SHOULD WE EXERCISE WHILE FASTING?
Abm4n
Posts: 529 Member
I am trying to go one meal a day several times a week and also enjoy social exercise for fun and health. The question I have is - should we fast while exercising? Or, should we exercise while fasting? Same thing in the end but is this an "either/or" issue or is it a "not only but also" issue?
According to one authority, a Dr Mercola, exercise while fasting has not only weight control benefits but also boosts the brain and effectively resets the internal body clock:
Mercola writes: "exercise while fasting may actually help to keep your brain, neuro-motors and muscle fibers biologically young. The combined effect of both intermittent fasting and short intense exercise may go way beyond helping you to burn more fat and lose weight"
Exercise while fasting may help to:
+ Turn back the biological clock in your muscle and brain
+ Boost growth hormone + Improve body composition
+ Boost cognitive function +Boost testosterone + Prevent depression
What do others think?
According to one authority, a Dr Mercola, exercise while fasting has not only weight control benefits but also boosts the brain and effectively resets the internal body clock:
Mercola writes: "exercise while fasting may actually help to keep your brain, neuro-motors and muscle fibers biologically young. The combined effect of both intermittent fasting and short intense exercise may go way beyond helping you to burn more fat and lose weight"
Exercise while fasting may help to:
+ Turn back the biological clock in your muscle and brain
+ Boost growth hormone + Improve body composition
+ Boost cognitive function +Boost testosterone + Prevent depression
What do others think?
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Replies
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Should we?
I do.
This is just my first week trying an alternate-day fasting regimen. Like a 4:3, maintenance cals for 4 days, 1000 for 3 days. So far, I just do moderate cardio on a fast day, like a brisk walk and energy is good. It works well. Like I said. This is my first experience with this. I did a month-long 16:8, and exercised during my eating window. I didn't notice any overall hampering of my progress. Not any particular improvement though. I was too busy being crabby to notice, however.
The way our holiday falls, I'll be doing a strength workout on a fast day tomorrow, which I haven't yet done. Will it boost my results or just hamper my performance? We shall see.
I also replied to bump this. I think there are others who have an opinion on this who might not have had a chance to see it yet.
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I exercise fasted most of the time, not for benefits of that practice per se, but because I IF and eat later in the day, it works out best for my schedule to exercise in the fasted state.0
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If once upon a time a guy who had not eaten in three days saw some game that he might kill would he rest or exercise?
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I find I exercise better in fasted state, it's easier somehow. Plus I have more time to fit in exercise when I don't have to make and eat a meal.0
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For me the jury is still out of this issue. I agree with your post Gale - I mean, we would have evolved to exercise while in a fasted state. However, the times I have tried IF and exercised, like yesterday for instance, I have actually gained a little bit of weight despite a substantial calorie deficit. So I guess it comes back to the idea that while exercise is fantastic and has so many benefits, weight loss will not always be one of them.0
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For me the jury is still out of this issue. I agree with your post Gale - I mean, we would have evolved to exercise while in a fasted state. However, the times I have tried IF and exercised, like yesterday for instance, I have actually gained a little bit of weight despite a substantial calorie deficit. So I guess it comes back to the idea that while exercise is fantastic and has so many benefits, weight loss will not always be one of them.
Exercising intensely can damage muscles (to strengthen them) and that retains water. Simple as that, as far as the gains, at least partially. Also, the body retains more water during exercise if your salt levels are bad. It's kind of backwards, but it's like it's trying to retain your sweat or something... And I'll take health benefits over weight loss any day. Enough health benefits, and the weight loss can't help but follow naturally.0 -
I can cheerfully exercise having not had food for 12 hours but I do find there is a point a few hours in when I make poorer choices, get crabby and can get light headed. My husband usually will know before I do that I need to eat. Not sure if it is good or bad. Any extreme tends to be bad.0
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Personally, I find that exercise while fasting is not good for my body, but I can't speak as to whether others should try it. For myself, I would get ravenously hungry, light-headed, cranky (hangry), and wind up eating more calories than I would have otherwise, if I had simply eaten regularly and had adequate protein intake at regular intervals. IMHO, it sounds like a dangerous combination, but I'm not a doctor, so that's JMHO
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I run fasted, could never have done it before keto but it's not a problem now to run for an hour after a 16 hour fast.0
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Fasted, exercise can exacerbate GERD in a fed state
Go with the Sympathetic Nervous System (fasted) state for exercise, go with the Parasympathetic Nervous System (fed) state for sleep/rest/recovery...the "rest & digest" model.0 -
I was doing C25K before I sprained my ankle. I actually found it much easier to walk/run in a fasted state. I don't really know why!
Plus I had more time to fit it in as I wasn't making/eating a meal.0 -
When you guys say "fasted" does this also include no fluid, such as tea or coffee in your system, or just food?0
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For me, 10 to 16 hours fasted is the best time to exercise! I would feel tired in a fed state.0
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I've always had to work out fasted, particularly if it's high intensity stuff. Even when I was in high school, when I played basketball and ate mostly grains (not by choice by any stretch of the imagination), if I ate within about 4 hours of a workout, I'd get horrible cramps and side stitches, so I couldn't eat anything after lunch period. In more recent years, I'd get sick all around and my performance would generally tank.Christine_72 wrote: »When you guys say "fasted" does this also include no fluid, such as tea or coffee in your system, or just food?
Fasted almost never means no fluid at all. Water is generally considered a given. Whether tea and/or coffee are is a different matter. Since this isn't really a medical thing, I think that's largely up to you, though it is useful to bear in mind that caffeine increases cortisol, which you don't want during a workout (the workout itself will do that enough), so if you drink anything other than water, try to avoid the caffeine.For me the jury is still out of this issue. I agree with your post Gale - I mean, we would have evolved to exercise while in a fasted state. However, the times I have tried IF and exercised, like yesterday for instance, I have actually gained a little bit of weight despite a substantial calorie deficit. So I guess it comes back to the idea that while exercise is fantastic and has so many benefits, weight loss will not always be one of them.
Have a look at the Launch Pad and read "The scale is a lying liar pants." Weight fluctuations like that are typical, aren't fat, and shouldn't be feared. There are a million and one reasons for your weight to go up or down in any given 24 hour period, though it's nearly all water retention. When you change the conditions related to your workout, the body reacts in a protective manner. Give it a couple of weeks and that increase in weight will go away, if it doesn't go away sooner (and yes, it's possible to retain that weight for something like up to a month).
Don't be so quick to write off working out while fasted, especially as "counterproductive to weight loss," especially if your frame of reference is less than a month.0 -
Christine_72 wrote: »When you guys say "fasted" does this also include no fluid, such as tea or coffee in your system, or just food?
Definitely don't skip fluids!0 -
totaloblivia wrote: »Christine_72 wrote: »When you guys say "fasted" does this also include no fluid, such as tea or coffee in your system, or just food?
Definitely don't skip fluids!
Agreed, but I sometimes have 3-4 cups of tea with milk before I exercise. Milk= food, so not completely a fasted state??0 -
Typically when I workout, and by workout I mean 30 minutes walking/jogging on the treadmill, it is in the morning when I first get up so I've been "fasting" since the evening before, typically after supper since I haven't been eating after that time. So I guess in reality I do exercise after fasting about 10 hours while I sleep. Does that count? I do have a water bottle with me on the treadmill and drink that.0
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Christine_72 wrote: »totaloblivia wrote: »Christine_72 wrote: »When you guys say "fasted" does this also include no fluid, such as tea or coffee in your system, or just food?
Definitely don't skip fluids!
Agreed, but I sometimes have 3-4 cups of tea with milk before I exercise. Milk= food, so not completely a fasted state??
I don't drink milky tea so I can't answer that. Maybe someone else will come along and will have some wisdom on this one!0 -
Christine_72 wrote: »totaloblivia wrote: »Christine_72 wrote: »When you guys say "fasted" does this also include no fluid, such as tea or coffee in your system, or just food?
Definitely don't skip fluids!
Agreed, but I sometimes have 3-4 cups of tea with milk before I exercise. Milk= food, so not completely a fasted state??
No, that's not fasted, especially at 3-4 cups (your diary only states 240mL, or about 1 US cup; are you having more that you're not logging, or are the "cups" you're referring to only about 2 ounces / 60-70mL?). Milk has proteins and sugars, so it's not even the more loose definition of "fasted" that things like the Bulletproof Diet use (they consider it still maintaining the benefits of fasting as long as you don't consume anything that creates an insulin response).0 -
Dragonwolf wrote: »Christine_72 wrote: »totaloblivia wrote: »Christine_72 wrote: »When you guys say "fasted" does this also include no fluid, such as tea or coffee in your system, or just food?
Definitely don't skip fluids!
Agreed, but I sometimes have 3-4 cups of tea with milk before I exercise. Milk= food, so not completely a fasted state??
No, that's not fasted, especially at 3-4 cups (your diary only states 240mL, or about 1 US cup; are you having more that you're not logging, or are the "cups" you're referring to only about 2 ounces / 60-70mL?). Milk has proteins and sugars, so it's not even the more loose definition of "fasted" that things like the Bulletproof Diet use (they consider it still maintaining the benefits of fasting as long as you don't consume anything that creates an insulin response).
I have around 5 cups of tea a day (sometimes less, never more) with 50ml of milk per cup.0 -
Exercise an hour or two before you break your fast (for under 24 hour fasts) because otherwise you will get too hungry. Personally I don't exercise during over 24 hour fasts (except maybe a slow walk) or for very low calorie diets because I don't have enough energy.0
