***The below post comes from Jon Barry; a fellow Brazilian Jiu Jitsu practitioner I met many years ago, and continue to maintain contact with. I wanted to share his perspectives and rationale behind choosing the ketogenic diet. Enjoy! ***
The next time you’re at the start (or finish) line of a running race, have a look around and observe the body composition of the runners. Sure, the fast folks up front (top 5% of runners) are incredibly lean. But as you start to go further back in the pack, you’ll slowly start to see folks with less than ideal body fat percentages. Even some of the fast people are sporting bellies.
How is it, that people who run 4-6 times a week aren’t all lean and mean? Well, I think that’s obvious for most; you can’t outrun a bad diet.
Then there’s me.
First thing, I have been a casual runner for about 10 years. Sometimes I get out there once or twice a week. Sometimes I train for a race like the Tely 10 or Cape to Cabot in St. John’s, Newfoundland and train per the latest and greatest schedules for up to 12 weeks. What I have come to learn about myself is that there is only so much progress I can make by getting a schedule, putting my head down and running per the advised paces. In the last 5-6 years all of my Tely 10 finishes have been within 3-4 minutes. When a race takes you 90 minutes, 3-4 seem basically statistically insignificant.
Second thing, I feel like I’ve been overweight for most of my life. I don’t think I’m so overweight that people would look at me and that would be their initial thought; but since about Grade 5 I feel like I’ve always been the kid who was a little heavy, didn’t like to take my shirt off in public, and honestly, the person who was probably less athletic than I could have been because of the extra weight I’ve dragged around. At the time of writing this I’m just a shade over 220 lbs. In the past 10 years I’ve seen my weight as high as 242 (I had shamefully ballooned up a few pounds for the start of a weight loss competition but I was probably a legit 238) and as low as 199 (I was probably 204 but I had an incredibly hard workout and drop a lot of sweat). So, right now, I’m about at the median.
I want to put a disclaimer here that my intent here is not to fat shame (myself or anyone else). I believe everyone can be whatever weight they want and I would never judge them for that. Ultimately, it’s a matter of two things:
- Do you feel healthy?
- Are you able to accomplish what you’d like at your current weight? (Note: This can range from running a marathon to living to 95).
The answer for me is definitively “no” for both of the above. So, if someone looks at me and thinks “you don’t have to lose weight”, their assumption is that this is somehow about vanity and not about how I feel or my athletic performance into my late 30’s. On that note, a little more on each of the above:
- Do I feel healthy?
No. As I’ve moved into my mid-thirties I’ve slowly gotten to a point where I basically eat pretty clean (i.e. generally low carb, mostly home cooked meals) Mon-Fri, and then do what most people do on the weekend. Drink beer, eat nachos, etc. I run a lot, I play basketball, I lift weights, I go for long walks with my wife and daughter. Physical activity isn’t the issue. When I’m not eating junk, I feel hungry a lot. If I eat what I want, until I’m full, I’m gaining weight. On top of that, I have started to exhibit weird symptoms (won’t get into details) that suggest potential pre-diabetes but who knows. Blood tests coming soon, more on that later.
- Am I able to accomplish what I’d like at my current weight?
No. And the funny thing is, I don’t have any real hard and fast goals. Some people put their mind to things like “want to qualify for the Boston Marathon” which is super concrete. Mine is, in a nutshell, that I’d like to be able to run a race at a pace I consider a step change from what I have been able to do to date.
Both of these things combined has led me to a common goal. I wanted to run the Houston Half-Marathon in January but see that step change, all while feeling better from a general health and well being perspective. Both goals converge to a common attack plan. To recap, the objective is:
- Feel healthy.
- Run a Personal Best Half Marathon in January. (Note: Current PB is somewhere around 2:07. I said I wanted a step change above, so the goal, as of now is to break 2 hours).
Without belaboring it further, I think the best way to achieve each goal is to cut out sugar / grains to a level of ketosis. Cutting out sugar has helped with issues I’ve felt with my health, I’ve already proved it through self-experiment. In terms of the half marathon, there are only a few variables you can control to get a step change:
- Increase your ability to generate power over long distances (weight training, aerobic conditioning, etc.).
- Decrease your weight, thus enabling better results with the same power output.
I started with saying Option 1 is basically out. Been there, done that. When you bust your ass training for the same race for 5 years with almost zero stratification in result, I think marginal improvement may be possible with better training, but ultimately, when you’re walking around at 220 and the “little fella” who wins the race is a soaking wet 130, that seems to be the gap.
My Experience with Diet
I have tried various diets in my adult life. The common thread with all of them is that if I lower carbohydrates, I lose weight, if I don’t control them, I gain weight (all the way up to 242 lbs). Another disclaimer: I don’t think there’s such thing as a diet that works for everyone. It’s amazing to me to watch people close to me who “forget to eat”. Ask someone carrying extra weight when the last time they forgot to eat. This isn’t a matter of will power. There’s lots of people who carry extra weight who I refuse to believe have less will power than people who are lean. They were able to push themselves through grueling academic careers, busy work life but for some reason that will power ran out for food whereas all of the skinny people are just steadfast in their resolve? Nonsense. Lean people and people who carry excess weight are dramatically different hormonally and telling someone who’s overweight to eat less is a “message from the department of redundancy department”. They’ve been trying that. Trust me (I know). It hasn’t worked. The only way to fix a problem we established above was related to hormones is to get to the underlying issue and then let nature and homeostasis take its course.
I could link to articles talking about insulin, ghrelin, leptin and the relationship of excess carbohydrate in the diet to each but I’m going to proceed with the basis that most people who read this get that sugar = insulin = crash = more sugar.
(Side Note: When I use the term sugar, for me it’s effectively synonymous with carbohydrate. Don’t believe me? But a blood glucose meter, and check your glucose after a big glass of OJ, 2 slices of whole wheat toast with jam and a banana. Spoiler alert: Unless you have very little insulin resistance, it will be high. Additional Side note: I just described what’s being fed to patients at most hospitals).
Against the wishes of the medical community, I’m going to use a largely ketogenic diet to get to my goal. Here’s my plan:
- Food
Low carb high fat diet focusing on whole foods (limited keto junk food). In other words, eggs, beef, chicken, fish, game, leafy green vegetables, nuts, seeds, cheese, butter, coconut oil, avocado oil. Occasional alcohol (vodka or dry red wine).
Believe it or not, I do believe certain carbs also have a role to play. Mike and I have chatted about this and once you get into high intensity workouts, I think some carbs are OK. What most people who are into this observe is that if you restock with some sweet potato after a hard workout, it gets used up pretty quick and most people find themselves back into ketosis pretty quick (i.e. next morning). The goal is to avoid the pizza and ice cream binge for this plan but some sweet potato after a speedwork session likely will be in order. I plan to “titrate” the amount using real data (glucose and ketones).
I do not plan to count calories or macros. Part of doing this is sustainability. I don’t think most people have the time to calculate their macros or calories. I believe that if keto is what it is cracked up to be, 2-3 weeks in you should regulate hormonally and start eating to satiety.
- Exercise
Exclusively aerobic (i.e. no anaerobic) training for the first 6-8 weeks while I’m adapting. High intensity workouts + stress from no simple carbs = recipe for failure. When I start to feel good running at low intensity, I’ll add in some weights and speed work. Phil Maffetone (google him) goes into great detail about how most endurance athletes have poor aerobic base and poor fat burning. I’m effectively following his guidance, as written.
- Data
Planning to take the following biomarkers daily:
- Weight
- Fasting Blood Glucose (first thing in the morning)
- Ketones (first thing in the morning)
- Resting HR (first thing in the morning)
- Qualitative assessment of well being
- Aerobic Threshold (on days I work out) [this is a Phil Maffetone thing but I will define it as my running pace at a HR where I likely transition from aerobic to anaerobic training, Phil defines it as 180-AGE or 146 for me – this is….slow).
I will also be taking the following periodically:
- Blood Pressure (I don’t see value in doing this one daily….I just don’t want to look down in 4 months and see I jacked up my blood pressure 20 points).
- Standard Blood Panel (triglycerides, cholesterol, hemoglobin, A1C etc.)
- NMR Testing (detailed stratification of cholesterol).
I haven’t figured out what frequency I will do the blood tests above, but at a minimum, once in the early stages, and once at the end.
So that’s it. It’s 17 weeks until the half marathon. If I stick to this, I’ll either be able to pronounce that the keto diet doesn’t work for me, or be a significantly different (and hopefully faster) person. I also think it’s a short enough time for anyone worried that I’d put my poor arteries in such distress to realize that once it’s over, I can go back to eating what the Canada Food Guide says and over enough time, the heart healthy whole grains and canola oil will bring me back to a state of health.
At the time of writing this I’m almost 6 days in and have already collected some good data. I intend to do bi-weekly status assessments and will send those along as required. I will provide data, meals, etc.
Wish me luck!
-Jon Barry, email: jonbarry@gmail.com