Keto Bulking Workout – Canceled

David Diaz Gil 8 min. of reading Keto Bulking Workout Leave a comment

The Keto Bulking Workout has been canceled. I cannot continue with this routine due to the current circumstances.

At the beginning, I thought that I would wait a few weeks to see if things improved. Unfortunately, this is not the case, which is why I have had to cancel the keto bulking workout sooner than expected.

Index

1 Review of the challenge
2 Can you gain weight with a keto diet?
3 Can you gain muscle while doing a keto diet?
4 My weight changes and anthropometric measurements
5 Diabetes control
6 Keto Bulking Workouts
7 And now…
8 Related Entries

Review of the challenge

The main objective of this challenge was to see if it was possible to do a bulking phase while following a keto diet (a diet without carbohydrates).

This is not the best way to gain muscle. In fact, pro-keto athletes claim that it is impossible to gain weight while following a keto diet. But they also claim that it is an ideal way to gain muscle.

Given my experience after the challenge, I will answer a couple of question. However, this is not a matter of n=1, my case is not going to be the norm by any means.

Can you gain weight with a keto diet?

Yes, of course you can.

But you have to eat much more than what you should than if you just went for a carb diet.

The calories from this diet come from the protein and you do not have to count them.

We could count all the calories from carbs because their only function is producing energy.

But proteins are used to gain muscle, repair the cells and produce enzymes. Only a small part is used as energy, which is why it does not make any sense to count their calories.

In fact, when your diet relies on fat as the main nutrient, counting calories is extremely hard. Usually, what we do is round 9 calories per gram of fat.

But this only works for polyunsaturated plant-based fat (which are the ones you have to avoid in keto). Then, we round 6.5-8 calories per gram of animal fat or 5.5 calories for coconut oil (or MCT).

The margin of error in a diet with a 20% of fat can be low, like a bulking diet. But a keto diet with a 70-80% of fat can have an extremely high margin of error.

As you can see, it is necessary to increase the amount of calories from a keto diet to do a bulking phase.

Can you gain muscle while doing a keto diet?

Yes, you can, without any doubt.

But it is probably not the best thing to do. If we look at the previous point, not everyone is capable of eating so many calories.

If we count the daily intermittent fasting and a high intensity workout routine, we may trigger a process known as autophagy. It literally means that we “eat ourselves” since the protein requirements are not so high.

If you want to learn more about Autophagy you can read this post.

Yoshinori Ohsumi won the Nobel prize thanks to his research on autophagy. He found out that a person needs to produce between 200-300g of protein daily. Moreover, the lifespan of a protein goes from 30 minute to several days. After that, it sports performing its function and it has to be recycled.

We will meet part of the protein requirements through the diet. Thanks to the autophagy, our body will recycle the amino acids from the proteins that have already been used.

It is very difficult to individually review how to gain muscle individually. However, it is even more difficult to do so in keto, a type of diet that has been underestimated for years.

Little by little, we are finding out more of its benefits for health. Who knows if someone will be able to come up with a perfect keto bulking workout in the future.

My weight changes and anthropometric measurements

In these 17 weeks of keto-bulking, I have gone from weighing 78.2kg to 87.2kg.

The fat percentage has gone from 11% to 18%, which is more than what I wanted.

My objective was to reach 85kg with a 16%. However, due to different circumstances, I have not been able to stay on track.

I have not done the minicuts I have planned, or the 72h fasting. The challenge is not over yet, but I have not been able to manage everything properly.

Measurements chart

The anthropometric measurements are:

Waist	from 82 to 88cm
Hip	from 101 to 106cm
Quadriceps	from 57 to 60cm
Biceps	from 41 to 42.5cm
Chest	from 109 to 113cm

The review in general is good although it could be better. I have gained in all the groups, although the waist should not have passed from 85-86cm.

Now I should burn the body fat to a 11% once again to see if I have really gained muscle.

Diabetes control

I could sum up everything with a single word: «CHAOTIC». At least that is how I have felt due to the extra-hypercaloric diet.

Anyone who has type 1 diabetes and tries to control it as much as possible will know that the amount of carbs you take is not the only important factor. Moreover, you have to bear in mind:

How you eat them.
How many.
When.

But, if you do not eat carbohydrates (which is unfortunately not the most common choice), then you will start counting the protein and fat. Otherwise your glucose will increase uncontrollably.

“The glucose rollercoaster”

Thanks to the Freestyle sensor, I have been able to control my glucose even more. But I have had to use more rapid-acting insulin in order to keep it as low as possible.

A diet with so many calories was completely out of control, which meant more insulin (around 2 rapid-acting insulin shots).

Now that I have stopped eating so many calories, my glucose is more controlled. But I would not have to use insulin by doing optimal physical exercise, which unfortunately is not possible right now.

Keto Bulking Workouts

There is nothing else to tell that you do not already know.

Yes, you have to spend 4 to 8 weeks in ketosis so that you will not experience a drop in blood sugar. You will train at the same intensity with or without carbohydrates, not more or less, not better or worse.

What I mean is that some people will tell you that your performance will improve with a keto diet. Others will tell you that carbohydrates are key if you want to do intense workouts, but that is not the case.

Once you have adapted, you will not depend on the 400g of stored glycogen. But do not believe that a keto diet is going to improve your performance.

And now…

When it comes to the routine

It is time to wait until the situation improves.

On the meantime, I have ordered a few Olympic plates (200kg, an Olympic bar and a rack) in order to increase the intensity. It seems that we will not be able to go back to the gym for a while.