Paleo Diet and Paleolithic Diet Questions & Answers

Question

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So I am new to Paleo, crossfit, and ketosis. I have been Paleo for a little over three months and now I'm VLC and decided to give ketosis a try. I have been (shockingly) sucessful in staying in ketosis so far (about a little over a week and a half). I start crossfit next week and I feel I will defintely have to increase my carb intake before I workout via a protein shake or something along those lines. I am worred this will knock me out of ketosis, especially if I use the "forbidden" banana in my shakes. I was wondering if it would be wiser not to try to both ketosis and crossfit? If I could do both does anyone have any suggestions on extra carbs before working out? Actually, any advice regarding any of these subjects would be helpful!

P.S. I am crazy scared of crossfit! (I'm lacking in the strentgh and endurace areas, skinny does not equal athletic.)

edited Sep 11 2011 at 2:10

asked Sep 11 2011 at 2:00

dooliemcjules
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looks like you chose the answer you wanted to hear, every longterm paleo says crossfit and ketosis don't tango, up the carbs and stop being scared – WaveHunter Sep 12 2011 at 0:00

Dreezie79 · Accepted Answer · 2011-09-11 03:05:06Z UTC

I'm no pro, but i started CF 5 weeks prior to going paleo, and I'm on day 20 of my strict paleo challenge. I'm vlc, in ketosis, and my performance has not suffered one bit. I even PR'd in my front squat yesterday. I do not eat before working out. I've been in ketosis for almost 2 weeks now. You are probably already fat adapted, so my guess is you will be fine. I am so strict I'm not even eating fruit, and minimal nuts as I have about 15-20 pounds of fat to lose. Don't be afraid of CF. It's so fun, is always something different, and you'll likely surprise yourself with what you can accomplish with every WOD. Your coaches will help you scale if needed, and they have likely worked with ALL types of abilities. It is a super welcoming community, and you're going to have a blast. Talk to your coaches about your concerns with paleo and ketosis, as they likely are paleo or know a lot about it. My coaches are all giving me the thumbs up sign, and I couldn't be more pleased with my progress so far! One other thing to note - CF WODs are not meant to be long, as they are typically high intensity and short-lived. You will really see that you don't need, or want, all that sugar and crap before or after a workout. These are just my experiences and opinions.

saiklón · Answer 2 · 2011-09-11 02:20:07Z UTC

I personally don't think a crossfit type workout would be very productive while in ketosis and therefore the cons probably outweigh any benefits. While in ketosis, it is probably better to stick with short intense stuff or long easy stuff.

Maybe I am wrong but this has been my experience and the research I have done seems to support it. You might want to consider supplementing potassium and magnessium until fully keto-adapted if you insist on doing crossfit. It will help to keep you blood pressure in a normal range until you are fully keto-adapted (I think it helps with cramps too but don't hold me to that).

Also, consider researching a cyclical or targeted ketogenic diet...

Hurricane · Answer 3 · 2011-09-11 02:20:59Z UTC

I can't specify whether or not ketosis would be bad while placing the body under physicall duress, but I can at least say that crossfit is not as scary as it looks. If you're not that strong you'll simply lift lighter weights (scalability). I usually grab an apple or bannana preworkout, and follow up with a recovery protein post workout (carbs and protein, usually progenex recovery). Sweet potatoes are a great pwo snack.

Edit. Supplementation with a multivitamin for active men and a good source of fish oil is a must.

Pet3r · Answer 4 · 2011-09-11 02:54:51Z UTC

I've done low carb, VLC, and CKD crossfit and it sucks. I am very competitive around 100 g of carbs a day and that's where I keep it. More then that and I tend to overdo it and lose control. Usually that means some fruit throughout the day, and a sweet potatoe or two after working out or in a meal sometime during the day. Post workout nutrition is more important then pre-workout.

Also another note is that high intensity exercise both depletes muscle and liver glycogen (which you need carbs to restore) but it also makes your muscles more insulin sensitive so while LC and VLC may be good for people who don't workout, its kind of counter - productive to do crossfit without carbs! I think it takes a fair amount of trial and error, but its worth it to learn to fuel your body right for the workouts your doing!

CKD as another poster mentions is interesting but the reality is that's really a technique for those who are already dialed in on their nutrition and just trying to get super lean. When normal people try that it backfires b/c it leads to binge episodes that are just stupid and hard to recover from.

Daniel Kirsner · Answer 5 · 2011-09-11 02:59:07Z UTC

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Why do you wish to stay in ketosis? Fat loss?

answered Sep 11 2011 at 2:59

Daniel Kirsner
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Yeah, I want to lean out as much as I can, I am by no means overweight, I am actually where I need to be as far as the scale goes, but skinny still jiggles, right? I want to be toned and get some definition. I am trying to lose that extra fat on my arms, thighs and belly. – dooliemcjules Sep 11 2011 at 3:03

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If you find you need to eat more grams of carbohydrate to exercise intensely, you can do this in a non-structured fashion by simply adding more fruits/veggies to your diet and not counting anything, or by counting total g carbs/day or by using a variant of a TKD (Targeted Ketogenic Diet) in which you consume a bolus of carbohydrate shortly before (and sometimes after) training: lmgtfy.com/?q=targeted+ketogenic+diet My preference would be KISS: Keep It Simple, Stupid--just eat slightly more carbohydrate. – Daniel Kirsner Sep 11 2011 at 4:12

Thanks for the link! – dooliemcjules Sep 11 2011 at 6:06

Please help hack my Crossfit, Ketosis, and protein shakes…

5 Answers