Low carb energy:

This is something I have mentioned before and something that I feel I should mention again and that is the amount of energy you have when you are living a low-carb lifestyle. The first few weeks might be tough but once you have you electrolytes stabilised and you have fully adapted to burning fat as you main energy source you feel so much better. 

I have mainly experienced this from a running point of view. This post is sparked by me doing a 16.2 mile run at the weekend. Nothing crazy about that as I have been gradually building distance and I took it steady but what most longer distance runners will find different is that I did it on no breakfast, no snacks, no gels, no jelly babies and finished with my fast 3 miles and energy was not a problem. 

Your body, even if you are as amazingly fit and healthy as Katie and I, stores a vast number of calories as fat and so you have a huge resource to use and are extremely unlikely to suffer from energy being your problem on a day to day basis or when running. The key things I would say are keep your salt levels up (I had some salty stock before heading out) and stay hydrated (though I admit I only had around 100ml of drink during the entire run). 

The energy we have is one of the many health benefits we have discovered and one of the many reasons we will not be reverting back to a "normal" high carbohydrate diet. For us at least this lifestyle is extremely healthy, easy and just right and I suspect that many people would feel the same way if they just tried it and stuck to it for 3 months. You forget your sugar craving and you can forget about starving yourself to lose weight. 

Looking forward and back

At the end of 2014 we decided to set ourselves targets for the coming year. These were commitments that we decided to make to ourselves that we would do our best stick with for a full year to see if they made a difference. These commitments were: 

To Lose some weight, ideally 6 stone but I didn't think this would happen. We initially decided to do Low Carb and stick with it for a month, if that didn't work we were going to try something else. Fortunately it did work so we've stuck with it now. 

To get fitter and achieve a sub 30 minutes parkrun by the end of the year

At the end of the year I wanted to reflect back on these commitments and make some new ones for the coming year. As you know I successfully lost much more weight that I ever expected. I haven't quite reached my target weight but have got very close, far closer than I ever imagined when I set the target. 

I have also run a sub 30 park run, and not just one, I've now got a sub 27.30 PB and am just increasing my mileage and speed on a weekly basis. I feel so much fitter and healthier in myself. 

So my commitments for 2016 are quite simple and along the same lines: 

Maintain our low Carb high Fat lifestyle proving to everyone that the weight is off for good and this isn't just a short time diet. I would ideally like to lose a few more pounds and continue to tone up but I am not going to consciously think about it. I will just do this as part of the lifestyle that we're following. 

Run a Sub 25 minute parkrun by the end of the year. A sub 1hr 10KM and ideally get some great half marathon times but I'm not going to stipulate what these should be. 

I'm sure these are very boring commitments but to us they mean a great deal and this last year has made a drastic difference to us both emotionally and physically. What are your commitments for the year? 

Park Run completed

Well I thought I should do a follow up post from the running one I did yesterday. 

Park run went really well. I set off right at the front and took at steady whilst everything settled down and let the 21 minute pacer go past me (I was aiming for the 22 minute pacer) but to my surprise I found myself keeping up with the 21 minute pacer. Well I was stuck about 10 meters behind the group with the pacer. Ideal place for me as (having not run in groups for the past 2 years) I am used to running by myself.

I pretty much forgot to look at my watch but knew I was well under 7 minutes and it turns out it was 6:53. I actually remember being a bit surprised as I knew that sub 21 was faster than this. Sure enough it felt like the pacer picked up the pace a bit and several runners that were near me were dropped as we did the next mile in around 6:30. 

I then felt that the pace slowed a little and as we went into the last 800m I kicked past the 21 minute pacer and tried to stick with a couple of others who were pushing for home. I personally think that I went off a little bit too early as my pace dropped and then I kicked again heading into the finished. I looked down and I was past 3.1 miles before 21 minutes ticked over but didn't cross the finish line until 21:10. 

Sure enough my official park run time is 21:10 but according to my watch I ran 3.16 miles and ran 5k in 20:49. A huge boost to my confidence and shows what you can do on a low carb diet. I actually felt quite good at the end and feel I can go faster given another month of training and the correct tapering. 

Overall I am very happy with that result. To think 3 years ago I couldn't walk without being in extreme pain because of my Ledderhose disease and a year ago I weighed nearly 19 stone and couldn't run sub-30 minutes for 5k. In fact I have only run park run under 30 minutes once before.

My next goal is to make it so that the first digit is a 1. A 19 minute something 5k will be a huge achievement and I am very happy that I can do that this year. 

Going back to Park Run

Tomorrow I will go back to Park Run for the first time since 2013. Katie has done this Park Run twice and set amazing PBs on both occasions, fingers crossed she gets under 30 minutes soon as this will be an amazing achievement for her. 

I am going into this with a park run PB of 29:29, there is no doubt that unless something goes seriously wrong this is going to drop significantly. It is actually pacer week at Park run and to some extent I am torn as to what to do as there is going to be a sub 21 and sub 22 minute pacer. My current PB is 23:04 however I have a 1 mile PB of 6:26 and that was run at the end of a two mile build up of an 8:20 mile and 7:20 mile. I feel like I am in a good enough place in my head to target the sub 21 minute 5k but I don't think that my body is quite ready. 

I have previously run 2.2 miles in just over 15 minutes and for the first mile I ran 6:45 and for the second I ran 7 minutes. I am certainly in a much better place than I was then than I am now and 6:45 pace is fast enough to go sub 21 minutes... On the 2.2 mile run there were hills and these caused the slow down. I think at the moment 6:45 mile might be too close to the limit and I am better off going for a nice sub 22 minuets and hopefully have a kick at the end rather than blowing up and not getting a PB. If I finish with confidence then I can go back next time when I know the course and try and blow my new park run PB out of the water. I am tempted to some extent to just run my own race and ignore the pacers, I feel confident I can run 3 consecutive sub 7 minute miles and it is just a case if I can go faster or not. My ever changing plan at the moment is stick with the sub 22 minute pacer who will probably be running around 7 minutes per mile and then go for it shortly after entering the last mile to see if I can get in a sub 21:30 5k. It might depend on there being someone to follow and how my legs feel on the day as I don't do much morning speed-work. 

Pre run nutrition is typically carbs for most people and a lot of people rely on gels to get them through their long runs. On long runs I am yet to hit the wall so haven't had to tackle nutrition on long runs. On short runs however you don't want a feeling of an empty stomach. To be honest what I do this time depends on how I and my daughter sleep. If we both sleep in I might only be having butter loaded stock for breakfast, if we wake up around 7 or before then I will be having bacon and cheese for breakfast. Either way I will take on at least a pint of water in the morning and for a 5k that should see me through without needing to dispose of it too soon. 

Fingers crossed that it is going to be a good race. I have not really done a run with a group of people since that last park run and I am tempted to switch a few of my time trial runs to park runs before the 10k race to get used to running with people again. Nothing worse than having people slow you down other than having people slow you down when you don't know how to deal with it mentally. 

Anyway wish me luck on a good nights sleep and a fast time. My goal for this year is sub 21 minute 5k, then see where that takes me, I would love to get sub 19 minutes as I feel that is possible without training way too much but would also be a great time. 

Runner Academy Podcast:

Not exactly low carb but related to the exercise that we have been doing. I also intend to start looking into some low-carb podcasts that I have heard about. For busy people this is a great way to absorb more information. 

One of the areas of sport that I think often gets neglected is knowledge, knowledge is power after all. I a sponge and an addict when it comes to information collecting, I did it for my degree and I did it when my foot got bad and badminton coaching and now I starting to do it for running.

The problem with running compared to the other subjects above is the sheer volume of information and trying to work out what is useful. I enjoy reading but there is a limited pool of readable running books that I have access to and so I thought I would see what else is out there. Running videos don’t seem to exist but I then found out there appeared to be a load of podcasts. These are great for me to listen to on my commute.

I started with the Runners Academy Podcast and that is what I am going to “review” today. I have listened to quite a few of these podcasts and have been very impressed with the content and the quality of the people being interviewed.

I have listed to other podcasts and it really depends on what you are listening for, if it is to get some great information and listen to some great guests then this is a top podcast. It is one of the first places I came across a lot of the running methods that I now use and have learnt more about things like 80:20 running from this podcast. In fact in my opinion you could just listen to this and not buy the book (the book is good but unless you want the plans not worth the extra money once you know the principles). I have heard from elite runners, ultra-marathon runners and various doctors and all have had interesting things to say.

The podcasts always features a running tip of the week and they go into reasonable detail to explain different aspects such as nutrition etc on the ones that I have listened to. There is also the quote of the week, these are short and sweet and normally not that helpful.

Overall I feel that the podcasts have been very valuable to my running experience and enabled me to absorb a lot of information that I would otherwise not have come across or bothered with. It is easy to listen to on the commute and you can easily go back and listen to the most useful ones again. I have listened to the 80:20 running podcast at least twice. My only negative is that I feel it could do with 2 hosts, 1 host can come a bit monotonous and in others I have listened to there is great banter and differences in knowledge and experience when 2 hosts are used.

Fantastic Podcast and well worth listening to…

9/10

Link to Runner Academy Podcast:

My Ledderhose Experience

Can also do a post on weight loss and running improvement but then intend to do this for my break down of non-technique things any way:

 I think that this is relevant to this blog for the reason that I am now low-carb and I am now running and I am doing both with this condition, for a lack of a better word, in remission.

Where to start my journey, I guess in 2009. I was, at age 22, then starting to play club badminton and using running as a way to increase my fitness as I really needed to lose weight. I remember running out on a trail and feeling a slight twinge in my foot. That put me off running for a bit but I went on with badminton. I honestly can’t say that the twinge was a fibroma as it could easily have been fasciitis. Nevertheless I spotted a lump and thought it was best to head to the doctors. At this point I will add that I was working on a PhD in Cancer Research so I had actively looked up as much as I could and done a self-diagnosis of plantar fibromatosis or Ledderhose disease. I may not have always been a healthy weight but I have always been fairly fit.

The self-diagnosis was confirmed by the doctor who didn’t know anything about the condition and I think I can even remember them looking it up. My research had told me to avoid surgery and that physiotherapy and steroid injections are not really great options. Still my GP referred me to an NHS physio. I can’t actually remember how bad the pain was at that point other than I gave up playing badminton, a sport I love and I am now a fully qualified coach, so it must have been getting quite painful. The wait for the physio was so lengthy that my parents paid for me to see a private physio. The physio (with 30 years+) experience had only seen the condition once before and they couldn’t help and basically said they couldn’t help me, so I had to wait for the NHS physio to tell me the same thing to get me further down the chain.

At this point I was referred to see a foot specialist (read surgeon) on the NHS. They couldn’t really offer me great advice so sent me for a steroid injection. At the time I decided it was worth the risk, so I went for it. It was ultra-sound guided so they at least got some pictures of it and the injection was not that painful… to start with anyway. Once the local wore off I couldn’t walk properly for several days. Credit where it is due though the injection did help to calm the condition and I even went for the odd run (at the time I was only able to get around in running trainers with everything else not supportive enough).

About 6 to 9 months later it came back worse and another 6 months or so later I finally got back to see the specialist on the NHS. This appointment resulted in several different outcomes 1) Orthotics 2) MRI 3) Surgery being my only option. I was pretty unhappy at this point and my foot was deteriorating to the point I had to start using a walking stick at the age of 24 and eventually this led to me having to stop the PhD. The orthotics didn’t work, the MRI showed it was Ledderhose and surgery was not an option, although one I was starting to get temped by. My wife found out about radiotherapy and after researching we decided that this was easily the best option and looked into the choices. We decided that I was going to go and see Dr Richard Shaffer in Guildford.

I know it probably sounds dramatic but I still remember the morning that my Mum, Wife and I headed up to Guildford. At that point I was desperate for some hope and I knew that we would find the money somehow to get radiotherapy as it was only available privately. Dr Shaffer was very approachable, knowledgeable and checked my hands and feet for lumps and nodules. Luckily it was just the one nodule in the one foot and I was a good candidate for radiotherapy. I was ecstatic and couldn’t believe I could start in a couple of months’ time.

The process of radiotherapy is painless, quick and easy. The typical protocol is 5 days of 3gys each day, 8 (ish) week break and then another 5 days. After the first week I did get a sharp increase in pain and I really struggled. I spoke to Dr Shaffer and he assured me that this does happen in some patients but to expect to see some improvement by the start of the second week of radiotherapy. Sure enough by the second week of radiotherapy I was starting to see an improvement. The only side effects that I had were dry feet and that initial surge in pain. Gradually over the coming months my foot started to get better and I started to try and walk without the stick, by the end of the year (radiotherapy finished in July) I was able to put the stick away for good and had played a game of badminton.

In 2013 I didn’t use the stick and actually started running, this was sparked at least in some part due to the impending birth of my daughter and wanting to be able to run around with her. In fact within 6 months of not using the stick I was able to run 5k and I ran a 10k race (slowly) by the end of 2013. 2014 Was a very stressful year and not a lot really happened with my foot, there was still post exercise ache but the pain had mostly gone. My exercise levels did drop. I didn’t really have any additional side effects after the radiotherapy and to this day I am still amazed at how brilliant the results were. At the end of 2014 my weight, which initially ballooned while my foot left me incapacitated, was up to the best part of 19 stone, which was massively unhealthy. At this point my wife and I agreed that something needed to be done and so we started a low carbohydrate diet.

The diet is relevant to this condition as almost as soon as we started the diet the remaining aches and pains from my foot diminished and of course weight fell off. In fact I have now lost 6 ½ stone on this diet and it has had a huge impact on my running and health in general. Last year (2014) I had a really nasty chest infection that had me signed off work for 2 weeks and in part this was so bad because of my weight. This year I have had the odd cough or sore throat but it has not progressed past that, in fact I haven’t really been ill since starting the diet (touch wood). My 5k time has come down from around 33 minutes at the start of the year, and a PB set in 2013 of 29:29 to around 23 minutes. That is 10 minutes a time that is less than 70% of my time at the start of the year, this actually roughly correlates with the amount of weight that I have lost so if I get down to 5 stone I should be able to set world records….

Low carb diets have also been shown to have a potentially beneficial impact on tumours, something I am sure I will go into in time. 

I think that Ledderhose disease is important for me for motivation. In terms of the diet the last real issue remaining from having the condition was the amount of weight that I was carrying and this is turned probably made the condition worse. In terms of running I feel that I have a point to prove, that patients that have had this condition and had it badly are able to get better and are able to do something amazing, well I certainly consider running a half marathon and hopefully in time a full one as something amazing. For many years this condition was something I was passionate about for both selfish and charitable reasons, now I am passionate about patient care and treatment. The treatment option I had is not widely available and hope is not something that I had an abundance of when I was at my lowest, hopefully my running and my progress can help others see that there can be a way through and you can even be better physically than you were before the condition start. 

When I was in those really bad months I often used to dwell on the things I could no longer do rather than the positive things and the things that I could still do. Well not I have lost weight and I am running and these are thing that I can do and I want to make the most of it.

Running and Energy

Now to answer the question (again) of "Don't you find you have low energy on a low carb diet?" 

No we don't and generally speaking after the first few weeks you are adapted and you really don't feel low on energy. I guess an area you would most expect to see this is when running fast for a moderate length of time, such as when running a 5k. 

Today I went out and smash my 5k PB (and every record below it) and all on a low carb diet. I am now running around the 23 minutes mark for 5k and this is great for me, certainly something I didn't expect. 

So you do have plenty of energy on a low carb diet and you can run both endurance, medium and speed events on it. 

Really a post just to brag about my new running pace, sure it isn't ground-breaking but for me it is fantastic! 

3 years ago I was using a walking stick 

2 years ago I got a then PB of 29:29 

1 year ago I was not running 

6 months ago I was running 35 minute pace 

2 months ago I ran 26:29 

Today I ran 29:04 minutes 

I also ran a 7:04 mile, this alone was 45 second off of my personal best. Would be interesting to see how fast I could run a 1 mile sprint, personally think I might get down to around 6:30, or if very flat then perhaps even faster. 

Electrolytes on low carb

I have been reading a low of books and resources on low-carb and other diets and one crucial thing to remember is that you need your electrolytes, basically this means making sure that you keep your sodium and potassium levels at a good level. 

A lot of this information is available from the awesome book, The Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Living (I will try and get round to a review soon). 

Firstly don't forget that sodium (mainly taken in through salt) and potassium are essential for life so you really do need to ensure that you get good level, in fact someone on a diet recently told me that they had some major problems whilst dieting after this potassium levels got too low (they were not on low-carb). 

The reason that salt, or sodium, is crucial on a low carb diet is because the reduction in carbs changes the requirements for salt in your diet. This is because a low carbohydrate diet will increase sodium excretion by the kidneys meaning that is is lost from the body and therefore needs to be replaced in the diet. A high car diet will do the opposite and causes the body to maintain more salt and therefore less is required in the diet. 

A great way round this and I am afraid I can't remember where I first saw it as it is everywhere, is to drink some broth / stock. We use a certain kind of broth, bouillon, as we find that not only does it taste pretty good but it has a good carb to salt ratio. There are some common side effects to not having enough salt which include headaches and weakness and constipation which can be a common problem on low carb anyway as you lose all the fibre from not eating foods like bread. 

Potassium is another key thing that we need to get in our diets, it is again crucial for life and the most common source is fruit. Low salt and potassium are both common causes of cramp, which when I am out running is the last thing I need. Potassium is also required for ketogenesis (the process of burning fat) and so makes it even more important on this diet. 

So how can we get Potassium in on a low-carb diet? 

Well personally I think that spinach is a great way to go. If you see the list on this link then you will probably notice that there is not a huge amount of low-carb high potassium food. Spinach is pretty good for this diet as well and I regularly have it both boiled up for dinner and just some from a bag for lunch and sometimes breakfast, it should be enough to help top up my potassium levels if nothing else. Spinach is also good for magnesium levels, see the following link for a great run down on a lot of these issues.

Ideally I think to get enough potassium you should take a supplement however you would need to take a lot of it to get up to your RDA anyway. 

So I guess if you are struggling with any of the symptoms list on various low carb pages, this could be due to a deficiency in salt or potassium levels, the answer is of course to have more of them. Just don't overdo them, so I suggest you do some research and log your levels and try to get in your RDA.

My experience:

A few weeks into this diet and I started getting cramps on my running, I started drinking the broth and straight away they eased up, to this day I still rely on it to keep my salt levels up and reduce cramping. On my recent break I wasn't able to keep my salt levels as high as I would like and although I didn't get any full blown cramp I could feel the early onset kicking in. 

And a science sodium "joke" to end on: 

 Sodium sodium sodium sodium sodium sodium sodium sodium Batman  

A few more links (ok so one): 

http://www.low-carbdiet.co.uk/potassium.htm

Tortoise training to rabbit in a race

I thought it was about time that I added a running post on here to add some balance, as much as I love low carb and how well it has helped me to lose weight I am not focusing on running and trying to build speed and endurance and just being the best runner that I can be. After all I am not a professional but I am very competitive and when I think I can be good at something that I want to be the best that I can be. 

Don't get me wrong I don't think I can be an amazing runner but I think I can be good like I was when I was a child. 

The title of this post is: 

Tortoise training to rabbit in a race

This is very much based on the book 80/20 running which I will get round to reviewing once I have finished it, hopefully in the next few days. 

So what am I talking about. 

Well the basic idea is that in order to run faster you need to run slower in training for 80% of your runs and these runs are not just slow they are SLOW. This is because you do less damage and teach yourself to maintain form and build endurance through time on your feet. You can still do 20% of your running as tough running. 

So what is easy running, I think that somewhere around 50% to 70% of your 5k pace is somewhere to start. It should feel like you can breathe through your nose and at most 4 out of 10 effort. This may seem counter-intuitive but I think it is starting to work for me after 2 weeks! I went for a 10k run the other day, my longest run in 18 months and decided that I wanted to make the end a bit harder so I build up the pace gradually and ended up running the last 2 miles in a very good pace for me and I was still thinking that I was taking it easy and had loads in the bag. 

In my experience your hard runs should be intervals and or hills, I am starting to like the idea of running as much as possible without having to look too much at my watch and for this reason I am tending towards do farltek running. These are intervals but basically done how you like, they allow you to listen to your body but still get in the vital speed work. 

Before I started this plan I was running hard 3 times a week, one hill, one interval and one long run at a good pace... This was hard work and I could feel every run the next day and could not see how I was going to build up the miles for the half-marathon next year. I took a step back, started this plan and running is now so much easier but I am running volume rather than pace. For me I think this is working but whether it will work for you I don't know. 

If you think you have hit a block in your training then perhaps you might think that this is worth a try, from what I have read so far I really recommend the book linked to above. Of course the aim is that when it comes to the race you have the endurance to run like a rabbit and smash your personal best. 

My Review of 80:20 Running

80/20 Running: Run Stronger and Race Faster By Training Slower by Matt Fitzgerald 

The basic idea behind this book is fairly simple, in order to run faster in a race you need to run slower in training. As odd as this may seem this is exactly what the professionals have been doing for years and it is thought to be the best training method for beginners and elite alike. 

The book takes you through some of the science and rationale behind running this way and then gives you some different plans and different types of session that you should do. I don't want to go into too much detail but these principles have been tested not only in running but many other sports. 

The book itself is mostly well written but the plans did not come out well on the Kindle edition, nevertheless the actual body of the text was useful. 

The problem that I have with this book is that it is basically a basic principle, run 80% of your training at a very slow pace, run 20% at a moderate or ideally high intensity and the book is really evidence to try and convince you that this is what you should be doing. Who is going to read this book though, well only people that are really getting into their running like me and even then most of them probably won't read it. So it is left to coaches who probably already know what to do. 

Where this book does redeem itself is in the principle, the principle of 80 / 20 works or at least that is my belief after only a few weeks. 

Me and Running and 80/20:

After reading an on-line article I shifted to this principle of training and thought it might work for me, I want to increase my mileage but knew I was going to get injured, the key it seems was to slow down. Having now slowed down in most of my training my legs are feeling fresh and my body is recovering quicker than ever and I can run 5 times a week, previously I struggled with 3 (hill, interval and ok pace long run). 

I was sceptical about how this might impact my speed but having put in 2 miles at the end of my last 10km at only 30 second off my 1 mile PB I am optimistic that I will smash my 5k PB this weekend. Best of all is that as I am running slowly I don't feel any niggles and if I do I adjust slightly and feel fine, before my knees and ankles would be clicking and aching but it is no longer a problem. 

Rating: 2.5 / 5

Overall it is a good book and it is based on a solid premise, however I do not think that there was really enough here to make a book. A couple of on-line articles and a pod-cast (like the author has done for Runner Academy) are enough to get you going with this principle.

Exercise on a low carb diet

I thought that I could do a post on exercise on a low carb diet. This is because one of the most common questions that I get asked is "don't you have a lack of energy?" and I can understand the reasoning behind asking this as carbohydrates are normally seen as the primary energy source used by the body. 

Whilst it is true that the default source of energy for the body is sugar (in the form of glucose) our body is also capable of using fat and indeed protein as an energy source. The process of switching from using carbs to using fat as your main energy source takes time, around a couple of weeks is my understanding and during this time you may go through ketone flu (post on that to follow) and you will default back to carbs if your carb intake goes over a certain level. 

Just to side track slightly but once you have been doing this diet for a few weeks you are through this low carb flu and probably losing lots of weight (I lost 2 stone in first 6 weeks and regret cheating over Christmas) and there is added motivation to stick to it as you know it will take a couple of weeks to get back into it if you do cheat. I'll do another post looking at when I cheated as the difference in weight loss compared to surrounding weeks is massive. 

Right then back to exercise. You can skip exercise in those first few week whilst your body is adjusting and exercise is not always required to lose weight on this kind of diet, however you will find that you will lose a higher percentage of body fat compared to muscle if you are exercising. In the long run this is better because you are going to be leaner and muscle burns more calories. 

There are several easy ways to get into exercise, I went through the route of running and couch to 5k. 

The couch to 5k system builds you up through run walking until you are able to run for 30 minutes or 5k. Swimming can also be great if you are really overweight (like I was) or have issues that meant you don't want to run, equally I didn't want to swim because of the poor body image I had of myself. Some reports I have seen suggest that you are better off losing a bunch of weight first anyway because you will put significantly less stress on your body. 

Energy when running on low carb:

The exact number might be off but the estimations should be sufficient. Your body stores at most around 2000 or so calories in the form of sugar and as mentioned above it takes a whilst to transfer to efficiently burning fat, so you can run out of energy fairly easily, in fact this is exactly what hitting the wall is. In contrast you can store 20,000 calories in the form of fat (even if you aren't massively overweight). I mean think about this, the common number I see is that it takes 3500 calories to burn 1lb of fat so even if you only have 10lbs of fat on your entire body that is 35,000 calories. So on a low carb diet you are less likely to hit the wall. It is true that burning fat can be less efficient than burning sugar however tests have been done (see the art and science of low carbohydrate performance) that show that this has minimal if any impact on endurance performance. 

So basically in our experience there was no impact on running on a low carb diet in terms of performance etc, in fact we both feel like we have more energy now. As for speed, well because of the weight loss my 5k time has probably come down by about 10 minutes (guessing slightly from recent runs) and that is lowering my best ever PB by about 5 minutes and Katie is going quicker than ever as well. 

In fact we are both so confident that we have signed up to run a half marathon next year (enough said?)

(I realise that I am missing a lot of references on this but the knowledge is either from my degree or from the masses of reading I have done over the past 6 months whilst on this diet, if see something that is wrong I am happy to look for the evidence to back it up or if need be remove it, after all I am not a doctor). 

By popular demand...

This blog is going to be about low carbohydrate living. This is being written due to popular demand, many people have asked my wife and I over the last month or so how we have achieved our amazing weight loss and it has been through the use of a low carbohydrate diet and a lot of hard work. 

At my work Christmas party last year, 12th December 2014, we both knew that we were in a place where we needed to lose weight. If this blog takes off I'll go back to how we ended up at our weights and the diets we have tried in the past that have either not worked at all or only to varying extents. 

Motivation: 

The key thing you need is motivation, whatever diet you do will mean change and that means willpower and willpower comes from motivation. Sure picking the right diet helps a lot and for me this has, so far at least, been a very easy journey. I had several motivating factors to keep me going: 

1. Family - We have a young daughter and I want to be there for her for as long as possible, starting this diet I was nearly 19 stone and that was so far from healthy. 
2. Promise - Last October my Nan passed away and I made a promise to myself and my family to do a run to raise money for pancreatic cancer,. Initially the aim is 10k, I know that 10k is not hard but I am very competitive and want to do this at my best pace. So to some extent I have my Nan to thank. 
3. Health and fitness - Who doesn't want to be fitter, feel better and set a good example? 
4. Feel good about myself 
5. The last step to recovery - both my wife and I have found ourselves in this situation due to different circumstances. My wife suffered a terrible pregnancy and once was all said and done found herself with too much weight on, I had a condition called Ledderhose disease which is only part of the story.  

There are many other motivators but these are the ones that spring to mind before I forget about them.

A bit about the Low Carb (High Fat) diet:

I will not yet go into the science or too much detail of the meals we have been having just enough to make a little introduction.

The basic idea behind the diet is that your body will normally use sugar as its main energy source and this causes levels of insulin to spike up and down and insulin causes your body to store fat. By lowering your levels of sugar you will decrease your insulin levels and start using fat as your primary energy source. This is a process known as ketosis or nutritional ketosis as the break down of fat creates ketones which are then used to create the required energy.

Basic Food yes and no:

Firstly make sure when you look on packaging that you check carbohydrates and not sugar. From what I have read I would also recommend taking a multi-vitamin, this is especially the case in the early stages where you might find that eating fruit will inhibit you entering ketosis.

Can't Eat:
Bread, rice, pasta, sweets, crisps, potatoes, parsnips, sugar, dried fruit, cereals, cakes, flour, jam, take aways, fizzy drinks (non-diet).  Most sausages, one of my colleagues wants to try the pigs in blankets diet!

Go for it:
Bacon, chicken, fish, beef, lamb, most cheeses, double cream, lettuce, spinach, broccoli, egg, cauliflower, cucumber and cabbage.

Moderation / see for you:
Sugar free jam, sweetener, diet soft drinks (have loads of chemicals so don't really recommend it), tomatoes, most vegetables and some fruit.

Exercise:

Exercise can help weight loss, increase ketones, increase metabolism and make you feel better, if you are very overweight you might find it easier to get down to a lower weight to decrease stress before starting to exercise too much. I was exercising when weighing 19 stone and can say there is a huge difference.

Other things:

I found this diet great for me because I love eating fatty foods but you should try and get as much nutrient rich vegetables into your diet as you can.

On this diet after the first couple of week you will probably find that you don't feel that hungry, that is what makes sticking to this diet so easy compared to the other diets I have been on.

Drink water, water is great for you and is required for the process of fat metabolism.

Have bouillon - It is low in carb but give you some salt which is very helpful, on this diet I find I feel much better if I am having a cup or two of stick each day.

That's it for now...

Soon I will be posting some pictures and probably some meal ideas as well as my experience with exercise on this diet. I am sure my wife will be joining in and making some very informative posts as well. Knowing me I will also go a bit into the science and reviewing books that I have read etc.