IF and your workout routine

Just hired a personal trainer As a treat to myself for 2 months. I'm also going to start back IFing

For those who did intermittent fasting while working out what was your routine like?

I'm doing 16:8 IF. I workout first thing in the AM or at 11am

Replies

  • jaroby
    jaroby Posts: 152 Member
    That’s similar to what I do, the earlier I get my workout in the less I can tell I haven’t eaten. These days I will sometimes have black coffee about 30mins before I workout and if I can tell I might need more I’ll break the fast and have cream in the coffee and an apple or something. I’ve been doing that when the day has gotten away from me and I need to workout after noon.

    For some reason I’ve never felt amazingly better with a pre-workout snack vs meal vs just working out in the am on an empty stomach. I lift a few days a week (I only have dumbbells available to me) and do HIIT style cardio 1-2x a week.
  • lgfrie
    lgfrie Posts: 1,449 Member
    edited September 2020
    Currently on diet hiatus for the last week, but I was doing 17:7 for 15 months before that. Workout was first thing in the morning - get up, weigh in, big glass of water, and then an hour of cardio. Then my first meal was at noon, last meal wrapped up by 7 pm sharp. Worked very well for me, and I might get back to that schedule after the hiatus.

    For me good hydration was key. Also, not going overboard with the IF, in the sense of, if I was really, really hungry some morning, which did happen occasionally, I'd sometimes have a banana or other piece of fruit. Not every day, not even necessarily every week, but occasionally.
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,811 Member
    Neither fed or fasted or stimulents like caffeine make any difference in how I feel or perform for regular, shorter exercise sessions.

    My exercise routine is/was just the same for anything up to 2hrs plus of fast cycling when I do need to eat for performance in which case my exercise is more important than rigidly sticking to a certain eating pattern. (IIF perhaps?)

    Bigger difference is time of day of my exercise with early morning being my worst time.

  • jaroby
    jaroby Posts: 152 Member
    sijomial wrote: »
    Bigger difference is time of day of my exercise with early morning being my worst time.

    I find this to be true for me the older I get. It’s interesting to balance. I need more time to wake up and feel good for a morning workout, which means getting up earlier for more movement before the actual workout. That’s hard to recon with when it’s super early. I found it mentally easier to just pop outta bed and GO. Physically, that’s not great anymore and I find it easier to talk myself out of it.

    But yet, if the workout doesn’t happen in the am it’s highly unlikely to happen at all. (During the school season) I’d love to do it after the kids are in bed like my husband does but the endorphin kick makes sleep near impossible. :smiley: what a conundrum. When I mentioned working out in the afternoon (above), that’s been my routine this summer but school time is here and well, I gotta figure this out. 2pm workouts aren’t gonna work! :smiley: (We’re a homeschool family)

    That was a lot of words to say “I agree with this, how have you managed to fit in workouts that aren’t in the early am?”
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,811 Member
    jaroby wrote: »
    sijomial wrote: »
    Bigger difference is time of day of my exercise with early morning being my worst time.

    I find this to be true for me the older I get. It’s interesting to balance. I need more time to wake up and feel good for a morning workout, which means getting up earlier for more movement before the actual workout. That’s hard to recon with when it’s super early. I found it mentally easier to just pop outta bed and GO. Physically, that’s not great anymore and I find it easier to talk myself out of it.

    But yet, if the workout doesn’t happen in the am it’s highly unlikely to happen at all. (During the school season) I’d love to do it after the kids are in bed like my husband does but the endorphin kick makes sleep near impossible. :smiley: what a conundrum. When I mentioned working out in the afternoon (above), that’s been my routine this summer but school time is here and well, I gotta figure this out. 2pm workouts aren’t gonna work! :smiley: (We’re a homeschool family)

    That was a lot of words to say “I agree with this, how have you managed to fit in workouts that aren’t in the early am?”

    @jaroby

    When I was working and commuting a much of my exercise was in my lunch break (I negotiated 3 long and 2 short breaks a week to give me more training time) or after I got home. I was frequently thrown out of the gym at its 10pm closing time. I had 3 concurrent gym memberships running to match my locations.

    Now I'm retired my sleep, exercise and eating patterns have reverted to a much more natural feeling night owl routine.
    Go to bed late, get up at 8am and most of my exercise is 11am onwards, most of my food is eaten late in the day.
  • SnifterPug
    SnifterPug Posts: 746 Member
    I eat at 2pm (400 cal), 5pm (400cal) and main meal at 8pm. I get up at 8am and am at the gym between 9am and 10am. Have found I am much more motivated to train when fasted.