Thursday, 16 January 2020

Making good progress with my weight loss and weight training (preserving lean mass)

The new low carb/high protein 'keto' seems to be working out quite well so far. I've not really felt hungry at all, and the diet provides plenty of protein to support my weight training to retain lean mass while reducing my body fat. This morning I was 90 kg exactly on the bathroom scale (which puts me into 'overweight' rather than 'obese' BMI range), and around 17% body fat. That means I'm still carrying about 15kg of fat, and if I can get to my target of 80kg by shedding mostly fat (and not losing much lean mass) I should get down around 10% body fat (or less?).

Weight training has been progressing quite well, as shown in my total 'volume' (wt x reps) for each workout since I started going to the gym a few months ago:


There is a clear increase in volume over time (progressive overload), with the variations along the way being due to doing a low-wt/high-reps workout on Mondays, medium-wt/medium-reps workout on Fridays, and high-wt/low-reps workout on Friday. The low-wt/high reps days tend to have the highest volume, and the high-wt/low-reps days the lowest volume.

Once I achieve my target body weight I'll increase the carbs in my diet (via fruits and rice/potatoes etc.) to match my energy expenditure and provide a more 'balanced' diet over the long term (there are some studies that suggest that 'keto' dieting may increase mortality, although other studies suggest it has health benefits, so I'm not going to stay 'keto' once I achieve my target weight).

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