21 Jun Tucker: Kinda keto, kinda fasted, kinda fun
** No, I did not turn into a Latin hunk over night. The pic up top is Danny Vega who’s been doing all sorts of keto and fasting experiments on himself and teaching us all a lot! Check out his log for more in info as well.
All of Danny’s experiments lately have had me wondering about how they would work for me as well. I’ve already been doing a lower carb diet for myself lately, so making the switch to keto wouldn’t be too hard. Along with that, we took a trip into LA to look for housing and I knew we would be busy and tired from all the driving and I figured this would be a good time to try out some of that fasting stuff as well. I wasn’t very organized with it so this isn’t a perfect example, but I noticed some really interesting things.
First, the fasting is way easier on keto. I can only assume that’s because you’re never increasing your blood sugar levels beyond what it takes to process fats and proteins, so they never really lower very much either. After a day of no carbs I was able to last until 2-3 pm without eating and didn’t get any foggy headed, low blood sugar type feelings. I eventually got hungry and felt a little tired, but not like I would have on a standard chicken and rice type diet.
My body comp didn’t change much besides looking a little tighter in the first couple days, and then looking flatter and deflated for the next couple. It was a tight deflated, so it’s not like I looked skinnier and fatter, but this is probably due to how I did things. I was only having 2, maybe 3 meals each day, and they weren’t thousand plus calorie meals like I would need to maintain my body weight on a keto diet. Add to that I didn’t workout for any of those days so flatness was expected.
The best myth buster…. And perfectly logical part to the restricted calories was that my body hung on to most of its tissue. I wish I could go back and tell my 16 year old self this. That would have spared me a lot of time and worrying about not eating every couple hours. All that ended up happening from that was over eating and just getting fat.
Even gen pop folks know that not eating enough puts your body into starvation mode and your body will hold onto body fat for survival purposes. All the gym bros think that the minute you go over the 3 hour mark without eating your body will start to eat it’s own muscle for nutrients (or maybe that was just my lifting generation, since it sounds like intermittent fasting is pretty hip these days)….. Well it turns out it’s a little more basic than the gym goers want to make it sound. Your body wants homeostasis, and that hard earned muscle isn’t going anywhere. You may deflate and lose glycogen, but your body isn’t just eating it’s own muscle. From this experience, it was pretty clear my body just down regulated my metabolism so that it could stay more or less the same. I didn’t lose much muscle or fat, and was able to go about my business for a few days without worrying about food.
I’m not at peak strength or body comp after this, but a few days of eating clean and a couple workouts and I’ll be back to normal again. I wouldn’t recommend anyone doing it like I did on a regular basis if you’re trying to make gains, but if you go on vacation once or twice a year, you can get away with doing pretty much whatever and you’ll be okay. Keto, fasted, normal meals but less of them, no working out etc. your body will be there when you get back. If you’ve got a pressing event or just want to chill out and travel and won’t be able to bring your 6 meals a day with you for a few days, don’t sweat it. Just enjoy your time and take care of business, and get back to the gym and regular diet when you get home.
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