Low Carbs High Fat, Ketogenic Diet and Training

*Posted in FB Group: 14th March 2018

This is a long post and it is technical.

It was very interesting when I watched the interview with Dr. Peter in the dietdoctor.com. What he did is exactly what I had done on myself. Both of us were on the self-discovery path on how keto way of eating improve our sports performance, especially in the area of both aerobic and anaerobic fitness.

While I was doing my easy 10km run this morning, I was thinking how should I write this post for you guys. Before I continue to write, I would like to have the basic information right for everyone first.

IF: It means intermittent fasting. It means you don't eat for a certain period of time and eat within a window. I personally practise 18/6 on a daily basis. 18 hours of fasting, 6 hours window of eating. Can eat as much as you want. Must be Keto-complied. Some days higher in protein like yesterday and some days not.

Aerobic training: It means you train at a level not at your maximum heart rate. Or 70% to 80% of your VO2 Max. If you do low aerobic running, you should be able to have a decent chat with your running buddy along the way. Usually Aerobic training must be at least 60 mins and longer to start gaining positive effect on the body. It burns fat as fuel during exercise time but there is no post fat burning after effect. All endurance athletes train in this area. Aerobic training should be at 80% to 90% of the training regime to make the body fat adapted.

Anaerobic training: It means you train at a level you want to die. You cannot breath properly. You train at short burst at maximum HR or max VO2 Max. This is usually your HIIT or Interval training. Such training maximum is 30 mins not more than that. It is usually about 20 mins. They called it fat burner exercise. It does not burn fat during the exercise time but it burns during post exercise. If you are a sprinter, this training will give you what you need. But such training is glycogen highly dependent and athletes training in this area are tend to be glucose dependent. Not recommend for fat adapted body and it should be about 10% to 20% of the training regime.

When a fat adapted body train in this area, the pancreas will response by producing high insulin to counter the glucose/cortisol produced by both liver and adrenaline. HIIT/Interval training can cause addiction, especially to those who are addicted to the Adrenaline rush. Commercial gym use high adrenaline group exercise to attract people to join the gym. Workout like body combat, zumba and etc... they burn calories and can have high adrenaline.

VO2 Max: It is the measurement of the maximum amount of oxygen that an individual can utilize during intense, or maximal exercise. It is measured as milliliters of oxygen used in one minute per kilogram of body weight (ml/kg/min). It is one factor that may help determine an athlete's capacity to perform sustained exercise.

Disclaimer: I'm not a Doc. Just sharing my passion.

Chasing LCHF (Low Carb High Fat) Losing fat? Water or Mass?

For this post, let's talk about losing fluid (water) or mass or both? In fact, when an individual is focusing on so-called weight lost, they tend to lose either ways or both. If they are doing detox, you will not be surprised the weight lost is due to releasing of toxins from the colon. Some people can be constipated for life and the built up in the pipe can be tremendous.

If you have not done detox before, try taking those off the shelves detox pills in the market. They can be quite effective in clearing the toxins in our colon. Once that is done, you won't be surprised you may have lost like 3kg to 5kg of weight with a flatter tummy. However, this is just one part of the equation and it is not the main topic of this post.

I want to focus on both fluid (water) and mass lost when an individual embark on a so-called weight lost or dieting journey. I want to stress again. Dieting is temporary, changing your habit is permanent. 

Fluid or water loss

It is common to hear someone that this weight lost program is effective. I had lost x number of kg in these few days... I will like wow!!! What have you lost? Is your tummy flatter? do you think you have lost water? Or you have lost your fat? Did you shit a lot or what? Because there are many factors to weight lost. 

It is very common for woman to have water retention issue. During dieting, this maybe one of the factors that is contributing to the weight lost. So how does one have water retention issue? There are many reasons. I will just name a few.

1. Too much sodium or an imbalance between sodium and potassium
2. A weak kidney. This is what Chinese medicine theory will state. In fact, people will real weak kidney will have water retention as well.
3. Lack of exercise
4. Hormonal changes
5. Medication
6. Pregnancy

The list will go on and on. 

When an individual starting to diet, especially those dieting that advocates eating lots of greens, you may want to see your water retention issue been resolved. The reason is very simple. Assuming your past diet was full of sodium such food with MSG, saltish food and etc... Out of sudden you reduce your intake of sodium and increases other source of minerals such as potassium, your water retention issue will start to go away. If you are dehydrated, then it is a different issue.

If you are someone with weak kidney whether it is real or by Chinese medicine definition, then water retention is inevitable. It is a symptom of your body or your kidney not able to flush out the fluid from the body through urine. For such issue, then it requires medication attention. I will not explain further. If you suspect your water retention issue is due to this issue, please check yourself into hospital or see your family doctor ASAP.  End of story.

If you lack of exercise, then definitely you will start losing water. Assuming you exercise and you lost lots of fluid through sweat or urine, if not your body weight may stays the same.

So these are the common issues of water retention. Once you resolve it, your body weight will drop and you will be surprised how much water you are keeping in your body.

Just a word of advice. If you are the active type, always riding, running and doing some of exercise daily, you may be dehydrated. So there is a need for you to drink small amount of water regularly to get your body hydrated. This will increase your body weight but who cares. This is not important.

Losing Mass

Losing mass is a serious issue. You may lose mass due to losing calcium from the bone or muscles. A good example is old folks or people suffering from eating disorder AKA anorexia. Once you start losing body mass, a whole lot of other issues will into play. From osteoporosis to accelerated sarcopenia with aging. I'm not sure if there is such a thing as accelerated sarcopenia (muscle loss) with aging, once you start losing muscle mass, you will start to lose stamina. Once you start losing stamina, you will start to lose your habit to exercise. Furthermore, once you stop exercise, HGH (Human Growth Hormone), insulin growth factor and some other hormones will be of lower concentration in the body. This is not a good news.

Thus, you must exercise. Whether walk or a simple weight training exercise with a few reps is good for the body.

Conclusion

When someone said I had lost some weight, take a step back first. Ask yourself, is it water? fat or mass? The right question will determine the way you handle weight lost. Remember, dieting is temporary. Changing habit is permanent. Change your habit and the rest will follow through.