plan to start posting pictures once I at least feel good about the way my body looks. Then I have no problems with showing the older, "fat me" pictures.

Edit : Since I have a pic of me in my profile picture. And I don't mind showing my face. Here is some progress of my fat loss - but only my face:

26336
 
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Kevin88660

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Good job!

I am doing one hour minimum of exercise daily. Resistance training + cardio on bikes. Calories Counting daily too.
 

AlexDep89

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Good job!

I am doing one hour minimum of exercise daily. Resistance training + cardio on bikes. Calories Counting daily too.
Thank you. You are doing good yourself to!

I believe that daily exercise is key. They say you can't outwork a bad diet which is true BUT daily exercise really makes you feel good about yourself, increases self-confidence, strength, stamina,... It helps lowering stress and improve your sleep, it trains willpower, it gives biofeedback (often you don't feel lack of nutrition and water in day to day life, but when you push your body, you notice right away if you didn't drink enough, eat enough,...)
And all these positive effects really help to stick to a diet / new way of living - I believe.
Running has also been a great motivator to stop smoking;
 
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Charnell

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Righteous! I just wrapped up a 72-hour water fast Friday evening. Moving forward I'll be doing a modified alternate-day fast with Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday's off from eating. For whatever reason, everyone wants to have their wedding in August this year...
 

Kevin88660

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Thank you. You are doing good yourself to!

I believe that daily exercise is key. They say you can't outwork a bad diet which is true BUT daily exercise really makes you feel good about yourself, increases self-confidence, strength, stamina,... It helps lowering stress and improve your sleep, it trains willpower, it gives biofeedback (often you don't feel lack of nutrition and water in day to day life, but when you push your body, you notice right away if you didn't drink enough, eat enough,...)
And all these positive effects really help to stick to a diet / new way of living - I believe.
Running has also been a great motivator to stop smoking;
Yes. You cannot workout a bad diet but I have seen no body that binge eating when they take effort to exercise daily.

The primary benefit of exercising daily in fat loss is to know the pain of exercise so that it reminds you not to eat without discipline. There is research on this. Same logic as you will not anyhow spend your hard earned money.

I do cardio so that I can afford to eat a little bit more and have a large calories deficit. Having a large deficit entirely by diet will make me sleepy and low energy. Not a good thing for me when I need to do my work and meet my clients.

Research by American heart associations shows that only after 450 min of exercise per week there is no health benefits in reducing major illness. If I count in my break time honestly I am not even at 450 yet.

Good to hear that you are quitting smoking and making massive progress!
 

GoodluckChuck

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Have you heard of 75 hard? Seems like a way for you to up the ante on something you're already doing. Could increase the self-confidence gains and give you a pool of people to compare to when looking to identify your strengths and weaknesses.

Great progress. I enjoyed your talk about keto. I'm 30 days on keto and it's been a game changer for changing my relationship with food.

Keep up the good work!
 
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AlexDep89

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Have you heard of 75 hard? Seems like a way for you to up the ante on something you're already doing. Could increase the self-confidence gains and give you a pool of people to compare to when looking to identify your strengths and weaknesses.

Great progress. I enjoyed your talk about keto. I'm 30 days on keto and it's been a game changer for changing my relationship with food.

Keep up the good work!

I did not know the 75 hard. But curious as I am, I googled it. Looks very interesting. It is similar to other things I have read like the "30 days of discipline" and "Monk Mode" both by the hand of Victor Pride (Bold & Determent blog) and also "Unleashing Yourself" @Damian Pros (Dare and Conquer blog => He is actually a member here).

I have done 30 days to discipline when I was younger, but should do it again. Monk mode, i have bought and is more on resetting your dopamine system. I'm not following Mode Mode right away (summary: making your life quite boring for 30 days) but building up to it.

Unleashing yourself looks like a 30 days to discipline 2.0 I would say that Damian has been inspired by Victor Pride both for the blog and the program.

Seems like you are spot on, that it would be just up the ante to do the 75 hard. I might do it starting September. :
  1. Strict Diet – No cheating, not even 1 bite, and No alcohol => 95% there. Ido have a big annual festival in my home town village 15 august and a one day music festival 24 august. Those are two days I will allow myself to drink alcohol - but 40%+ alcohol with diet soda, most potent / kcal . But I haven't had alcohol in over a month so if I set it to be my goal for 75 days starting September, It should be possible.
  2. 2 Workouts per Day – 1 has to be outside and both have to be at least 45 minutes => This one seemed hard until I read allot of people count 'walking' as outdoor exercise. I go for a 30 minute walk 2x day to let out my dog so CHECK
  3. Drink 1 Gallon of Water per Day – Nothing but clear, plain water counts - maybe CHECK , i mean, only water counts for the gallon, but what if i drink a gallon, but also have a cup of coffee. Being a former (near past) caffeïne addict, I might use actually stop drinking coffee as part of the challenge.
  4. Read 10 Pager per Day – From a non-fiction self help book or business book - I don't read 10 pages, but I do listen to non-fiction audiobooks during my walks, during my commute to work,... so I probably surpass this in terms of content. But since actually reading takes more effort, this is something I will need to add.
  5. Take a Progress Picture Every Day – So you can see the progress at the end - Will do (might stupidly be enough the hardest part since I don't see the use in daily pictures, one every week should be enoug)

Thanks again for the tip

Edit: Right after closing this post. I went to see if I copied the ebook I bought "30 days to discipline" onto my new laptop - which i did. I had a quick look and it seems that I did keep some of the habbits I build when I was younger using this program like cold showers (after doing them for years, I love them, they are like magic when waking up) and waking up early (I wake up at 6 am while having to leave for work at 8 am, might go back to waking up at 5 am just to see what is different for me)
 
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GoodluckChuck

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I did not know the 75 hard. But curious as I am, I googled it. Looks very interesting. It is similar to other things I have read like the "30 days of discipline" and "Monk Mode" both by the hand of Victor Pride (Bold & Determent blog) and also "Unleashing Yourself" @Damian Pros (Dare and Conquer blog => He is actually a member here).

I have done 30 days to discipline when I was younger, but should do it again. Monk mode, i have bought and is more on resetting your dopamine system. I'm not following Mode Mode right away (summary: making your life quite boring for 30 days) but building up to it.

Unleashing yourself looks like a 30 days to discipline 2.0 I would say that Damian has been inspired by Victor Pride both for the blog and the program.

Seems like you are spot on, that it would be just up the ante to do the 75 hard. I might do it starting September. :
  1. Strict Diet – No cheating, not even 1 bite, and No alcohol => 95% there. Ido have a big annual festival in my home town village 15 august and a one day music festival 24 august. Those are two days I will allow myself to drink alcohol - but 40%+ alcohol with diet soda, most potent / kcal . But I haven't had alcohol in over a month so if I set it to be my goal for 75 days starting September, It should be possible.
  2. 2 Workouts per Day – 1 has to be outside and both have to be at least 45 minutes => This one seemed hard until I read allot of people count 'walking' as outdoor exercise. I go for a 30 minute walk 2x day to let out my dog so CHECK
  3. Drink 1 Gallon of Water per Day – Nothing but clear, plain water counts - maybe CHECK , i mean, only water counts for the gallon, but what if i drink a gallon, but also have a cup of coffee. Being a former (near past) caffeïne addict, I might use actually stop drinking coffee as part of the challenge.
  4. Read 10 Pager per Day – From a non-fiction self help book or business book - I don't read 10 pages, but I do listen to non-fiction audiobooks during my walks, during my commute to work,... so I probably surpass this in terms of content. But since actually reading takes more effort, this is something I will need to add.
  5. Take a Progress Picture Every Day – So you can see the progress at the end - Will do (might stupidly be enough the hardest part since I don't see the use in daily pictures, one every week should be enoug)

Thanks again for the tip

Edit: Right after closing this post. I went to see if I copied the ebook I bought "30 days to discipline" onto my new laptop - which i did. I had a quick look and it seems that I did keep some of the habbits I build when I was younger using this program like cold showers (after doing them for years, I love them, they are like magic when waking up) and waking up early (I wake up at 6 am while having to leave for work at 8 am, might go back to waking up at 5 am just to see what is different for me)
There's another popular thread floating around here where a bunch of people are doing 75 Hard. Check it out.
 

AgainstAllOdds

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Thanks for making this post. I really appreciate your analytical approach to all of this and preparation.

Today, I started my 3 day water fast, so your post is a bit encouraging.

Do you have any data on strength before and after the fast?
 
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AlexDep89

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Thanks for making this post. I really appreciate your analytical approach to all of this and preparation.

Today, I started my 3 day water fast, so your post is a bit encouraging.

Do you have any data on strength before and after the fast?

You're welcome :)
Maybe i will write some day to day info on how i felt. I got some notes.

In terms of strength, I didn't really keep data. I just continued working out with weights, but instead of doing my normal 3 sets for an exercise, I would just do one. I used weights a$$ my routine prescribed based on last workout. I did notice I was weaker during my workout on day 2, but not so much for workout on day 5 and 7. The real interesting thing will be how my strength is now and how it progresses on keto. I will keep you updated.
 

AlexDep89

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Date: 7th august 2019 (3 days since end of fast)
Weight: 96kg - 211.6 lbs

It seems, by eating the steak and egg diet, combined with 16:8 style IF, lots of water en daily exercise routine, I managed to avoid overall weight rebound after the fast.
Yesterday evening I had 2lbs of steak and 7 eggs, I also drank 1 liter (33 oz) of water in the last 2 hours before bed, and this morning I was actually lighter then at the end of my fast.

Performance:
I do notice that I'm a bit weaker, but i'm just continuing my training where I left off before the fast. For the exercises I did on Monday, I notice I can do 1 to 2 reps less with the same weight then 2 weeks ago. Although I'm in ketosis, i'm still going through the process of becoming fat adapted (see post bellow). Also, on Monday I realized I might have drank to much coffee and not enough water, also forgot my supplementation of potassium and sodium (I use pink Himalayan rock salt) . So I will have to see how this evolves.
My weight training on monday
Deadlift:
5x125 kg (275 lbs)
7x115 kg (253 lbs)

Overhead Press:
4x50 kg (110 lbs)
5x47,5 kg (104 lbs)
5x45 kg (99 lbs)

BB Curl
6x35 kg (77 lbs)
7x 32,5 kg (71 lbs)

I also went for a 3 mile run yesterday morning. I noticed that it went well. Only think I have noticed is that my body temperature rises faster. It seems the feeling hot is something that also occurs more often during the night. I have not found any scientific info on this. Only anecdotes of other keto dieters that they experience the same.

Metal performance
I feel totally fine and I have lots of energy. I also need less sleep, which is great since I do suffer from some insomnia while being on this diet. Well, I call it insomnia, but maybe its is just because I need less sleep I shouldn't try to go to sleep at the same time as when I was eating carbs.

I will keep you updated.
 

AlexDep89

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Ketosis versus fat adapted.
Disclaimer: I'm not a biologist (actually, I'm in IT) and my knowledge is just based on lots of reading. I can only say that I actually read allot of scientific studies oppose to blogs, forums and bro science. So feel free to argue. I know that I know nothing.


When going on a keto diet (Low carb, high fat, medium protein) the body goes through several stages:
Disclaimer 2: I was first going all out bio geek but most people here wouldn't care about Hydroxybutyrate, Non-Esterified Fatty Acids and other jargon. So I will keep it simple but hopefully complete enough.
On word you need to know before is "Glucose" (I know, for some this is simple but for non native english speakers it might be useful to explain): In this context it is just "blood sugar"

Stage 1:
Time: 3-5 hours after last carbohydrate source
Where does glucose come from? Your last meal
What uses glucose? Your entire body
Brain fuel: Glucose

So nothing special here, you eat carbs, you use them. The surplus is stored.


Stage 2:
Time: 4-30 hours after last carbs
Where does glucose come from? Glycogen = the stored form of glucose, to be found in liver and muscles
What uses glucose? Still your entire body, but Muscle and fat tissue start using less.
Brain fuel: Glucose

Still not so special. You might feel hungry and a bit light headed because your brain senses drop in glucose availability.



Stage 3:
Time: 2-7 days after last carbs
Where does glucose come from? Glycogen (minimal) and Gluconeogenisis.
What uses glucose? Same is stage 2, but muscles and fat tissue use even less
Brain fuel: Glucose

I promised to keep it simple but to understand ketosis we can not get around gluconeogenisis.
Most simply this is the creation of glucose from a non-carbohydrate source such as fat, amino acids (building blocks of protein) and pyruvate (search Kreb cycle in Google if you want to go into the rabbit hole of biology).
Why does the body do this? Contrary to bro science, your body always tries to maintain a level of blood sugar and the brain always uses glucose. No the brain does not run 100% on ketones.

Since the body has no carb source or glycogen, it needs to make it. Lets take a look at two ways.

Gluconeogenesis from amino acids: certain amino acids are turned into glucose.
=> this is also the reason it is often advised not to eat to much protein during a keto diet. People fear to much conversion of protein will lead to to much blood sugar being made which kicks them out of ketosis. But this is actually not backed by science. And it is simply not true. Your body produces the amount of glucose needed, eating more protein does not cause your body to produce more blood sugar. Only carbs will kick you out of ketosis.

Glueconegogensis from fat: Fat is stored as Triglycerides. True lipase enzymes this is broken up into fatty acids (which can be muscles and other types of tissue) and into glycerol which is then turned into glucose.
=> This adds to show that the above statement about protein is correct. Your body also makes blood sugar from fat. So don't worry about that.

Now this whole process takes time. During this stage, blood sugar levels might be a bit on the low side, which causes this known "keto flu". Eating really high fat, drinking enough water and supplementing with sodium, potassium and magnesium can really mediate those effects.

Stage 4:
Time: 7 days - until fad adaptation
Where does glucose come from: Gluconeogenesis
What uses glucose: Brain, renal medula and red blood cells
Brain fuel: Mainly glucose, supported with ketones

This is the stage where you can say, you are in ketosis. Your body is almost entirely fueled by fatty acids and ketones and in the coming weeks, it will learn to do this better and better. That is why you will now see a steady increase in performance.
Important to know here is that the brain stills prefers glucose. Altough much less, it is still possible to crave external carbs sources from time to time.

Stage 5
Time: 3 months up to a year after being predominantly in ketosis
Where does glucose come from: Gluconeogenesis
What uses glucose: Brain (but much less), renal medulla and red blood cells
Brain fuel: Mainly ketones, supported with glucose

This is it. This is being fat adapted. Your brain is now preferring to run on ketones over glucose. This results in cravings for sugar being next to non, and when hungry you will actually crave fat.
By now, your muscles have become great as using fatty acids for fuel. Some research even suggest that since the brain now prefers ketones, that excess blood sugar (still created out of fat and amino acids), is now actually used to help repair muscle tissue. This is the holly grail of fat burning. It is also the point where you should be able to build muscles as easy as while eating carbs.

The only way you can know for sure you are in this state is by measuring your blood glucose and ketone levels. Your blood sugar will be low in ketosis, but still considered in the normal range. Ketones will be high. When becoming fat adapted, your blood sugar will drop. They might even drop into the range of hypoglycemia, which in a traditional diet is bad because it means your blood sugar is to low for your brain to function properly. But now this is not a problem.
Strangely enough, ketone levels will drop a bit to. Your muscles are now so effective in burning fatty acids, that less ketones are necessary to fuel them.



Fun fact: Just as it takes time to become fat adapted, it takes time to stop being fat adapted. So once you are fat adapted, an occasional intake of carbs will not stop this process. Which is nice to know because you might really want to eat some pie on your birthday, or not having to say no to a delicious holiday meal.

Tips to get fat adapted fast:
(based on science, I will find out myself since this is what this thread is about)
* Boost the process with a water fast. In theory, you could become completely fat adapted in less then 30 days on a water fast. I did 7 days, because that was enough hell for me.
* Use Intermittent Fasting to help the process.
* Just eat high fat, low carb and medium protein.
* NO CHEAT MEALS until fat adapted.
* Go a bit extreme in the beginning: no artificial sweeteners (studies show that sweet taste triggers and insuline respons, it will now kick you out of ketosis, but will slow down the fat adaption process), no vegetables, no processed meat, no dairy,... essentially making it a "no carb/no sweet taste" diet
* Daily exercise.

Questions are welcomed. Also, I really like making these posts. If you find another thread about keto and stuff, feel free to link to my thread :) (after this post, I feel entitled to some attention whoring :p )
 
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Damian Pros

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I did not know the 75 hard. But curious as I am, I googled it. Looks very interesting. It is similar to other things I have read like the "30 days of discipline" and "Monk Mode" both by the hand of Victor Pride (Bold & Determent blog) and also "Unleashing Yourself" @Damian Pros (Dare and Conquer blog => He is actually a member here).

I have done 30 days to discipline when I was younger, but should do it again. Monk mode, i have bought and is more on resetting your dopamine system. I'm not following Mode Mode right away (summary: making your life quite boring for 30 days) but building up to it.

Unleashing yourself looks like a 30 days to discipline 2.0 I would say that Damian has been inspired by Victor Pride both for the blog and the program.

Hey Alex,

I'm glad to hear you read Unleashing Yourself.

Unlike 30 days of discipline or 75 hard, it gives you much more flexibility as you can choose from a wide array of new habits.

I don't like programs set in stone or one size fits all approaches.

Also, in Unleashing Yourself I go deep into the psychology of habits, like for example how Neuroplasticity influences your daily decision making, or how basic Freudian psychology applies to habit selection and retention.

As I was a broke college dropout teen trying to figure life out, Unleashing Yourself is the recipe that helped make me a millionaire. I had do put it together as I was constantly being asked "how did you do it?"

I believe personal mastery is the foundation of any kind of financial success. Even with the world's best business model and world class guidance, you will screw up if you don't get your own life in order.
 

AlexDep89

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Hey Alex,

I'm glad to hear you read Unleashing Yourself.

Unlike 30 days of discipline or 75 hard, it gives you much more flexibility as you can choose from a wide array of new habits.

I don't like programs set in stone or one size fits all approaches.

Also, in Unleashing Yourself I go deep into the psychology of habits, like for example how Neuroplasticity influences your daily decision making, or how basic Freudian psychology applies to habit selection and retention.

As I was a broke college dropout teen trying to figure life out, Unleashing Yourself is the recipe that helped make me a millionaire. I had do put it together as I was constantly being asked "how did you do it?"

I believe personal mastery is the foundation of any kind of financial success. Even with the world's best business model and world class guidance, you will screw up if you don't get your own life in order.

I feel honored that you replied to my post. Since I'm following you on twitter and Youtube and seeing how you are doing very well. I also bought Unleashing Yourself and Conquering Fiver. It is so true that you need personal mastery as foundation.
I'm planning on doing a challenge for myself based on Unleashing Yourself. It might be a bit of an excuse, but even "Unleashing Yourself" was to hard for me. For long I was addicted to porn, cigarettes, unhealthy food, binge watching TV series, playing stupid games on Kongregate, smoking weed,... But slowly I'm building my foundation (porn free for over a year, masturbation free for over 6 months, smoke free for 5 weeks, limit myself to 2 episodes of tv series a week, already lost 25kg, preparing for my half marathon in 6 weeks, and no more weed). I also get up early for over 4 months (between 5am and 6am) and I take cold showers. I plan to keep up this good habits and aim to 1) run the 21km 2) get my bodyfat under 15% 3) get my household chores in order before taking on my next challenge which would be a challenge in the trend of "Unleashing Yourself".
 

AlexDep89

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An update on my diet and performance:
Still doing strict keto. Because of large fluctuations in bodyweight, i'm not measuring it for a while.

I can see a drop in my waist / stomach measurements:
Stomach: 103 cm - 40.55 inch (-0.8 cm / -0.31 inch since day 7 of the fast = less then ever since i was 20 yr old)
Waist: 93,5 cm - 36,81 inch (-0.5 cm / -0.19 inch since day 7 of the fast)

My performance is still less then when I ate carbs. To increase my performance I made sure I got enough sleep, I drink bullet proof coffee now and I drink snake juice (a cocktail of 2L water, potasium, magnesium, pink himalayan salt and baking soda, based on a recipe of the creater of the snake diet, hence "snake juice" ) but still no effect. Fasting and strict keto combined, I have only been doing this for 15/16 days so no panic. I have read it can take up to 6 weeks to get back to former performance.
Only worry I have is, that it is extra hard doing my 21km race prep with this impaired performance. We will see.

Blood measurements where taking post exercise:
Glucose: 4.7 mmol/l
Ketones: 2,2 mmol/l => optimum levels of ketoses according to " the art and science of low carb performance"
KGI is 2,13 which is considered therapeutic ketosis.
So ketones levels are good, it just takes time for the muscles to adapt to using those ketones and using free fatty acids.
 
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Hi Alex
interesting posts and well done with your progress.
The whole low carb Keto thing is of interest to me from a t2 diabetic
perspective. [a nasty disease that creeps up on you over years like a silent assassin:rage: ]
been doing the low carbing thing for over 3 years now it has helped a great deal.
I definitely slammed it hard at the beginning to the detriment of my metabolism i think. [got blood sugars of low 2's on occasion and stank of acetone!]
I have never been a great exercise fan so dont burn huge amounts of fuel but it does often amaze how little hunger I feel nothing like carb hunger.
sometimes i think if i did not ever need to eat a meal again I would not miss it. fasting just happens feels like i could run for week on a AA size battery.
As for brains running on ketones I did run across and article somewhere where a couple of athletes were in deep ketosis
and then injected with insulin whilst doing heavy exercise.
[think this was in 1970s and would not be at all ethical these days]
I don't recollect the actual blood sugar levels but i remember the comments that any normal person would have been in coma but the guys were completely unaffected. [ i wish i could find the article]
This suggests that the brain can probably get on with solely ketones
or very low levels of glucose indeed.
The whole subject of ketone brain fuel and mental health is also
another fascinating subject.
This leads me to something that caught my eye in your original post.
Champix. Its obvious you like to do your research so i am sure you have investigated this drug.
But in case you have not looked into the side effects I recommend you do so. [there are many potential ones that might not help your cause.]
I used to smoke, a 30 year habit/addiction I gave it up by taking up vaping took about week then no more cigs:smile:
During my initial vaping research phase I frequented forums and read some hair raising things people reported about Champix.
Here is some info on side effects:
Champix Side Effects: Common, Severe, Long Term - Drugs.com
Not trying to be preachy or anything here ,good luck in building your better vehicle. :innocent: :halo:
 

AlexDep89

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Hi Alex
interesting posts and well done with your progress.
The whole low carb Keto thing is of interest to me from a t2 diabetic
perspective. [a nasty disease that creeps up on you over years like a silent assassin:rage: ]
been doing the low carbing thing for over 3 years now it has helped a great deal.
I definitely slammed it hard at the beginning to the detriment of my metabolism i think. [got blood sugars of low 2's on occasion and stank of acetone!]
I have never been a great exercise fan so dont burn huge amounts of fuel but it does often amaze how little hunger I feel nothing like carb hunger.
sometimes i think if i did not ever need to eat a meal again I would not miss it. fasting just happens feels like i could run for week on a AA size battery.
As for brains running on ketones I did run across and article somewhere where a couple of athletes were in deep ketosis
and then injected with insulin whilst doing heavy exercise.
[think this was in 1970s and would not be at all ethical these days]
I don't recollect the actual blood sugar levels but i remember the comments that any normal person would have been in coma but the guys were completely unaffected. [ i wish i could find the article]
This suggests that the brain can probably get on with solely ketones
or very low levels of glucose indeed.
The whole subject of ketone brain fuel and mental health is also
another fascinating subject.
This leads me to something that caught my eye in your original post.
Champix. Its obvious you like to do your research so i am sure you have investigated this drug.
But in case you have not looked into the side effects I recommend you do so. [there are many potential ones that might not help your cause.]
I used to smoke, a 30 year habit/addiction I gave it up by taking up vaping took about week then no more cigs:smile:
During my initial vaping research phase I frequented forums and read some hair raising things people reported about Champix.
Here is some info on side effects:
Champix Side Effects: Common, Severe, Long Term - Drugs.com
Not trying to be preachy or anything here ,good luck in building your better vehicle. :innocent: :halo:

Thank you for your response. I'm curious, are you on any kind of medication now? (being type 2 diabetic) I have seen a few documentaries on low carb and on fasting, and I don't know which one, it was, but I remember somebody doing a full 3 week fast (only potassium, magnesium and sodium supplementation) and this person afterwards did keto but could have a high carb Christmas meal without any danger. Some russian doctors (fasting was more heavily researched during USSR time because they didn't need to depend on money from big pharma, the government sponsored the research) also claim it is possible in some cases to cure type 2 diabetes. I'm skeptical but that is why I'm curious to your experience?

To respond to your remark on Champix, yes I did do some research but after the initial phase (there is a two week build up period - at least in Belgium - where you build the dosage up and then quit smoking followed by a 10 week follow up package). This was on purpose because of a phenomenon that my psychology professor told me about. He said "Learn about symptoms and you will think you have them" So I wanted to evaluate it objectively. I only had one problem and that was extreme nausea when using it on empty stomach.
Because of that, I didn't use it during my fast, and now I keep forgetting it since I no longer crave cigarettes. I definitely wasn't planning on taking them the whole 10 weeks.
I might stop using them now for a weeks to test if it has an effect on my stamina. Depending on how I feel without them now, I will decide.
On the side note, most everyday medication has this f*cked up list of side effects. They have to mention them if people have had them, and in the final list they cannot mention eating habits, gender, age, usage of other medication, alcohol use,... So I'm not to worried, but if I continue taking it, I think it would be for max another 4 weeks.

Thank you for your support, and also good luck to you.
 

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Hi Alex
Currently no medication but occasionally still have metformin
which reduces excessive gluconeogenesis which can be a major t2 problem when the body thinks its having hypo as bloods normalise.
I did a 7 day fast once but meh was not hungry but did not enjoy it.
T2 symptoms can reversed by some with only diet or combo of meds.
Cured I don't think so its more of a remission when the cause of the problem is removed.
You can think of t2 as a severe carb intolerance.[this is a simplification, its very complex in modes of action and health consequences]
This is now just beginning to be recognised by health authorities but often patients dietary advice is tantamount to criminal negligence by some health professionals.
This website , especially the forums is a good source of info:
Diabetes.co.uk - the global diabetes community
Personally i think people should keep and eye on their blood sugar
response because this sort of thing can creep up slowly.
Obviously if someone already eats a low car low/no sugar diet then this is less of an issue.
 
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Matt Sun

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As a whole food vegan that i am, if I were you, i would much rather eat big volume meals with very low calories (lots of pumpkin for example, green leaves etc) so i'll feel saciated but still be on a caloric deficit... equals weight loss...

eating 2 lb of stake and 7 egs to achive weight loss just doesn't have logic to me, because those are very caloric dense foods...

i hope you are getting your omega 3 also.

Good luck my friend.
 

QFP

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As a whole food vegan that i am, if I were you, i would much rather eat big volume meals with very low calories (lots of pumpkin for example, green leaves etc) so i'll feel saciated but still be on a caloric deficit... equals weight loss...

eating 2 lb of stake and 7 egs to achive weight loss just doesn't have logic to me, because those are very caloric dense foods...

i hope you are getting your omega 3 also.

Good luck my friend.
Interesting because I prefer compact high nutritional /calorie meals, I don't get a full feeling but well satiated.
2lb of steak and 7 eggs in a sitting suggests the need for high fuel intake..
Considering the low energy content of low carb veg to get that energy content I would need to eat bails and bails of it.:jawdrop:
 

Matt Sun

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Interesting because I prefer compact high nutritional /calorie meals,

I see you use calories and nutrition as similar, i wouldn't do that. Since, for example, just half of a carrot has all the vitamine A you need in a day, its very nutritios, but has almost none calories.

For the "high fuel intake" that would be exactly what you don't want, since you want the body to use the fuel it got on storage aka fat.
 
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AlexDep89

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As a whole food vegan that i am, if I were you, i would much rather eat big volume meals with very low calories (lots of pumpkin for example, green leaves etc) so i'll feel saciated but still be on a caloric deficit... equals weight loss...

eating 2 lb of stake and 7 egs to achive weight loss just doesn't have logic to me, because those are very caloric dense foods...

i hope you are getting your omega 3 also.

Good luck my friend.

First of all I want to answer but I just hope my post / log doesn't become a vegan vs meat eater debate. I am very much open to opinions, discussions and so but I don't want my log to become the place for it. I have total respect for people who chose to be vegan. I have just also seen allot of heated debates on forums concerning the topic and I want to avoid that :)

To respond to your post:
I really love the taste of meat, I prefer calorie dense meals and I still make sure I'm in a deficit. I also supplement my diet with omega-3 . This way of eating is not mend to be forever. (not for me anyway). My goals is to speed up the fat adaptation period to be in an optimum state for my half marathon. Current feeling of well being, blood pressure, blood glucose values and blood ketone values are all on track and that is what matters to me.

I do plan to incorporate vegetables again within a few weeks.
Thank you for your support.

-----------
To answer QFP, Like I said above, i also prefer calorie dense food like you.
I do believe you can chose to follow keto diet as a vegan. Nuts and seeds, avocado and tofu would be important food then. But this wouldn't be for me.
 

QFP

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I see you use calories and nutrition as similar, i wouldn't do that. Since, for example, just half of a carrot has all the vitamine A you need in a day, its very nutritios, but has almost none calories.

For the "high fuel intake" that would be exactly what you don't want, since you want the body to use the fuel it got on storage aka fat.
Hi Matt
Ok I meant raw energy and macro +micro nutrients.
whether you want to source you fuel from stored fat depends on your reserves If you are actively trying to loose weight i agree if not then an external source is needed.
From a nutritional efficiency stand point animal products combine all nutrients in a compact Bio available form for carnivore or omnivore.
But it obviously handy to be able to make use of plants when no animals are at hand, and bad luck for lions..
I think a plant based diet would likely be hell on earth for me to get right.
I used to love my veg lots as well..sigh.
 

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Hi Matt
Ok I meant raw energy and macro +micro nutrients.
whether you want to source you fuel from stored fat depends on your reserves If you are actively trying to loose weight i agree if not then an external source is needed.
From a nutritional efficiency stand point animal products combine all nutrients in a compact Bio available form for carnivore or omnivore.
But it obviously handy to be able to make use of plants when no animals are at hand, and bad luck for lions..
I think a plant based diet would likely be hell on earth for me to get right.
I used to love my veg lots as well..sigh.


To aviod the debate of carnivore vs vegan as OP wanted, i must say the app www.cronometer.com its pretty good to make not just a vegan but any diet without deficiency.
 
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To aviod the debate of carnivore vs vegan as OP wanted, i must say the app www.cronometer.com its pretty good to make not just a vegan but any diet without deficiency.
Hi Matt
Thanks for the link.
Sorry to Alex I had no desire to hi jack your thread and turn this into a debate of carnivore vs vegan.
 

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Hi Matt
Thanks for the link.
Sorry to Alex I had no desire to hi jack your thread and turn this into a debate of carnivore vs vegan.

Not a problem. And I don't believe you did :) - a short deviation is not a problem for me. I was just a bit afraid - having seen many flame wars on nutrition themed forums - that such thing might happen here. But both parties were friendly, open minded and so no issue for me. If only all people on internet forums where like this ;)
 

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