Day 15 - YAY for Ketosis

Let me begin by saying my dad is a fitness nut. Year after year, and he continuously puts me to same with the amount and variety of activities that he performs. A short list of his activities (that I know about):

He played college hockey

Then proceeded to play roller hockey until the age of 50

He is a black belt 4 or 5 stripes?? With tons of other self-defense knowledge

Races mountain and road bikes

For perspective a quick mountain bike ride is only 2 or 3 hours

Professional body-builder (college era?)

Racquetball, tennis, soccer goalie - you name it

Okay, so why the lengthy intro? For years, my dad has been a fantastic role model on my and the rest of my family's fitness ethic. Some families play rousing card games when they get together. My family likes to work out - except for my mom who just goes along to make everyone else happy (love you mom!). I am in no way saying we are better than other families, this is just a strange tradition of activeness that I've grown up with. I always loved working out with my dad, because he knows a lot about weight lifting (something I don't have a lot of knowledge on), and he knows when and how to push someone to do their best. Point of all this is, that I ALWAYS get a good workout when I'm with my dad and my brother.

Typically, when I go to the gym I have an excess of energy from the fantastic meal that I eat beforehand. Loaded with carbs! Whole-grain slow dissolving carbs though. Those should last a while right? Well, I feel great for about 30 minutes of hard working, and then I'm spent, and I just feel like I can't work out any more because I don't have any energy.

A funny thing happened when I went to the gym with my dad today. I had my usual paleo breakfast. Today was bison burger (I'm spoiled being at home for the holidays), one egg, and a massive salad. Hardly any carbs. I felt mediocre when I go to the gym, not feeling my usual surge of energy, but after I did a couple sets of lifting I started to feel a little better. It was like my body was waking up. I did a few more exercises and I started feeling great. I think we ened up working out for an hour and a half, and I didn't mind it at all. Usually, I'm in the gym for 30 minutes and I'm ready to go eat, because I feel like I have no energy. Not only that, but after we worked out I wasn't starving. I felt great, not exhausted, and not super hungry. I ate as soon as I got back to my parents house, but it was a really good feeling to be able to workout that long, and not feel depleted, I felt awake and ready to go.

I am still adjusting to the low-carb diet, because I still feel like I have a lower level of energy through out the day. I have reduced my carb intake from roughly 500g a day to around 50g. Hopefully, this is what Robb is talking about by the adjustment period. But now I am taking in adequate amounts of fats and proteins, eating lots more vegetables and kind of coasting through out the day.

Despite feeling a lower level of energy, I consistently am able to outperform (at least in terms of time worked out) my old self. On Friday, my dad and I are going to one of his friends crossfit classes. I've very excited even though I don't know much about it. I have heard good things.