Keto diet reduces metabolism through lack of conversion to T3 and increase in rT3 activity. Conversion process from T4 to T3 requires moderate to high insulin levels at least periodically.This makes T3 supplementation almost mandatory for keto dieting IME and it underscores why carb cycling is paramount to the low carb dieting approach. This is a great example of how PED’s allows us to do things that we can’t do naturally - that is, do a low carb diet while deep in the single BF% and
still continue to burn fat while even building muscle in some cases.
200mg of Test or something similar in anabolic potency is sufficient on a cycle of T3@ 50mcg or less for most. This assumes 1.5-2g of protein per LB of LBM and proper training & diet.
Let me also say that because carb intake and A1C values directly plays a role in how ramped our active thyroid is (and this fat-burning and muscle-building), it is best to ease into a Keto diet gradually for best results. You want to get as lean as possible on as many carbs as possible before going keto. It’s really important to plan to only have about 6-8 weeks of low carb/Keto dieting. After that, assuming tou are imploring a collection of fat burners and excessive cardio as you go, the only thing you continue to accomplish is progressive adrenal damage that will make the next 3-6 months a living hell to recover from. Of course, I’m only talking about contest prep shape here. To get to 9% BF you will not likely not need to cut carbs down below moderate amounts. Take a look at my progress last comp season - a 6 month progressionf from 400+ grams carbs daily to veggies only. Ah, sometimes I shock myself at the conditioning I brought.
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I’ll leave this up for a while but my point is that when you gradually come down to a Keto diet, you literally lose no muscle in the process. I ran less than half a gram of AAS + winny in that prep, btw. Nothing crazy at all.