Intermittent fasting

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Rave Slave

Norm Smith Medallist
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I know this one carries a huge stigma amongst certain circles and there's a lot of misconceptions regarding fasting amongst the nutritional community/body building fraternity etcet. But does anyone else on here use fasting as a diet method/in their day to day lives and what have been your results?

Me personally I've dropped 4 kilos in the last 2 months but have noticed a big difference in my muscle definition. On days where I fast I find my energy levels are huge and I've had no loss whatsoever of muscle mass (a myth perpetuated by some re: fasting).

Some people are vehemently against it and I'd never try and push it on anyone, I just know that for me personally it works very well and i'll continue with it for the remainder of my days. I do 5 days of eating with 2 days fasted however some prefer to follow the 16 hours fasted with an 8 hour window to fit your meals in.

For those interested in a couple of the methods, look up lean gains (a ridiculously good website/resource, Martin Berkhan is a beast) or if you can get your hands on a copy of the ebook Eat Stop Eat by Brad Pilon they outline exactly what it entails.

Anyone else here pro fast? What have been your experiences? On the flip side anyone here anti Fasting? Interested in your thoughts too.
 
Aug 15, 2011
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Im going to give this a go once i start cutting. Is IF for everyone or just those that carry an extra bit of weight? Ive read a bit on it and the health improvements suggest that it should be beneficial for anyone.
 

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Everyone would benefit from it - I'm definitely a convert. Just drinking water for 24 hours ( or even 16 hours) every once in while gives your digestive tract, colon and liver a chance to clean itself out; and a well earned break.

I suspect it has improved my skin texture as well.
 

He_Beast

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I've been doing it for ~ 2 months and I've noticed the best body fat drop since within weeks of being a huge fattie.

I don't have the data to attribute that solely to IF (obviously the weight loss is due to the calorie deficit), but my lifts aren't struggling, my energy levels are fine and I don't feel any hungrier (could be psychosomatic, I guess).


I get home around 5, so on workout days I
-drink a whey shake in the car to break the fast
-work out as soon as I get home
-eat a massive meal (whatever I want, but generally involving a big hunk of some animal)
-plan a before bed meal (generally oats and fruit)
-snack inbetween these two meals based on what macros I have left to spend
 

keyboard_warrior

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yeah have stumbled across this a fair bit lately. i like the lean gains site and that he points out flaws in the science of both IF and frequent eating. i was lazy and didnt actually look at the links though to come to my own conclusions or do my own research. does sound legit though. im 3 weeks into a fractured scaphoid and am about to start weening myself into a 16/8 i think so when i get back into full training i should be somewhat desensitised to the hungary that screams at me every 2 hours. (not that im overweight, 187cm, 76kg)
 

lysp

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Up until my recent training change (4 weeks ago), i did IF for about a year. I did it leangains style (16 hours fasted / 8 hours eating).

8am - GYM
3pm - Large meal
8.30pm - Large meal
9.30pm - Smaller meal to make up macros

Did it in both bulking and cutting phases, and also part of the cutting was keto too. Never got hungry until 2-3pm (just before meal time). Had plenty of energy for gym. Lifted heavy weights. Had no issue increasing strength during this.

Takes a week or 2 for your body to get used to it, but after that you should be fine.
 
Aug 15, 2011
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Up until my recent training change (4 weeks ago), i did IF for about a year. I did it leangains style (16 hours fasted / 8 hours eating).

8am - GYM
3pm - Large meal
8.30pm - Large meal
9.30pm - Smaller meal to make up macros

Did it in both bulking and cutting phases, and also part of the cutting was keto too. Never got hungry until 2-3pm (just before meal time). Had plenty of energy for gym. Lifted heavy weights. Had no issue increasing strength during this.

Takes a week or 2 for your body to get used to it, but after that you should be fine.

s**t thats a long time after the gym before your first meal?

I dont really understand how it would help in a bulking phase eating alot less ect?

Did you do the 16/8 every day or was it just once a week.

Im thinking 20-24 hours of not eating once a week.
 

He_Beast

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I dont really understand how it would help in a bulking phase eating alot less ect?
.

It's not about eating less, just the times you eat. The idea being you would eat just as much as you would if you spread it out across the day.
 
Jul 25, 2010
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I have definitely been noticing some great results in the last month or two. Can't say for sure if IF has helped as I've been training pretty consistently, but if nothing else it's made me more conscious of how often I eat out of pleasure/boredom rather than nessecity - and I have stopped doing the former. Haven't done a body fat measurement, but I'm down from 85kg to 80, & everything is looking much more cut than before. Bicep veins which had dissapeared through years of neglect are back & bursting out of the arms, abs coming through slowly but surely too. It's worth giving a try I think.
 

lysp

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He_beast has it. I was eating 2800-3000 cals over those meals. 16/8 (leangains) is a daily fast. If i didnt do it consistently, my body wouldnt get used to it and i'd get hunger pains in the mornings. Funny thing about it is i actually felt more hungry on my rest day than after a 90 min gym session.

Going back to 6 meals per day is pissing me off at the moment. I spend so much time cooking and mornings are rushed having to do breaky.
 

He_Beast

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Going back to 6 meals per day is pissing me off at the moment. I spend so much time cooking and mornings are rushed having to do breaky.


This is the king for me. Not spending money and time on lunch at work or counting macros throughout the day, but every day is sort of like a cheat day, because you get to pig out.
 

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fairdinkum

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The only problem I have found with the 16/8 thing I've been doing is the lunch room at work at morning break.

Fat *s telling me I am crazy for not eating until lunch because 'you need to eat breakfast to get your metabolism started', 'you shouldn't eat too much before bed or your body turns it all to fat'.

'My nutritionist says...'. Yeah, well, you should fire your nutritionist, you fat *, and leave me be while I sit there with my bottle of water at morning break. One of us is in shape and getting fitter, and one of us is fat and getting fatter.

The truth is I haven't even read too much about the whole IF/LG thing (although I have downloaded the Brad Dilon text and plan to one day read it on advice from evo). Right now it is more the convenience of not having to bother with breakfast or preparing much stuff to take to work.
 
T

'My nutritionist says...'. Yeah, well, you should fire your nutritionist, you fat ****, and leave me be while I sit there with my bottle of water at morning break.

Hehe, so true. I find nothing funnier than some fat ferk lecturing me on how I should eat to lose weight.

Of course a nutritionist is going to tell you to keep eating. It's like asking a psychiatrist if you should book a second appointment.
 

He_Beast

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lol @ "get your metabolism started"

"boost your metabolism" is another good one
 

metcard99

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CFOL, does it matter what times you have your eating period in the 16/8 system? For example if you just skipped breakfast and ate from 12-8pm is that fine or is the idea more that you're fasting for a longer period whilst awake (e.g from 3pm, providing you live by a more typical sleep routine e.g sleep 11pm-7am)?
 

fairdinkum

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Interesting example Michael Phelps - that dude looks pretty lean for a guy who eats 12,000 calories a day.

NEWS_phelps_bong.jpg
 

lysp

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CFOL, does it matter what times you have your eating period in the 16/8 system? For example if you just skipped breakfast and ate from 12-8pm is that fine or is the idea more that you're fasting for a longer period whilst awake (e.g from 3pm, providing you live by a more typical sleep routine e.g sleep 11pm-7am)?

A lot of people run the 12-8pm time slot, doesn't really matter. Only reason i started later was it fit better with my personal situation (ie work hours).

Being awake/asleep doesn't matter. 12-8 works better for a lot of people because a large part of the later part of the fast is while you're asleep so you're not thinking about being hungry.

After you get used to it though, its quite easy to stick to the fasting times, sometimes i wasnt eating til 4-5pm so i was fasting for 17-18 hours. Felt slightly hungry, but not starving and the feeling went away if i ignored it.

The warrior diet follows a 20/4 plan.
 
Oct 16, 2007
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interesting study recently that shows IF isn't as effective as calorie deficit and normal eating pattern with breakfast.

i'll try find the information as soon as i can but going through my history i'm having no luck finding it, just brazzers and youjizz everywhere. when i find it i'll post it.

having said that, it may not be as effective, but if i were ever to start cutting i'd definitely do IF just so i can go crazy and stuff my face after starving myself. awesome feeling
 

bigpoppa

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Its interesting reading this. For me personally being a baker with varying start/knock off times each day I find it hard to regulate my eating patterns eg. breakfast in the morning, lunch at lunch and tea when its supposed to be eaten. I'm all over the show really so this is something I'm interested in looking into. Not to lose weight but to regulate my eating. Would it make a difference if instead of having set times to start and finish the fast if for example; I fast the 8hours before work and 8hours during work? With varying shifts it would look something like this: Day 1 start work at 5am so fast between the hours of 9pm-1pm then if i changed to a 2am start I'd fast between the hours of 6pm and 10am? Also how do you guys go fasting on a saturday when you would have to play a game of footy during your eating times?
 
It doesn't matter when you do it, or if you fast at different times on different days. The most important thing is the the amount of consecutive hours without food. Do whatever suits your lifestyle best - so you are more likely to stick with it.

In my experience the best time to start a fast is after your last meal and four hours before you go to bed. So if you go to bed say midnight, have a decent dinner at 8pm and don't eat again before sleep. If you wake up say 8am, then you have already fasted 12 hours. Go without food for 6-12 hours after waking and you have had a meaningful fast without a whole lot of suffering.Having the last 6 hours of your fast while your working is a good idea as being busy takes your mind off food.
 

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