Exercise on LCHF

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  • Lillith32
    Lillith32 Posts: 483 Member
    @mountainrun73 , look up Ben Greenfield - he is another triathlete who used keto. From what I understand, the goodness of keto is that it actually gives you an advantage for steady-state cardio type workouts. With a sugar-burning metabolism, you have only about 500 kcal of energy your body can use, the rest goes into storage, aka body fat. So an athlete on a SAD diet would have to replenish their calorie store, by eating gels or drinking gatorade or some such. A fat-adopted athlete basically has the ability to tap into their body fat stores to get the energy stored, so instead of a dip in energy you have a steady supply. The way it worked for me is that I noticed a drop in performance for the first 3-4 weeks, but then it came back and I made gains, both in strength and speed (I wasn't going for endurance). Also an increase in energy made it easier for me to train harder and more often, and decrease of inflammation made me less prone to injury. I am pretty much a staunch advocate of the keto benefits for athletes, especially those of us who are more insulin resistant.

    Thank you for your kind words.
  • Chabela53
    Chabela53 Posts: 130 Member
    Yikes do I feel lazy....:( Exercise is the one thing I am having a tough time getting on my agenda. I am hoping after getting about 30-40 lbs off, I will be able to do some good workouts. I have severe arthritis in my knees *(already had one replaced), and starting in my hips. I miss the days of "energy".
  • KarlaYP
    KarlaYP Posts: 4,436 Member
    I here you @Chabela53! Pain is a major deterrent to exercise! I hope to be able to incorporate it into my day eventually, without increasing pain levels!. Will get there, I'm just a late bloomer
  • Dragonwolf
    Dragonwolf Posts: 5,600 Member
    Chabela53 wrote: »
    Yikes do I feel lazy....:( Exercise is the one thing I am having a tough time getting on my agenda. I am hoping after getting about 30-40 lbs off, I will be able to do some good workouts. I have severe arthritis in my knees *(already had one replaced), and starting in my hips. I miss the days of "energy".

    Which kind of arthritis?

    If it's rheumatoid (which is generally inflammation), then this way of eating will go a long way to help with that, especially if you combine it with specifically seeking out other causes of inflammation for you.

    If it's osteoarthritis (the "wear and tear" or "traumatic injury" kind), then check out Hyaluronic Acid supplements. HA is a lubricating compound that our body usually naturally makes and is what keeps our joints lubricated and our eyeballs squishy. ;) Supplementing it can help heal joint damage and revitalize "worn out" joints. I've gone from barely able to function in general, due to progressive pain from degenerative disc disease in my L4-L5 and L5-S1 vertebrae (right where the spine meets the pelvis) to being able to do a fair bit of activity with minimal pain after just two weeks on it. I kid you not.
  • minties82
    minties82 Posts: 907 Member
    edited September 2015
    I have a cheap oly weight set in my garage and practice olympic lifts a few times per week, walk a fair amount, do the odd slow and short jog, and if it's too wet to leave the house I've been known to pick a random exercise vid on youtube and bounce around for 30 minutes with the kids.

    My grandma has had rheumatoid arthritis since she was a teenager, she's 69 now and does not exercise. It is extremely painful and I don't even know how she gets out of bed sometimes. She has both knees replaced and several surgeries on her hands to try and open them up, they were balling into fists. She is on steroids, tramadol and some other stuff just to make it through the day.
  • asyroyez
    asyroyez Posts: 50 Member
    wabmester wrote: »
    Something @KittensMaster might tell you, and I completely agree -- 100g/d is very low carb (and highly ketogenic) if you exercise a bunch.

    100g = 400 kcal. About what you'll burn in a 30-40 minute run, leaving not much left for the brain (which burns 500-600 kcal/day).

    That's one reason exercise is VERY ketogenic, and as strange as it may seem, the more ketones you make, the more sodium you need to feel good.

    Wait, what? I've just been told the exact opposite on my thread here, so there is some misinformation (or misunderstanding) afoot... either from one side or another. I was told to keep the 20ish grams of carbs per day a constant no matter what. Can you clarify "a bunch" in your statement? Like lifting heavy 3x a week or a lot more? Also straight up science from either side would help.
  • Hello,

    I was wondering if anyone here exercises on LCHF; if so what do you do.

  • I do. Most days I do 'something whether it be an hour cardio or a mile swim or a good long walk. I find I've more energy following the LCHF way..
  • Couchpotato39
    Couchpotato39 Posts: 691 Member
    I've been weightlifting for about a month and I have noticed since I have upped the amount of the weights that I feel a little dizzy afterwards. I have been LCHF since June. So, from what I read it appears that some extra sodium after a workout will help counteract the dizziness?
  • Sunny_Bunny_
    Sunny_Bunny_ Posts: 7,140 Member
    asyroyez wrote: »
    wabmester wrote: »
    Something @KittensMaster might tell you, and I completely agree -- 100g/d is very low carb (and highly ketogenic) if you exercise a bunch.

    100g = 400 kcal. About what you'll burn in a 30-40 minute run, leaving not much left for the brain (which burns 500-600 kcal/day).

    That's one reason exercise is VERY ketogenic, and as strange as it may seem, the more ketones you make, the more sodium you need to feel good.

    Wait, what? I've just been told the exact opposite on my thread here, so there is some misinformation (or misunderstanding) afoot... either from one side or another. I was told to keep the 20ish grams of carbs per day a constant no matter what. Can you clarify "a bunch" in your statement? Like lifting heavy 3x a week or a lot more? Also straight up science from either side would help.

    If you are talking about my comment on your thread I also mentioned that carbs before exercise may be useful for you, like @KittensMaster does, and that you would likely just burn through them as long as you didn't go overboard.
  • minties82
    minties82 Posts: 907 Member
    I think the exercise that kittensmaster does far exceeds the effort most people put into any sort of weight lifting anyway, unless some of us are secretly Ilya Ilyin or something...
  • wabmester
    wabmester Posts: 2,748 Member
    edited September 2015
    asyroyez wrote: »
    wabmester wrote: »
    Something @KittensMaster might tell you, and I completely agree -- 100g/d is very low carb (and highly ketogenic) if you exercise a bunch.

    100g = 400 kcal. About what you'll burn in a 30-40 minute run, leaving not much left for the brain (which burns 500-600 kcal/day).

    That's one reason exercise is VERY ketogenic, and as strange as it may seem, the more ketones you make, the more sodium you need to feel good.

    Wait, what? I've just been told the exact opposite on my thread here, so there is some misinformation (or misunderstanding) afoot... either from one side or another. I was told to keep the 20ish grams of carbs per day a constant no matter what. Can you clarify "a bunch" in your statement? Like lifting heavy 3x a week or a lot more? Also straight up science from either side would help.

    Oh, man, I would need to suppress a major rant if I were to discuss the 20g nonsense. I will refrain, and instead point you to Peter Attia, MD:
    http://eatingacademy.com/sports-and-nutrition/ketones-carbohydrates-can-co-exist
  • mountainrun73
    mountainrun73 Posts: 155 Member
    This morning was my first run since starting low carb in earnest (on Saturday 9/26). I had low energy yesterday and the day before and this morning's run was FANTASTIC (fasted save for my usual morning coffee which now includes cream). I did 4.43 miles at an average pace of 10:23 min/mile and felt super. I am looking forward to seeing how my running goes as I continue my low carb journey. FWIW, my carbs have been 50g or less for the last few days.
  • Dragonwolf
    Dragonwolf Posts: 5,600 Member
    asyroyez wrote: »
    wabmester wrote: »
    Something @KittensMaster might tell you, and I completely agree -- 100g/d is very low carb (and highly ketogenic) if you exercise a bunch.

    100g = 400 kcal. About what you'll burn in a 30-40 minute run, leaving not much left for the brain (which burns 500-600 kcal/day).

    That's one reason exercise is VERY ketogenic, and as strange as it may seem, the more ketones you make, the more sodium you need to feel good.

    Wait, what? I've just been told the exact opposite on my thread here, so there is some misinformation (or misunderstanding) afoot... either from one side or another. I was told to keep the 20ish grams of carbs per day a constant no matter what. Can you clarify "a bunch" in your statement? Like lifting heavy 3x a week or a lot more? Also straight up science from either side would help.

    You're misunderstanding the information presented in that thread.

    Under a standard ketogenic diet, your carb goal is a hard cap. You stated that your goal is 20g of carbs and you asked about MFP's behavior of adding more carbs and whether you should follow it. The answer to that question is generally, "no, make up the calories in protein and fat, instead. MFP does that, because it is based on a percentage of total calories, and adjusts grams to maintain that percentage."

    I can't speak for Wab, but what I consider "a bunch" (as in "enough to actually warrant carb cycling") usually requires things like runs that exceed marathon distances, bike rides that push or exceed 50-100 miles, or doing Olympic/elite level lifting nearly every day. Even then, as the flow chart linked in that thread shows, it also depends on how you feel. If you're getting enough sodium and you, as the chart puts it, "feel like you're going to die," then try adding a few carbs before your workout and see how you feel then. If you read the article from Dr. Attia that Wab linked, you'll also see that in Attia's case, he went on a 110 mile bike ride (over the course of two days) that included 6,000 feet of climbing each day and strong head or cross winds. That requires a ton of fuel in general -- to the tune of 5,400 calories each day. It should also be noted that I'm pretty sure that's total carbs, and his carb sources also had decent amounts of fiber (cashews, apples, pears, vegetables, etc), making the non-fiber carbs a fair bit lower.

    That's a ton of food, trust me. I typically only reach about 4,200 on my TDEE on a high-output day, busting my tail doing various stuff, and have packed away 3,200 or so calories on those days, and have done fine with the 80g of carbs I had on those types of days. It does provide the benefit of having a few extra carbs without having to worry about getting knocked out of ketosis, but you don't need the extra carbs, either.

    Again, read the stuff that DarthLuiggi has written. He's been doing this for over a decade and knows his stuff. If you read nothing else, read the mythbusting section. It addresses all of your concerns nearly directly, in great detail on the whys.
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