Synopsis

For the month of February I will be doing a nutritional ketosis (NK) experiment, and posting what I eat each day along with my weight, body fat percentage, and ketostix reading (I will not measure blood ketones). After the initial month, I will then decide whether to continue or not with the experiment for a further month, and so forth.

My aim is to lose weight while improving my metabolism and thus energy levels.  I currently weigh ~171lbs, with an ultimate goal of ~145lbs.

We only need about 0.6 grams protein per pound lean mass, as my lean mass is ~112lbs, this translates to ~67g protein a day. Also a healthy non-obese person burns 22.7 calories per pound lean mass (50kcal/kg), so this translates to ~2,542 calories a day. This puts protein at ~10-11% of calories. The rest will be mostly fat, with about 25-30 grams of carbs a day ideally.

I have worked out a menu I plan to stick to which is 71g protein, 25g carbs, 239g fat; or 11%, 4%, and 85% of calories respectively. This works out to 2,535 calories, very slightly low.

For those interested here's some ratios:

• P:C:F = 1:0.35:3.37
• P+C:F = 1:2.5

Here's the plan:

But Just What The Hell Is Nutritional Ketosis?

Nutritional ketosis is the state of ketosis arising from a ketogenic diet, rather than starvation or diabetic ketoacidosis. Phinney and Volek define it as having a blood ketone level between 0.5 and 3 mmol/L, which is lower than starvation ketosis (5-10) and much lower than diabetic ketoacidosis (10+).

This natural, healthy state of ketosis is achieved by primarily restricting carbohydrates in one's diet, but also restricting protein to a certain extent. Nutritional ketosis means relying on fat as your main fuel, rather than carbohydrates as in a 'normal' diet.

I will achieve this state by keeping protein to 0.6 grams per lbs lean mass, carbs to <30 grams per day, and the rest of by calories coming from fat.