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intermittent fasting and building muscle

Jimmyftw94
Jimmyftw94 Posts: 75 Member
edited November 2024 in Health and Weight Loss
Intermittent fasting and building muscle, can they coexist? I always hear from bodybuilding that you want to eat throughout the day, but now this intermittent fasting diet trend wants you to do the opposite, eat only within a certain time.

If I do intermittent fasting, when should I workout?

Replies

  • SideSteel
    SideSteel Posts: 11,068 Member
    Jimmyftw94 wrote: »
    Intermittent fasting and building muscle, can they coexist? I always hear from bodybuilding that you want to eat throughout the day, but now this intermittent fasting diet trend wants you to do the opposite, eat only within a certain time.

    If I do intermittent fasting, when should I workout?

    Yes you can still build muscle with an Intermittent Fasting approach.

    If your concern is to optimize muscle gain then I have my doubts that you could do this with Intermittent Fasting, but what's optimal and what's possible are two different questions.

    Regarding timing your workouts, if I were in your position I would base your workout timing on preferential and performance aspects first. So in other words find the best time such that it fits your lifestyle AND you are able to perform well.
  • Unknown
    Unknown
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  • cassie858
    cassie858 Posts: 50 Member
    MrM27 wrote: »
    Yes. But you still need a caloric surplus. Not a deficit.

    Exactly this. Some people use IF to lose weight, because it makes it easier for them to control their eating and stay in a calorie deficit.

    There are many different types of IF, the most common is to eat only in a 4-8 hour eating window per day, for example, missing breakfast, breaking your fast with lunch at13:00 and ending your eating window 6 hours later with dinner at 19:00. The other popular IF structure is a 24 hour fast, one day per week, the rest of the time, eating normally.

    We are learning more recently that skipping meals is not a problem, you do NOT need to eat every 3-4 hours in order to 'keep the furnace burning'.. your metabolism wont actually begin to slow until you have been fasting for 48 hours or more.

    It doesn't matter WHEN you eat, if you are in a calorie deficit, you WILL lose weight... if you are in a calorie surplus, you WILL gain weight.

    So if yes, it is possible to gain muscle whilst IF, but as MrM27 rightly said, you will only build muscle if you are in a calorie surplus. I wouldn't worry too much about when you are eating, as long as you track your macros. Eat whenever fits your schedule, do what works for YOU. Just make sure that you are getting enough protein each day and you will be fine.

    I would advise however that if you are training whilst doing IF, then you must take BCAA's before and after training.

    Dr Sara Solomon is an advocate of intermittent fasting and you can find a fair bit of information on her website. http://www.drsarasolomon.com/

    One of my favourite trainers to follow is Mike Matthews, he does not partake in IF himself, however there is a substantial amount of information on his blog that will help you. http://www.muscleforlife.com/

    Good luck on your journey!
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