Do you have to do 16:8 7 days per week to realize the benefits?
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Bry_Fitness70
Posts: 2,480 Member
Hello,
I began intermittent fasting, 16:8, last week, and it hasn’t caused a lot of turmoil in my life. I have always loved eating breakfast, so the loss of eating around 7am every day has been the only downside thus far. I apologize if the question below has been asked, I just don’t have the time to sift through all past posts looking for what I need
I am primarily doing this because of the health/anti-aging benefits, not to burn fat (I am 6 ft. 170lbs). I am concerned with maintaining the muscle that I have while IF’g and don’t really care to start supplementing BCAAs (I eat Greek yogurt mixed with protein powder containing BCAAs twice per day so I believe that I am getting, but the timing of consumption doesn’t correlate with the workouts). I strength train 2 days per week at 5am (about 10-11 hours into my fasting window); I always eat a 20g protein bar on the way to the gym and then drink a 30g protein shake following the workout, followed by breakfast around an hour later. Overall, if I refrain from doing IF on strength training days or only consume the bar and shake (about 360 calories total) and otherwise observe the 16 hour fasting window, will that diminish the benefits of IF substantially?
Moving my workouts to a later time is not an option because of my work/family schedule.
Thank you!
I began intermittent fasting, 16:8, last week, and it hasn’t caused a lot of turmoil in my life. I have always loved eating breakfast, so the loss of eating around 7am every day has been the only downside thus far. I apologize if the question below has been asked, I just don’t have the time to sift through all past posts looking for what I need
I am primarily doing this because of the health/anti-aging benefits, not to burn fat (I am 6 ft. 170lbs). I am concerned with maintaining the muscle that I have while IF’g and don’t really care to start supplementing BCAAs (I eat Greek yogurt mixed with protein powder containing BCAAs twice per day so I believe that I am getting, but the timing of consumption doesn’t correlate with the workouts). I strength train 2 days per week at 5am (about 10-11 hours into my fasting window); I always eat a 20g protein bar on the way to the gym and then drink a 30g protein shake following the workout, followed by breakfast around an hour later. Overall, if I refrain from doing IF on strength training days or only consume the bar and shake (about 360 calories total) and otherwise observe the 16 hour fasting window, will that diminish the benefits of IF substantially?
Moving my workouts to a later time is not an option because of my work/family schedule.
Thank you!
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Replies
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Everyone is different. I eat 3 meals on weekends. But mix it up with 20:4 every once in awhile. Trust what your body tells you. Mine tells me to wrap everything in bacon...2
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I think fasting whenever you can is beneficial. Every time you do at least a 16 hours fast, your cells are healing and you are producing human growth hormone. The exercising you do is beneficial for your body and the IF you do on off days is as well. Sounds like a good combo to me.
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I think fasting whenever you can is beneficial. Every time you do at least a 16 hours fast, your cells are healing and you are producing human growth hormone. The exercising you do is beneficial for your body and the IF you do on off days is as well. Sounds like a good combo to me.
Thank you - I wasn't sure how critical it was to consistently fast, but it sounds like each day of fasting is beneficial regardless of the overall frequency
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From my understanding, you don't have to worry about the body converting muscle into fuel until it uses your body fat. I know you do not want to lose weight so I think if you watch your % body fat, you will have an idea about the effect of fasting on your body. Using muscle for fuel normally occurs only when one is truly starving. Body protein is used as you lose weight but it is the connective tissue which supports the fat that you have lost, not your muscle.
I got this from "The Obesity Code" by Dr Jason Fung. His information on fasting is also available in a series on youtube. His explanation made sense to me because if you think of man as a hunter/gatherer, it would not make sense for the body to use muscle for fuel until every other energy source is used up because that muscle is needed to get more food. If we became weaker through fasting, we would not survive.3
