Alright, ketosis experts, fill me in here. I don't really do ketogenic diets or cyclic ketogenic stuff mostly because I'm a carb fiend (and handle them very, very well). It seems like by the time most people generally hit ketosis, they're carb depleted/low on glycogen. If this knocks us into ketosis even if we're just eating carbs like normal, what will the results be in regards to workout performance, etc?
Contrary to what you would think, research shows that keto-adapted people don't have "depleted" glycogen stores. Diminished, and less than full, yes, but not super low. In keto-adaption, muscle glycogen is spared during exercise in favor of fatty acids and ketones, but the body doesn't have any reason to completely wipe out the stores.
During workouts, your body can use glucose (from muscle glycogen, or ingested carbs) concurrently with ketones and fatty acids.
Yes, I mainly wonder because ketosis means we're using fatty acids as energy, so what will happen to the carbs that are in our system already, assuming we don't knock ourselves out of ketosis while we workout in the morning. Hmm.
I think what your asking, is, will muscle glycogen breakdown during exercise, from stored carbs, kick you out of ketosis? And no, if you wake up in a state of nutritional ketosis (at/over 0.5mmol/L BOHB on a blood test, or anything purple-ish on a pee test), and start working out, you will be farther into ketosis by the time you're done. As far as liver glycogen being broken down to supply glucose (it takes about 28 hours to deplete liver glycogen), this isn't really an issue if you're in nutritional ketosis, as your body has enough alternative substrate available so that it doesn't need to dump glucose into the bloodstream for energy.
Important point about KetoInduce vs. a Ketogenic diet: In the initial stage of a ketogenic diet, the muscles will use ketone bodies as fuel, whereas after one is keto-adapted (typically around the 2 week mark of a keto diet), ketones are more reserved as brain fuel while the muscles will prefer fatty acids. So with a normal diet + KetoInduce, the muscles will still be using ketones as fuel (in addition to fatty acids).
I didn't really think about it until just a little while ago, but my diet during the week is pretty strange. I wake up at 5 AM, drink some aminos and take my morning supps (Rx for levothyroxine, huperzine-A, 500mg agmatine), then take my pre-workout as I'm getting ready to drive into the gym. Finish around 7ish or so and drink a whey isolate shake for meal 1. At work hit meal 2 around 10:30 or so and it's many times another whey shake (if not isolate, then something like Select with minimal carbs) if I'm not snacking on some protein bars because I need to physically feel the chew lol. I don't take a work at lunch so I can duck out earlier, so that's why I do this -- plus it allows me to backload my macros/cals for the day a bit and eat a more flexible dinner with the wife.
Anyway, I tend to eat another meal around 2:30 or 3 and surprise surprise, it's often more of the same. So until I get home and eat (be it a small meal/snack first and then a bigger dinner closer to 7, or just one meal in between -- depends on the day), if I'm not eating protein bars at work, I generally don't get any carbs until that 5PM-8PM window.
So this should allow me to really test out the ketosis effects and I may even have a day or two in there where I skip carbs in my dinner to see what I can notice.
Come weekends, my diet doesn't go off the rails, but obviously it's not like my work week. But this could potentially allow me to make a lot of progress during those 5 days and sort of focus more on a recomp or slight surplus on Sat/Sun.
Cannot wait to try this out.
Remember its not just the absence of carbs that is key to ketosis, but also the high fat intake. So if you have hardly any carbs all day, but your protein is still like 50%+ of your calories, you're not going to get the effect you want. As long as you keep fat high enough (at LEAST 70%), its worth trying out. Otherwise might as well do a PSMF.
I'm wondering a similar question. How will fasted performance on ketosis be vs. fasted and carb depleted.
If I want to stay in ketosis when working out, I'd imagine something like an avocado would be the a good quick snack?
Not exactly sure what you mean here...but if you're talking pre-workout, an avocado, being a whole food packed with fiber, wouldn't be as beneficial as an MCT oil or Keto8 (liquid caprylic acid).
Well my main question is, if your body normally relies on glycogen that is stored for power/strength, and ketosis a status of the body that means it is using fatty acids as energy, which will be utilized during your workout if you didn't break the ketosis but still had a bunch of carbs the night before?
As I mentioned previously, if you're in nutritional ketosis the morning before the workout, doesn't matter if you still have muscle glycogen stores left, your body will use glycogen, ketones, and fatty acids. Whereas previously it was going to be a way higher percentage of glycogen.
So if I'm in ketosis from KI and workout fasted in the AM, will I burn more fat which would make this super solid for a cut?
Also, is there the typical lethargy and such that generally accompanies transitioning to ketosis?
Yes, you will utilize more fat, as your RQ will be lower, so your body will be able to do more work before requiring glucose as a primary substrate. And no, you will not experience lethargy as some do when transitioning to ketosis. The proper comparison would be, how would you normally feel, waking up and doing a fasted workout, without KetoInduce? That is your baseline. Waking up fasted and doing a workout after taking KetoInduce the night before, you will feel and perform better.
I'm pretty loose as it is for some reason right now... That bad?!
