posted July 10, 2000 01:04 PM               

Each meal during the week should be composed of roughly 26g protein and 28g of fat. I have no idea what I'll be doing on the weekend...haven't quite worked that out yet. I'll post daily averages on a weekly update with BF% changes and tape measurements ....and the scale of course.

posted July 10, 2000 03:30 PM               

As for the scales and stuff, be warned. I experienced extreme fluctuations in size and weight. Lost 6-8 pounds every week during carb-depletion, followed by extreme bloating and fluid retention during the carb-ups. All in all not a pleasant diet!

posted July 10, 2000 10:34 PM               

I have quite a bit of experience with the ketogenic diet. I works great for me and I have stayed on it for extended periods, literally months, even when I'm not trying to lose fat. It's a piece of cake for me. I love eating low carbs.

If you have specific questions you'd like answered or are interested in how I do the diet, just e-mail me.

posted July 11, 2000 12:06 PM               

My ratios were good: 30.8% protein with 165.5 grams, 67.3% fat at 160.5g and 1.9% carbs with 10.34g....but that came out to about 350 calories over what I was aiming for. Weight yesterday was at 139# even. Energy levels arent bad on adipo: stomach is settled.

posted July 13, 2000 09:06 PM               

Waist and hips were down this morning another 1/4", but then so are the boobs ...although that's just a visual measurement. ...wore my little jeans today (levis 550's 28x30)! Haven't weighed recently. The 20 min. treadmill this morning was a draaaaggggg.

posted July 17, 2000 12:07 PM               

Friday prior to starting the diet, I weighed in at 140.6. The following Friday following my depletion workout, I weighed in at 135.7. My water retention is up (probably from the increased sodium in the meats)and I gain water throughout the day naturally. Whereas I usually weigh in at ~2p, that Friday I didn't get on the scale until 9p. ...don't know how much difference it made.

My average intake over 5 days worked out to:
29.6% protein 68.3% fat 1.8% carbs
1644.98 calories

In truth, I started out at a whopping 2147 calories on Monday, dwindling down to 1465 on Wendnesday and only 1101 pre-workout on Friday.

What did I learn this week?
1. canned meats are not a bad substitute, but should not be used as a staple
2. SPAM and I cannot co-exhist
3. I did not feel greasy, but found it nearly impossible to get out of bed in the morning.
4. Unbareable headaches persist in the absence of Adipokinetix
5. Evening meals cause nausea
6. Workouts cause nausea
7. breast fats are not immune to this diet
8. NEVER go into carb-up phase without having everything pre-calculated and made ready for the graveyard feedings
9. Carb-up feels like anything but a cheat weekend.
10. 48 hours of carb up appears to be too long .. thinking of bringing it down to 36.

Started with ketosis regimine at 8p last night.

posted August 02, 2000 11:32 AM               

As I noted, the first week of Opus was tough. I did not 'feel greasy', but found myself reliably nauseus on a daily basis. The later meals during the week caused indigestion that I couldn't find a means of resolving (ie, alkaseltzer didn't work). Carb up on the weekends as defined by Ducchain was just too brutal for me. I was too exhausted to get through my weekend on 2-hour feedings, let alone get up for work on Monday. I hated the way I felt: bloated up like road kill and gained back 4 of the 5 pounds lost in water weight alone. I was desperately looking forward to resuming the ketosis phase on Monday.

I stuck with the plan on week 2, but found that I could reduce the nausea by reducing the fats in the later meals. Tuesday afternoon I was in the airport headed to KS on business. I had booked a room with a kitchen, but (God bless United) we didn't get into KS until nearly midnight and I had no chance to go shopping. I was reduced to 3 meals/day over a two day period and I don't think that I have ever come that close to committing murder. I was starving, but somehow managed to stay away from the cookies in the back of the room. The ketostix varied between neutral and deep pink, but mostly neutral. It was discouraging, but I was able to convince myself that it was more due to not having any excess ketones instead of slipping out of ketosis. I did not complete the depletion workout that Friday and progressed through the weekend eating whatever I felt like eating and slept through the night. I was more pleased with the lack of radical reactions in my digestive track. I did not get on the scale.

Week three proceeded much like week 2, with the exception that I did not workout at all. *gasp* Later in the second week I started having difficulty motivating myself to eat at all: this is prevailing through the third and forth weeks as well. I did return to the gym on Monday and went back to my routine instead of Dan's routine. I did chest and tri's and attributed some of the strength decrease to downtime, but most of it is the diet. I got on the scale despite the fact that I was in the throws of my m-cycle. I weighed in at 137.8 which is ~2# under my starting weight, but I reliably gain 3-5# on the rag. I've relaxed a bit on the carbs this week, but not much. Knowing that I have to eat and finding that I don't want to, dinner for the last two nights has been a simple peanut butter sandwich.

I'm going to continue cutting until my next cycle (about mid September), but I am gradually working myself back towards a 40/30/30 split. I think it's safe to say that I'm approaching Atkins from Opus and find it to be a little more tolerable. From the look I see in the mirror, its safe to say that I'm still dropping BF and I like the pace better now than that first week. Over 3 weeks, I think it's safe to say that I've lost 5-8 pounds. I will post weight and check for changes in measurements ~Monday.

Hope this helps.

posted August 02, 2000 03:27 PM               

I have a theory (don't I always). Could it be that this diet just doesn't hit the fat on the estrogen-sensitive fat cells? Maybe if there's fat floating around in a woman's system, that fat will not budge from the thighs no matter what. I would like to hear from women who have got 'ripped to shreds' lean on this diet, and I mean ripped ALL OVER. 3 women is not a big sample. But 4 women who felt very bad on this diet also makes me wonder if the basic metabolism in terms of ketosis and carb requirements are different between men and women.

The link to Lyle's site is http://www.onr.com/user/lylemcd/

posted August 02, 2000 07:49 PM               

Honestly, I don't see the benefit to this type of dieting. Like I said, I'm NO EXPERT and that is why I usually keep my fingers off the keys, unless I feel that I have something solid to add.

I'm 9 weeks out at 5'4", 123#, guessing about 16%bf (haven't been tested, just using the mirror and how my clothes fit). I eat 5 - 6 meals per day. Meal 1 thru 3 consist of 1 serv comp carb, 1 fibrous carb, 1 serv protein and meals 4 - 6 are 1 serv protein and fibrous carbs. I'm tire by the end of the day but I only get nauseous or fatigued if I don't time my meals w/my workout properly. Been dieting for a few weeks and though I've only dropped a few pounds I can start to see that I am leaner and my clothing is looser in back and waist.

posted August 02, 2000 08:20 PM               

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posted August 02, 2000 08:31 PM               

And the CKD idea of high-fat/ketogenic diets helping boost or maintain testosterone levels only makes sense to me if you're a male. You don't have to be a nutrition and biochemistry scholar to recognize that a high-fat diet is more likely to increase Estrogen levels in a women (and a mild boost in T?). This is common knowledge! But my current thinking doesn't mean I won't be receptive to hearing from BB women who have made this diet work well for them. I know it has worked well for one woman I know. But she was 5'1 and 200lbs! She is losing fat at a nice rate, but she's not a BB looking to get shredded while maintaining maximum muscle mass. She's grossly obese.

posted August 02, 2000 09:03 PM               

Now like I said, I'm no expert and I am on an eternal quest for knowledge. But I can see pretty decent gains in my own physique since I last competed in May - it almost seems a shame to diet down just yet (I was advised to wait until the late fall or early spring to compete again, but I'm just so damned impatient!). Already I can see lower back development, quad development, my glutes are tightening up and legs are tightening up, I GOT ME SOME LATS, OOOOO and I even got some arms and shoulders! I'm a natty so don't get too excited - we're talking within the realm of REAL here. But still DECENT nonetheless.

posted August 02, 2000 09:12 PM               

Trying to wean gradually, but my mind is such a blur...literally. I think that 4 weeks is just too long for me on this one, and I consider myself better than the average bear when it comes to dieting decipline.

I'm going to the grocery store, and if I don't come back with desert....well I don't know what I'll do.

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Feel Free to Underestimate me

posted August 03, 2000 12:23 AM               

JayeLynn - thanks for keeping us so well posted on your progress. I guess you never know until you try it right? Would you do it again?

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Patience is a bitter plant, but it has sweet fruit.

posted August 03, 2000 09:56 PM               

Yes, I would do it again, but 4 weeks is too much.....2 maybe 3 weeks tops. I'm going to reacquaint myself with my body for the next 2 weeks and then try another 2 weeks on BO.
Here's the critical bit of information. As most of you already know, I had lipo about 1.5-2 years ago on my saddle bags. During follow-up, I pointed out to the dr. that I still had saddle bags (however smaller) and he told me that it was just loose skin and a much more evasive procedure to 'pull it out' ...requiring 3x as much money would have to be done to correct my problem. I didn't completely believe that this was loose skin entirely and decided to go after it myself. That 'cottage cheese' that you all bitch about exists on the back of my hips even though the rest of my body is reasonably lean (~14-15%). I did notice in the mirror earlier this week that those lumps have noticably smoothed out....much to my surprise. That is a bid deal. Also, whereas my chest went radically gaunt during the first week of ketosis, they plumped right back up during the first carb-up and haven't gone back down since. ....granted, I have been on the rag this week, so it is still yet to be seen if breast fats are spared on this diet.

This is not a diet to be taken lightly. I have always prided myself in how well I know my body, but I feel like I'm getting to know it for the first time as a result of this diet and how my body is reacting. I don't like the way my head is reacting either as of the third week. If you review my earlier dialog, I endured a rough second week and that may have had a role in my rapid decline.
It is also true that the diet in all of its entirety is a big adjustment and I failed to completely fulfill all of my original intentions. I think I was able to get up twice for morning cardio. In fact getting out of bed period was a chore. On the happy side of that coin, I slept more sound than I've slept since my daughter was born. ...like a rock...
I think that I have some ideas about combatting the nausea. I don't have any business travel in my immediate future...to my knowledge. And, I've reduced my list of responsibilities by one job. (no longer doing the personal trainer bit in the evenings).

posted August 04, 2000 09:45 AM               

As for the lipo....yes, I was happy with the end product, but not as happy as I had hoped to be. There is still some work to do for the bikini view, but the view from a pair of jeans is awesome.

posted August 17, 2000 03:29 PM               

- Having no trouble with nausea.
- Doing MY regular workout routine (Legs on Monday, Tuesday off although usually abs and cardio, Wednesday - chest and tri's, today - abs and shoulders, etc)
- Intending to just eat what I want through the carb up phase (with extra sugars) as my body doesn't react as radically this way.
- Weighed in yesterday at 134.4, but no changed in the pinch test. ...go figure. I think that the one-site test can only do so much.
- Seem to be holding a little bit of water which could be a byproduct of an increase in sodium (cheese, processed meats, pickles, etc)
- Expanding on my food choices. Many vegetables have no nutritive value, like mushrooms, lettuce, saurkraut, zucchini, etc. Feels more normal and I get more fibre.

I only want to go two weeks to avoid depression. My goal here is to get down between 125 and 129 before starting my next cycle, so might have to do one more 2-week cycle between now and then.

oh, also...
ketostix come up neutral frequently like when my body has been taxed. Like, when I got home from riding my motorcycle in the rain (freezing). For anyone interested in trying this, please take that point into consideration as I have learned what a let-down it can be to stick strictly to this diet and not see the affirmation on the little plastic strip. Also saw that when I was on a business trip and didn't get enough to eat. It was just that I didn't have any extra keytones.