Mark's Keto Diet Reset

Is anyone else reading Mark's Keto Reset book?  I started a couple days ago so I'm not finished with it, but I have some questions about it.  It could be that they are answered later in the book, but I figure I'll write them here as I think of them anyway.  

When discussing cardio exercise he talks about how going above your maximum heart rate, even for only a few minutes, will keep you a sugar burner and hurt your keto efforts.  Then a few pages later he's talking about sprints.  I guess I don't understand something, because how can you do sprints that will definitely take you over your maximum heart rate, but not other forms of cardio that might exceed that number?  Is it a matter of duration only?  I feel like that needs some clarity.

I'll be honest, I am a little annoyed with the book for a couple reasons.  First, Mark has such a fitness/exercise focus that, in reading the book, he seems to have no concept that there are people who don't give a hoot about being able to do long stretches of endurance activity as a fat burner.  I honestly could not care less.  If I have 3 hours of spare time you can bet your ass I won't spend it exercising.  I have so many other things I would rather do and a lot of things I need to do.  

He also very clearly lives in a climate where being outside is pleasant most of the time.  Well, here in Chicago it's frequently above 90 degrees in the summer and below 20 degrees in the winter.  I don't want to be outside any longer than I have to in those conditions.  Not to mention the rain, wind and snow we deal with here.  I happen to walk a lot just to get to work (1.6 miles each way) and that's more than enough time outside a lot of the year.  If that wasn't a required part of my day I'd stay inside.  I wish I could live in California, but that's not an option for me and I get really tired of hearing how I should spend time in nature... uhh, nature here sucks!

Maybe I just need to get through the rest of the book.  I know how to eat a keto diet, but I have a lot of trouble sticking with it due to it's inherent inconvenience.  I don't think there's even one food item I can get at a drive through that would fit the keto plan.  Certainly nothing I could actually eat in the car.  As much as I wish I had a life where that was never necessary, I don't.  Sometimes you can fast through days like that, and other times you can't (like when you have 4 days like that in a row).  So, I still don't know if I should really attempt keto or not.  I have plenty of fat I want to lose (like 50 pounds), but I also have a hectic life and loathe to spend all my free time on meal prep and cleaning my kitchen.  I'm so over that, to be honest.

My guess is that keto is just the latest bandwagon that Mark and others have jumped on to milk for revenue. You can lose weight with any hypocaloric diet. The main issue is what you can stick with.

Chris Masterjohn did a podcast a few months ago about athletics and various fuels: chrismasterjohnphd.com/2017/07/08/can-fat-fuel-athlete/

The whole fat-burner vs. sugar-burner thing is marketing hype. Even the hard-core zero-carbers burn some glucose, without which they would die. Even the SADdest of the SAD burn some fat. When your body finishes burning what you've eaten recently, it will start burning stored body fat. The details matter little. It's a matter of eating less so that you spend more time dipping into the fat stores.

I haven't read the book, nor do I plan to. I already know that I don't do well with very low levels of carbs. Keto would not work for me. Has Mark touched on how Keto affects women? I only ask because I have read other authors and paleo experts (Mark included) who have warned, in the past, that severely low carb intake might not be great for women.

I'm with you on the outside exercise thoughts. I live in Ontario. And, I'm sorry but there is NO WAY I am going to exercise outside when it's -40 degrees and my exposed face literally hurts from the combination of temperature and wind. I am also cold-adverse so it makes me physically uncomfortable being in winter temperatures. I will, however, work out inside.

But, yeah, that IS a good question - the sprints in relation to not getting to maximum heart rate. I would be interested to see what he has to say about that - perhaps further in the book.

I definitely wonder if keto is really a good move for women because I've also heard that it isn't as great for women as it can be for men. I don't think the book is going to cover that, which is a little disappointing. In general, I feel like the book was/is, as Sharperhawk said, a marketing/moneymaking thing. So, that is disappointing, but I wanted to see for myself and I can't get the book from my local library for months due to many holds on it. I decided that I'd rather pay $10 than wait so I used a coupon code and downloaded the book.

But, so far, the book doesn't have anything in it that I haven't heard a million times. I tend to just keep reading things like this as a way to keep my head in the game because as soon as I am not focused 100% old habits creep back in and I'm gaining weight. I feel like after Thanksgiving I had to take some sort of action. I have tried keto before, but not for long periods of time. I am going to see what happens, I guess.

From my understanding, if you need to do anaerobic exercise (heartbeat greater than 180-age for more than a few mins), then you should have some targeted carbs (sweet potato, quinoa, wild rice). So if you are sprinting or doing strenuous anaerobic stuff for more than a few mins, you should eat some carbs. If you do not exercise or do not sprint (you're staying aerobic), you don't need hardly any carbs. Even if you are fat-adapted for many months, you need some carbs to fuel anaerobic activities. If you are not doing any cardio exercise, why all the fuss and questions?

tadmaz wrote:From my understanding, if you need to do anaerobic exercise (heartbeat greater than 180-age for more than a few mins), then you should have some targeted carbs (sweet potato, quinoa, wild rice).  So if you are sprinting or doing strenuous anaerobic stuff for more than a few mins, you should eat some carbs.  If you do not exercise or do not sprint (you're staying aerobic), you don't need hardly any carbs.  Even if you are fat-adapted for many months, you need some carbs to fuel anaerobic activities.  If you are not doing any cardio exercise, why all the fuss and questions?

My question is because his advice seems contradictory. On one hand you're not supposed to exceed your "maximum heart rate" as calculated by subtracting your age from 180. Then on the other he's recommending sprints. I do sprint workouts because they seem like the most efficient form of exercise and I don't have the time or desire to spend a lot of time in the gym. So, I want to understand why sprints are okay, but at the same time going over your maximum heart rate for even a few minutes (which is a direct quote from the book) is bad.

nikitakolata wrote:

tadmaz wrote:From my understanding, if you need to do anaerobic exercise (heartbeat greater than 180-age for more than a few mins), then you should have some targeted carbs (sweet potato, quinoa, wild rice).  So if you are sprinting or doing strenuous anaerobic stuff for more than a few mins, you should eat some carbs.  If you do not exercise or do not sprint (you're staying aerobic), you don't need hardly any carbs.  Even if you are fat-adapted for many months, you need some carbs to fuel anaerobic activities.  If you are not doing any cardio exercise, why all the fuss and questions?

My question is because his advice seems contradictory.  On one hand you're not supposed to exceed your "maximum heart rate" as calculated by subtracting your age from 180.  Then on the other he's recommending sprints.  I do sprint workouts because they seem like the most efficient form of exercise and I don't have the time or desire to spend a lot of time in the gym.  So, I want to understand why sprints are okay, but at the same time going over your maximum heart rate for even a few minutes (which is a direct quote from the book) is bad.  

Ok I'm following you.  I believe that you're supposed to train low (aerobic, 180-age) to build your aerobic base, and then race high, which would include carbs during the race.    Now sprinting I believe is unique, since it's short duration.  He says sprinting is good, and I believe him.  You should be having a small amount of carbs if you're sprinting (targeted).  I think what he warns us about is called chronic cardio, where we are anaerobic for durations of more than a few mins.  Only go anaerobic for long durations during a competitive race.

I believe Mark's emphasis is on training for endurance events and the 180-age formula is indicated for that type of training, to build your aerobic base. I haven't read the book, but I believe he also still thinks that one should do some form of sprint work 1 or two times a week where you go all out for short periods.

I think if you have to be either/or, the infrequent sprint work is the way to go.

Rig D wrote: 

I think if you have to be either/or, the infrequent sprint work is the way to go.

I'm rapidly falling into this category - I'll try that 10 min jog interspersed with 3 X 20 second all out bursts tommorow. However I hate running of all kinds, sprint/jog, all the same to me. I love lifting, and maybe for someone with the low upper body strength It may just be better to do weights.

I think that the book is laying out a next step towards optimal health that many will want to take.   It's a valuable resource (not just bandwagons for profit) in the sense that it's Mark's classic practical scientific mentality applied to pursuing a metabolic state we are just beginning to understand.  He argues that Keto is more nuanced and has a wider applicable range than popular discourse might lead one to believe, and that we can access it as a lifelong wellness tool, not just a new diet obsession.   And Mark and co. did their homework to offer practical health tools as usual.  They have developed a guided approach into Keto that can work for people who don't readily do well with fasting or simply cannot go without food and could not do it (Keto/Fasting) cold-turkey.  Their considered, tested and benefit-oriented approach offers a way to break through some metabolic inertia ,klimitations and get access to the benefits of fasting.

Keto Reset is arguably a fuller realization of Primal Health benefits; part of the overall picture of how to thrive and function better, protect against diseases.  

Although I've fasted over the years (less and less!)  I haven't done the plan yet or even read the whole book, but certainly intend to!  

I did buy the book for our son at college.  He's healthy, in good shape, but has always been heavily dependent on carbs.
It's hard to do things with him now as a young adult who works out because he needs food (carbs) so frequently that he gets kinda nasty when he hasn't eaten in two to three hours. Everything stops.  If he were a hunter-gatherer, he would be severely handicapped until he was forced into a Keto reset by circumstance.  The hard way.  Of course if he were living that life, he probably would not have had the opportunity to get stuck in the carb cycle to start with. His system would be metabolically flexible by default.  That's what I hope the Keto reset can do for him.

I admit that I have not read it.  Keto is not new, but there is tons of exciting new research in regards to it.  You don’t have to focus on marks book alone or his exercise recommendations.  Keto is an excellent wellness tool.  If he lays out some of the new science in terms lay people understand, that is reason enough to write a book on it.

To your question on the exercise.  I recommend sticking to the aerobic range during adaptation phase.  After adaptation you will be fine adding in high intensity work without any diminished performance.

So how individual is the adaptation range? How do you know when you're fully adapted? I've been at it 4 1/2 weeks now. Feeling a little better; energy is starting to come back a bit. Periods of not being hungry at all, mixed with days of being hungry all the time. Once you get there, how far can you stray and how often? Is an apple going to throw you out of keto? For how long? If I remember correctly, Mark said that a high carb meal can move you out of keto for several days. That would mean indulging in some fruit even twice a week, without sufficient exercise to burn it off, would keep you out of ketosis. Correct?

JCat look up Leanne Vogal. She has varying ways of doing Keto and some include more carbs esp for women. I know when I was doing my extended w30 last year I would show ketones. I was probably consuming between 50-75 gems of carbs. Didn’t check it everyday but here and there. I could skip a meal when needed with no effort at all

Awesome. Thanks, NM!

ONTARIO wrote:I haven't read the book, nor do I plan to. I already know that I don't do well with very low levels of carbs. Keto would not work for me. Has Mark touched on how Keto affects women? I only ask because I have read other authors and paleo experts (Mark included) who have warned, in the past, that severely low carb intake might not be great for women.

I'm with you on the outside exercise thoughts. I live in Ontario. And, I'm sorry but there is NO WAY I am going to exercise outside when it's -40 degrees and my exposed face literally hurts from the combination of temperature and wind. I am also cold-adverse so it makes me physically uncomfortable being in winter temperatures. I will, however, work out inside.

But, yeah, that IS a good question - the sprints in relation to not getting to maximum heart rate. I would be interested to see what he has to say about that - perhaps further in the book.

I haven't read the book, but...
I did terrible at keto.  I felt as pissed off as an angry and territorial cat the entire time.  Real foods with some carbs my body seems to do well with me works.  Keto did not.  Keto might work for others.
Plus, I will NOT give up fresh honey crisp apples from the orchard in the fall.  No way, no freaking Hell.
I love the cold weather and we have plenty of it, and snow, and we're rural and have dogs that like snow and cats (yeah, CATS) that love the snow, too, but when it approaches 80 I'm done and am in the AC.  Thank God the 80-90+ degree stuff doesn't last long.
I think there are benefits to keto, especially for those with certain diseases or health problems, but just because it works for Joe Blow the First doesn't mean it will work for Joe Blow Jr.  
JMO.
ETA: Exercise here is moving around a lot. I rarely do "regimented" exercise because I hate it. I know it's lazy, but I hate it. Shrug. I think the aerobic/cardio thing is kind of interesting but I've had no desire to do it for many, many years. If it kills me 5-10 years sooner, oh well.