Intermittent Fasting

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ronnymontoya255
ronnymontoya255 Posts: 25 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Has anyone tried Intermittent Fasting? If you have, was it helpful in your quest for losing fat and gaining muscle?

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  • Sarasmaintaining
    Sarasmaintaining Posts: 1,027 Member
    edited June 2015
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    I've lost around 60lbs, and I've been successfully maintaining for two years now, doing various forms of IF.
  • juggernaut1974
    juggernaut1974 Posts: 6,212 Member
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    ronnymontoya255 wrote: »
    Has anyone tried Intermittent Fasting? If you have, was it helpful in your quest for losing fat and gaining muscle?

    I don't see how it would really be helpful in gaining muscle, since by design, IF is designed to have you eating at an overall calorie deficit. It could be helpful in losing weight/fat.
  • PeachyPlum
    PeachyPlum Posts: 1,243 Member
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    IF is awesome because it makes meal planning easier. When I was eating three meals a day, it was a delicate balance to make sure I was getting enough at each meal to satisfy my hunger, while saving enough calories for later meals.

    Now, I just skip breakfast and go all out for lunch and dinner. I typically have a few hundred calories left at the end of the day for a snack while I'm watching TV or a nice beer on the patio.
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,811 Member
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    ronnymontoya255 wrote: »
    Has anyone tried Intermittent Fasting? If you have, was it helpful in your quest for losing fat and gaining muscle?
    Yes and yes.
    I did the 5:2 version of IF (5 days eating at maintenance levels and 2 days very low calorie) to lose weight.

    Found it not only helped enormously with adherence to a weekly small calorie goal (to achieve fat loss) it also supported a very heavy training regime. Training at maintenance calories five days a week instead of training in an everyday deficit made a huge difference for me - adapting to fasted training also seemed to help my cycling endurance. May not work so well for everyone of course.

    I maintain on a 6:1 routine mostly, 6 days at a slight surplus and 1 day very low calories. Gives me a very natural feeling and satisfying amount of food 6 days a week.
  • senecarr
    senecarr Posts: 5,377 Member
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    ceoverturf wrote: »
    ronnymontoya255 wrote: »
    Has anyone tried Intermittent Fasting? If you have, was it helpful in your quest for losing fat and gaining muscle?

    I don't see how it would really be helpful in gaining muscle, since by design, IF is designed to have you eating at an overall calorie deficit. It could be helpful in losing weight/fat.

    You can intermittent fast at a surplus. The Leangains IF has macros for cutting, bulking, and recomping.
  • Snow__White
    Snow__White Posts: 1,650 Member
    edited June 2015
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    i do this,but have a question lol
    are you suppose to weigh yourself in the morning when u wake up?
    or in the afternoon before u break ur fast?
    i fast till around 3pm and then start eating

  • juggernaut1974
    juggernaut1974 Posts: 6,212 Member
    edited June 2015
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    senecarr wrote: »
    ceoverturf wrote: »
    ronnymontoya255 wrote: »
    Has anyone tried Intermittent Fasting? If you have, was it helpful in your quest for losing fat and gaining muscle?

    I don't see how it would really be helpful in gaining muscle, since by design, IF is designed to have you eating at an overall calorie deficit. It could be helpful in losing weight/fat.

    You can intermittent fast at a surplus. The Leangains IF has macros for cutting, bulking, and recomping.

    I suppose...I guess that would be IS then instead of IF though, no?

    I admit I'm not intimately knowledgeable about IF...just seems counter intuitive to need or even want to have days where you are fasting, when the goal is an overall surplus.
  • ronnymontoya255
    ronnymontoya255 Posts: 25 Member
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    ceoverturf wrote: »
    ronnymontoya255 wrote: »
    Has anyone tried Intermittent Fasting? If you have, was it helpful in your quest for losing fat and gaining muscle?

    I don't see how it would really be helpful in gaining muscle, since by design, IF is designed to have you eating at an overall calorie deficit. It could be helpful in losing weight/fat.

    I say "gaining muscle" only because a couple of IF YouTubers have mentioned that when a person does IF, the body's Insulin levels naturally decrease and that hormone levels, particularly GH levels will naturally increase thereby helping with muscle gain.

    I'm new to the concept of IF so up until now I've been getting most of my info from IF YouTube posters.
  • ronnymontoya255
    ronnymontoya255 Posts: 25 Member
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    Sarasmaintaining wrote: »
    I've lost around 60lbs, and I've been successfully maintaining for two years now, doing various forms of IF.

    That's great! I want to give it a try for several weeks but need to work out a good schedule on when to eat to maximize the benefits.
  • ronnymontoya255
    ronnymontoya255 Posts: 25 Member
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    Snow__White wrote: »
    i do this,but have a question lol
    are you suppose to weigh yourself in the morning when u wake up?
    or in the afternoon before u break ur fast?
    i fast till around 3pm and then start eating

    I believe it's been said that upon waking is the best time to weigh yourself.
  • teresa_garcia29
    teresa_garcia29 Posts: 65 Member
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    I work nights so I fast from Midnight until about 3or4.
  • teresa_garcia29
    teresa_garcia29 Posts: 65 Member
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    Midnight until 3 or 4 pm.
  • juggernaut1974
    juggernaut1974 Posts: 6,212 Member
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    ronnymontoya255 wrote: »
    ceoverturf wrote: »
    ronnymontoya255 wrote: »
    Has anyone tried Intermittent Fasting? If you have, was it helpful in your quest for losing fat and gaining muscle?

    I don't see how it would really be helpful in gaining muscle, since by design, IF is designed to have you eating at an overall calorie deficit. It could be helpful in losing weight/fat.

    I say "gaining muscle" only because a couple of IF YouTubers have mentioned that when a person does IF, the body's Insulin levels naturally decrease and that hormone levels, particularly GH levels will naturally increase thereby helping with muscle gain.

    I'm new to the concept of IF so up until now I've been getting most of my info from IF YouTube posters.

    My suggestion would be to look for more reputable sources. Getting scientific information from YouTube is about as trustworthy as getting it from comic books
  • wrealmusic
    wrealmusic Posts: 16 Member
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    Ive done IF for detox purposes. and that was juice fasting for the 1st 3 days out of each month, then eating as clean as I can the remaining days. I lost water weight. It didnt help with muscle growth, but my energy increased.
  • RoxieDawn
    RoxieDawn Posts: 15,488 Member
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    I do 17:7 everyday.. IF does not help with weight loss or anything like that for me.. It is only an eating schedule in which the 7 hours off, I eat all my calories for the day.. I lift weights (splits 5 days a week and run 5 miles a day)...

    Calorie deficit is what works, not IF per se.
  • rainbow198
    rainbow198 Posts: 2,245 Member
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    I unintentionally IF by eating all of my calories in about a 6 hour period daily. I'm not hungry in the mornings and I stopped snacking at night so I fell into it before I aware of IF.

    For me it is not done for weight loss, but I did notice a slight increase of fat loss when I first started. I've been maintaining for over 2 years this way of eat works very well for me.

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