Protein Target

Weeks 3–4 mark the start of the keto phase and an increase in the intensity of the purge phase (pull-phase). After the first two weeks, we adjust nutrition, fasting, and training to introduce a stronger stimulus as your body adapts.

Goal 1: Elevate the purge stimulus.
Extend intermittent fasting to 18:6 and reduce calorie intake to 90% of maintenance calories. Within Calicen, these changes are intended to support the body’s cleansing capacity by targeting cellular maintenance and recycling processes.

Goal 2: Transition toward ketosis and greater use of fat for fuel.
Adopt a high-fiber, dairy-free ovo-pescatarian keto diet, combining fish, seafood, and eggs with low-carbohydrate plant foods. Target 5% of daily energy from net carbohydrates, with a maximum of 10%. Follow the block’s recipes to keep fiber high while making the transition practical.

Cardio becomes the main training focus.
The weekly plan shifts to four cardio sessions—one each in Zones 5, 4, 3, and 2—and one weightlifting session. Continue two daily VILPAs, keeping vigorous movement woven into everyday life alongside scheduled training.

Make hydration part of the transition.
Spread several hydrating drinks throughout the day and follow the plan’s electrolyte guidance. Prepare meals ahead, protect your sleep, and maintain daily meditation as you settle into the new rhythm.

A longer fasting window, a modest calorie deficit, keto nutrition, and more cardio now work together to advance the purge phase. Stay consistent and give yourself time to adapt.

Weeks 5–6 introduce daily protein restriction to intensify the purge phase (pull-phase). The fasting window, calorie deficit, and keto foundation remain, while lower protein availability introduces a fresh stimulus.

Goal 1: Intensify the stimulus for cellular recycling.
Reduce protein to 1 g/kg of body weight daily, maintaining 18:6 intermittent fasting and 90% of maintenance calories. Within Calicen, this restriction is intended to further support autophagy—the recycling of damaged or unnecessary cellular components.

Keep nutritional quality high.
Continue the high-fiber, dairy-free ovo-pescatarian keto diet, with smaller portions of eggs and seafood. Mushrooms gain prominence, alongside low-carb vegetables, avocado, nuts, and seeds. Target 5% of energy from net carbohydrates, maximum 10%. Follow the recipes to maintain variety and micronutrient intake.

Goal 2: Counter the tendency to conserve energy.
During sustained calorie restriction, the body can reduce spontaneous movement to conserve energy. Two daily VILPAs are especially important: deliberately counter this tendency and increase daily energy expenditure. Within Calicen, this metabolic stimulus reinforces the purge strategy.

Maintain one weightlifting session and four cardio sessions weekly—Zones 5, 4, 3, and 2.

Deepen your meditation practice.
Train concentration and stillness through the guided meditations. If ketosis brings mental clarity, use it to deepen your practice.

Prioritize hydration, sleep, and recovery. Stay precise with nutrition, purposeful with movement, and consistent with meditation.

This is the last block (Weeks 7–8 — Block 4)  before the water fast and a particularly important stage of the purge phase (pull-phase).Already adapted to keto, you now take the next step: vegan nutrition, protein restricted to 0.6 g/kg daily, and a 20% calorie deficit, while maintaining 18:6 intermittent fasting.

Goal 1: Deepen the purge stimulus and prepare for the fast.
Lower energy and protein availability intensify the protocol’s dietary restriction, with the intention of reducing growth signaling and supporting cellular recycling, including amino acid reuse. Target 5% of energy from net carbohydrates, maximum 10%. This block extends your adaptation to using fat and ketones for fuel, preparing you for the upcoming water fast.

Goal 2: Begin the three-block microbiome reset strategy.
Blocks 4–6 form a coordinated sequence: low-protein vegan keto → water fast → high-protein vegan nutrition. Calicen’s strategy is to influence the microbial environment before fasting, then favor beneficial microbial activity during refeeding. High fiber remains central, supplying nourishment for gut microbes throughout the eating blocks.

Make a narrow food selection work for you.
Combining vegan and keto requirements makes variety more challenging. Follow the recipes and explore different preparations of mushrooms, nuts, seeds, avocado, cacao, and olive oil, alongside low-carb vegetables and the kefir included in the plan. Keep nutritional quality high within the tighter calorie budget.

Maintain four cardio sessions weekly—Zones 5, 4, 3, and 2—one weightlifting session, and two daily VILPAs. Support consistency with hydration, sleep, and meditation as you approach the final stage of the purge phase.

This is the most important week—the one we have been preparing for. It serves as the central "pivot" point within the 17-week cycle. During this week, autophagy will reach its peak level.
At this stage, we intensify restrictions to the maximum through a 7-day water fast, supplemented with electrolytes and vitamins to support the body during this detoxification process. The body will stabilize, compensate for any excesses, and undergo a deep cleanse—both of the microbiome and at the cellular level. These 7 days will consist exclusively of water, herbal teas, and coffee, while maintaining a moderately high level of physical activity.

This week follows an 8-week period of preparatory dietary restrictions. The transition from the eighth to the ninth week should be quite seamless; the body is already in a state of ketosis, and the microbiome is undergoing a process of recomposition.

Microbiome: By reducing caloric intake to near zero, the bacteria that were previously favored gain a survival advantage over those already weakened by a lack of nutrients. The goal is to eliminate as many "harmful" bacteria as possible.

Body composition: During this week, you will experience a loss of several kilograms. It is crucial to understand that a significant portion of this weight loss is simply the elimination of water. The loss of fat and other tissues will be approximately 2 to 4 kg (the remainder is temporary weight loss). The body will utilize as much fat as possible. Furthermore, physical exercise—primarily short, intense bursts of activity (VILPA) and a weightlifting session—will signal the body to preserve healthy tissue, thereby focusing on the selective elimination of old or damaged tissue.

The reintroduction of proteins and calories has a profound impact. Naturally, refeeding must be approached with care. Subsequently, all the changes that occur will contribute to the reconstruction of the entire body: the microbiome, as well as organ and muscle tissues, will be rebuilt.

Microbiome: During the two weeks of the vegan ketogenic diet, the microbiome was nurtured. The preceding week, dedicated to a water-only fast, eliminated the weaker strains within the microbiome. Now, during weeks 10 and 11, we are replenishing the microbiome with a vegan diet rich in protein and fiber. This lays the foundation and completes the microbiome recomposition cycle, fostering its healthy development—a process essential for producing the hormones, vitamins, and other elements required for a healthy life.

Refeeding: On Monday morning, eat half an avocado with some salt. If you feel well, have your first full meal two hours later: lentil soup (rich in protein) served with tomatoes and mushrooms. If you find your stomach is sensitive, reduce the portion sizes and eat smaller meals every three hours—for example, a bit of avocado with salt or a few peanuts. If you feel fine after your first meal of lentils, you can proceed as planned, following the suggested meal plan.

Why a protein-rich vegan diet?
After nine weeks of increasing restriction, the body becomes highly receptive to protein. A high protein intake will serve as a powerful stimulus for muscle and tissue growth. At this stage, the body craves protein and will utilize it with maximum efficiency. Choosing a vegan option ensures that the protein consumed also supports a healthy microbiome. In this way, both the body’s tissues and the microbiome are nourished and rebuilt.

This is the second growth block, with protein intake kept high as we introduce selected animal products within a Mediterranean dietary pattern.

The focus is to fully embrace a Mediterranean lifestyle: plenty of legumes, vegetables, nuts and seeds, alongside eggs, some cheese, fish and moderate amounts of minimally processed meat. This block begins several weeks of enjoying a broader spectrum of foods while keeping whole foods at the foundation.

Goal: Maintain a strong stimulus for muscle growth while keeping calories at maintenance.

Increase the hypertrophic stimulus (muscle growth): The previous high-protein vegan block provided the protein needed to support muscle and tissue growth. This block continues that momentum by adding selected animal proteins to the plant-rich foundation, broadening the sources of essential amino acids available to support muscle protein synthesis.

Within the protocol, this dietary transition is intended to reinforce the growth stimulus alongside four weekly weightlifting sessions. Protein remains high to support growth-related signaling, including mTOR, muscle development and normal tissue renewal.

This block introduces an important change: a controlled calorie surplus to support two more weeks of muscle growth.After four weeks focused on building muscle, we extend that momentum by increasing energy availability while maintaining high protein intake and four weekly weightlifting sessions.

An additional nutritional trick for anabolic stimulus: Increase calorie intake to approximately 10% above maintenance. This modest surplus provides additional energy for demanding training, recovery, and new muscle protein production. Within the Calicen Protocol, this strategy supports continued growth over the next two weeks.

Intensify nutrition while keeping the Mediterranean foundation. Emphasize protein-rich plant foods such as tofu, tempeh, edamame, and other legumes. Add calories through whole grains, nuts, seeds, and olive oil, alongside the selected animal products in the plan. Include one modest serving of liver per week to broaden micronutrient intake.

Keep progressing in the gym. Follow the four weekly weightlifting sessions and progressive overload: gradually increase working weights, repetitions, or training volume while maintaining controlled technique. With consistent training and recovery, the expected outcome is measurable progress—including personal records in repetitions and working weights.

Remember the purpose of the second half of the Calicen cycle: building muscle and supporting tissue renewal.

Muscle growth primarily enlarges existing muscle fibers through the production and incorporation of new muscle proteins. These two weeks extend that building phase.

Train with purpose, eat to support the work, and recover well. Make these next two weeks count.

This is the final block of the 17-week Calicen Protocol cycle and the last two weeks of the muscle-growth phase. After six weeks of focused growth training, the nutrition and training strategies established in previous blocks remain in place. The emphasis now shifts toward keeping motivation high and finishing with purpose.

By this stage, the gym routine may feel repetitive. Bring fresh energy to these final two weeks through variety, enjoyment, and opportunities to celebrate your progress.

Goal 1: Keep motivation high through enjoyment.
Explore new recipes, experiment with ingredients, and follow your culinary curiosity. Keep the nutritional targets as your foundation while giving yourself more creative freedom in the kitchen. Enjoying the process helps you sustain the effort.

Goal 2: Celebrate your progress through challenges.
Choose a challenge, friendly competition, or suitable sporting event that lets you put your progress to the test. Aim for a personal best, compete with a friend, or set a meaningful training milestone. Match the challenge to your abilities and recovery so it complements these final weeks of training.

Finish the cycle with something worth celebrating. 

These last two weeks are an opportunity to turn consistency into achievement—and to enjoy the strength, skills, and confidence you have built along the way.