Results of my Cyclic Ketogenic Diet Part 2

It's hard to believe due to the massive amounts of "experts" stating that high cholesterol is bad for you. I was brought up with that information since I was young. But when have we as individuals stepped back and actually verified this information? 

Schools teach us that we evolved over billions of years. They teach us there is no God. They teach us that everything is relative. They teach us that the fulfillment to life is to live for yourself.  They teach us we are the authority. They teach us that Jesus is a good man. They teach us marriage is between two people who love each other regardless of gender maybe even species down the line. They teach us that philosophy is the answer or was it science... Or was it your own heart. Whatever it is - you get the point. 

I have always been a person who likes to verify my information. I didn't become strong by following the trends of the fitness world. I did it by reading my own research. Books written from the 1800's, 1900's. Books and peer review journals from men smarter than me. Bodybuilding, powerlifting, strongman and all other exercise related subjects. Books translated from other languages to orchestrate the kinestheitical (think i made this word up) knowledge that I know now. The results speak for itself. 

This subject is not any different and its by God's grace that I ran into it. So what are the real factors for heart attacks? Let me give you two that are definitive - low hdl and high triglycerides. 

---------

My results

My Cholesterol- 274mg/dL

Low - less than 125

Normal - 125-200

High - greater than 200

It makes sense that my cholesterol will be high because my new energy is coming from fat. Im not concerned about these levels. Its funny how the doctor was telling me he was concerned for my cholesterol levels because they were so high. I tell him why Im doing and explain my research and he then goes "...well because your... Well... Actually... Everything else is good." Which made me laugh inside haha. 

My Triglycerides -  - 66 mg/dL 

Normal - less than 150 mg/dL

Borderline high - 150-199

High - 200-499

Very high- 590

Im not even close to the borderline. You would expect someone who eats so much fat to have this elevated. The reason is because my body doesn't store these in my body but is used frequently. When carbs are high my body would store them but since they are low -- it uses them for energy. 

My HDL - 72 mg/dL

Low - 40 mg/dL

High - 60 mg/dL

Again, I'm above average for HDL. Low hdl is a strong indicator for heart attacks and physicians actually use that to measure the risk for post-menopausal women. When you eat lots of carbs it actually decreases you Hdl, therefore, Hdl is a indicator of carbohydrate intake. 

My research states this:

"When you replace fat in your diet, even saturated fat, with carbohydrates, you lower your HDL, which means you make it more likely that you’ll have a heart attack, at least by this predictor of risk. Once again, if you give up scrambled eggs and bacon for breakfast and replace them with cornflakes, skim milk, and bananas, your HDL cholesterol, your “good” cholesterol, will go down, and your heart-attack risk will go up. If you’re currently eating cereal, skim milk, and bananas and switch instead to eggs and bacon, your HDL cholesterol will go up, and your heart-attack risk will go down. This has been known since the 1970s."

This is already getting long so I'll have to postpone my thoughts for part 3. 

Results of my Cyclic Ketogenic Diet Part 1

Woke up on Thursday 1/28/16 for the moment of truth. What are the results of my new lifestyle of eating as a cyclic ketogenic person? But before I get to that, let me give everyone a brief overview on how I do my diet.

I tried to do pure keto with no high carb intake and found my strength decreasing. I did more research and read more books before concluding to cycling high carb days on the weekends.

I tried doing close to 4,000 calories a day but got tired of forcing myself to eat that much fat Monday-Friday. It was fairly easy on the weekends when I swap to carbs. I decided to decrease my calories and found no hindrances in my strength training program.

Breakdown of my diet

December 01, 2015– January 17, 2016

Monday – Friday High fat/Low carb

Calories – 3750 calories

15% Carbs - 141g

65% Fat - 271g

20% Protein - 188g

Saturday – Sunday High carb/Low fat

Calories – 3750 calories

50% Carbs - 468g

25% Fat - 104g

25% Protein - 235g

January 18, 2016 - Current

Monday – Friday High fat/Low carb

Calories – 3000 calories

10% Carbs - 75g

65% Fat - 217g

15% Protein - 188g

Saturday – Sunday High carb/Low fat

Calories – 3000 calories

50% Carbs - 375g

25% Fat - 83g

25% Protein - 188g

Things I learned

·       - Strong correlation between high carbs and weight gain

·       - Not eating enough fat (at least 200g for me), although low carb, resulted in maintaining weight

·       - Decreasing to 3,000 calories daily resulted in no strength loss

·       - Cycling carbs on the weekends is needed for powerlifters

The principles work and it took months of experimentation and seeing how my body reacts, but I finally found the right percentages for me to function well. 

And the results.... a 415lb squat!! Yeeyaaah! =O

Praise the Lord Im average! 🎉 (415) Ahead of schedule...was aiming for 400. 50lbs in 6 months. Focused on technique and never went higher than 325 during training. Mentally was tough. Never felt that much on my back. End of the year goal = 450lbs #jasannity #squatgains #3d2y #n00bgainz

A video posted by Jason Vicente (@zabinjay) on Jan 28, 2016 at 9:17pm PST

Oh yeah... my lab results. That was 2/1/16 Monday. I"ll get back to that on my next blog. =]

Holiday Weighty Blues

The season where cheat days become weeks and pounds come attacking at night as they sneak into the fat crevices of your body, aww the holidays. How they come and go, but leave you with a special gift of being 5 pounds heavier. Yup, that was my holiday week and I’ve paid severely for it. 

It first started off at work, company lunch where they had an endless amount of food. But I was brave, and was able to only eat the non carb items. Yet, I was to find out that was only the first wave of the food that were to come. Then all of a sudden as the days were to progress, customers were sending us baskets full of candies. 

I was like, “oh I’m fine” and I walked away. But the problem was that there were white chocolate candy there and I do like white chocolate. 

But I refused and walked on. However I couldn’t resist forever, because the baskets were placed in an area where I have to walk by, like all the time. So each time I passed by them I was taunted, mocked, like if it was the ring from Lord of the Rings

It was calling to me, and I could resist it no longer, Arrrggghhhh! Get them away from me! As I ran away. But the next time that I walked by them, my boss decides to say the most horrific thing to me he said, “would you like a chocolate? It’s for everyone.” And I looked at him with loathing in my eyes and said, “sure.” As I reached in the basket to pull out the bag of white chocolates and sat at my desk and took the first bite…….. I wept. White chocolates, you got me again. Arrggghhhhh, but they were so good, how could I be mad at them. After a few pieces I tried to put the bag down, but failed to not take another bite. It was hard, but then I realized what I had read before about sugar. It's like a drug.

It keeps calling me back. It gives you cravings and it makes it strong. I remember on Christmas day all my nieces and nephews were playing in the house and all of a sudden, one of my aunts pulls out a big bag of candy and says to the kids, “who wants candy?” 

And all the kids look up and see the bag and run to her yelling, “me, me, I want candy!” That’s how I felt having the bag with me.

I felt like I was powerless to it’s sweet goodness. So I thought that I play it safe, I left the bag on another co-worker's desk, and then he started to eat some. Then after awhile he started to realize that he was eating too much. So he ended up putting it on another co-worker's desk and the cycle kept repeating itself until it made its round back to me. What made it worse was that my co-workers kept bringing more and more candy and leaving it on each other's desk. Even though it was funny, in the end, we were all losers. But yeah, it’s true that you have to be careful with sugar. It doesn’t help you if you are trying to stay in ketosis. It gives you cravings and then that's when you fall into the trap and have the potential to lose your motivation and that’s when you fall off the wagon. And because of that this is the result of my holiday week.

As you can see, I have gained weight around the holidays, but the good thing is that it only took me 3 days to bounce back. Both Christmas and New year's slowed my weight loss, but I’m glad that I’m back on track. Jason helped put some perspective on my matter as I was a little bummed that I gained some weight. He reminded me that I am barely on my second month and that the weight that I have already lost was a great feat in itself and he was right. Just yesterday I tried on our groomsmen suit that I was fitted for on November 14 (where I was 235 lbs). The conclusion was that the suit was too big and I had to exchange it for a suit size smaller. But even that suit is a little loose on me and I still have a few more weeks to drop more weight (I am currently 213 lbs). So that helped bring back some perspective on the matter and gave me a boost to keep things going on this Keto train. 

As for foods, I have been eating pretty much the same things. Steak and eggs. Am I getting tired of it? Yes, I am, I am getting tired of it. But that’s okay, that let’s me explore new options. I have found that Lobster tails are only $5. And don’t forget about shrimp and fish. I think I’ll be alright. Just gotta keep at it. Here is to the New Year. I think Oprah said it best (yes, I said Oprah).

Blue pill or Red pill

When Jason explained the science about Ketogenics, it kind of felt like I was in the movie the Matrix. My whole life I grew up thinking eating healthy was a certain way.

I can hear Morpheus (Jason) saying, “What if I told you that you were lied to about eating healthy? What if I told you that there is another way, one where others would deem you unhealthy by the sheer quality of food that you would eat. A way where you can eat fatty foods, not exercise, and lose weight?”

"I know that this may sound like a fairy tale, but it is true. Unfortunately, this is something that cannot simply be explained, it must be shown."

“If you take the blue pill, the world you know will continue to exist and life will go on as usual for you. You can continue to eat the healthy way you were told of and find no results that satisfy you.”

“But if you take the red pill, I will show you just how far the rabbit hole goes.”

So keeping that in mind, I (along with Fred) was able to play the part of Morpheus. This was something that I was able to experience about two weeks ago. Fred, Matt and I went to Wingstop after Worship team practice. We ordered 30 pieces of boneless wings (should’ve gotten it with bone, so much batter, oh well) and sat down, prayed for the food and started eating. After finishing the food we started to have some small talk. Then all of a sudden I pose a question to Matt…… asking him, “what if I told you that you could eat fatty foods and meat and still be healthy?” Matt looked at me as if I were ready to tell a joke. I looked at Fred and gave him the look that said, “let’s preach the good news of Ketogenics.” 

Fred concurred with a slight head nod. So we began to tell Matt of all that he had known about health is a lie and that true health was to be found in fats and meats. Matt was a little hesitant and had some disagreements. So basically I was the testimony of the conversation and Fred was the guy who was going to break down the science of it to Matt. Well, after all that we said to Matt, he paused for a second and had many doubts. He kept quoting his boss (OM) who is some specialists of some sort, and wouldn’t let up. Then he posed the, I can’t afford to go on a diet at this moment statement. Fred and I shook our heads in disbelief. We had a hard time explaining to Matt about Ketogenics and at that moment, I felt like I was a new believer trying to share the gospel. No matter how much sense it made to me, it came out as jargon to others. It was a humbling experience though and made me want to look into this diet even more to further my knowledge of it. 

So at the hands of defeat, Fred and I gave up and changed the conversation. But before we changed the subject I looked over to Fred and said, “I wish Jason was here to better help explain.” And we all laughed.

But here is the good news. Last Saturday some of the men at our Church went to a joint men’s Bible brunch at Hometown Buffet with our sister Church. We had a small room to ourselves and at our table of 7 sat Jason W, Jason V, Kevin M, Vince, Kuya Paul, me and Matt. Well after prayer for the food, we were all dismissed to the buffet line. Before we left the table, Matt turns to Jason and I and says, “I talked to my OM and he knows about ketogenics and says that it would suit me better for my lifestyle. So my brother and I will be joining you guys!”

I was like wow! He’s actually going to join us. Not that I think he can’t do it, but more so that he understands and is convinced to make the change in his life. It looks like Fred and I didn’t waste our breath and that conversation didn’t fall on deaf ears. So yeah, we have two more “converts,” and I’m looking forward to see how they will do with the weeks to come. Yay!

So it's been 4 weeks and 5 days since I started and it’s been a great blessing. I have went from 235 lbs down to 215 lbs. Praise the Lord!!!

I have been experiencing a surge of energy in the morning, so when I wake up at 6am, I am unable to go back to sleep no matter what. Also my cravings for things have ended, especially when I get hungry and I don't feed myself after a short period of time I am no longer hungry and can go on the rest of the day not eating. With this new found energy I used it to return to the Jasanity Gym and renew my membership there. Results are just pouring in over here and all Glory to God for it all.

As for my meals, though I often make steaks, I have dabbled with some other things. 

I made Caulimac and cheese. The macaroni is replaced with steamed cauliflower. It was pretty good, but it wasn’t exactly like mac and cheese. So I’m still looking for better recipes. 

Salmon covered in cheese with fried egg and avocado. The salmon is prepared with lemon juice, butter, salt, pepper, and more butter (yes, I said, more butter). It turned out pretty good.

Some fun things that I have been making are desserts. Though I’m not a big dessert person, I do find joy in making these treats. It reminds me of the days that I was a doughnut baker. I enjoyed it there and had fun making things. So I wanted to take that joy and make some Ketodesserts.

Blueberry cream cheese pie/cake

And I made this. Unfortunately I figured out too late that I was using peanut butter. :/ Peanuts are a legume, it tasted good though.

Here is what I’m looking forward to making. I just have to find a store that sells Cocoa butter. Sprouts doesn't sell it.

My oh my.

Oh, I can't wait until the day when I stop biting my cheeks when I eat. :0

I hate exercising.

Recently, I found myself needing to go to the Emergency Room for shortness of breath/chest pain. Long story short: It had nothing to do with the diet or with exercising. Completely unrelated and I'm totally fine now. But because of that incident, I wanted to stay on the safe side and refrain from any cardio exercising for a couple of weeks.

On Wednesday, I had a wonderful day at Leigh Ann's house. It was fun just hanging out with her and Evangeline. No cares in the world. Smiling at Evangeline laughing at nothing. And then...

Leigh Ann: Jainah! You want to go to Zumba class with me?!

Me: Uh....

Leigh Ann: It's so much fun!

Me: Uh....

Lol. Of course, I said "yes". There was obviously enough time for me to go home and get my workout clothes. I was feeling physically healthy with no more pain. And God providentially planned for Zumba to be scheduled during a time slot that would still allow me to have accountability with my group that night.

I had no excuse. 
I was just glad that I was going with Leigh Ann. I can't go to these things by myself. I don't like exercising in general. I don't like sweating. I don't like the feeling of my muscles feeling like they're going to burst into flames. Or the feeling that my soul is being sucked out of my lungs. But I'm trying to learn to get over it. Sigh. I think out of everyone in this blog, I'm more reluctant to start an exercise routine lol.

Anyway, back to the story...

We arrived right on time and the instructor was already starting the class. I was so overwhelmed with how many people were in that class and how well people were following the instructor. I turned to look at Leigh Ann to express my shock, but it was too late. She had already ditched me. I watched in amazement as she rushed to drop her stuff to the side, rip her sweater off, place herself in the crowd, and dance. Then, all of a sudden, I was right next to her.. LOL. It all happened so quickly! I was so focused on trying to follow the instructor's moves that, before I knew it, an hour has already passed and the class was done. It was the first time I ever did a Zumba class and it was really fun!

And now...

Hahah. Just kidding. But I really wouldn't mind doing it again! The class was fun enough for me to barely notice that I was working out. Maybe this'll be my motivation to work out more often and maybe even be a gateway to different exercise methods. Eh.

PS: It's been a total of 34 days since I've been on this diet with (seriously) minimal exercise and I have (as of today) lost 12 lbs. Hooray! 

PPS: I want french fries T_T

The end is coming...

Woo it's been a while since anyone's posted anything in this blog! So here I am, since it's been my turn for quite some time actually.

Jainah and I just celebrated our one month anniversary of being on the low-amylose/keto diet together! (You go girl! lol) and I think it's fair to say that we are both a lot better than in the beginning of when we began. I've lost about 9 pounds overall (I started at 155 lbs, and now am 146 lbs....my goal is to be within my BMI at 120-125 lbs) I still have about 25 lbs to go, but each day I get closer so that makes me encouraged. Also, everyone that I see who is on the diet has noticeably lost weight! I'm really happy to see everyone sticking to it! Sometimes I look at my phone and it says “35 new messages” because I'm part of this crazy texting group of everyone on the diet haha!

On Thanksgiving though, I totally had more than one “cheat” dessert. And I think I paid for it, bc I gained 2 lbs by the next day and it's literally taken me this whole week to get back down to where I began. Before Thanksgiving, I was 146 lbs. But after, I was 148 and it's literally a WEEK later and I'm finally back to where I began. Phew! I also woke up the day afterward really groggy and exhausted. Kevin kept asking me if I was okay. I couldn't believe how out of it I was! Oh, but those thanksgiving desserts were calling my name...thank God holidays are only once in a while haha I'm fairly strict on this diet, but I think it's okay to splurge on a cheat dessert on special occasions ;)

Also, I've been faithfully working out 3 times a week at the gym this whole past month. I am a lot more energetic and alert, and I just feel good overall! I love zumba! Next week I'm going to try out a kickboxing cardio class so that's pretty exciting too!

My goal is to be back to my wedding weight by the end of the year (135 lbs) so I want to lose 10 more pounds by New Years Eve! I hope I can do it! I lost about 9 lbs last month so I think this month I can do it again. For a while I was frustrated bc it's been taking me longer to lose weight compared to back when I did it before Evangeline was born. I talked to Jason and he said it might have to do with my occasional juicing bc I might be having too much sugar. I think there's truth to that, so this month I won't be doing it as much. However, I do enjoy my green juice! I'll just have to cut down on those apples!

Happy December, everyone! I'm so excited for the end of this year and the beginning of 2016!

Misconceptions

I was thinking of all the diets that I tried in the past and how often I failed at them because it was really hard to stay consistent. I even remember one diet where I was told to not overeat, but just eat till you’re content. I tried that for awhile and it was not enough food, though I didn’t fill myself up, I ended up eating the same amount of food that I would eat regularly, just spread throughout the day. That diet did nothing but prolong the inevitable, 

which was me getting back to my bad eating habits. 

I’ve tried quite a few diets.....

like the juicing diet, all out salad diet, lean foods diet, the GM diet, and so on.

I even tried to add exercise......

It didn’t help. 

I even convinced myself that since I was working out I could eat more.

I always ended up leaving the relationship of the diet and running back to my first love. 

Unhealthy foods.

Eating unhealthy comes natural to me, yes I could easily spot a place that would be deemed terribly bad for you, it’s like a radar I have. I guess you could say that I have a knack for these sort of stuff. 

I was telling Jason the other day that if I were to be the person to try and convince people to start eating meats and high fat foods with low to no carbs, that they would look at me and laugh. I wouldn’t be able to convince a single person even if my life depended on it. I mean like, how would I even start to tell them? So I thought about it and came up with the misconceptions that people have about changing the way you eat and think about this diet/lifestyle of eating.

What people often think the diet is

Baked Salmon with veggies,

Baked Chicken......with veggies!

But it's not like that at all. What it really is, is meat and fat. 

What I mean is that you don't have to fear the fried foods, because you need the fat. Fat is energy! So that means that you could eat these wonderful creations that are all wrapped up in little bundles of goodness that God made. You could eat stuff like:

Fried Fish

Fried Chicken (it looks like it's calling you)

Steak 

And of course we can't forget a Filipino favorite.....

Crispy Pata

You mean I could eat Crispy Pata and not feel guilty about it?!?!?! 

That’s like a dream come true!!!!! It can’t be real, but it has been confirmed by Jason that fats are good for us as long as our carbs are lower than 60 grams a day (in general). 

Now, it doesn’t have to be fried foods. But you definitely need to keep in mind your fat intake, that is that it needs to be high intake. So as a rule, (and I’m totally making this up) a stick of butter a day keeps the Dr. away. 

Here’s what’s on the menu:

BREAKFAST

Juicing 15g

LUNCH

Ground Beef , Bacon, zucchini squash, onions, mushroom, tomato, eggplant, garlic

Total of 30 grams

Snacks

Oranges, Cheese

Total of 10 grams 

DINNER

Deep fried beef steak meat (0g)

Week one is about to wrap up for me, and I feel pretty confident for the weeks to come. Things are beginning to look a little brighter.