What is a Ketogenic Diet?

That is probably the most asked question of me over the last month. It has been a lot of fun to answer too. Most of the time it stems off of what I am eating, as the foods are typically higher in fat content, or because I ask for heavy whipping cream in my diet soda (one of my favorite treats when I am having a rough day).

I have gotten a lot of help from my health coach at Elevate Fitness in understanding the process. So to answer the question, a Ketogenic Diet (aka the Keto Diet for short), is known for being a high fat, low carb diet. Our body switches from consuming carbs for energy and starts burning fat instead.

Our bodies have become very efficient at burning carbs or glucose for our source of energy. And because glucose is the easiest substance to use for energy, our body uses it over anything else.

Because our society is so carb heavy, breads, sugars, etc...we have become very insulin dependent. Our body produces insulin to process all of the glucose in our bloodstreams and delivers it around our body for energy. And since we consume so many carbs/glucose, our fat isn't needed and so our body stores it.

When we reduce the number of carbs that we intake, it places our body into a phase called Ketosis. Ketosis is a natural process where our body creates ketones to breakdown the fats in our liver. I don't starve myself of calories, as I consume about 2100 calories a day. But what I have done is starved myself of carbs, and have become fat adaptive, and now my body feeds off of my excess fats.

Hopefully understanding this process will help more people become healthy. I have heard that some doctors feel that it is more for elite athletes, but I am here to tell you that I am not an elite athlete, and it works for me.

In the coming posts, I will go over some of the things that I eat, and share some recipes that I have found. If you have any questions, please leave them in the comments below, and I will be happy to answer them. I will look forward to seeing you on the next post.

Image Credit to http://www.bodybuilding.com/

What are YOU made of?

So it has been about a month now since I began down the road of reclaiming my health. I have to share with you one of the coolest new toys at Elevate Fitness & Rehab. It is called InBody created by InBody Co., Ltd. It is basically a weight scale on steroids that provides you with a comprehensive view of your body composition.

                          

Here are some of the analysis' I get when I weigh in each week:

Body Composition Analysis

Our body weight is basically the sum of Body Fat Mass and Lean Body Mass. This is comprised of Dry Lean Mass and Total Body Water. 

With most diets, what we don't see is that most of the weight we lose is most likely water weight. 

Total Body Water weight is even broken into two types, Intracellular and Extracellular. I won't get all geeky on you, but if you want to read more just head to the links that I included and you can find out more. What we want to see is as our weight goes down, our water weight stays the same or increases. If we see that it is dropping then we aren't hydrating enough.

Along with maintaining or increasing our Total Body Water weight, we want to see our Lean Mass increase, and obviously our Fat Mass decrease. This scale does just that and breaks it all down for you.

Obesity Analysis

Let's be honest here, we all know that we as people have become more obese in the last few decades. I had taken a class in college called Fitness for Life. We were taught that looking at the BMI or Body Mass Index was a way to get an idea on how obese we were. I never really liked that test at all, as I didn't feel that the tools that were used to test it was all that accurate. The InBody Test shows not just the BMI, but also the PBF or Percentage of Body Fat. I like the Body Fat test way more, but to get both is great. 

One thing that the Body Fat Test helps us understand, is whether or not our diet is really working. Are we losing body fat? Or again, are we just losing water weight or even muscle mass? Initially, our body will say, here have some of the fat for your energy. But if we are starving ourselves, then the body says, "Oh no, you can't have that fat, I need it to survive." One of the things I love about the Body Fat test too, is that it lets me know that I am doing the weight loss correctly. It shows that I am losing fat, not water or muscle.

Segmental Lean and Fat Analysis

This is an interesting reading, as it evaluates whether our muscles are adequately developed in our body. The reading tells you what your muscle mass is based on your current weight, but also shows you what it should be based on your ideal weight.

Another part of the document even shows you how much fat you have in basically every limb, right and left arm, right and left leg, and the trunk of your body. I have loved this one, as I can see where I may need to work a little harder on losing the weight, like in my case it is my abdomen.

Basal Metabolic Rate

Ever wonder how many calories your body burns just because it is running? That is exactly what this reading tells you. I love it because it tells me what I should be basing my calorie intake off of. Like right now, my reading tells me that my body burns 2146 calories a day, not including what ever exercise I do. 3500 calories equals a pound, so if you can shave off 500 calories or exercise to burn that many calories, then you can see that you can lose a pound a week, or 4 pounds a month. This information is very useful in your weight loss journey.

Visceral Fat Levels

Visceral Fat. This is crazy bad stuff for you. Your Visceral Fat Level is an indicator based on the estimated amount of fat surrounding our internal organs in our abdomen. The more we have the more dangerous it is to our health. We can be more susceptible to strokes and heart attacks. To maintain a health lifestyle, we want to keep our level below a 10 rating. Right now, mine is still high. I started at a 20 and am now down to a 19. Most of my fat that I have lost so far are on my arms and legs according to my fat analysis that the InBody Test has given me.

Want to Know What You are Made of?

So here is the deal, if you live in Utah and you want to know what YOU are made of, go visit Elevate Fitness and let them know that you heard about them from me. When you do that, they will give you a 50% discount of your initial consultation.