Week 3 is now in the books and I'm starting to find a routine with this keto lifestyle (I'm not calling this a diet any longer.) This last week was an active one, with over 10 hours of saddle time including a big group ride and several quality interval sessions. Food is getting easier to visually measure. My daily ketone measurements are pretty consistent and starting to constantly stay above 1. As I stated above, I'm finding my routine.
On the food front things went well. I was a little more hungry this week than the previous two. I think it may be due to the up-tick in training/riding time and intensity. When I am hungry, I'm not starving or having intense pangs like I once did, it's just a subtle feeling, sometimes accompanied by a little stomach growl.
I'm still working to keep the carbs at 25 grams net. Really I'm trying to do it to 25g total but I'm finding that difficult so I go by net (total carbs - fiber = net carbs.) On the weekend I had to take in more carbs because of the big ride Saturday. I'm thinking the 25 net carb goal is working for me as I've been able to keep my daily ketone measures of blood and breath well in to the ketosis zone of .5 to 3. I'll keep watching this through the week and next.
I'm still not really watching calories. I watch them but I don't let them drive me. I measure for carb grams and to make sure I stay within the 25 gram range. The rest of the macro nutrients just seem to sort themselves out. I'm still loosing weight, down to 228 lbs today (15 lbs total) so when I stop or plateau I'll pay more attention to the total calories. The last 3 days I have been at 228 but I'm not to worried because I abused my body badly on Saturday's ride and I have a feeling the stagnate weight readings are just my body's way of repairing itself. My equator reading is currently 39", I lost another .5" around my midsection. I can definitely feel that missing .5" in all of my clothes - it's NICE!!!
Last week saw some really good time in the saddle. I did quite a bit of zone1 and zone2 work. I did this for a few reasons. First I wanted to spin my legs during the week and keep them loose before and after the workouts/rides. Second, zone1 and 2 is where all the fat is burned and the mitochondria are conditioned. Lastly, I need the saddle time. All in all my body does not feel to bad after completing a good week of riding.
Looking at my Training Peaks performance management widget, my training is way off. My chronic training load is currently at 36. It's kind of funny but indicative of where I am in my training this year. To be blunt, I haven't done a lot of it nor have ridden much this year compared to past years. This is typically in the 60's for Leadville it was in the 70's. The good news is that it is trending back up to the "normal" zone. The even better news, I'm still considered "fast" in an untrained state - this is truly exciting to me!
Up top I mentioned I did a lot of zone1 and zone2 riding last week. I'll likely continue that trend over the next few weeks as I try to ramp my training up (both volume and intensity.) I have found through research, coaches, and personal experience that ramping up volume and intensity at the same time requires a watchful eye and a lot of caution.
Here's a shot of the volume and intensity (volume of various intensities) over the last few weeks. Zone1 is at the bottom in the very light purple and then it works up from there. It should be re-stated that this is week 3 of keto for me. You can see how these first 3 weeks went from a riding perspective.
The charts and widgets from Training Peaks are helpful (and I'm sure WKO4 will be even more helpful when it's finally released for Windows) but you have to watch your body for signs that you are overdoing it. I'm not going to get in to a discussion here about the signs but I'll be looking for theme especially considering the new keto lifestyle combined with an up-tick in training volume AND intensity. This is really important and further compounded by my impatience for where I'm at and desire to get back to where I was in my conditioning and training. Right now is the time I have to be really vigilant and listen to what my body is telling me.
It should be noted that very few people can successfully go on a calorie deficit and train well at the same time. The two do NOT go hand in hand. It is my experience that a good training plan and proper nutrition can elicit weightless but typically you can not restrict your calories and expect to lose weight AND make training progress. Your results may vary.
Today's post is long enough. I'll sign off now.
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