Intermittent fasting and working out

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alexandravictoria88
alexandravictoria88 Posts: 138 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Hello lovely people - bit conflicted here. I prefer working out in the morning fasted, due to the times I work, breaking my fast at 11am and begin my fasting at 6pm works so well with me however..... is it OK to break my fast 4 hours after an intense work out. Help!

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  • Retroguy2000
    Retroguy2000 Posts: 1,514 Member
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    Is there something specific you're aiming for with the IF? If it's just weight loss you're aiming for then break the fast any time, won't make any difference, so long as you aren't going above your target calories for the day.
  • alexandravictoria88
    alexandravictoria88 Posts: 138 Member
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    Retroguy2000 wrote: »
    Is there something specific you're aiming for with the IF? If it's just weight loss you're aiming for then break the fast any time, won't make any difference, so long as you aren't going above your target calories for the day.

    I've been doing IF for 3 months but I stopped training, needed a break from it. Have lost weight and in general feel great about. Want to lose a bit more weight and tone with working out but there's such conflicting views on having to eat at least 1 to 2 hours after working out to reap the benefits
  • ccrdragon
    ccrdragon Posts: 3,365 Member
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    alexandravictoria88 wrote: »
    Retroguy2000 wrote: »
    Is there something specific you're aiming for with the IF? If it's just weight loss you're aiming for then break the fast any time, won't make any difference, so long as you aren't going above your target calories for the day.

    I've been doing IF for 3 months but I stopped training, needed a break from it. Have lost weight and in general feel great about. Want to lose a bit more weight and tone with working out but there's such conflicting views on having to eat at least 1 to 2 hours after working out to reap the benefits

    Unless you are an elite-level athlete trying to get that extra 1/10% performance gain, meal timing comes very low on the totem pole as regards weight loss and working out and results from the workout.
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,811 Member
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    To a large degree it depends on what your workout actually is (different training modes have different needs) and if you are going into it very depleted and not just depleted to a very small degree from your overnight fast.
    (i.e. someone with an ongoing large calorie deficit is going to struggle more than someone eating at a modest deficit or at maintenance levels.)

    Here's an article from a well respected source.....

    https://biolayne.com/articles/nutrition/training-fasted-can-you-still-make-gains/

    BTW - "but there's such conflicting views on having to eat at least 1 to 2 hours after working out to reap the benefits"
    There's certainly a lot of woo and exaggeration around - try to look for sources that actually quantify differences (better could be 0.001% better) and avoid making silly universal statements like you quoted. There's loads of people who train fasted and make good progress. Remember we are very adaptable creatures who also carry a lot of energy reserves around with us.
  • alexandravictoria88
    alexandravictoria88 Posts: 138 Member
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    sijomial wrote: »
    To a large degree it depends on what your workout actually is (different training modes have different needs) and if you are going into it very depleted and not just depleted to a very small degree from your overnight fast.
    (i.e. someone with an ongoing large calorie deficit is going to struggle more than someone eating at a modest deficit or at maintenance levels.)

    Here's an article from a well respected source.....

    https://biolayne.com/articles/nutrition/training-fasted-can-you-still-make-gains/

    BTW - "but there's such conflicting views on having to eat at least 1 to 2 hours after working out to reap the benefits"
    There's certainly a lot of woo and exaggeration around - try to look for sources that actually quantify differences (better could be 0.001% better) and avoid making silly universal statements like you quoted. There's loads of people who train fasted and make good progress. Remember we are very adaptable creatures who also carry a lot of energy reserves around with us.

    Thank you for the link - I shall do some more research.

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