# Loco's Ramadan Keto Diary 2015



## LocoToro (Mar 4, 2014)

Ok people, I've been on a LCHF diet for a few months and despite attempting to move on to Keto I doubt I have ever gone into Ketosis due to the psychological need to carb refeed.

Tomorrow is the start of the Islamic Holy month of Ramadan where Muslims are required to fast (no food or water) during the daylight hours. Effectively its very similar to a very long Intermittent fasting window.

So I thought it would be a great opportunity to try an experiment. What would happen if I fasted the 28 or so days whilst sticking to a Keto Diet?

I will be taking all my measurements as of tomorrow (Day 1) and keeping a log of my food intake using Myfitnesspal app. I also plan to stick to my normal training plan which is a 5 day mix of calisthenics, low rep comping lifts and higher rep isolation exercises. I will however be training at night just after I have broken my fast.

My hope is that I will retain or even improve my strength levels and drop potentially between 5 and 7% body fat from (I suspect) 15-16% I am at now.

It is an experiment so if anyone wants me to collect any further data or measurements then please let me know and I will do my best.

Let the experiment begin.


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## troponin (Apr 2, 2014)

Gonna be very hard to go keto for ramadan. I speak from experience. Also youll be lucky to maintain strength, you wont gain unless your on anabolics.


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## zak007 (Nov 12, 2011)

If you didn't stick to a keto diet pre-ramadan you certainly won't now.

Use the fast to diet in an intermittent fasting style diet.

Its not doable long term, fasts are even longer this year at 20 hours and that combined with little to no carbs will have you breaking fasts to eat and defeating the purpose of ramadan.

I suggest you keep it to IF if not good luck & I'll follow to see how you get on


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## LocoToro (Mar 4, 2014)

Day 1

84kg @ 16.5 % bf

Diet:

3 chicken legs

2 boiled eggs

roasted courgette

3L water

Turkey breast

homemade peanut butter and coconut fat bomb

Wasn't that hard but looking at my macros the fat needs to be higher. but in terms of keeping out carbs it was productive.

Decided not to train until Saturday so my body can acclimatise.


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## LocoToro (Mar 4, 2014)

zak007 said:


> If you didn't stick to a keto diet pre-ramadan you certainly won't now.
> 
> Use the fast to diet in an intermittent fasting style diet.
> 
> ...


If i have a target such as a 4 week period or a specific bf then I can do it pretty easily, unfortunately it's when I don't that's a problem. I'm very much an all or nothing type so I struggle when I'm not targeted. but I don't think I will have a problem keeping keto for 4 weeks


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## TBWFC (Feb 3, 2014)

between 5 and 7% bodyfat. :confused1:


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## LocoToro (Mar 4, 2014)

TBWFC said:


> between 5 and 7% bodyfat. :confused1:


I've done 9% in 2 months before, nor sure why 5% in 1 month would be problematic


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## Frandeman (Mar 24, 2014)

LocoToro said:


> I've done 9% in 2 months before, nor sure why 5% in 1 month would be problematic


no a chance mate :lol:


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## LocoToro (Mar 4, 2014)

Frandeman said:


> no a chance mate :lol:


I'm interested to know, in your opinion, why there is "no chance" of me being capable of dropping 5% in a month.


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## Frandeman (Mar 24, 2014)

I'll be here in a month

Probe it


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## LocoToro (Mar 4, 2014)

Day 2

Protein: 138g

Carbs:10g

Fats: 95g

Again not that hard with the 3 L of water. Will start my training today so we will see how that goes. I'll get another measurement in on Monday (Day 5).


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## LocoToro (Mar 4, 2014)

Frandeman said:


> I'll be here in a month
> 
> Probe it


Thanks, people like you are the reason I hit these targets


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## DaveCW (Dec 9, 2013)

LocoToro said:


> I've done 9% in 2 months before, nor sure why 5% in 1 month would be problematic


Because once you get to a certain point your body is going to severely bite back, and being Ramadan you wont be able to offer it a compromise to entice it to go lower.

It's not about starvation but very close nutrient management and Ramadan sadly will hinder your efforts.

Im speaking about specific timings in the day to feed your body according to changes it goes through during the day, that's why you hear of prep diets that tell you exactly what to eat and at what time.

Getting to 5%bf i dont see it happening.


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## Frandeman (Mar 24, 2014)

Glad to help...I really wish you do it... I just don't think it's possible in a month....


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## LocoToro (Mar 4, 2014)

DaveCW said:


> Because once you get to a certain point your body is going to severely bite back, and being Ramadan you wont be able to offer it a compromise to entice it to go lower.
> 
> It's not about starvation but very close nutrient management and Ramadan sadly will hinder your efforts.
> 
> ...


Getting down to 5 % ? No way! but dropping 5% I think is absolutely possible.

I do agree with you that it's a very fine line that I'm treading but I guess it's as much an experiment as anything.

Considering I'm sitting at 16.5% I think there's enough wiggle room before my body tells me to take a hike.


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## coke (Jan 17, 2015)

Up the fat. If it not high fat then it is not keto! High fat, medium protein, low carb. For me using keto would be easier than eating carbs as my hunger is so much more controllable with low carb dieting. Plus eating fat is easy calories for me.


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## LocoToro (Mar 4, 2014)

Frandeman said:


> Glad to help...I really wish you do it... I just don't think it's possible in a month....


I love a good challenge.

I once made a similar bet over a long period and it led me to drop from 25% to 14% in 3 months. But more importantly it gave me the momentum to research, learn and develop my understanding of nutrients and the benefits of different diet types.

So this is a bit of an experiment in that I'm combining a Keto eating style with a long IF window. I have to do it because of ramadan so now is the best time.


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## DaveCW (Dec 9, 2013)

LocoToro said:


> Getting down to 5 % ? No way! but dropping 5% I think is absolutely possible.
> 
> I do agree with you that it's a very fine line that I'm treading but I guess it's as much an experiment as anything.
> 
> Considering I'm sitting at 16.5% I think there's enough wiggle room before my body tells me to take a hike.


Well try it and see i guess.


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## TBWFC (Feb 3, 2014)

LocoToro said:


> I love a good challenge.
> 
> I once made a similar bet over a long period and it led me to drop from 25% to 14% in 3 months. But more importantly it gave me the momentum to research, learn and develop my understanding of nutrients and the benefits of different diet types.
> 
> So this is a bit of an experiment in that I'm combining a Keto eating style with a long IF window. I have to do it because of ramadan so now is the best time.


No offence mate but 5-7% is competing :/ that is why we are skeptical you would be able to drop from 16.5% which is around average, to a competing level :|. If thats the case alot more people would have done it.


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## gibbo10 (May 16, 2013)

Can people not read,he wanta to drop 5%bf not get down to 5%


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## LocoToro (Mar 4, 2014)

gibbo10 said:


> Can people not read,he wanta to drop 5%bf not get down to 5%


Took the words right out of my mouth.

I thought us guys on UK Muscle were supposed to be smarter than the bb.com brahs


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## LocoToro (Mar 4, 2014)

Day 3:

Macros

Protein: 165g

Carbs: 9g

Fats: 125g

So again yesterday wasn't so bad.

Made some home made keto ice cream using cream, Whipping Cream, dessicated coconut and stevia and it turned out better than I expected (or maybe I was just hungry).

Although for parts of yesterday evening I had this weird tingling feeling in my feet and legs. Strange. I feel like I'm adapting to the eating schedule and looking forward to my Monday morning measurements


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## LocoToro (Mar 4, 2014)

Day 4

cals: 1600

protein: 144g

fats: 102

carbs: 20g

Was easier than previous days and I feel like I'm getting used to the eating timetable. I'm finding the energy during the pre break fast period quite hard.

A struggle I have is knowing where my workout energy is going to come from. Last year I fasted and trained but I was not on a keto diet, I was just low carb so I would have a diluted fruit drink to get the glucose into my body for workout. But this year I'm not sure what is best.

Still need to up the fats but with limited time it's not so easy where they can come from.


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## LocoToro (Mar 4, 2014)

MonDay 5

cals: 1377

protein: 109g

fats: 97g

carbs: 11g

TuesDay 6

cals: 1100

protein: 60g

fats: 160g

carbs: 10g

WednesDay 7 (24 June)

cals: 1300

protein: 55g

fats: 90g

carbs: 18g

Measurements:

80.9 Kg

~12 %BF (taken with a 7 point caliper test which has a 3.5% variance)

I think a lot of this is down to decreased water retention and dehydration somewhat so I think from here on in we will start seeing truer reflection of the gains (or losses) I'm fairly sure that. But I'm fairly surprised at that number.

Performance:

I do not believe my gym performance has suffered from anything more than tiredness. Whilst I'm not at full strength I find its my rep range that has suffered more than my power (ie I can't do as many reps in the heavy lifts than I normally could but I can still do the lifts rather than having to deload) Now, I'm not about to misrepresent that what I am doing is easy, its not at all. And its probably not advisable to most. But in the name of progress we'll see how it pans out.

Week 1 is done and I'm dropped 3.1kg and approximately 3-4% BF (which i think is unreliable at this stage - and perhaps my initial 16% was inaccurate).

We will see how it going in the next week.


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## LocoToro (Mar 4, 2014)

Ok, so it has been a long while since this finished and I didn't do a wrap up or explain how things went.

In summary, the fat loss was good but the muscle loss was also apparent. It's very difficult to maintain calories on keto with such a small eating window. The 2 hours prior to breaking fast was horrendous and with parenting responsibilities in the evening it's not something I would repeat. In fact I feel had more success in 2014 with complex carbs.

On the scale on 10 on how much success I had, I would say 3/10


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## ImAwesome (Sep 26, 2015)

LocoToro said:


> Ok, so it has been a long while since this finished and I didn't do a wrap up or explain how things went.
> 
> In summary, the fat loss was good but the muscle loss was also apparent. It's very difficult to maintain calories on keto with such a small eating window. The 2 hours prior to breaking fast was horrendous and with parenting responsibilities in the evening it's not something I would repeat. In fact I feel had more success in 2014 with complex carbs.
> 
> On the scale on 10 on how much success I had, I would say 3/10


 Sorry to hear that mate. Looking over the log I think your protein count should have been a lot higher, and this is backed up by your muscle loss. If it was around 160-190g protein I don't think there would have been much muscle break down.

Good effort for trying keto out though. I'd have no chance these days I like my carbs too much..


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