15 Dec Ketogenic Diet- The First Few Weeks

By: Daniel Dalenberg

After the Arnold Classic in March of 2016, I spent some reflecting on the previous few years of competing and what the changes in my body weight had done. I had lifted as light at 230 and as heavy as 260.

• Squatted 755 at 233
• Benched 500 at 246, 470 at 233
• Deadlifted 700 at 235

Being much heavier than 235 hasn’t yielded much strength. A bit on the squat, maybe a tiny bit on the bench, but certainly nothing on the deadlift. After realizing this, I decided to pay more attention to my nutrition. There was clearly no need to be nearly 260.

I enlisted the help of Danny Vega and we started with a very simple macro guidance plan that was high carbohydrate and low fat. This worked quite well. I came into my last meet about 10 pounds lighter than usual, felt great and extremely strong. After the meet I asked Danny for an adjustment, I wanted to make more progress on my body composition and stay around 240 or so. We decided to take a ketogenic approach where I committed to doing my whole off season this way.

From a food standpoint, I haven’t had any trouble. I really like eating high fat, I love red meat and everything gets covered in oil or butter. It all tastes good that’s for sure! I’ve found that eating this way is much easier than low fat, high carb. I can eat pretty much anywhere, just stay away from starches and sugar. Dinner out is simple, red meat, a salad and some veggies gets it done. Throw a bunch of extra cheese on the salad and get vinegar and oil dressing; a pretty easy keto meal.

Body weight changes have been interesting. At first my weight plummeted to 230, with water and bloat falling off. Admittedly, I felt very flat and deflated at first. It was off season training so not a big deal from a strength standpoint, but I felt small nonetheless. After about two weeks this started to change, I put a pound or two back on and my body filled out. I started to feel full and big again. My strength rebounded as well.

Energy levels have been great! Partly, I think it is because I am sleeping so much better. According to my wife, I don’t snore anymore and I certainly feel more rested. Throughout the day, Energy wise I feel much more even, no big rush and crashes of energy, just level and even energy all day. This has been a huge plus for me as I used to really need some caffeine in the afternoon.

To sum it up, so far, so good. I feel great, much leaner and fairly strong. I’ll stay down this path for several more weeks and then evaluate what will be best for pre-contest nutrition for the Arnold 2017.

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Daniel Dalenberg

Dan Dalenberg is a pro level raw and equipped powerlifter with elite totals in the 220, 242 and 275 class. Best official raw meet lifts include an 804 squat, 507 bench press, 715 dead lift and 2006 total. Best equipped lifts include an 950 squat, 715 bench, 735 deadlift and 2400 total at 242. Dan has been training under Brian's guidance using the 10/20/Life methodology since late 2010.

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