Now, my last post discussed that I was starting a Target Ketogenic Diet. It is technically a "low-carb" diet (hence the emphasis on ketones) but there is a "targeted" period in the day (ie: exercise) when blood sugar is spike and a dose or two of carbohydrates is allowed. There is also a weekly re-feeding / carb-load day that is optional. While this is not an excuse to just eat crap all day long, it is a nice reprieve if you engage is intense exercise and even this "mild" ketosis is difficult to sustain. Plus, it doesn't hurt to maybe have one junk meal or get a little more careless on the "carb load" day... just don't make every meal a buffet. (Though the inspiring Tim Ferriss may have something different to say about that :-D )
Essentially the grocery list has not change from my last diet update, but things on a day-to-day basis have been restructured to make the diet more ketogenic and intended for its purposes. So basically I allowed myself 30g of complex carbs before and after workouts, 6 days per week. The rest of the carbs that I would have bought on my grocery list are saved for the 7th day, the carb load. The meals on the carb load day do not have any explicit protein sources, rather those are spread throughout an extra serving on each of the other 6 days of the week. Fruits, vegetables, and nuts are to be eaten as normal on the carb load day. As far as training, I will be training 6 days per week, but only 4 of them will be "intense". The week will start off with a band to tap those heart glycogen supplies and wind down on Friday and Saturday with some lighter or at least less intense exercise, and finally the "reload" on Sunday.
As neurotic as my dieting practices may be and as much as I tinker with my phone, I've never been one to use a dieting app to track my progress. I prefer the good old fashioned spreadsheets and a blog / journal. That being said, my favorite diet app is from VidaOne which can be found here. I used the app just to monitor a couple sample days and screenshot the results. On training days I'm shooting for <2500 calories, 45% protein, 30% carbohydrates, and 25% fat. I also included a screenshot from a sample cheat day for compassion. (Never mind the times, the foods were logged and entered retroactively / anticipatory which is still valid because I do most of my cooking for the entire day first thing in the morning)
Now, I just want to make mention of what I have referred to as the 50 / 20 rule. This is in regards to macronutrient ratios. In my experience the closer any one macronutrient gets to 50% of your diet it begins to be impractical in terms of consuming "normal" meals and supplements and hodge-podge ingredients start to take over. The same is true of <20% where you are getting too much of the other thing, you're probably going to suffer from not having enough of another. This is why I've adjusted my goal numbers to what they are. I also wanted to make sure I was getting enough fat to help protect my joints due to high impact sports.
There is one last things I'll make mention of and that is that I'll be cross-breeding some things I've learned from Tim Ferriss' book The 4 Hour Body. They are as follows:
- 30g of protein within 30 minutes of waking up
- cinnamon with morning coffee to increase insulin sensitivity
- On the Cheat / Carb-Load day - 90 seconds of exercise before and after any "cheat meal(s)" You know the difference between a "cheat" meal and what is a normal, healthy, but carb laden food.
- Cold shower optional depending on how beat up I am from the week's training.
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