Goal Achieved for Week 1

By Phil Lancaster

November 30, 2021

anti aging, intermittent fast, keto diet

Half Way Through My 2 Week Plan

Phil Upper Body Flex

As outlined in my previous post Keto Diet + Intermittent Fasting my aim was to reduce my body fat percentage by 2% over a two week period, while maintaining muscle mass with minimal weight loss.

At close to my 77th birthday, I also wanted to put to bed these four Internet-based "facts":

  1. You naturally put on weight as you age.
  2. Your body fat percentage always goes up with your age, especially for women.
  3. Older people should avoid weight training because of the danger to their joints and muscles.
  4. It's difficult to get a six-pack after 40 and impossible after 50.

The planned methodology was the Keto Diet, intermittent fasting between breakfast and dinner, weights work on alternate days, stretches, abs and aerobics comprising walk, bike and HIIT. And no alcohol!

More...

Starting Statistics

My starting statistics were a weight of 67.05 kg, a body fat percentage of 16.5% giving me a fat component of 11.06 kg and a BMI of 22.1

How Did I Go One Week In?

Following the Plan

I followed the plan as outlined except I didn't manage to fit in any HIIT.

After weights work or a 40 km bike ride, I found myself very tired and at no time had the enthusiasm for HIIT.

I put this down to the intermittent fasting. My body was out of fuel for several hours in the middle of the day. Although it undoubtedly contributed to the fat loss (see below) I'm going to eliminate it from the plan this coming week and incorporate a high protein lunch instead.

New Statistics

I took the new measurements this (Sunday) morning, with these results:

Weight 65.5 kg, body fat percentage 15.3% giving me a fat component of 10.02 kg and a BMI of 21.6.

What Does This Mean?

For starters, a healthy BMI is in the range 18.5 to 24.9 (a mid-point of 21.7) so at 21.6 I'm pretty much spot-on.

I lost just over one and a half kilos, a little more than I would have preferred, but more than a kilo of that was pure body fat, so all in all not a bad result.

From the photo above, you can see that I've maintained muscle mass.

And maybe it's my imagination, but I believe I can see the outline of a six-pack. Not confident enough to photograph it yet. Maybe next week. We'll see.

Goal Achieved

My goal was to reduce my body fat percentage by 1% this week and another 1% this coming week.

So by reducing it from 16.5% to 15.3%, I've slightly bettered that goal.

I suspect getting down to 14.5% will be harder though.

Rest and Reward

Cafe Breakfast

As I've mentioned before, I'm a great believer in reward. In fact, I'm starting a dog training website soon and reward will be a big part of it.

Today, Sunday, is my day of rest and reward.

Except for my daily stretches and maybe a pleasant walk later, no exercises and no dietary restraints.

My usual Sunday morning breakfast at my local cafe Mr Jones and Me comprised smoky bacon, poached eggs, hash brown, wilted spinach and a tomato and onion relish, served with two half slices of sourdough toast and two mugs of extra hot cappuccino, one before and one after. A relaxing, enjoyable hour while I read the Sunday paper cover to cover.

Banana and Mango Smoothie

Then I came home and a little later, made myself a giant mango and banana smoothie. Ingredients were frozen mango, frozen banana, plain Greek yogurt, honey and whole fresh milk.

Feeling totally full at the moment.

Incidentally, I make my smoothies from my own fresh fruit, which I then freeze.

So in the freezer, I always have a supply of frozen mango cheeks, banana pieces, strawberries and blueberries. The flavor is much more intense than the pre-frozen packaged fruit from the supermarket.

Next Week

I'll report back next Sunday.

Phil Lancaster

About the author

Phil is a septuagenarian who believes in an enjoyable, healthy lifestyle through exercise and healthy eating. His website is all about helping others to look and feel younger.

The Aging Slowdown website covers diet, exercise, skin care, sexual health, your immune system. stress relief and better sleep. For those moving into retirement and concerned about income and lifestyle, there's an entire section devoted to creating an online business at any age.

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  1. What a great post… And Wow you look good for 74!  I loved the Keto diet.  I’m a career firefighter and have to stay in shape for my job.  I lost about 15 pounds on Keto around April 2018.  When I had my annual physical for the fire department they advised I need to stop Keto because my bad cholesterol has sky rocketed to over 206.  

    Any advice on how to fix this and still do Keto?  

    1. Good on you, Brian, losing 15 pounds is a real achievement. I’ve never had a problem with cholesterol so don’t have any advice there but I’ll research it and see what I come up with.

  2. You have been a great job so far you just to hang in there and you will be able to  do it . ketosis will make sure you loose while you are still healthy to do all the work but still due to your age bracket you can slow down  and another week or two this make sure you don’t have feel burned out the better part of the day . stay safe and all the best.

  3. Hey Phil,

    So your website is very interesting and I love that your recording your gains.  Was this achieved though through just keto dieting and intermittent fasting?

    Also you mentioned rewarding yourself, is that why you were able to add in the hash browns and fruit?

    In my experience with keto, if you let yourself naturally progress you will automatically start intermittent fasting.  I find that when you naturally allow the process you don’t get the weakness or the out of fuel feeling.

    I look forward to seeing more results.

    Thank you

    Amanda Blaine

  4. My dear Phil, 

    Finding your website is a God send to me. I am 62 years old. I am overweight and not in very good shape. I recently had some very thorough blood work done. The numbers were not very good. I am walking the line on too many danger signs. 

    My doctor said if I don’t make some serious lifestyle changes my health will deteriorate very quickly. This frightens me.  

    The doctor gave me some basic information to get me started. It was mostly about changing diet and adding exercise. 

    To be honest, I wondered, “Can I really do this, can I really change my life?”. I’m not sure. However, when I came across your website, I didn’t feel as lonely and hopeless as I did before I found your website. 

    I love the articles about slowing the aging process.  

    And personal testimony is inspiring. Oh, by the way, you look great. 150 pounds of twisted steel. 

    I am adding your website to my favorites list. Phil, I needed this. 

    I just sent for your free E-book, “Age Slower”. Thanks. 

    Thanks, brother,

    johnny

  5. Gaining  of excessive fat at an elderly age especially above 40 is very bad and unhealthy. I love exercise though I barely find time for it because of busy schedule and my work schedule. I will love to burn some fat without loosing so much weight and I hope this is achievable.

  6. This is great! I never knew it can be possible to loss fat while maintaining muscular mass at the same time, more over I though older people do not stand the chance maintain body shape and six pack.

    This article is encouraging and helpful. I will be glad if you can give more details about how you were able to achieve these great results in just two weeks. I want to follow your foot step. 

    Thank you. 

  7. Hi Phil Lancaster,

    I am very satisfied after reading an excellent article about anti aging food menu and step by step guideline for maintaining a healthy fitness. I am totally agree with you that over age people are getting fatty and more weight in their body. I have many close relatives are suffering this over weight and fat issue. I believe your article will help them to recover their healthy fitness. I am going to share it with them. Thanks for sharing it with us. 

  8. Hi Phil,

    Great post! Like seeing the results from your Keto diet and exercise in just one week, that is amazing to be able to do that at any age, and even more impressive getting that type of results in your seventies.

    In your experience, is the exercise giving you better results or is it the diet? I looked into the keto diet but being diabetic it is too high a risk of diabetic coma for me to do.

    I am on a low carb diet and keeping the calories under 1800 a day and only eating in 8 hours window while fasting for 16 hours, and the weight is coming off very slowly. I have been thinking about increasing exercise, but I am concerned that it will improve my appetite too much.

    Curious what your thoughts are on the subject! Thanks for sharing your experience, it is always a pleasure reading your post.

    1. Thanks very much for your comments.

      In my experience, exercise doesn’t increase your appetite. In fact, quite the reverse.

      My situation is a bit different in that I don’t need to lose weight. My goal is more one of maintaining weight while reducing body fat and increasing muscle. It’s quite a delicate balancing act.

      So I can’t really differentiate. Both are important. The Keto diet helps me burn fat for fuel, aerobic work keeps my metabolic rate up and resistance training maintains muscle tone.

      That said, if I could only have one, it would be exercise.

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