Now that ‘Carb-mas’ is over, I’m getting back on the KetoTrain. Started today off with some coconut oil coffee, bacon, and eggs. I’m going to do a better job at posting my macros at the end of the day. I’m trying to get to 80% fat, 15% protein, 5% carbs. Any time that I can get more fat than that, I’m calling that a victory. I’m going to hit the gym with a progressive volume overload in mind. I think that a few months off of crushing myself has help reset my metabolism, and I can once again start out at the friggin’ rock bottom! I should have maintained some strength, because like I said, that progressive body split I put myself through gets you strong and keeps you strong.

This year on joshdoes.com, I’m going to post or link to you guys what I read/learn/watch. I’m probably the most knowledgeable regular Joe when it comes to health and fitness that is also not healthy or fit. I drink a little too often, and I am completely inconsistent when it comes to exercise. I’m all in or all out! I will put less time under the bar, and I’m going to work on my flexibility for the first couple months. It’s G’off’season (golf’s off season), and this is where the swing is forged for the season.

I hope to get some more things going on here this year, and I need your participation. What would you like to know? What would you like me to try? I’ll be your guinea pig. I wish you all a great new year, and I hope you get strong and stay strong!

Hello All:

I think I made that rookie mistake…that I basically ignored. You have to drink plenty of fluids if you are going to do this Ketogenic Diet. I haven’t really been consistent in the gym, but I have been hitting the sauna, which is my favorite part of the gym. I guess I’ve been going at this for a little over a month, and it came crashing down a few days ago. Now, full disclosure, I’d been trying to get some booze into the diet trying to stay within the macros, but I cut that out for a few days to get back into ketosis. I did go to a whiskey tasting where I drank responsibly, and the next night I had 6 drinks at and following a holiday party. Nothing crazy. I didn’t wake up all hungover or anything, but around 2 in the afternoon, I got a ridiculous headache. I don’t get headaches. This thing just straight up murdered me. I was rubbing my hands to just give myself a little relief when I noticed how dry they were. Then it hit me. I’d play golf twice and hit the gym and sauna 3 times that week, and I had little more than 64oz. of water that did not include my coffee. Friggin’ dumbass. So. I’m eating some rice, and drinking lots of water, and I’ll go back to the 3-day fast to hammer the ketosis again.

Drink water. Lots of water. I’m going to uptick the sodium too with my new Thrive Market Himalayan salt. I failed here. We’ll try again.

So, this is the 3rd week into the ketosis diet. I wanted to see if I could just wing it. I’ll tell you that I find it just a little tedious to plan, track, and follow this thing. I pretty much figured that I had the idea of what I could eat and not eat to keep myself in the ranges I wanted. This was dumb. I was really only in ketosis for about 2 days. I do like to have a drink of wine or two; maybe a beer makes its way down, but YOU CAN’T DO THAT and follow this diet. I guess I don’t want to sound like an idiot. I pretty much knew that all those alcohols and carbs would be metabolized in the liver, and my liver enzymes are going to give me my ketones. I was very curious if I could just keep the carb/protein/fat ratio to the perfect level, but I think I underestimated one thing. It takes your body more time to for your body to metabolize alcohol than the rest of the macros. Ray Cronise really got me turned onto the whole “calorie in calorie out” mindset a few years ago. Metobolic Winter Hypothesis. Read this if you are trying to lose weight.

Any way, I’m going to get my shit together and take a loss here. I have to track. I have to eliminate the booze. I think after Thanksgiving, and my minimal amount of activity, I have yet to fully deplete my body from the glycogen stores I need to in order to get into deep ketosis. I think the easiest way here is to just do another 3 day fast, and start again. I do have a moderately big presentation next Thursday. This is on a professional level. I don’t get paid to write this blog. I’m going to go into this presentation fully fasted/fat driven, and I’ll let you know about it.

Thanks for reading. Get Strong. Stay Strong.

It took me a couple days to get back into ketosis, but stayed in it the past couple days. I do have some exogenous ketones, but I don’t want to rely on them too early in this process. I think fasting is probably the best way to get into it. I am finding that I don’t have to eat all that much. Kale is a great gut filler, and there is such a great amount of fiber in all the avocados,  cabbage, etc., that basically the fatty coffee and super salads are all I really need. I am definitely lacking some water intake so I’ll have to make a better effort on that end.

I am coming off 3 midnight shifts in a row (I typically just work 1). I’m loopy, tired, and I have a confession. I was grabbing some olives from the grocery store on my way home when a beautiful cherry pie caught my eye. I love pie. All kinds. I never really eat any, but they are everywhere during the holidays. I bought it. I haven’t eaten it. I might not, but it’s in the house. That’s the easiest thing to control when you are on any sort of diet is WHAT YOU BUY! I normally have an incredible will power, but the midnight brain got to me. Cherry pie is my favorite. Wait…blueberry. No, half apple, half blueberry, half cherry is my favorite pie.

OOH! Just had a great idea. I’ll kick myself out of ketosis, and then I’ll use my exogenous ketones to see if they really work! AND!!!! I get to use a cheesy ass line like, “now I have my pie and I can eat it too!”

Thanks for reading. Get Strong. Stay Strong.

I’ve been utilizing my social media outlets: FB: joshdoes.com Twitter & Instagram @Quests4josh

So the first 10 days of Ketogenic dieting was a little easier than I had thought. It’s really delicious. I love the fat-coffee, and the tasty dressings for the salads I’m eating on a daily basis. I’m still trying to figure out how to slowly eat the protein for the day, but that will come with a little practice.

Yesterday was Thanksgiving, and as I posted on the social medias, I did not restrict myself. It WAS a gluten free feast, but I hit the whole thing hard. Mimosas, sausage balls, mashed potatoes, stuffing, wine, and an awesome Chocolate Pie! Let me tell you; I had just enough consciousness to make it from the table to the couch. BOOM. Carb Coma. I was knocked the F out solid. It was a great nap, but man it really bogged me down. My blood sugar didn’t spike as much as I thought it was going to, but it was still as high as it has been since I started testing.

I felt like shit today as well. Could have been the mimosas, but my guts were squishy, and I went in and out of some headaches/pressure. I threw down some bacon and eggs, and got back on the fat train. I think I’m going to do a 24 hour fast just to get my blood sugar back down. All in all, I think the keto deal is going to be a great tool. I’ll get back to the blogging more regularly. I’m thinking I’ll throw in some of my recipes as I go along! I’ll be hitting the gym too next week. I’ll give you my 3 day full body plan too! Thanks for reading. Get Strong. Stay Strong!

So all of my measuring equipment hasn’t arrived, but that’s not that big of a deal. Amazon just told me that every thing will be here by tomorrow evening. So, I’ll have a last meal tomorrow afternoon. The trick here is to test my fasted blood glucose, blood ketones, and breath ketones for a baseline.

According to Dr. Mercola, doing an extended fast will only aid in getting into ketosis faster. I’ve gone as long as 15 days without eating before; so this won’t be that big of a deal. I’m going to fast for 3 full days. I’ll be keeping my blood glucose, ketones, and breath ketones logged, and I’ll give you guys some pics over on the FaceBook page. I’m not exactly thrilled about making myself bleed, but I guess for science sake, it has to be done.

I feel like the whole Ketogenic Diet/Ketosis is being plastered all over the place. I think it’s time that I give it a good go, and report my findings to you. Hopefully, I’ll get into ketosis fairly quickly, and I’ll be able to find a good carb range that won’t kick me out of ketosis for too long. The whole lifting some weights thing is going to be the hardest part of this diet. It’s going to be very challenging to get enough protein in my system while also maintaining ketosis. I think it’s possible, but I’ll have to be very diligent about my food planning and prepping. I’m not normally a ‘dieter’ per se, but I am going to try this out. Get used to seeing some pics of bloody fingers and avocados all over joshdoes.com social posts.

Thanks for reading. If you have any questions, please add a comment. Get Strong. Stay Strong.

Hello everyone,

I’m having a little bit of a tough time getting my body analysis scheduled, but I’ll get that done soon. I wanted to just give everyone a quick idea of what is coming up on joshdoes.com. I’ve gotten amazing results with my first session of my work out program. I’ve more than likely lost a little bit of muscle since I stopped hitting the gym so regularly, but the test will show what’s going on with that. I have stopped hitting the gym because I really needed my body to regulate itself with the excursion rate I was putting it through! It’s tough to lose weight continuously when you are doing 2-a-days because your body will adapt to the calorie burn, and it will get more efficient at utilizing what you give it to STAY THE SAME! I thought that I could ‘cardio’ the fat loss out of my body, but I completely neglected the first rule in health/wellness/fitness… you can’t out work a poor diet!

I eat a fairly healthy diet. I don’t eat fast food. I eat a lot of salads/greens, and I get grass-fed meats, and I eat wild caught seafood. I do consume my fair share of booze (probably some of your share too!). But I think I learned a few things that are going to help move my body to the composition that I want it to be. I am going to vary the rep ranges/weight that I am throwing up. I am also going to go on a ketogenic diet! I’ll be posting more on both of these in the up coming weeks, but for now, I’ve ordered a couple ketone testing devices, and I’m formulating my diet to give me enough FAT and Protein to burn FAT and utilize PROTEIN for muscle growth. I think there is a good balance of activity and calorie consumption that will really get me to where I want to be.

My first workout regimen really did put on some muscle, and I hope everyone gives it a try for a few cycles. I’m trying to get an app for it, and that is turning out to be a little more in-depth that I first thought, but I’ll get it out there!

Any way, josh does is going to be hitting your feeds more frequently so keep an eye out!

I was at a 74% Readiness this morning. I slept very well, but as you can see at the bottom, my HRV is at a 27. I think I’m going  to have to do some meditation, stretching, and some deep breathing exercises over the next few days to get this thing up!

I’m starting to miss the gym.

Alright everyone, I’m back. I played a whole lot of golf in a short period of time, and with the way I swing, I needed a day or so of rest. I’m going to closely track my HRV, and if I’m near a minimal ‘GO’ number tomorrow, I’m going to max out on the Bench Press. I’ll post it up, and maybe even get a video of it.

I feel like I’ve put on some good size here, and I have a better than goo idea of my ‘maintenance’ calorie amount is. I’ve put on a few pounds, and I think it’s been muscle. We’ll start a ‘shredding’ phase here in a couple weeks. Thanks for reading. I really appreciate all the comments and questions.

Get Strong. Stay Strong!