Week 4 of my Keto Diet Experiment and I think I need some new trousers! I literally have about a 2 inch gap between my waist and my trousers. I’ve had to make a new hole in my belt so my trousers don’t fall down,  plus my shirts are beginning to look like clown shirts on me.

I’m feeling very lean this week and also very hungry. Maybe something to do with the increase in training since my toe has healed. I can now run at least twice a week in addition to my strength sessions 😀

Stats

Weight: 81.5kg (one kilo loss from last week, 3.2 kgs in total so far)

Blood Pressure: I’ve decided to stop measuring this every week, I don’t have much time on a Monday morning after doing my weigh in and photo’s so I will do a final check at the end of the experiment.

Photo’s

Rather than show all four photo’s next to each other I’ve just displayed week 4 next to week 1 (or week 2 for the side shots). It was slowing down the page a bit so it made sense just to show the two next to each other.

I’m tempted to get my wife to take some shots for me next week as I can’t quite get the angle right using the selfie mode on the phone and my gorilla mount placed on the radiator. All the shots are taken from the height of the radiator looking up, so it’s kind of making the photo’s look a bit weird!

Training – Strength Workout A

Once again, progress made on strength and anaerobic fitness in Full Body Strength Workout A. I kept the weighted vest on (5kg) throughout the workout to add some intensity.

I managed to up the weight on the Front Squat/Military Press to 20kg and up to 22kg on the Renegade Rows/Press ups – that’s plus the 5kg weighted vest.

Strength Workout A Week 4 vs Week 3

Increased the Medicine Ball weight to 15kg for the slams. Man, this was tough but felt amazing afterwards!

The Obligatory Cheesy Gym Selfie

I even snapped a cheesy gym selfie after this session – everyone does it right! Or is that me kidding myself trying to get ‘down with the kids’? 😀

Training – Strength Workout B

Another good session, all completed with the 5kg Weighted Vest. Must admit this is my favourite session of the two as I love doing pullups – It’s a great all round exercise that I find is really good for measuring strength as it’s easy to increment weight/reps each week

Must admit this is my favourite session of the two as I love doing pullups – It’s a great all round exercise that I find is really good for measuring strength as it’s easy to increment weight/reps each week.

Strength Workout B – Week 4 vs Week 3

For the dips and pullups, I used an 8kg Kettlebell hanging from a dip belt plus my 5kg vest for a total of 13kg. Looking at last weeks log the results are quite similar but it definitely felt easier this week. Didn’t quite fully complete the sets as per last week so probably won’t

Didn’t quite fully complete the sets as per last week so probably won’t increase the weight next week until I do.

Similar results again for the lunges and farmers walk but with the added 5kg vest!I also managed 6 lengths of farmers walk at the end as I was feeling good.

The finisher set was brutal as always but less brutal than usual. I do feel like I’m becoming more adapted each week and the point at which I begin to fatigue is extending.

Another major bonus is that DOMS seem to be a thing of the past since starting Keto. My recovery has gone through the roof!

Eating at Butlins!

As a fathers day treat my wife booked us and the kids a weekend away at Butlins Minehead. I hadn’t been there since I was a kid, and it hasn’t changed since. Ha. The decor is pretty much the same – I swear the carpet and curtains in our chalet were the same as the one we had in ours back in the 90’s!

Butlins Fairground

But, that didn’t take away from the weekend at all. There is so much to do there for kids and at pretty affordable prices. Most of the entertainment there is free, including free fairground rides for toddlers and lots of free shows. You won’t get that at Centerparcs unless you are willing to pay extra!

It’s basically a chavvy Centerparcs! The evenings were the funniest – us on our way back to the chalet at 8pm to put the boys to bed, everyone else walking in the opposite direction to go on the lash 😀

Anyway – food wise I thought I did ok. I took babybels with me, bacon, cream, butter, cheddar cheese, pepperoni and loads of pork scratchings! We had a little kitchen in the chalet so we cooked most of our own food. The first night we had a chicken salad (with added chorizo, cheese and mayo for me). The second night we managed to cook up a curry – found a shop on site which sold some curry powder. So we chucked some chicken in, I added some peanut butter for extra fat and also bought some cauliflower to do cauli rice. It wasn’t bad at all!

In the daytime was a bit trickier when we were out and about. The one day I was scanning all the fast food places desperately trying to find a quick eat option. I settled on Burger King minus the bread. A double bacon cheeseburger with no bun. I asked for a bit of lettuce – didn’t even get that, just two flat soggy burgers with cheese that made me feel like crap for the rest of the day. Won’t be doing that again!

Nutrition

I made some big changes this week. Firstly my Cardiff Half Training starts this week which means extra workouts, therefore more calories burnt. So i’ve increased my daily calorie allowance by about 200 cals. As mentioned before, I’m not trying to lose weight on this diet that isn’t the reason I’m doing this experiment. I’ve already lost about half a stone in weight, I don’t really want to lose much more.I tried out one or two new recipe’s this week

I tried out one or two new recipe’s this week

Coconut Almond & Cocoa Fat Bombs

. Firstly, coconut and almond butter fat bombs. These little beauties have saved my life this week on several occasions. Post gym/run and during a few periods when I just needed a quick fix of calories. They kill any sweet cravings nicely. They’re really easy to make it was literally just 1/2 cup coconut oil, 1/2 cup of nut butter(I used whole earth peanut, pecan and almond butter)plus a few tbsps of cocoa powder melted together. Chuck in some Stevia to sweeten to taste and some chopped nuts. Then pour the mixture into some ice cube trays. That’s it, really simple – each bomb is about 95 cals. Perfect for Butlins!

They’re really easy to make it was literally just 1/2 cup coconut oil, 1/2 cup of nut butter (I used whole earth peanut, pecan and almond butter) melted together. Chuck in some Stevia to sweeten to taste and some chopped nuts. Then pour the mixture into some ice cube trays. That’s it, really simple – each bomb is about 95 cals. Perfect for Butlins! Unfortunately I have no picture, however, I do have a picture of these bad boys:

Keto Avocado & Beef Scotch Eggs

I can’t believe how big these things turned out, they were whoppas! My little un thought I’d made some Dinosaur eggs, they might aswell have been. It’s basically beef, avocado, eggs and cheddar with crushed up pork scratchings for the crust. One hell of a fat bomb with a single half coming in at 700 cals and about! Trust me they taste as good as they look too, will defo be making more of these.

Fancy trying it? Get the recipe at myketocoach.com

Kicked Out Of Ketosis?

So given that I thought I had done pretty well at Butlins, sticking to high fat and avoiding most carbs I was pretty surprised when I got back and checked the ketostix the next day to see no trace of ketones. Had I kicked myself out or had I become so adapted that my body didn’t need to excrete Ketones any more?  More on that in next weeks update!

More Reading – Gareth’s Keto Experiment, Keto Diet Experiment Week 1, Keto Diet Experiment Week 2, Keto Diet Experiment Week 3