Bulletproof diet for fitness

This is an overview of the bulletproof. Anyone who wants to do a deep dive can refer to

Bulletproof Diet: Lose up to a Pound a Day, Reclaim Energy and Focus, Upgrade Your Life.

This article summarises the book and my experience using it principles for a year.

What is a bulletproof diet?

A bulletproof diet is high in fat and vegetables. It is also moderate in Proteins and carbohydrates and low in toxins and starch. Fat is found in products like butter and coconut oil has been the bane of dietitians for decades.

A trend that is currently being reversed based on findings from the ketogenic diet. The ketogenic diet and bulletproof diet are very similar. The bulletproof diet adds bulletproof coffee and intermittent fasting.

Controlling your macronutrients is a big trend in fitness at the moment. It leads to successful weight loss for many people. Apps like myfitnesspal help you to keep track of what you eat.

Macronutrients are also called macros for short. Macronutrients split into the groups fat, carbohydrates and Protein. For the bulletproof diet, you will take in 40% of your calories from fat, 40% from protein and 20% from carbohydrates.

The amount of calories you eat a day is determined by many factors such as

Age
Gender
Health
Fitness
Weight
Height
Medication
Activity level
Seasons of the year
Exposure to sunlight
Genetics

There are a lot of moving parts to get this right. The general advice is not become a slave to a calorie number and listen to your body. To determine these perimeters I recommend to talk to a GP or nutritionist. After that, you can start making changes.

Why should you drink bulletproof coffee?

Bulletproof coffee is coffee with added fat. For this, you can use butter or coconut oil. If you do not like coffee you can also try to add butter to your tea.

There are different stories where bulletproof coffee originates. One is based on an entrepreneur from silicon valley. The other about bulletproof coffee coming from Australia.

In both stories, bulletproof coffee helps for higher brain function. Higher awareness is also a benefit. Apart from the usual effects of coffee, the added fat helps to get into ketosis. Bulletproof coffee also helps with intermittent fasting. You will feel fuller to make it through the 16 hours fast to your first meal.

The reason to drink bulletproof coffee is to raise the concentration of ketones in your blood. The higher the concentration of ketones in your blood, the more fat you burn as a source of energy.

What kind of fat should you be eating?

The bad reputation of fat started with Ancel Keys. He connected heart diseases with consumption of fat in the 1950s. When you raise your fat intake, take care to focus on unsaturated fats.

The body digests saturated fat slower. This leads to more oxidation in the process. This kind of oxidation has been linked to aging and cancer. Margarine is a source saturated fat. Swap it for butter where you can.

What kind of protein should you be eating?

Good protein sources for a bulletproof diet are

Grass-fed Meat
Haddock
Anchovies
Sardines
Trout
Wild Meat

Look for fat that is more yellow than white. This is a sign that it is full of nutrients. Especially for bodybuilders and strength athletes, the temptation is great to supplement protein. Plan this and keep track of what you are eating. Avoid taking a shake with every meal you have.

How long should you be sleeping?

There is a big debate around sleep. Some advice 6 - 8 hours, others say you can go with even less. Nelson Mandela and Margaret Thatcher functioned on five hours a night.

The more healthy you are, the less sleep you need. Keep this in mind when you plan your sleep. You can also average out sleep by being smart with how much you sleep on weekdays and weekends. A sleep tracker can help to identify trends.

How should you exercise?

Exercise is also big when you want´to lose weight. The current hype is to go for high-intensity interval training, short HIIT. A few years ago you called it interval training.

Whatever exercise you do two main things are to do it regularly and at least 20 minutes. Once you have established these habits you can start to dabble around.

Will intermittent fasting harm me?

Always consult a doctor before fasting. Especially when you start you can experience side effects. Whether you are at risk depends on your health and weight. Everyone is different.

Once you have the green light, do not be afraid. Intermittent fasting is easy. Especially when you make use of bulletproof coffee.

My personal bulletproof diet routine

I have been using a combination of a ketogenic diet and bulletproof coffee for almost all 2017. The results were very good. When I stuck to the program I was able to lose 10kg in two months. I weighed 82.5kg at my wedding in July 2017 coming down from 98kg.

Fasting in the mornings was something I had to get used to. Before the bulletproof diet, I had either oats or eggs with bacon. Once you get the knack of bulletproof coffee in it becomes a lot easier to make it to lunch without eating. If coffee is not your thing you can also put coconut oil and butter in your tea.

To prepare my bulletproof coffee I use 1Tb of butter and 1Tb of coconut oil. The coffee comes out of Tchibo Tassimo machine. Be sure that you have a milk frother at hand. Stir the coffee up until there is a yellow foam on top. If you want to save time put cold water into the coffee so you can drink it faster.

I go to the gym between 6 am to 8 am. The lack of breakfast does not impact my performance in the gym. I stop eating between 8 pm and 9 pm on weekdays. To track my fasting time I use the free Zero app.

I function with 5 hours of sleep on weekdays and makeup on the weekends. Through this, I end up with an average of six to seven hours in the entire week.

My biggest stumbling blocks are chocolate and cheesecakes. I love them and they have so much sugar that they kick me out of ketosis. With this routine, I am currently on the road back to 80kg. After the wedding and Christmas, I had gone up to 98kg.

Conclusion

The bulletproof diet is a good way of dieting which is fun. It is one of the few I have stuck to. If you want to lose weight, gain more discipline and be fitter give it a try.