5:2 Fasting

jemhh

sijomial wrote: »

I found it very good - far easier for me than every day calorie restriction.
Also supported a very heavy exercise routine very well.
Side benefits were being more creative with food choices / recipes and recognising what real hunger signals are - as opposed to habitual eating, boredom or just plain greed.

It's not for everyone but was great for me.
By the way you don't have to do it for life, as you are eating at maintenance five days a week you should know your maintenance calories pretty well and be used to eating at that level by the time you get to goal.

@sijomial, if you don't mind sharing, how did you schedule your lifting sessions when doing 5:2? I just took a short diet break and am considering 5:2 when I start cutting again. I'm just not sure which days I should use as fast days. I do a 4 day upper/lower split and 2 of those days I'm lifting in the morning. I worry that if I fast the day before, my lifting will be off.

sijomial

jemhh wrote: »

sijomial wrote: »

I found it very good - far easier for me than every day calorie restriction.
Also supported a very heavy exercise routine very well.
Side benefits were being more creative with food choices / recipes and recognising what real hunger signals are - as opposed to habitual eating, boredom or just plain greed.

It's not for everyone but was great for me.
By the way you don't have to do it for life, as you are eating at maintenance five days a week you should know your maintenance calories pretty well and be used to eating at that level by the time you get to goal.

@sijomial, if you don't mind sharing, how did you schedule your lifting sessions when doing 5:2? I just took a short diet break and am considering 5:2 when I start cutting again. I'm just not sure which days I should use as fast days. I do a 4 day upper/lower split and 2 of those days I'm lifting in the morning. I worry that if I fast the day before, my lifting will be off.

@jemhh
My exercise routine at the time was normally 3 days cycling (or other complimentary cardio) and 3 days weights on alternate days, 7th day mostly a light activity day but wasn't unusual to make it 7 days a week exercising.

5:2 main advantage for exercise in a deficit is that 5 days a week you are fully fuelled, that's when I would schedule my more extreme or long duration exercise. I trained for and completed my first Century Ride while doing 5:2.

Normally I do my weights in the afternoon or evening, on a fast day that would be after a roughly 300cal meal - never caused me any issues in terms of energy or performance. Ditto in fact when I lifted before eating.
Cardio was different and at first I would start to get symptoms of glycogen depletion ("bonking") after even moderate exercise. But I adapted over a period of months until fasted cardio really didn't feel any different to fed cardio and I could do intense/fast rides for an hour with no issues, even to the point of negative calorie days occasionally.

Suggestion for you - as weights isn't a large calorie burner if you are lifting before breakfast following a fast day just a small carby snack (banana?) before training should fuel you adequately.
The reaction to fasted exercise does vary from person to person but also you adapt over time.
A lot of it is mental, people are conditioned to believe they "need" pre and post workout supplements for even the most moderate exercise routines although they are carrying huge energy stores in their body anyway.

kimbelle_vie

I tried it and loved it! However it really affected my menstrual cycles.

jemhh

sijomial wrote: »

jemhh wrote: »

sijomial wrote: »

I found it very good - far easier for me than every day calorie restriction.
Also supported a very heavy exercise routine very well.
Side benefits were being more creative with food choices / recipes and recognising what real hunger signals are - as opposed to habitual eating, boredom or just plain greed.

It's not for everyone but was great for me.
By the way you don't have to do it for life, as you are eating at maintenance five days a week you should know your maintenance calories pretty well and be used to eating at that level by the time you get to goal.

@sijomial, if you don't mind sharing, how did you schedule your lifting sessions when doing 5:2? I just took a short diet break and am considering 5:2 when I start cutting again. I'm just not sure which days I should use as fast days. I do a 4 day upper/lower split and 2 of those days I'm lifting in the morning. I worry that if I fast the day before, my lifting will be off.

@jemhh
My exercise routine at the time was normally 3 days cycling (or other complimentary cardio) and 3 days weights on alternate days, 7th day mostly a light activity day but wasn't unusual to make it 7 days a week exercising.

5:2 main advantage for exercise in a deficit is that 5 days a week you are fully fuelled, that's when I would schedule my more extreme or long duration exercise. I trained for and completed my first Century Ride while doing 5:2.

Normally I do my weights in the afternoon or evening, on a fast day that would be after a roughly 300cal meal - never caused me any issues in terms of energy or performance. Ditto in fact when I lifted before eating.
Cardio was different and at first I would start to get symptoms of glycogen depletion ("bonking") after even moderate exercise. But I adapted over a period of months until fasted cardio really didn't feel any different to fed cardio and I could do intense/fast rides for an hour with no issues, even to the point of negative calorie days occasionally.

Suggestion for you - as weights isn't a large calorie burner if you are lifting before breakfast following a fast day just a small carby snack (banana?) before training should fuel you adequately.
The reaction to fasted exercise does vary from person to person but also you adapt over time.
A lot of it is mental, people are conditioned to believe they "need" pre and post workout supplements for even the most moderate exercise routines although they are carrying huge energy stores in their body anyway.

Thanks for the info and advice, @sijomial. This is helpful. In the past I trained first thing in the morning without eating anything and was fine but then got to the point where I just wasn't doing all that great so I started eating a bit as soon as I got up. However, I was eating in a deficit full time when doing that. With 5:2 there's the possibility that being fully fueled most days (even if the overall weekly deficit is the same) would change how I feel overall. Plus, like you said, I could eat something beforehand like I do now. I think I may commit to doing this for 8 weeks to see how I like it.