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Ketogenic overfeeding n=1 experiment by Wittrock

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  • bowlerae
    bowlerae Posts: 555 Member
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    I love his channel. I've been following his experiment but I think he underestimated his TDEE. I've put his stats in calculators and got around 3,000 as opposed to 2,000. But as @nvmomketo stated, even with that TDEE and a 1,000 cal surplus over 21 days then he should still gain at least 6 lbs according to CICO. If he gains less than that then there might be something to this keto "fad" that makes it defy that laws of CICO ;)
  • The_Enginerd
    The_Enginerd Posts: 3,982 Member
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    SideSteel wrote: »
    bowlerae wrote: »
    I love his channel. I've been following his experiment but I think he underestimated his TDEE. I've put his stats in calculators and got around 3,000 as opposed to 2,000. But as @nvmomketo stated, even with that TDEE and a 1,000 cal surplus over 21 days then he should still gain at least 6 lbs according to CICO. If he gains less than that then there might be something to this keto "fad" that makes it defy that laws of CICO ;)

    If he gains less it's just likely that he didn't calculate energy expenditure correctly and additionally, energy input can effect energy output. It's possible that increasing calories significantly can cause an increase to energy expenditure through NEAT and even voluntary activity increases.

    My experience as well with a bulk. Most folks have a natural maintenance window. I had to eat 300 calories over and above maintenance (I had maintained for over a year, so I had a good idea where I would maintain) before I started gaining reliably. And I wasn't doing low carb and a good portion of my extra calories came from carbs, including refined sugar.
  • The_Enginerd
    The_Enginerd Posts: 3,982 Member
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    psuLemon wrote: »
    SideSteel wrote: »
    bowlerae wrote: »
    I love his channel. I've been following his experiment but I think he underestimated his TDEE. I've put his stats in calculators and got around 3,000 as opposed to 2,000. But as @nvmomketo stated, even with that TDEE and a 1,000 cal surplus over 21 days then he should still gain at least 6 lbs according to CICO. If he gains less than that then there might be something to this keto "fad" that makes it defy that laws of CICO ;)

    If he gains less it's just likely that he didn't calculate energy expenditure correctly and additionally, energy input can effect energy output. It's possible that increasing calories significantly can cause an increase to energy expenditure through NEAT and even voluntary activity increases.

    At 189lbs, I am struggling to understand how his TDEE was only 2000 calories. Most women I know are at those levels.

    Also, I could have sworn I have seen a discussion from either Brad Schoenfeld, Eric Helms, Alan Aragon that discuss metabolic changes driven by an overfed state. Potentially, it was discussed in the DNL carb overfeed studies, but I can't seem to find it.

    Side note, I did giggle when Jason tries to suggest that dietary fat is less likely to convert to fat, compared to carbs and protein.

    He is 148 lbs. But even that sounds very low. I'm the same weight and not quite as lean (~10% I believe), although taller at 5'10", and my sedentary, sitting on my *kitten* all day in an office maintenance calories are 2300.
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,391 MFP Moderator
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    psuLemon wrote: »
    SideSteel wrote: »
    bowlerae wrote: »
    I love his channel. I've been following his experiment but I think he underestimated his TDEE. I've put his stats in calculators and got around 3,000 as opposed to 2,000. But as @nvmomketo stated, even with that TDEE and a 1,000 cal surplus over 21 days then he should still gain at least 6 lbs according to CICO. If he gains less than that then there might be something to this keto "fad" that makes it defy that laws of CICO ;)

    If he gains less it's just likely that he didn't calculate energy expenditure correctly and additionally, energy input can effect energy output. It's possible that increasing calories significantly can cause an increase to energy expenditure through NEAT and even voluntary activity increases.

    At 189lbs, I am struggling to understand how his TDEE was only 2000 calories. Most women I know are at those levels.

    Also, I could have sworn I have seen a discussion from either Brad Schoenfeld, Eric Helms, Alan Aragon that discuss metabolic changes driven by an overfed state. Potentially, it was discussed in the DNL carb overfeed studies, but I can't seem to find it.

    Side note, I did giggle when Jason tries to suggest that dietary fat is less likely to convert to fat, compared to carbs and protein.

    He is 148 lbs. But even that sounds very low. I'm the same weight and not quite as lean (~10% I believe), although taller at 5'10", and my sedentary, sitting on my *kitten* all day in an office maintenance calories are 2300.

    Looking at those two links, he started this whole experiment at 189. Starting with LCHF. And finished at 213.

    http://live.smashthefat.com/why-i-didnt-get-fat/

    http://live.smashthefat.com/5000-calorie-carb-challenge-day-21/


    NVM, I was conflating two different N=1
  • JoRocka
    JoRocka Posts: 17,525 Member
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    Hamsibian wrote: »
    I would be interested in this as well since I'm trying to gain weight on a low carb diet. It's hard!

    Very hard to gain muscle. If you are having trouble hitting your calorie targets you can always add oil/peanut butter/butter (not a big fan of this, but probably necessary if you want to bulk on a ketogenic diet). One cup of olive oil has 2000 calories FWIW. Personally, I don't know of anyone who has gotten good results from a low-carb bulk, but would love to see evidence that it can work.


    My burning question is "but why" LOL
  • Gallowmere1984
    Gallowmere1984 Posts: 6,626 Member
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    JoRocka wrote: »
    Hamsibian wrote: »
    I would be interested in this as well since I'm trying to gain weight on a low carb diet. It's hard!

    Very hard to gain muscle. If you are having trouble hitting your calorie targets you can always add oil/peanut butter/butter (not a big fan of this, but probably necessary if you want to bulk on a ketogenic diet). One cup of olive oil has 2000 calories FWIW. Personally, I don't know of anyone who has gotten good results from a low-carb bulk, but would love to see evidence that it can work.


    My burning question is "but why" LOL

    I did it in a misguided attempt to just keep eating as I had been when losing weight, just with more kcals. I love keto foods, but not enough to ever do that stupid *kitten* again. When a 5'10" man gains 2.5 lbs./week on 2800/day, something is horribly *kitten* up.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,874 Member
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    psuLemon wrote: »
    SideSteel wrote: »
    bowlerae wrote: »
    I love his channel. I've been following his experiment but I think he underestimated his TDEE. I've put his stats in calculators and got around 3,000 as opposed to 2,000. But as @nvmomketo stated, even with that TDEE and a 1,000 cal surplus over 21 days then he should still gain at least 6 lbs according to CICO. If he gains less than that then there might be something to this keto "fad" that makes it defy that laws of CICO ;)

    If he gains less it's just likely that he didn't calculate energy expenditure correctly and additionally, energy input can effect energy output. It's possible that increasing calories significantly can cause an increase to energy expenditure through NEAT and even voluntary activity increases.

    At 189lbs, I am struggling to understand how his TDEE was only 2000 calories. Most women I know are at those levels.

    Also, I could have sworn I have seen a discussion from either Brad Schoenfeld, Eric Helms, Alan Aragon that discuss metabolic changes driven by an overfed state. Potentially, it was discussed in the DNL carb overfeed studies, but I can't seem to find it.

    Side note, I did giggle when Jason tries to suggest that dietary fat is less likely to convert to fat, compared to carbs and protein.

    I was kind of wondering about a 2,000 calorie maintenance too...my wife is 5'2" or 5'3" and 125-130 and she maintains around 2,300 or so...granted she is also a runner.
  • JoRocka
    JoRocka Posts: 17,525 Member
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    JoRocka wrote: »
    Hamsibian wrote: »
    I would be interested in this as well since I'm trying to gain weight on a low carb diet. It's hard!

    Very hard to gain muscle. If you are having trouble hitting your calorie targets you can always add oil/peanut butter/butter (not a big fan of this, but probably necessary if you want to bulk on a ketogenic diet). One cup of olive oil has 2000 calories FWIW. Personally, I don't know of anyone who has gotten good results from a low-carb bulk, but would love to see evidence that it can work.


    My burning question is "but why" LOL

    I did it in a misguided attempt to just keep eating as I had been when losing weight, just with more kcals. I love keto foods, but not enough to ever do that stupid *kitten* again. When a 5'10" man gains 2.5 lbs./week on 2800/day, something is horribly *kitten* up.
    lol- That's half the point of bulking and why I love it- all the glorious carbs- I am pretty consistently low carb outside of my bulk- so it's game day baby game day when it comes time to bulk.
    It just makes me sad thinking about literally all that chicken and veggie- barf.
    cwolfman13 wrote: »
    psuLemon wrote: »
    SideSteel wrote: »
    bowlerae wrote: »
    I love his channel. I've been following his experiment but I think he underestimated his TDEE. I've put his stats in calculators and got around 3,000 as opposed to 2,000. But as @nvmomketo stated, even with that TDEE and a 1,000 cal surplus over 21 days then he should still gain at least 6 lbs according to CICO. If he gains less than that then there might be something to this keto "fad" that makes it defy that laws of CICO ;)

    If he gains less it's just likely that he didn't calculate energy expenditure correctly and additionally, energy input can effect energy output. It's possible that increasing calories significantly can cause an increase to energy expenditure through NEAT and even voluntary activity increases.

    At 189lbs, I am struggling to understand how his TDEE was only 2000 calories. Most women I know are at those levels.

    Also, I could have sworn I have seen a discussion from either Brad Schoenfeld, Eric Helms, Alan Aragon that discuss metabolic changes driven by an overfed state. Potentially, it was discussed in the DNL carb overfeed studies, but I can't seem to find it.

    Side note, I did giggle when Jason tries to suggest that dietary fat is less likely to convert to fat, compared to carbs and protein.

    I was kind of wondering about a 2,000 calorie maintenance too...my wife is 5'2" or 5'3" and 125-130 and she maintains around 2,300 or so...granted she is also a runner.

    That is MIGHTY low- I can maintain between 1700-2000 reasonably well- I'm 5'8" and not a runner. Every time I tell the guys at my gym what my cutting calories are they freak out- they cut on what my bulking numbers are.

    damn this vagina of mine.
  • nvmomketo
    nvmomketo Posts: 12,019 Member
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    LOL

    I would guess he should be around 2700 kcal. 5'8", 35 year old, 148 lb male who works out about 5-7 days per week - I'd say that's moderately active.

    Truly doubling his calories would probably be more like 5000 kcal. Like Feltham (Smash the fat guy).

    I do like how he is raising his calories as Phinney and Volek (Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Performance) would probably advise. He's got his protein goal in grams. It seems to often be between 110-140 g. I imagine it stays pretty close to that regardless of his caloric intake. Perhaps a bit lower.

    Carbs is about 5%, but mainly he is pushing to stay under 50g net carbs in order to stay in ketosis. He seems to be succeeding well according to the blood monitor and ketostix.

    He's using fat to fill in the rest. Often upwards of 200+g.
  • nvmomketo
    nvmomketo Posts: 12,019 Member
    edited February 2017
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    Well, on day 8 he is now a 147 lb man instead of 148. That surprised me I thought he'd be up a bit and not over a pound below where he started.
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,391 MFP Moderator
    edited February 2017
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    nvmomketo wrote: »
    Well, on day 8 he is now a 147 lb man instead of 148. That surprised me I thought he'd be up a bit and not over a pound below where he started.

    Not really surprising. What I find surprising is that for some reason, my 3 heaviest days of the week are the morning after my low carb days and my lowest are the mornings after my carbs are the highest. Haven't figured that one out, lol. Although, it could be the ice cream.

    I watched the first 4 days and it seems interesting. It should be noted, that guy is lean as hell, so calorie partitioning will definitely be on his side.

    What I am interested in is seeing how it would play out at the 3 week mark. Even though, it can be debated that may not exactly be enough time. I know weight loss, I tend to get better trend analysis with 4 to 6 weeks.
  • nvmomketo
    nvmomketo Posts: 12,019 Member
    edited February 2017
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    psuLemon wrote: »
    nvmomketo wrote: »
    Well, on day 8 he is now a 147 lb man instead of 148. That surprised me I thought he'd be up a bit and not over a pound below where he started.

    Not really surprising. What I find surprising is that for some reason, my 3 heaviest days of the week are the morning after my low carb days and my lowest are the mornings after my carbs are the highest. Haven't figured that one out, lol. Although, it could be the ice cream.

    I watched the first 4 days and it seems interesting. It should be noted, that guy is lean as hell, so calorie partitioning will definitely be on his side.

    What I am interested in is seeing how it would play out at the 3 week mark. Even though, it can be debated that may not exactly be enough time. I know weight loss, I tend to get better trend analysis with 4 to 6 weeks.

    LOL I don't think he'd make 4 to 6 weeks, although I agree that it would have been nice to see. He was either struggling to eat today, or is good at struggling to eat. You can tell this is a guy who has never had issues with food - he doesn't know how to overeat. LOL The guy needs more cheese and bacon. ;)
  • leanjogreen18
    leanjogreen18 Posts: 2,492 Member
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    Even if one does lose weight eating over TDEE I couldn't stomach (see what I did there) all the fat.

    Having said that I could eat avocados every day:)
  • nvmomketo
    nvmomketo Posts: 12,019 Member
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    Ugh. Typo in my last post. I mean he could be good at ACTING like he is struggling to eat.
    200g of fat?

    There's a certain room I'd never be able to leave in order to ever be able to eat again.

    Today, day 8, was over 300 g of fat...

    I joked he needed more bacon. It is a great keto food for meeting macros on a normal caloric diet. About 75% fat and 25% protein. I got to thinking he could have a bacon day, but 4000 kcal bacon would involve 1000 calories of protein, or about 250g protein. It seems really strange than bacon is a high protein food if you are eating that much fat.

    4000 calories of bacon would be 80strips of bacon if there are 50 kcal per slice. Huh. That can't be right...