Ketogenic Diet – My Personal Experience

If you are one of those people who tried every diet plan known to man and still haven’t had the results you were expecting, there are two possible reasons for that: either you haven’t been following any of them properly, or you haven’t tried Keto diet. If you recognized yourself in the second reason, then I have a solution for you – just bear with me, this won’t take long.

Getting Started

I decided to go on this particular diet a few years ago after my friend Phillip uploaded his before-after pictures on Facebook. I couldn’t believe my eyes – in mere six weeks this guy lost 20 lb and still managed to preserve most of his muscle mass. He was shredded, haven’t lost any of his muscle tone, and generally looked awesome! So naturally, I wanted the same. Since he’s a professional nutritionist, I asked Fillip to come up with a diet plan for myself. He just asked for a few pictures and my measurements, and the next day I was ready to begin. I started off with a 220 lb and a whole lot of body fat (BF). Here’s one of my standard daily meal plans:

• 1 can of tunafish  + 4 g of fish oil+ 1 tablespoon of virgin olive oil
• 1 protein shake with water
• 200 g of cooked lean chicken breasts + 75 g of raw almonds
• 200 g of cooked lean beef + 4 g of fish oil
• 150 g of chicken breasts  + 2 tablespoons of coconut oil + 1 tablespoon of virgin olive oil as a salad topping
• 250 g of cottage cheese + 4 g of fish oil

The good thing about this diet (at least for me) is that you can have virtually all the meat you can eat, as long as it’s prepared the right way. Cooked, baked, or barbecued meat is the way to go. The bad thing is – no carbohydrates whatsoever! Well, that’s not entirely true – you can have carbs once a week, but only specific types of carbs like rice and potato. Usually people choose Sunday for this “filling phase” and so did I. On this holy day, you are allowed to ingest 4 to 6 g of carbs per 1 kg (2 lb) of your body weight, divided equally over you meals. Ok, this doesn’t sound too hard – right?

The Deed

Let me start by answering my own question from the last paragraph: wrong!
The first week went more or less smoothly since I had some glycogen to spare. After my training routine sucked away all the carb supplies from my body, I experience something I can only compare to a woman’s PMS. Hypersensitivity, sudden mood swings, cravings…all these side-effects gave me an insight into the ladies’ brain during their “sensitive days” and let me tell you – girls should get a medal just for going through this hell every month.
Important note: don’t even think about going hardcore on your training during this diet unless you’re on some serious supplementation. I’ve been “armed” with the following: glutamine, BCAA, whey protein isolate, tribulus, multivitaminerals (double dose), and joint repair product. Still, I was able to push myself only about 70-80% of my full capacity.
One more important note: if you start sensing ammonia all around, don’t be alarmed – it’s just your sweat. Be prepared to be the stinky guy at the gym for 6 weeks and a few days after you’ve finished the diet, but it’s all for a good cause.

The Results

After all you’ve read so far, I bet you’re wondering: “Can all this be worth it?” My answer is – absolutely!
I’ve lost 10 kg (22 lb), most of which was pure fat. For the first time in years I could actually see my abs and I needed some new pants since all of the old ones were too loose for my newly discovered waist. I felt awesome just for being able to exercise with my own weight – push-ups, pull-ups, sit-ups, and all the other -ups were piece of cake now. My testosterone levels were through the roof and combined with raised endorphin and serotonin levels from my training I’ve felt like I could take on the whole world! And the smell went away pretty fast.

I would like to thank my personal trainer and nutritionist Phillip for all his support and experience shared, as well as guys from Aussie Supplements for their enormous contribution.