Intermittent fasting

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Replies

  • BR1986FB
    BR1986FB Posts: 1,515 Member
    I posted a thread about this in the food section of this board. Explains why there weren't a lot of replies. LOL

    Been doing IF for about 2 weeks now. Schedule doesn't permit me to do it the Lean Gains way. I eat at 4:30am then fast until about 6:30pm. Take Purple Wraath BCAA's, Yohimbine HCL & Jack3D just prior to my 5:30pm workout. I do the Lean Gains IF on weekends though.

    So far, so good.

    I also eat Paleo.
  • Vegasboricua702
    Vegasboricua702 Posts: 149
    Interesting. Does your body adjust to the schedule? Sometimes I get pretty hungry in the mornings, other times not.

    Yes your body adjusts. it sucks the first couple of days, but then you get less hungrier for less and less time. I dont get any hunger pains in the 16hour period not.
  • BR1986FB
    BR1986FB Posts: 1,515 Member
    Interesting. Does your body adjust to the schedule? Sometimes I get pretty hungry in the mornings, other times not.

    Yes your body adjusts. it sucks the first couple of days, but then you get less hungrier for less and less time. I dont get any hunger pains in the 16hour period not.

    I noticed this too. First time I did it on a Monday I was hungry by lunch but I caught a second wind at about 2pm and the hunger was gone. From there on out it's been smooth sailing.
  • maddiex_x
    maddiex_x Posts: 43
    When i read what you're eating, looks healthy enough to me. Besides, he isn't starving himself ALL day, he still eats.

    Maybe I will try it. I work 4pm - 12am and usually don't eat while I'm at work. Then I get home, drink water, and go to sleep. In the morning I eat a quick breakfast, lunch, & then I'm off to work. hmmm wait ... have I been doing it without noticing? LOL.
  • 4theking
    4theking Posts: 1,196 Member
    I do this as well. Sometimes I break it a bit early with just a protein shake. It was the final piece in the puzzle for me to finally get in great shape. Hope to hit my goals this summer.
  • Melzie2121
    Melzie2121 Posts: 5
    You've got my interest (even with all the debate). I'm going to check out the site now. TFS
  • eileen7316
    eileen7316 Posts: 72 Member
    Sorry for the double post.
  • eileen7316
    eileen7316 Posts: 72 Member
    Okay, triple post - sorry!
  • eileen7316
    eileen7316 Posts: 72 Member


    The "eat often to stoke your metabolism" myth has already been discounted in several studies.


    This is correct. The latest studies show that snacking all day long is BAD. Three meals a day did not hurt our ancestors, and won't hurt us either.
  • cutmd
    cutmd Posts: 1,168 Member
    I had great progress on leangains. It was good for me because it stopped my interminable snacking. It also taught me what true hunger and an empty stomach felt like. I ate hardy and my muscles bulged while the fat decreased. After a while it was a double-edged sword though because I found it hard with my usual dieting habits (that I fell back into) to get enough calories. For instance, I would eat a kale salad with chicken breast for lunch, some fruit, some nuts, and then a stir fry of some sort for dinner. It was easy to get under calories so I would just go with it when I should have made sure I kept my calories up. This coupled with vigorous exercise tired me out, and I went to a maintenance break. I will be back though

    In truth, this method makes it easy to stick to your calories, but then you gotta stick with eating enough as well.
  • Vegasboricua702
    Vegasboricua702 Posts: 149
    I had great progress on leangains. It was good for me because it stopped my interminable snacking. It also taught me what true hunger and an empty stomach felt like. I ate hardy and my muscles bulged while the fat decreased. After a while it was a double-edged sword though because I found it hard with my usual dieting habits (that I fell back into) to get enough calories. For instance, I would eat a kale salad with chicken breast for lunch, some fruit, some nuts, and then a stir fry of some sort for dinner. It was easy to get under calories so I would just go with it when I should have made sure I kept my calories up. This coupled with vigorous exercise tired me out, and I went to a maintenance break. I will be back though

    In truth, this method makes it easy to stick to your calories, but then you gotta stick with eating enough as well.

    Couldnt of said it better myself.
  • cutmd
    cutmd Posts: 1,168 Member
    Bump. I'm back on the wagon. Does anyone do the bcaas with fasted training? I tend to workout in the am. Try ton save my weight training for a fed time but sometimes this is hard.

    How about the calorie cycling? I seem to remember I struggled to get in enough during the high days
  • BR1986FB
    BR1986FB Posts: 1,515 Member
    Bump. I'm back on the wagon. Does anyone do the bcaas with fasted training? I tend to workout in the am. Try ton save my weight training for a fed time but sometimes this is hard.

    How about the calorie cycling? I seem to remember I struggled to get in enough during the high days

    I use Purple Wraath BCAA's and they seem to kickstart my workout. During the fast I know I can get through my workout but that little bit that I get from those BCAA's helps a ton.

    I don't really calorie cycle.
  • liftingbro
    liftingbro Posts: 2,029 Member
    I glanced at the website, but you posted the basics (which any sensible person would know is unhealthy) in your original post. Is the following true or untrue?

    You do not eat for 16 hours.
    You then eat your entire day's worth of calories in the other 8 hours.

    If that is part of your diet (like you stated in your original post), that is unhealthy.

    You want sources? Okay.

    http://www.losing-bodyfat.com/eatmore.html
    http://www.thedietchannel.com/AskTheExpert/nutrition-healthy-eating/Meal-Frequency-How-often-should-you-eat.htm
    http://www.sparkpeople.com/resource/nutrition_articles.asp?id=1144
    http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/sclark75.htm
    http://www.ehow.com/how_4711051_eat-lose-weight.html
    http://www.wikihow.com/Eat-and-Lose-Weight
    http://www.shapefit.com/lose-weight-eat-more.html
    http://ezinearticles.com/?Eat-More-Often-to-Lose-Weight&id=50599
    http://familydoctor.org/online/famdocen/home/healthy/food/improve/795.html
    http://www.disabled-world.com/fitness/diets/eating-more.php
    http://www.nutrition-diet-healthy.com/diet-nutrition/eat-well-eat-often-to-lose-weight

    Oh, and every reputable doctor and nutritionist. And I'm not talking about people who created or are funded by some fad diet babbling about how going against the basic concept of maintaining a healthy metabolism is going to help you lose weight -- OF COURSE IT'S GOING TO HELP YOU LOSE WEIGHT. You're starving yourself. If I stopped eating for the next week, I'd lose a lot of weight too. I lose a ton of weight when I fast (as described in my previous post), and then pile it RIGHT back on within the couple weeks' recovery.

    If you want to continue down a path that is only going to do damage to your metabolism, go right on ahead, but don't try to debunk scientific fact without expecting to get countered.

    No offense but these are not credible resources. These article all ignore or were written before all current research on the subject. The fact is that there may be a small benefit to eating frequently, but it's on the same level as drinking icewater all day, so it's not significant.

    I don't think lean gains increases metabolism, but it is a good way to allow yourself large, filling meals and the meals are often timed well to maximize lean mass retention and building (depending on your goals).

    In the end it's calories in vs calories out for weight loss but with lean gains you can get a few extra advantages for lifestyle and muscle mass depending on your goals.
  • liftingbro
    liftingbro Posts: 2,029 Member
    Bump. I'm back on the wagon. Does anyone do the bcaas with fasted training? I tend to workout in the am. Try ton save my weight training for a fed time but sometimes this is hard.

    How about the calorie cycling? I seem to remember I struggled to get in enough during the high days

    If you are doing IF you should be taking BCAAs just to help maintain lean mass during the fasting times. Not to mention recovery and lean gains are better with BCAAs.
  • Lanfear
    Lanfear Posts: 524
    OK, I'm quite interested in this, though I don't know whether it would work for me (ie could I stick to it).

    At the moment, my routine is this:

    7.30am - get up - do Turbo Fire or Shred or ChaLean Extreme
    Btween 8.30am - 9am - have breakfast etc, drink a pint of water
    9am - cycle to work (only about 10 minutes)

    Sit on bum at desk literally ALL day
    1.30pm - eat lunch

    Between 5-6pm - cycle home (this can be up to 35 minutes depending on what route I take)
    Anywhere between 6pm-10pm - eat dinner

    Only day which is different is a Tuesday, when I don't do a morning workout, but go horseriding between 6.30-7.30pm.

    If I was to try IF, how would it fit into my normal routine? Also, I've always heard that breakfast is "the most important meal of the day". If you're effectively not eating until lunch, is it still counted as breakfast??

    I only have about another 7lbs to lose, but I so want to make sure it's bodyfat that goes, and not any muscle I might have!!

    Thanks if you can help me out with this :smile:
  • katberz
    katberz Posts: 123
    I've done this in the past and am doing it again now. I skip breakfast, which I did for years anyway, have a late lunch and a nice big dinner. I don't see why people are panicking about it, surely a large percentage of the population skip breakfast already? I still eat the same amount of calories, just pack them into two meals instead of three or more.
  • Crowhorse
    Crowhorse Posts: 394 Member
    What is BCAA?
  • cutmd
    cutmd Posts: 1,168 Member
    Bump. I'm back on the wagon. Does anyone do the bcaas with fasted training? I tend to workout in the am. Try ton save my weight training for a fed time but sometimes this is hard.

    How about the calorie cycling? I seem to remember I struggled to get in enough during the high days

    If you are doing IF you should be taking BCAAs just to help maintain lean mass during the fasting times. Not to mention recovery and lean gains are better with BCAAs.

    Thanks guys, they just sound kinda nasty...:indifferent:

    For crowhorse, BCAAs are branched chain amino acids. The idea is to provide your body with protein breakdown products so it won't be tempted to tap into your muscle while training fasted. It's commonly used in bodybuilder communities and is recommended by the leangains author on his site
  • cutmd
    cutmd Posts: 1,168 Member
    If I was to try IF, how would it fit into my normal routine? Also, I've always heard that breakfast is "the most important meal of the day". If you're effectively not eating until lunch, is it still counted as breakfast??

    I only have about another 7lbs to lose, but I so want to make sure it's bodyfat that goes, and not any muscle I might have!!

    Thanks if you can help me out with this :smile:

    Hey another beach body user! Lunch becomes breakfast because you break your fast then. you just prolong the fast from 10 to 14 hours (14 hours is what the leangains author recommends women start with). Breakfast has actually been shown to not be as important as originally thought. Although it was associated with weight control, what studies the leangains author has cited suggests that this is usually due to 1) being overly hungry and binging at lunch 2) people not eating enough calories overall and having a sluggish metabolism 3) not consciously thinking about their eating habits. He addresses this issue in the link I posted above, "fasting myths debunked"

    Your schedule is similar to mine. What would change is your eating window. I personally think fasted cardio is just fine, but before chalene extreme or other weight lifting routines I would take the BCAAs just prior. Then simply break your fast 14hours after your last meal. So if you stop eating dinner at 8pm, you would eat breakfast at 10am. That's it, pretty simple.

    Remember, if you want to make sure you are losing fat and not muscle, lifting heavy is the most important thing. So far I haven't seen a fasting program that doesn't recommend weightlifting for muscle preservation. Current studies show lean mass retention is better with IF than with calorie restriction, however. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21410865?dopt=Abstract
  • Vegasboricua702
    Vegasboricua702 Posts: 149
    I think my window is fine. I dont train totally fasted. I have at least a few eggs or a bowl of oatmeal when I wake up. Ill eat between 2 or 3 upon waking up. Usually closer to 3. Then before the gym (5pm) I start sipping on my whey protein shake and finish it before the end of my workout which is usually around 630. by this time I havent consumed no more than 300 calories. I eat a big dinner which is usually 900-1100 calories at around 7-730. At around 9pm I have a caesin protein shake. I finish it around 930. From then on I drink nothing by water all night. I work from 11pm to 6am. When I get home I take my supps and goto sleep till 2 or 3 and do it all over again. My fast window is around 16-17 hours a day.
  • lodro
    lodro Posts: 982 Member
    So then you don't fast, it seems. Or perhaps I just don't understand your meal schedule? I always thought LeanGains was about extending the nightly fast to last into the early afternoon, or do you have it reversed and stop eating in the early afternoon? I would be interested in that because it's something i'd like to do too.
  • Vegasboricua702
    Vegasboricua702 Posts: 149
    Because I work at night. I make it work for me. I goto bed right when I get home. (7am)

    11pm-6am work
    7am - 2pm - Sleep
    3pm eat
    4pm preworkout
    5pm gym
    7pm dinner
    9pm protein shake

    Then fast till 2pm the next day
  • liftingbro
    liftingbro Posts: 2,029 Member
    What is BCAA?

    Branched Chain Amino Acid

    The building blocks of muscle.
  • Vegasboricua702
    Vegasboricua702 Posts: 149
    Omg. Awesome Awesome workout today. I trained fully fasted today, besides 1 protein shake ( which was water and powder ) and supplements. I fasted for 20 hours today when I did the spin class. I'm now home after running errands and picking up a pizza from papa Murphy Its 8'o clock at night which puts me at around 23 hours fasted. I feel amazing! Not one single tingling of hunger pain! Intermittent fasting is amazing!
  • estelle74uk
    estelle74uk Posts: 465 Member
    Have you ever heard of fast 5? Starting to do that at the mo, and its great
  • SOOZIE429
    SOOZIE429 Posts: 638 Member
    Bump...very intriguing
  • cutmd
    cutmd Posts: 1,168 Member
    finishing up my 14 hour fast, I did ESE until 6:30 last night so I only had a 90min eating window. Ready for a big breakfast :tongue:
  • heniko
    heniko Posts: 796 Member
    interesting . thanks for posting!
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