An update on my ongoing management after the 5 day water fast. I transitioned into a keto diet, maintaining fairly well within the guidelines of keto eating. I also continued almost daily my WIM HOF routine, taking a daily cold shower (having transitioned from just showering limbs with cold water as suggested by Wim).
My breathing routine was 3 sets of 30 breaths (the basic routine outlined in Wims methods. A really nice youtube channel with lots of variations is the “Take a deep breath” channel that has a range of different Wim Hof breath options with music, that you can use to guide your breathing exercises.
Some observations over the last 6 months to summarise: * I ended up dropping over 11kg, and pretty much kept it off.
* I didn’t find the diet too onerous – steamed vegetables and salads were a part of each meal, and over time, I also noticed my appetite reduced, as did my volume of consumed food – for example, I’d be full with a steak and salad, whereas in the past I would definitely be up for seconds.
* I did notice the dreaded “keto flu” that is reported by many other people that have undergone a keto diet. In my case it was a definite loss of energy and power. Performance in the gym dropped by at least 20%. In my case it began about 4-6 weeks into keto, and lasted for at least 6 months. This was a big surprise to me, as i had expected to adapt much more quickly. Given that it can take a substantial length of time to develop the mitochondrial machinery within the cells to burn fats efficiently (as opposed to glycogen), it should not be surprising that in a middle aged adult used to eating a carb dominant diet all his life, it would take a significant length of time for the body to remodel its fuel burning systems. Big lesson in patience for anyone trying Keto! My advice – persist anyway, in time, my energy did return to normal.
* I found that cravings were manageable very quickly, and only rarely did i fall off the wagon.
* However, I did reach a plateau after 6 months, so perhaps some other reboot strategies may be in order – another fast, or changed/increased training schedule.
* My blood readings for ketones settled very quickly into the 1- 1.5 range and this is in line with what I have seen reported by others – who also report an initial big shift then hovering around 1.0 thereafter.
*I will put up a video in future on specifically on keto and some eating strategies to help you.
* In terms of wim hof method, my breath holds also seemed to plateau to just over 2 minutes, though i had expected them to increase over time. This breath hold plateau seemed unusual and may suggest that i need to increase the sets or breaths per set. Let me know what your own experiences are, as well as any suggestions you have for breaking through the plateau.
This, and all videos on the Triarus Project channel are for educational purposes only, and do not constitute medical advice. Please see your doctor if you have any conditions requiring medical supervision.
