Fat Adapted Journey — Week 2, Day 2

Last Monday I restarted my journey toward getting healthy again. I set four goals, and made significant progress. Today I’m reporting in on how the week went.

My goals were to:

1. Return to dietary ketosis. Engage in mindful eating. No recreational eating.
2. Work out daily and work on baseline testing to ascertain baseline stats as I move into dietary ketosis.
3. Focus on eating for health rather than goals on the scale and see where it goes.
4. Sleep 7 hours per night.

So how did it go?

Goal 1. Return to dietary ketosis.

Starting on March 2, I strived to achieve dietary ketosis. I averaged 2430 calories per day, with total carbohydrates at 115 gm/day on average. This was a little higher on Saturday than the rest of the week as I caved to dark chocolate almonds on my way to the Leadville race (and felt disgusting afterward from the sugar — no worth it).

Overall I was pretty good on mindful eating except for the car ride to and from the races. The trigger was fatigue from a little sleep deprivation over the weekend and habitual car boredom (see #4).

Even with this high carb intake, due to exercising, I did get into ketosis within 6 days, measuring serum ketones at 1.6 mmol/L by Saturday after a one hour endurance workout on the Peloton. However, due to my relatively high carbohydrate intake, I don’t think this is sustainable ketosis, so I will work to double down on that this week and lower my total carb intake to a goal of 30 gm.

How did I feel? Honestly, good. My energy was good and mental energy good, especially during the week.

2. Work out daily and measure baseline testing.

I worked out daily, with Peloton workouts Monday through Friday, and a Peloton workout in the morning with a Snowbike race on Saturday evening, followed by a 2 hour snowshoe race in the mountains on Sunday. It was a good week of consistent working out.

My baseline stats for core and strength work were poor, though: I could only do 6 pushups in a row, and my core time was 2:04 before collapsing. I use the Core Stealth Trainer as my torture device of choice. https://trystealthnow.com/

I need to really work on my strength this year, so that will be a goal this week.

I did not do enough strength work last week. This needs to change.

3. Focus on eating rather than the scale.

I worked to focus on putting good nutrition in. The scale is a bio marker, and I check daily, but it isn’t everything. That said, I saw a 3 lb loss over the week, and settled in at a mini plateau. I suspect this is from my loose carb limit. Today my legs feel swollen/boggy from running 4.6 miles last night — so I know I’m retaining a little more fluid today.

4. Sleep 7 hours per night.

I didn’t quite hit this one, and my sleep was a bit more disrupted than usual, so this is still a goal. Sleep is definitely my superpower. So I’ll continue to strive toward a consistent bedtime and staying off screens and social media.

Statistics as of March 7:

AM HR 51, HRV 47, BP 110/74, Weight 149.4, BMI 24.9

Fasting glucose 77, Ketones 1.6

Pushups (consecutive): 6 (3/4/2020)

Stealth Core (consecutive): 2:04 (3/4/2020)

GOALS THIS WEEK:

1. Get deeper into dietary ketosis. I’m going to strive for total carbs to get to less than 50 gm per day. I’m a little looser than 30 because of my activity level.
2. Work out daily and increase strength: Goal: 100 miles on bike, 12 miles running. Pushups daily and stealth core daily. Achieve 50 pushups per day (not consecutively) by Sunday. Achieve 4 minutes of Stealth Core. Use RipRow for 10 minutes per day. On the mountain bike strength and core is everything for sustaining endurance riding without fatigue. (I just don’t enjoy it, so I tend to slack on it.)
3. Focus on mindfulness. Meditate daily. Limit social media to < 30 minutes per day. For me, mindless internet leads to other mindless behaviors (eating).
4. Sleep 7 hours per night. Go to bed at a consistent bedtime (in bed by 9:30PM).