Lifters- Do you Fast?

lacurandera1
lacurandera1 Posts: 8,083 Member
I've been reading about intermittent fasting, and have (occasionally over the last few months) done a 24 hour fast. However, I love love love to eat. lol. So it's a hard thing for me to commit to.

Anyway- do you fast? What protocol do you follow? Do you do a 24 hour fast or an x hour fast with an x hour eating window? How often? Once a week? Twice a month? I'm interested to see how others are doign this and if they're noticed and differences.

The health benefits appear to be tremendous. And, if you think about it, It's probably how we would have eaten in cave man days. As in, there would probably be days when we couldn't find any food.

Replies

  • lacurandera1
    lacurandera1 Posts: 8,083 Member
    Well I figured I'd get at least one response. LOL.
  • Awkward30
    Awkward30 Posts: 1,927 Member
    I fast! I do a loose interpretation of leangains 14/10 because it follows my natural hunger patterns. I can train fasted, but I don't really like it much.

    Honestly, I have read primary literature on the subject and the data is equivocal as to whether it is beneficial or not, but it certainly isn't detrimental, so my advice would be to eat when you want and not worry about whether its the "best" way.
  • MissPeppers
    MissPeppers Posts: 302 Member
    Why don't you check out our intermittent fasting group?
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/forums/show/66-intermittent-fasting :flowerforyou:
    I fast every day. It's great :smile:
  • karinefitness
    karinefitness Posts: 336 Member
    I cannot train fasted. I've tried it and it just doesn't seem to be for me, I get dizzy, feel weak and like I'm going to faint. Not a good thing ;)

    But I've fasted for 14-16 hours once on the weekend and it was interesting. I will do it once in a while, but not on a regular basis. Maybe 1-2x a month.
  • mcarthur_jess
    mcarthur_jess Posts: 11 Member
    i do a 16/8 fast everyday and love it i have heaps of energy and focus in the mornings. itrain fasted once a week on a saturday but must eat immediately after otherwise i become crazy!!!
    i have lost cms of stubborn fat off the love handle area :)
    its definatly not for everyone though
  • Nope.
  • kajpen
    kajpen Posts: 120 Member
    I've done the Eat Stop Eat method of fasting (where you basically fast 18 - 20 hours two days per week). I really enjoyed it and typically will fast from dinner one night to dinner the next night , so I technically get to eat every day, but two times a week I only eat dinner.

    Since hitting maintenance I haven't fasted because I've been trying to figure out what my maintenance calories need to be. But once I have that number down, I will most likely go back to the fasting protocol.
  • Smurfette1987
    Smurfette1987 Posts: 110 Member
    Yep. I do alternate day, like JUDDD. I'm on maintenence so I eat 500- 600 cals on fast days, which I take any time in the day and make up for the deficit on feed days. No probs training on it. Sometimes I feel a bit poop if I didn't eat the best quality food, but that's IF or not.
  • 1_HottMess
    1_HottMess Posts: 8 Member
    I haven't heard about IF but I'm def gonna read up on it now. Glad you posted this.

    You've prob read a lot already but here's a website that shows what a sample fasting period might look like. Looks like one key is to get BCAA in during the fast period which makes sense so your muscles get what they need to train effectively AND recover. But the true key is that on a consistent basis your diet is a lean otherwise any amount of fasting will be irrelevant.

    http://www.leangains.com/2010/04/leangains-guide.html

    Good luck!
  • Beeps2011
    Beeps2011 Posts: 12,190 Member
    I use an "eating window" on a daily basis, and keep a calorie-deficit within that eating window. And, I work-out in a "fasted" state all the time, now. (It's been 2 months I've been working out "fasted".)