Heeeyyy! That's SMART! I bet you're right!



And I LIKE your thoughts - I'm thinking...hmmm...HIIT maybe?

I dont really know anyone who enters ketosis the first day after a carb up. I believe that ala gives a false positive on keto strips.

The amount of glycogen is about 300-400g in the liver am I right? I've read that it would take running a whole lot of miles to burn that off--somewhere around the 'wall' in marathons. I could be wrong, but I dont think most of us could possibly get into ketosis in a day.

I don't always take ALA for my carbups. I didn't on CKD, and I STILL get into ketosis in a day. Every single time.

Actually, it is the norm on the CKD. There si something to the premise that the body seems to settle into the routine. Perhaps it's partially because the fat-burning mode becomes the body's normal state during the diet.

Thanks Inner - I kinda figured that was what happened - my body now PREFERS to live off of fat, so this is a normal thing to return to.

how long have you been doing ckd. Im on week 5 right now. Last year I did it for 2 months. Always it has taken 2 or 3 days. I guess you're just lucky

I don't do CKD anymore, because I gained too much fat when I did (darned estrogen, mutter...mutter), but I fiddle with variants on NHE/TKD/carb cycling, and have for several years. And I pretty much did straight Atkins for a year first.

Roguecloud...
I'm not sure if you already mentioned this in another post... but what is your macronutrient ratio during the LC days.
I generally keep my fats to around 70%... Protein ~30%... (and around 20 g. of carb.)

I guess if I was eating fewer calories my percentages might change because I would still try to get about 1 g. of Pro. / Lb. of B.W.
Right now I'm eating about 3000 cals/day.

Oh... One more thing... Are you eating whole protein sources (real food) or protein powders? Protein powders, like whey, may slow down your transition into ketosis. If you ate enough of it, it's possible that enough would be converted to glucose that you would not be depleting glycogen. Apparently it can be converted to glucose with about 53% efficiency.

"I don't do CKD anymore, because I gained too much fat when I did (darned estrogen, mutter...mutter), but I fiddle with variants on NHE/TKD/carb cycling, and have for several years. And I pretty much did straight Atkins for a year first."


I'm curious about your carb cycling and about your CKD experience. How did estrogen figure into the picture?

I'm coming from a strong BFL background but that stopped working for me after the first year. Since then I've been struggling just not to gain weight and finally got an answer at the beginning of this year with a diagnosis of hypothyroid AND pre-diabetes. (I guess insulin resistance makes it a little hard to lose weight)

Anyway - I've been afraid to to Atkins because I have this horrible image of sagging skin and muscle loss. (I've worked hard for my muscle and want to keep it )

I'm not sure if my understanding of carb cycling is similar to what you're doing. Can you please help me out?

Thanks!
bbell

Low carb, high fat diets actually preserve muscle mass because the fats protect you from glycolyzing protein. I did my first year of bodybuilding on straight Atkins. I have NO idea where you are hearing stories of muscle loss and sagging skin. I built up GREAT doing this.

WRT estrogen and CKD, I think the bigger issue may be the lower levels of muscle mass and testosterone in women, but it's just a hunch based on what happens to me and some women lifters I've e-chatted with.

I'm insulin resistant, too, and have had low-ish thyroid off and on. That's why Atkins was so effective for me.

You might consider TKD - basically, Atkins with a little bit of fast carb pre or pre-and-post lifting.

I've heard most lifters on keto diets have terrible performance in the gym. Those that are serious about any kind of growth have to add carbs in somewhere.

Me, I haven't noticed much of a difference either way, in growth or fat loss. Strength is increasing, but that might be neural strength and not necessarily muscle growth.

Personally, if I take 600mg ALA before bed, by morning, I'm in ketosis, and stay in ketosis untill I eat carbs again. Obviously not a false positive.

Hello everyone!

I am knew to this board. Can someone tell me what ALA stands for?

thanks in advance!!

Alpha Lipoic Acid. It's a glucose disposal agent and anti-oxidant.

And welcome to the board!

i have read many times that consuming high amounts of dietary fat will help induce ketosis .

could the ketones produced (when checking with the strips) be from the breakdown of dietary fats rather than from body fat?

high dietary fat may be inducing ketosis, or alternately it could be the result of the breakdown of dietary fats couldn't it?......