Reflections: One Month on Keto

The Food. I actually liked the food quite a bit, though I didn’t like having to measure every ounce and gram. It made food prep rather monotonous. Breakfasts were various egg permutations. Lunches were salads, lettuce wraps or leftovers from dinner: Chicken, shrimp or fish with a veggie side. Snacks were boiled eggs, string cheese, nuts or turkey and cheese. And dessert, when I had it, was ricotta with cocoa powder or keto fat bombs. I didn’t care to eat out, but I was never hungry and enjoyed the meals.

The Results:

Weight // Body Composition: If you’re looking strictly at weight loss and body composition changes, it’s hard to argue with these results. At the end of the month, I lost 7.2 lbs, 6.8 of which was body fat. And my muscle mass was actually up .5 lbs. This is more than I lost even during my most successful Whole30 – but interestingly my abs didn’t come close to popping like they did during Whole30. This makes sense, as I’d not eliminated dairy, alcohol or fake sugar – all of which cause bloat.

Athletic Performance: This right here was my least favorite part of keto. By week 2, I had plenty of energy generally speaking but was completely gassed during exercise. My running took the biggest hit – I found myself struggling to run a 10 mile an hour pace, which would usually feel like a slow jog. Same for spin class and pretty much anything that required fast twitch muscle movement. This isn’t shocking when you think about it, since the entire point of keto is to completely deplete your glycogen stores – which is what your body typically relies on for power. But I sure was relieved on my first run post-keto when I confirmed it was only temporary!

Cholesterol Levels: After 30 days of keto, I was curious to see how my cholesterol would be impacted. I selected a poultry and fish plan with this in mind and only ate pork or beef about three times the entire month, probably less than I usually would. But I was eating 3-4 eggs a day along with generous amounts of butter and cheese. Anyways, when I got a call on Wednesday from my doctor I was expecting my cholesterol – which has always run high – to be elevated… but I wasn’t expecting it to be at an all-time high: 304 total, 86 HDL, 209 LDL – with both my total and LDL (bad) cholesterol up 50 points from October. (Note, dietary cholesterol doesn’t impact blood cholesterol in most people. However, in about 40% of people – “hyperresponders” high-cholesterol foods do have an impact. This is believed to be genetic.)

Other strange things I noticed: Insomnia, restless legs and an unusual amount of plaque build up on my teeth.

Final Thoughts/What’s Next: I’ve always been skeptical of keto – and really of any diet that requires you to give up any one macronutrient so completely. And at the end of the day, for me, the pros (quick weight loss, good tasting food, not ever hungry) don’t outweigh the cons (severely elevated cholesterol, inability to reach my full potential during cardiovascular activity, time/mental energy of having to measure every morsel). Being an athlete is part of my identity, so for me that alone would have been enough to not extend keto beyond a month. But had that been the only factor, I might have switched to paleo – which I’ve always found makes my belly very flat while properly fueling my workouts. But swayed by the documentary Game Changers, which makes an incredibly persuasive case for the benefits of a vegan diet on both heart health and athletic performance, Courtney and I have actually embarked on a plant-based diet. I know, we’re so cliche jumping between diet trends.

Johanna