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The Cyclical Ketogenic Diet: True Fat Loss

mugzy

mugzy

TID Board Of Directors
Aug 11, 2010
4,876
1,799
The Cyclical Ketogenic Diet: True Fat Loss

In recent media, low carbohydrate diets have been THE fad for almost everybody in America wanting to lose weight. From your secretaries, elementary school teachers, and desk clerks, to bodybuilders, models, actresses, and athletes.

However, there is a huge difference between those who follow an Atkins plan and those who follow a cyclical ketogenic diet (CKD). Atkins is a low carb plan for those who are quite sedentary, walk maybe 3 times a week at the most, and just follow normal everyday activities. So forget Atkins here. The CKD is for those who?s main concern is true fat loss and muscle preservation?muscle for sports and high intensity activities.

My opinion for those who practice Atkins is that while they do lose fat, there is much water loss and most importantly muscle loss. Something we athletes do not want. A cyclical ketogenic diet is a true fat loss diet that works undeniably, if followed properly and strictly. Yes, low carb diets can be hell at first, but after two to three weeks, there have been anecdotal reports from many dieters that the cravings for carbohydrates decrease. This route to fat burning is unlike any traditional diet all the low-fat diet authors and FDA people have been advocating in history.

I got turned onto this diet a few years back when I got tired of cutting fat and still not being able to lose those last percentage points of bodyfat without losing hard earned muscle. I would start a low-fat diet, and be a either a social misfit (not going out with my friends to party or not going out to eat). Or in the worse case, feel so deprived of delicious junk foods I missed and bail out on the diet all together. One advantage to this diet is that there is no true restrictions on food. One may eat anything labeled a "food"! Well, almost. I?ll explain later.

How the cyclical ketogenic diet works

The science behind the CKD is simple. Carbohydrates in the diet cause an insulin (a "storage" hormone) output in the pancreas. It is used to store glycogen, amino acids into muscles, while causing excess calories to be stored as fat. So common sense asks me, "How can one try to break down fat, when your body is in a storage-type mode?" Difficult to do, indeed. That is why it makes perfect sense for step one to be cutting carbs.

The next thing that happens in your body is the rise in catecholamines (a "fat mobilizing" hormone), cortisol (a "breakdown" hormone), and growth hormone. Now your body realizes there?s no more carbs to burn for energy, so it must find another energy source: fat.

This usually happens during a metabolic condition called "ketosis." This is when your liver is out of glycogen and starts to produce ketones (by-products of fatty acids). You can check your status of whether or not you are in ketosis with urinalysis strips you can pick up at any local drug store called "Ketostix." Just urinate and see if it turns color. If so, you have ketones in the urine.

When the body is fed fat and protein, it will use dietary fat along with bodyfat for energy with protein going towards repair.

As a side note, there is another reason why this diet makes the most sense to use while keeping muscle. When one follows a high carbohydrate, low-fat, reduced-calorie diet, there?s a point when some bodyfat is burned, but when the body is still in a carbohydrate burning metabolism while trying to lose "weight," it will strip down precious body protein to convert to glucose for energy.

On the other hand, during fat metabolism, protein cannot be converted into free-fatty acids for energy. Although there is no scientific research done on this, there have been reports from followers that there truly is a "protein-sparing" effect. It makes sense doesn?t it? Where else would the body look for fat energy when all dietary fat is burned? Bodyfat.

Diet Requirements Mon. to Fri.

The phrase "working smarter, not harder" applies here more than any diet one has tried. One must fully understand what they must do in order to optimize their goal. To set a cyclical ketogenic diet up, one cannot just expect to cut all carbs in the diet, train hard, and lose fat! Although some have come up with variations to this plan, the one stated in this article, I have found, has worked for myself (it got me to 6% BF), and other clients I?ve trained to the leanest, hardest they?ve ever been.

First, to set up the diet, write down your lean mass weight. Not your total weight, dough boy. If you weigh 200, but have 20% bodyfat, your lean mass weight would be around 160 pounds. Multiply this by one, getting your grams of protein requirements for a day. Make sure you eat at least one gram of protein/pound of lean mass! This is important in recovery from workouts and enough nitrogen retention to keep muscle. Next, multiply by four, to get your protein calories. Here, it is 640.

The rest of your caloric requirements for the day should be fat. Here is the catch: you must eat fat to burn fat. There?s no way around it. There are many advantages to dietary fat on this diet: Feeling of fullness since fat digestion is slow (less hunger), tastes great, and lowers blood glucose levels (lowering insulin and allow all the fat burning hormones to do their job).

So how much fat? I always recommend starting out with a 500 calorie deficit from your maintenance calories. If you don?t know, it is usually 15 times body weight (full body weight here) depending on an individuals metabolic rate. So here, the example would need 3000 calories a day to maintain weight, and 2500 calories to begin fat loss.

2500 minus 640 (protein calories) is 1860 which works out to be around 206 fat grams a day. Now as you go deeper into the diet, and find the need to restrict calories more, you must cut fat calories, not protein.

The Weekend Carb Load

Since muscle glycogen is the main source of energy for anaerobic exercise such as weight training, we cannot simply deplete all stores while working out and not fill them back up. If that does happen, be rest-assured that the body WILL use protein for fuel then. But this won?t happen on the CKD.

Your one and a half days of "freedom" allow you to do two things: First, reward your carb cravings from the previous days, allowing you to enjoy pleasures like pizza, pasta, breads, etc. Second, eating these things are physiologically rewarding as insulin levels run high, storing amino acids and carbs, as glycogen, into the depleted muscle allowing you to be able to workout again the following week.

Your "carb-up" should begin Friday night and last until around midnight Saturday. Now the next important issue to address is how many carbs. Some lucky individuals find that they eat whatever they want for the 24-30 hour time interval and receive perfect glycogen compensation, while others rely on a better statistical number.

What has been recommended by other authors of the cyclical ketogenic diet is 10-12 grams of carbs per kilogram of lean mass. Again, time to do math. Our example had 160 pounds of lean mass, so divide that by the conversion factor of 2.2, and we get roughly 73 kg.

100 Grams of easily digested liquid carbs along with around half as many grams of carbs in protein (here 50) as a whey shake or something of that nature should be taken right after the last workout (which I will address in the workout section of the article) when insulin sensitivity will be at its greatest.

A few hours later this individual will start to spread the remaining 630 grams of carbs, along with the important number of 160 grams of protein (remember, keep this constant) during the remainder of the compensation period.

So what about dietary fat? I know you?re reminding yourself, "Didn?t this guy mention pizza?" Yes, I did. And here?s why. During the first 24-30 hours of carbing up, the body will use all dietary carbohydrates to refill glycogen, protein for rebuilding, and get this: fat for energy. Still?

Just like the previous five and a half days. Makes sense. When all the carbohydrates are being used for more important functions (muscle), what else is there to be used? However, you can?t just eat all the fat you want. Keep grams of fat intake below your body weight in kilograms. Again, here our example will keep is fat below 73 during the carb-fest.

By anecdotal reports, this should keep fat regain minimal to nil. Keeping fat intake extremely low has even caused some extra fat burning during the carb up!

As stated before, some dietary fat should be eaten to slow digestion and keep sugar levels stable. Whether it be saturated, unsaturated, or essential fats, is the dieter?s decision. All have nine calories per gram. (Note: there is a claim that essential fatty acids such as flax seed oil increase insulin sensitivity within the muscle cells, in turn, increasing glycogen intake.)

In Case You Missed It

So here?s how it breaks down during the week: Sunday through Friday afternoon , you will follow the low carb diet outlined above. Eat fat and protein all day everyday except on workout days because after workouts, you will need to consume strictly just protein?no fat or carbs.

Some have found to enjoy a protein shake afterwards because they are easily digested. Do whatever works for you. But fat is not logical since you want the protein to fuel the healing process as quickly as possible and fat will only slow it down.

Friday afternoon, around two hours before your last workout of the week, eat two to three pieces of fruit. This will get your body/liver ready to start the carb loading and give you some energy for that final, dreadful workout (trust me, during the first few weeks, you will not want to do that final workout, but you must). Then from Friday night until Saturday at midnight or until bed, eat those carbs! Thats the cyclical ketogenic diet.
 
FranchizeBBer

FranchizeBBer

Member
Sep 10, 2010
40
2
Dude, great post, keep these coming
 
FranchizeBBer

FranchizeBBer

Member
Sep 10, 2010
40
2
Question for different style of training

I do a power hypertrophy split; mon tues are power days; chest back mon legs shoulders tues the hypertrophy thurs back mornings chest night shoulders fri and arms on sat

I work from thurs-tues
How would you split your carb days with this schedule
 
H

hugec2

Member
Sep 15, 2010
60
1
I do a power hypertrophy split; mon tues are power days; chest back mon legs shoulders tues the hypertrophy thurs back mornings chest night shoulders fri and arms on sat

I work from thurs-tues
How would you split your carb days with this schedule

You train ALOT!! Are you total keto?? If you are you gotta be careful doing that much.. If i were you i would cycle somewhat instead of total keto.. Give me somebackground on your training and diet..
 
E

earthbuddy

Member
Nov 8, 2010
41
0
So this type of diet will work for the 20% person to get to 10% or is this more for a 12% person trying to get to single digits?

I have read where some say slow fat loss is better, but yet some say a fast hit like this will strip body fat in way less time and allow for getting back into a maintance type diet or even slight surplus to slowly add muscle but not the fat like a full on bulk would. So which is better? Is it different from person to person? Will this work well for the endomorph type person? What type of training to follow?

I tried Lyle Mcdonalds rapid fat loss last april. I hated it. I had to stop after 2 weeks of it. I lost 4 pounds of lots of water. gained up again afterward.
 
W

Wolf

MuscleHead
Dec 25, 2010
274
45
So this type of diet will work for the 20% person to get to 10% or is this more for a 12% person trying to get to single digits?

I have read where some say slow fat loss is better, but yet some say a fast hit like this will strip body fat in way less time and allow for getting back into a maintance type diet or even slight surplus to slowly add muscle but not the fat like a full on bulk would. So which is better? Is it different from person to person? Will this work well for the endomorph type person? What type of training to follow?

I tried Lyle Mcdonalds rapid fat loss last april. I hated it. I had to stop after 2 weeks of it. I lost 4 pounds of lots of water. gained up again afterward.

The diet can work for all ranges of body fat. It can tend to be a little more effective at bringing people with higher body fats down to a smaller one, but you can use low carb diets effectively to bring weight down into the single digit as well as competition ready. It really does vary from person to person, some people can't handle the limitation of carbohydrates and don't do well mentally on the diet so it effects everything else negatively.

To be fair, Lyle Mcdonalds rapid fat loss diet serves two reasons, to quickly get obese people down in weight and to help more in shape individuals get a boost in their fat loss if they had miscalculated the time they had for a show, or if they had some problem with it. You'll notice in his work how he'll state over and over, fat loss is easier with more obese individuals.
 
E

evolving

Member
Dec 16, 2010
41
1
Where is "the workout" section as stated in the article? I'm curious about this format and was hoping to read the whole shebangabang
 
W

Wolf

MuscleHead
Dec 25, 2010
274
45
Here's the rest of the article. Keep in mind most of the CKD based workouts you will read are going to be focused around bringing down total glycogen levels to a certain level without bringing them down too low so that carb ups become unsuccessful. They might not be the most effective muscle or strength developing. Most standard workouts will be fine when applied with this diet.




CKD Workout

Now, the question is, how do we workout to optimize muscle preservation and keep our metabolism up while dieting? Before we get into that, one must realize that during any dieting scheme there is one thing that must be done, and one thing that must not be done.

First, you must keep training volume lower than your usual routine. Overtraining is probably the number one killer in motivation, it deprives sleep, and hinders fat loss.

Second, you must not fall into the myth of lighter weights with higher reps. You got your muscle by benching 240, and you have to bench 240 to keep that same muscle! Or at least around that area! Okay, now that we have that established, here’s what we do:

On Monday and Tuesday we will work our weaker body parts, rest or cardio on Wednesday and Thursday mornings, Thursday do our strongest body parts, and Friday a combination of the Monday/Tuesday workouts in a loop format. The workout I have found to work optimally for myself and my clients is this:

(Note: You may feel free to tweak, shake, and turn this example upside down.

Everybody is different, so find what works for you.)

MONDAY: Chest, Back, Abs

High intensity workouts with 60 sec rest between sets, 90 sec rest between

each exercise

(this excludes all warm up sets)

Bench 3 sets, 6-10 reps

T-bar Row 3 sets, 6-10 reps

Incline bench 3 sets, 6-10 reps

Latpulldown to front 3 sets, 6-10 reps

Dips or Decline bench 3 sets, 6-10 reps

Shrugs 3 sets, 6-10 reps

Flys (any type) 2 sets, 10-12 reps

Reverse flys 2 sets, 10-12 reps

Stiff-leg deadlift 3 sets, 10-12 reps

Rope ab crunch 3 sets, 10-15 reps

Reverse crunch 3 sets, 10-20 reps

TUESDAY: Shoulders, Arms


Same intensity mentioned before

Behind the neck shoulder press 3 sets, 8-10 reps

Military press 3 sets, 8-10 reps

Preacher curls 3 sets, 8-10 reps

French press or "skull-crushers" 3 sets, 8-10 reps

Shoulder raises (any type) 2 sets, 8-10 reps

Hammers 3 sets, 8-10 reps

V-bar tricep press 3 sets, 8-10 reps

Forearm curls 2 sets, 8-10 reps

Reverse forearm curls 2 sets, 8-10 reps

Wednesday: Rest or Cardio


Thursday morning: Rest or Cardio

Later on Thursday: Legs

Same intensity mentioned before

Squat or Leg press 4 sets, 6-10 reps

Lying leg curl 4 sets, 6-10 reps

Standing calf raise 4 sets 6-10 reps

Leg extensions 4 sets, 10-12 reps

Seated leg curl 4 sets, 10-12 reps

Seated calf raise 4 sets, 10-12 reps

Friday night: Final Workout

Same intensity mentioned before

Bench 2 sets, 6-10 reps

T-bar Row 2 sets, 6-10 reps

Incline bench 2 sets, 6-10 reps

Latpulldown to front 2 sets, 6-10 reps

Behind the neck shoulder press 1 set, 8-10 reps

Military press 1 set, 8-10 reps

Either curl exercise 2 sets, 8-10 reps

Either tricep exercise 2 sets, 8-10 reps

Stiffleg deadift 1 set, 8-10 reps

Normal floor ab crunch 2 sets, 10-20 reps

Reverse crunches 2 sets, 10-20 reps

Start the carb up for 24-30 hours!


Aerobics

Before we go on, I want to address the cardio/aerobics issue. Some people find that for the first month on a CKD, cardio/aerobics is not needed. However when fat loss does start to slow down a bit, that is when most start adding 30 min. sessions on their off days. Be careful though, you do not want to hinder your Thursday leg workout. So experiment and try to only add aerobic sessions if you feel you have to.
 
M

Mad_dawg

Member
Dec 9, 2010
29
2
This is a great diet. It's like the Metabolic Diet by Dr. Mauro Di Pasquale. You may want to look this up too for info purposes.

I will say the carb load at the end of the week is a real blessing and reward. I need to get back on this. I could stand to loose 50lbs of fat........... :(
 
W

Wolf

MuscleHead
Dec 25, 2010
274
45
They are similar. The only thing that differentiates ketogenic diets really is the how many carbs are consumed within a certain time frame and when they are used, that's what changes the purpose a particular diet lends itself to.
 
goldy

goldy

Chutzpah VIP
Jan 17, 2011
1,263
153
I am doing dave palumbos Keto diet. I have taken down cals a bit from this tho.
Diet:
MEAL #1
5 whole eggs (omega3 eggs) add another 4 egg whites to this
MEAL #2
SHAKE: 50g Whey Protein with 1 tablespoon of All Natural Peanut butter

MEAL #3
"Lean Protein Meal": 8oz chicken with 1/2-cup cashew nuts almonds, or walnuts

MEAL #4
SHAKE: 50g Whey Protein with 1 tablespoons of All Natural Peanut butter

MEAL #5
"Fatty Protein Meal": 8oz Salmon, Swordfish, or RED MEAT with a green salad with 1 tablespoon of Olive Oil or Macadamia nut oil and vinegar

MEAL #6
4 whole (Omega-3) eggs and 4 extra whites
Fiber 2X per day
twice per day-for a total of 3000mg Fish oil and 2600mg Evening Primrose Oil.
 
tommyguns2

tommyguns2

Senior Moderators
Staff Member
Dec 25, 2010
6,311
4,997
I am doing dave palumbos Keto diet. I have taken down cals a bit from this tho.
Diet:
MEAL #1
5 whole eggs (omega3 eggs) add another 4 egg whites to this
MEAL #2
SHAKE: 50g Whey Protein with 1 tablespoon of All Natural Peanut butter

MEAL #3
"Lean Protein Meal": 8oz chicken with 1/2-cup cashew nuts almonds, or walnuts

MEAL #4
SHAKE: 50g Whey Protein with 1 tablespoons of All Natural Peanut butter

MEAL #5
"Fatty Protein Meal": 8oz Salmon, Swordfish, or RED MEAT with a green salad with 1 tablespoon of Olive Oil or Macadamia nut oil and vinegar

MEAL #6
4 whole (Omega-3) eggs and 4 extra whites
Fiber 2X per day
twice per day-for a total of 3000mg Fish oil and 2600mg Evening Primrose Oil.

goldy, the diet looks real nice. How often will you carb up? Once per week? What will your carb up meal or day look like?
 
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