Keto January Recap

Every time I told someone over the last month that I'm following the ketogenic diet, I got a quizzical look and some version of, "Why are you doing that? You don't need to lose weight!"

I get it, people. I promise I don't have an eating disorder. Whether most people realize it or not, the ketogenic diet has benefits far beyond weight loss. These include:

• Improved cognitive function and decreased brain fog
• Improved mitochondrial function
• Conserved glycogen during moderate aerobic activity (70% of VO2 max)
• Improved autophagy and potentially reduced long-term cancer risk
• Decreased insulin release, and thereby decreased systemic inflammation

And that's just the start. I'm excited to see more and more research emerging each year around various other salutory effects of keto-- the list just keeps growing!

Now that I've finished my three-week experiment with it, I have a few personal observations I'd like to share, broken down by week:

• Week 1: lead-in week. Did not check my ketone level. Felt ok. A few headaches. Immediately lost 5-6 pounds of water weight, which is was happened last time I went keto. Started drinking water with salt, lemon juice, and a splash of apple cider vinegar in the morning to replete my electrolytes. Decided to monitor my blood ketone level (using my new Keto Mojo monitor) rather than track my macros, which would have been just too much work this time around. 
• Week 2: mild ketosis (levels 0.5 - 0.9). Workouts were poor since I had no glycogen and was not yet keto-adapted. More headaches. Had to push through this week. But I did notice that I was very full for 6-7 hours after eating my late breakfast of cheesy eggs, presumably the effect of both the satiety that comes from a high-fat diet and the anorexic effect of ketones.
• Week 3: moderate ketosis (level was 1.2 at beginning of the week, then I ran out of ketone strips. Presumably it was at least 1.2 afterwards). Workouts improved as I became more keto-adapted. Headaches decreased and had little brain fog, although I still got headaches if my sleep was disrupted. Gained back about 4 of the pounds I had lost. Felt essentially back to normal. 

Though it's not something I've decided to follow long-term, I do plan to continue the habit of going keto every January-- probably with a tweak each year, to keep things interesting. It's quite possible that this habit alone will extend my lifespan by 5 or even 10 years-- though I'll never know for sure.

So whether you're fluffy, lean, or something in between, the ketogenic diet serves as a master metabolic reset. If you do it right, you'll be glad you gave it a try. Let me know if you do!