Fiancial Ruin

Sadly I can't afford to keep this experiment going any more, even though it costs me about £22 a week, I have lost my benefits and thus have no income at the moment so will be living on a menu I devised which costs £1 per day, consisting of mostly rice and lentils with some liver, eggs, etc as I will have NO money at all. Thank you all for following this short and enjoyable but sadly over journey.

Day #5: 20/2/14

Morning stats:
Weight: 168.9lbs, 76.7kg.
Body fat: 35.0%
Lean mass: 109.8lbs, 49.9kg.

Food, etc:
Breakfast: 3/4oz cheese.
Lunch: 1 tin mackerel; 1/2cup cream, 1tbsp cocoa, stevia.
Dinner: 192g beef steak, 1/2 cup cream, 14g almonds, 125g coconut cream (mmm curry).

Supplements: none.

Cigarettes: 6 roll ups.

Nutrition:
Protein: 69.8g, 13%
Carbs: 29.2g, 4%
Fat: 214.9g, 83%
Calories: 2269kcal

Comments:
Really good day today, protein and carbs both nice and low. Fat was ok, I guess, again not having supper becaue not feeling the need to.

Day #4: 19/2/14

Morning stats:
Weight: 169.6lbs, 77.0kg.
Body fat: 35.1%
Lean mass: 110.1lbs, 50.0kg.

Food, etc:
Breakfast: 28g whey, 2 egg yolks, 1/2cup cream.
Snack: 1oz chili cheese.
Lunch: 1/2cup cream, 1tbsp cocoa, stevia.
Dinner: 1 tin mackerel, 1/2 sausage.

Supplements: none.

Cigarettes: 5 roll ups, 1 pre-rolled.

Nutrition:
Protein: 70.9g, 14%
Carbs: 17.7g, 3%
Fat: 199.6g, 83%
Calories: 2134kcal

Comments:
Better on the protein cos eating at home tonight. Bit low in fat/calories due to not having supper.

Day #3: 18/2/14

Morning stats:
Weight: 170.9lbs, 77.6kg.
Body fat: 35.3%
Lean mass: 110.6lbs, 50.2kg.

Food, etc:
Breakfast: 35g whey, 1/2cup cream.
Dinner: 1 xl bacon double cheeseburger, no buns; 75g chorizo.

Supplements: none.

Cigarettes: 9 roll ups.

Nutrition:
Protein: 98.5g, 22%
Carbs: 16.7g, 4%
Fat: 154.2g, 74%
Calories: 1853kcal

Comments:
Waaaay too much protein, again cos eating out, and way too little fat because I didn't have a keto hot chocolate before bed.

Day #2: 17/2/14

Morning stats:
Weight: 171.6lbs, 77.9kg.
Body fat: 35.5%
Lean mass: 110.7lbs, 50.2kg.

Food, etc:
Breakfast: 28g whey, 1/2cup cream, 2 egg yolks.
Dinner: 200g chicken breast, 40% jar korma sauce, 2tbsp cream, 28g desiccated coconut.
Supper: 3/4cup cream, 1tbsp cocoa, 1tsp sugar (still no sweetener).

Supplements: none.

Cigarettes: 7 roll ups.

Nutrition:
Protein: 80.7g, 14%
Carbs: 35.3g, 6%
Fat: 212.2g, 80%
Calories: 2337kcal

Activities:
Again too much protein, from the chicken breast but I was at my mum's and she cooked chicken korma, not too bad though considering.

Day #1: 16/2/14

Morning stats:
Weight: 172lbs, 78.1kg.

Food, etc:
Breakfast: 3/4 cup cream, 1/2tbsp cocoa, 1tsp sugar (couldn't find sweetener).
Lunch: 2 McDonald's double cheeseburgers, no buns.
Dinner: 1/4 sausage, 1 tin plain mackerel.
Supper: 1/2packet sugar-free jelly, 1/2cup cream.

Supplements: 200ug selenium.

Cigarettes: 5 roll ups.

Nutrition:
Protein: 79.3g, 14%
Carbs: 17.5g, 3%
Fat: 230.2g, 83%
Calories: 2438kcal

Comments:
Little high in protein, as I was out in town today so had to rely on some fast food for fuel.

Pre-Diet Weigh In (14/2/14)

Stats:
Weight: 173 lbs, 78.6 kg
Body fat percentage: 35.5%
Lean mass: 111.6 lbs, 50.7 kg

Nutrient Allocation:
Protein: 70.0g (0.6g/lbs lean)
Calories: 2,533kcal (22.7kcal/lbs lean)
Carbs: <30g
Fat: rest of calories (>237g)

Why the delay?
I was ill, first with a cold, then my shingles came up, then I was staying with family so unable to start my diet.

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.