He Gained 20 Pounds in 24 Hours — Then Keto Ended His Binge Eating | Robert Sikes

In this episode, I sit down with Robert Sikes — also known as Keto Savage — a lifetime natural competitive bodybuilder, WNBF pro, the World's Leanest Man, formulator of the Keto Brick, and creator of the Savage System, a coaching program for competitors and everyday people that he runs alongside his wife Crystal.

Robert came up on the traditional bro dieting playbook — six or seven meals a day, high carb, high protein — and it sent him into years of disordered eating. In 2014 he tore up the script and started experimenting with a strict, high-fat ketogenic approach to bodybuilding, building his own contest prep methodology from scratch.

Here's what we cover in the episode:

The bro dieting years — 115 pounds soaking wet in high school, refusing to wear a t-shirt for two years, then 6,000 calories a day of gas station food up to 230 pounds with no coach and no instruction

The first competition, the crash prep he now says he did entirely wrong, and the post-show binge that became the catalyst for years of restricting, binging and purging

How he found keto sideways — through John Kiefer's carb backloading, a protocol that all but sanctions binging at night — and the moment he realized he felt better during the half of the day with no carbohydrates in it

Who really shows up for the Savage System: mostly not competitors, and how many people arrive at keto or carnivore by way of disordered eating without naming it as that

Why, after more than 900 podcast episodes with top biohackers, doctors and researchers, he keeps landing on the least marketable answer there is — morning sun, real food, sleep, movement, and time with the people you love

The protein ceiling nobody's talking about — what happens to his ketones, glucose, sleep and joints after 500 grams at a Brazilian steakhouse, and why he thinks protein has been given a halo

The self-experiments: 18 cans of sardines a day for five days to debunk the viral sardine fast, what his bloodwork showed, and his answer to the sugar diet from the opposite metabolic direction

More info about Dr. Kristina's upcoming carnivore wellness retreat: https://www.MeatandMovement.com

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Keep in touch with Kristina:

https://www.DrKristinaDobyns.com

Connect with Robert here:

Website: ketosavage.com

Coaching: ketobodybuilding.com

Instagram: @ketosavage

YouTube: @ketosavage

X: @ketosavage

Podcast: Savage Perspective Podcast

Timestamps:

00:00 Intro

02:24 The bro dieting years

03:42 Eating big, and the crash prep

04:15 20 pounds in 24 hours

04:52 Years in the binge-purge loop

05:57 Restriction vs. structure

06:38 Finding keto through carb backloading

07:57 Why guilt is the real trigger

08:52 What keto did to his bodybuilding

10:08 What are you optimizing for

11:47 The Savage System

12:13 How many clients have food issues

14:49 Coming to keto through disordered eating

15:36 Are there good and bad foods

16:14 The pillars he coaches

17:56 900 episodes, and the basics

19:20 Where to start with body composition

21:26 Testing ketones

21:55 Fat vs. protein

23:24 What Robert eats in a day

24:02 Chasing higher ketones

27:06 Keto and metabolic psychiatry

28:10 Testing the protein floor

29:03 Can you eat too much protein

30:09 His protein heuristic

31:25 Self-experimentation

32:24 Going to the extremes

33:07 The sardine fast experiment

35:14 The sugar diet experiment

37:35 Training splits

38:47 Deadlifts and homesteading

39:46 Why he talks about this openly

40:35 Where to find Robert

Disclaimer: The information on this channel is for educational purposes and is not intended to be a substitute for medical advice or therapy. The views and opinions expressed by podcast guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of Kristina Dobyns or Beyond Binge Eating.