KETO EXPERIMENT
Several weeks ago, I decided to undertake an experimental endeavor with my diet, namely, I decided to
try the ketogenic diet, otherwise known as “keto.” During my years as a nutrition coach, I have
encountered much curiosity surrounding keto, as well as quite a bit of misinformation. Inspired by one
of my current clients, I decided to try the diet for myself. I wanted to assess the research underpinning
the diet, subjectively experience its impacts, and have a point of comparison between my own
experience and that of my client’s. Moving forward, I hope my experience better enables me to coach
clients interested in trying keto. I additionally hope to underpin any suggestion that certain clients avoid
keto with both research-based and personally-informed information.
Before keto, I ate variable macros to accommodate my daily activity. I switched to one daily set of
macro targets to begin my ketogenic diet. I set my overall calories to be essentially the same (only 7
kCals of difference), as I did not want a deficit or surplus to impact my experience; rather, I wanted the
shift in macronutrients to be the primary independent variable.
Before Keto:
Training Day: F62 P145 C240
Heavy Day: F62 P145 C255
Rest Day: F64 P145 C220
Average Macros: F63 P145 C234
During Keto:
Daily Macros: F157 P140 C25
I began my diet the day after an anniversary dinner with a partner. Perhaps due to the caloric surplus of
the night before, or perhaps due to the increase in fats, I felt incredibly full for the first two days of my
diet.
I immediately began testing my ketones upon waking in the morning, which is also when I weigh myself.
I bought a meter that measures both ketones and blood glucose, as well as test strips for both. Ketosis
is recognized as at least 0.5 mmol/L of ketones in the blood. My plan was to test my blood glucose 2-3
hours after eating at least once per week after entering ketosis. With this figure, I wanted to observe
my glucose:ketone index, or GKI. The goal of this figure is to indicate how deeply I am in ketosis. In
future, I also plan to test my blood glucose to see if I am sensitive to any particular foods, as indicated by
a sharp spike in my blood glucose. I will deliberately introduce novel foods one and a time and test my
blood glucose accordingly.
I also began deliberately supplementing with electrolytes in my morning water. To my Nalgene, which is
about 1 liter of water, I add approximately:
Electrolytes:
120 mg of sodium
160 mg of potassium
(This includes 3 g of carbs.)
I’ve always been in the habit of taking a daily multivitamin in the morning, a practice I’ve kept up. I take
gummy vitamins, so I also account for 4 g of carbs in my morning dose.
So far, I have only been in ketosis one day. My ketones have averaged 0.3 mmol/L. On the day I was in
ketosis, I tested my blood glucose and yielded a GKI of 8.98, which falls into the lightest tier of ketosis. I
went on a long, winter hike on that day and did not experience any fatigue, weakness or dizziness.
In fact, I’ve felt no impact on my alertness, fatigue, or general cognitive state. I’ve also felt no negative
impact on my training. My energy levels have remained consistent, and my performance strong, even
without my pre-training bag of gummy bears.
I have, however, lost weight. My average weight has gone down approximately 1.4 kg/3.1# over two
weeks. For my size, this is actually a decently large drop. During this time, I have not felt any increase in
my hunger. Rather, I have felt very satiated most days. Overall, my hunger is more stable and
manageable on the ketogenic diet than it was previously. I tend to be a volumetric eater, meaning that I
feel satiated when my stomach is literally full. As such, my previous diet consisted of a vast amount of
high-volume produce, predominantly vegetables. Eating fewer vegetables has been the hardest part of
this diet, but I suspect that some of my weight-loss is due to a smaller volume of food in my gut at any
given time.
I have not noticed a major shift in my body composition. When I have cut using my typical macro ratio
in the past, I have noticed my body leaning out. This has not happened with keto, at least yet.
I have also noticed that if I go over my protein, even if I eat very few carbs, my ketones decrease the
next day. Research supports my assumption that if the ratio of fat in my diet decreases, my body will
defer to burning carbs and protein, even if my carbs are still incredibly low.
As an example of this, I recently ate:
F156 P155 C19
This represents a diversion from my macro targets of:
F -1% P +11% C -24%
After this day of eating, my ketones decreased by 0.1 mmol/L.
The ketones in my blood have otherwise been rather linear. When beginning the diet, they increased by
0.1 mmol/L per day. When returning to keto after one day off of the diet, they jumped up by 0.2
mmol/L on the first day, then again increased by 0.1 mmol/L per day.
One of my favorite things about this diet has been the addition of butter, eggs, cheese, and chicken skin
into my diet. These are foods I would typically avoid or eat incredibly minimally. I have also been
enjoying eating more olives than I had previously. I do miss my absurdly large salads, however.
Below are some of my favorite meals thus far:
