Intermittent fasting help!

Hi
Saw your post, and thought I'll just give my 5 cent's worth. In point form below, if u don't mind,
- been on it for 1 month now. Feels great. Energy level good, fat loss progress going as planned.
- For the past 111 days, been on mid carb, adequate protein, low fat diet with workouts (first 85 days),
then started to go on IF till now. Been eating at a caloric deficit. Dropped 12 kg so far, some of which I believe to be muscle mass and water weight
- switched to IF, start placing more emphasis on strength training. Seems to work fine. No loss of energy.
weight loss is progressing. Seems to maintain strength, hopefully that means keeping my lean mass as much as possible.
- IF is an eating pattern, not a starvation program (though there will be times when u'll encounter 'hungry pangs'. Neither should it be looked upon as a miracle weight loss diet fad.
- Below link on YouTube gives a decent explanation to people new to IF
http://youtu.be/-rzx_LAf6dk
- Do the research and seek to understand how the body works in terms of how it handles food intake quality, quantity, timing etc
- do it for the health benefits, weight loss is one of the many after effects
- see if it fits your lifestyle and goal (build muscle? lose weight? Overall health)
- If u r simple looking to get lean, there are many methods out there that works. IF is only one of them
- no need to be terrified. After some understanding, if you find it agreeable, at least in theory, you can try it for a short period, say 10 days. Just stop if you find problems with it.
- Still, your macronutrient ratios and work out plans need to be in place too.
- So far, no bad side effects from IF, if that's what you are worried about.
- However I'm no expert, just a regular guy looking to be fit and building a better body.
Hope that helps

Hi h-m,

If u could be a bit more specific about what your fears are with IF, and a bit of info on what your current physical state is, this community might be able to help better. Cheers

I exercise fasted, long duration fairly intense cardio level work.

It is for a purpose, not a magical diet thing. For burning out all glycogen and increasing mitochondria for burning fat at a higher percentage.

Workout yesterday was a good one for that. IF without exercise is somewhat less effective for that IMO. But I am a fan of exercise in body transformation

Your mileage may vary

Yesterday

I do the 16/8 fasting during the week and follow MFP's calories for my stats. In the summer, I don't fast on Saturday or Sunday if I have a big road bike ride planned such as 50, 65, or 80 miles. But I do stop eating at the same time each evening. In the winter, I fast every day and my workouts are in the fasted state.

Perfect! Thanks - I like the idea of fasting, but I wasn't sure how my cycling would be affected. I really appreciate the replies!