From 22 lbs weight gain to 25 lbs weight loss

The impact of high carbs, keto and clean eating in a surplus over 2 years

I’ve been meaning to write about my experience messing about with nutrition over the last two years for anyone wanting to try it without the fanboy spin. I’ve never eaten in a daily deficit during this period nor massively focussed on getting bigger or stronger. I wanted to find the lifestyle that I enjoy the most that lets me train often and still have the focus to grow Gym Plan. Running a new company is stressful and this effects your body a lot, so nutrition is top of the list to get right.

I believe in nutrition that works for you. Like training, there’s no single way to achieve your goals that trumps everything else. If it’s a pain in the ass and making you miserable you’ll quit, unless that’s your thing and you thrive on the challenge. People such as bodybuilders will put themselves through hell to hit their goals and all credit to them, it’s just not for me.

My 3 requirements to meet are:

1. Feel good and happy.
2. Enjoy the food.
3. There’s simple rules to follow.

I’ve an unwritten 4th rule too: Treat the can’t eat as a choice not a punishment.

2013—No tracking or training

I wasn’t training much in 2013 after some stressful changes in career. I was 38 years old and drifting a bit trying to figure out what was next. I wasn’t eating too badly, as I’m not one for take outs and junk food. The big mistakes were on weekends where my nutrition was less than ideal. I had a taste for single malts too. Nothing to excess but look at how my weight crept up.

2014 — No tracking just having fun training

At the start of 2014 I’d met Dave (Co-founder) and he was training me in my local gym. I quickly got the bug for training again and didn’t realise at the time but by the end of 2014 we’d be setting up our own company.

My weight gain actually accelerated due to the addition of building some muscle and more body fat. I wasn’t trying to drop weight all I was concerned with was training hard and having fun. I wasn’t tracking what I ate and was 100% eating in a calorie surplus and far from clean.

2015—Hello weight gain

The writing was on the wall. I was floating around 96.6kg (213lbs) at the end of 2015. Between my 20's to late 30's I weighed around 83kgs (183lbs), so I was the heaviest I’d ever been. I had more muscle mass but not enough to justify the addition of new body fat. I felt sluggish.

Hitting the big 40 is always a trigger for change :)

2016 — Tracking food, meal prepping a high carb (clean) diet in a surplus.

I knew I’d drop body fat even in a calorie surplus at this point as I was massively cleaning up my diet.

Key point = zero alcohol (best thing I’ve ever done)

I felt like I was eating non stop, it was hard at first to consume all this lovely food ;) but I dropped weight and body fat fast without really putting myself through any difficulties. Remember I’m in a calorie surplus so my training was going great, I could keep the fun levels up and just blast out as much training as I wanted.

By the end of 2016 I thought I best try keto as we were getting lots of people asking about it in the app and while I spend a lot of time skilling up on nutrition there’s no substitute for experience.

2017 — Starting out on keto (with a twist).

First the twist. I went from 2600 calories per day on high carb clean diet and jumped to 3500 per day on keto! Why? I wanted to test the calories in calories out theory on a ketogenic diet.

It took me over a month to get into ketosis. I incorrectly assumed I was in ketosis two weeks before the penny dropped, you know when you are though. I was tracking everything using MyFitnessPlan but making a mistake with my protein intake. It was too high and kicking me out of ketosis.

Wow… I felt like I’d had a brain transplant. Mental energy and focus was unreal. Running an app startup is stressful and being on a keto diet killed off any anxiety I had. That alone is worth it.

Pros:

1. I love the food!
2. It’s super simple… Don’t eat carbs, eat 75% good fats and moderate protein. Drink lots and lots of water.
3. You’ll drop body fat without question.
4. My joints felt amazing, no pain in my wrists from many years of silliness hitting stupid things. Long story.
5. Bye bye bloated stomach.

Cons:

1. It’s hard to eat out with family and friends.
2. At times I felt like it was too restrictive and awkward for every day life.
3. You’ve absolutely got to be prepared.
4. It’s easy to kick yourself out of ketosis and piss yourself off for several days ;)
5. I love the food but it can get repetitive.

A few things to note on training:

1. I lost strength… That sucked.
2. My recovery between sets was crazy fast. E.g. on a super-set of 20 reps each exercise, I’d be ready to go after only 10 seconds rest. Loved that.
3. No glycogen, no pump. Sorry pump chasers.
4. Way less muscle soreness and impingements. Happy days!

One mistake I made was not having enough re-feed meals. I just didn’t feel like I needed it. Some days I was only having 16g of carbs or less, it really wasn’t that hard and I felt great. This in hindsight stunted my progress in training. Fine if you don’t train and have goals alongside the keto but I wanted to build some lean muscle and keep my strength okay.

Overall I loved being in ketosis and I’ll definitely cycle keto in from time to time.

2018- High fats and my happy weight

I’ve learnt that I respond well to a high fat diet and that’s what I’m currently experimenting with, however I’m adding carbs and higher protein intake and ~2250 calories, putting me in a surplus on rest days and a tiny deficit on training days. I love being 88kg, not sure why exactly other than I feel solid on my feet and able to train well and move fast if I need too.

You’ll notice on the graph there’s a few spikes in weight with just as quick drops. That was me messing up my sodium and retaining a lot of water. The puffy look is one to avoid haha.

Summary

Take from this what you will, I hope it helps. I’m at the age where it’s super easy to gain weight and testosterone is waining. However, I’m not putting myself through the hell of a massive calorie deficit, lots of restrictions, hours of cardio, crying if I eat something I shouldn’t etc.

• I dropped weight on high carbs eating clean in surplus.
• I dropped weight on a keto diet eating in a massive surplus.

Just be sensible, consistent and set your sights on something that works for you. Abs are hard to maintain but a flatter stomach and feeling fit and athletic whatever your age is a good place to be.

Cheers,
Paul @ Gym Plan