Starting Strength on Keto

[nateg]

| Male | 27 | 5'6 | 160lb |

Start — May 2nd 2016
Squat — 155lb
Deadlift — 155lb
Bench — 135lb
Press — 95lb
My Weight - 160

Reset
Bench x 1

Now — June 24th 2016
Squat — 260lb
Deadlift — 275lb
Bench — 155lb
Press — 120lb
Clean — 140lb
My Weight — 160

I worked out on and off for years with no real goal or strategy. My PR’s before SS happened years ago and I never even came close to that until now. I started SS to get stronger, but most importantly for general health. I found many people's logs on here really helpful when struggling with a decision about how to proceed after a stall or adding a new workout. Yes, I read the book and go back to it as often as I need to, but find a lot of useful information on here.

I’ve been on Keto on and off for a few months, but I’m more strict on macros now. I don’t really get hungry on keto, so before I stared lifting it was very easy for me to go a few days in row with 1500 calories or less a day without noticing. Since I started SS I’ve been tracking my calories and getting about 3200+ calories a day.

Macro
Fat 70% - 80%
Protein 15% to 25% ( 120g max)
Carbs 5% - 10%

[mackus]

I'm interested in hearing how you get your calories while keeping the carbs so low. I've followed a Keto diet for 2 years and am having trouble eating enough now on SS.

[nateg]

Buttered coffee!! easiest way to get 500+ calories of fat in one cup. I use MCT oil and butter (or coconut oil) and blend it with coffee.

Most of my meals are stir fried. I use lots of olive oil or coconut oil depending what else I’ve ate that day.
Other sources of fat:

- nuts
- ground beef (not lean)
- eggs

On workout days I start with buttered coffee, have one large meal that 1500 to 2000 calories in the evening. Around 1000 calories comes from olive oil. I use frozen veggies (counting only net carbs) to hide the fact that I’m consuming so much oil. It’s still sometimes hard form me accept how much fat I consume. Depending on what I’m missing, I ether snack on some almonds or peanuts ( counting only net carbs) or have protein shake.

It seems like I'm not consuming enough calories ether. I'm 5'6 160 lb, with 3200+ calories a day on keto macro I'm only maintaining weight.

[mackus]

Great results so far, any reason you're keeping Protein so low compared with others here?

[nateg]

Great results so far, any reason you're keeping Protein so low compared with others here?

Thanks!

When I started I did lower my protein level and even though I had cut out carbs I was still showing negative on the urine test for keto.
The number I found when I looked around was 0.8 to 1.2 g of protein per lean body mass. I could probably go up to 150g and I probably will, but I'm testing to see what my max protein intake amount is for me to stay in keto.

[nateg]

Bench -- Im starting to find 5lb increases harder. Since my Gym doesn't have anything less than 2.5lb increments, I'll probably be doing working weight over 2 workouts.

Power Clean -- It is really hard for me to justify doing these. I'm always wondering how important this workout is for strength on other workouts.

[nateg]

Squats
- today weren't too hard, but form was awful. My knees kept going inwards as I went up.

Press
- second run at 120, not finished yet

Deadlift
- Felt so good finishing 275 after being stuck on it for 2 workouts. My back started to curve near the end, but I'll still add on my next workout.

[JFick]

Good work.

I'll be following along as Im very interested in your progress while doing keto. I did strict keto from Jan - Apr and lost about 25 lbs (I'm a fat dude), I started lifting after a long hiatus in April as well, but my body started to hit the "wall" when lifting. I started SS on the same day as you, but I've added about 100 -150g of carbs on training days and feel much better when training. I still eat under 50 g on non lifting days. I take it you don't have that problem? I'm jealous.

If you do any sort of athletics the clean is great for developing your potential for power/explosiveness. It also transfers well into the squat and dead lift. Learn to love them, or at least appreciate and tolerate them.

I'm sure you could take in a 160 g of protein without getting bumped out of keto (I'm assuming that's your concern w/r/t to your 120 g max). It'll help your recovery a bit I would imagine.

Keep at it!

[nateg]

Thanks! Good work to you too. From looking at your log it looks like you’ve made great progress both on strength and weight loss.

Thats actually a problem I’m having right now. I was fine when I started. I even lifted 18hrs after my last meals and had no performance issues. I've tried adding about 40g of carbs before a workout and I didn’t feel a difference. I’ve been trying out buttered coffee as a pre workout over the last few workouts and it seems to help finish the workouts. I’m still only trying the coffee thing out. I’ll try adding more carbs on workout days if it doesn’t work.

I won’t give up on the power clean just yet. It’s a lot of work for such little weight.

I agree about the protein. I'm gonna have to increase my intake.

[blacklabel]

I lost about 90lbs over the course of a year through keto and started lifting again about a month ago. I'll definitely be following along. I don't foresee myself going back to carbs any time soon.