# My Experience with Intermittent Fasting



## Junglejpn (Sep 30, 2012)

I won't go into too much detail as it's all been said before here but basically I have fasted for up to 48 hours about 12 times last year.

My advice for making it easier and worthwhile; Start the fast at night. Have a good last meal at say 4pm. When you wake up at 8 or 10am you're already deep into the fast. This is when I go to the gym (while drinking plenty of water) I do a full body workout using almost all muscles i can to only 30-50% my usual intensity and keeping my heart rate in check to make sure im not pushing too hard. I do very light cardio. I actually found it very easy to workout at this intensity. After the fast you must resist all attempts to gorge on food. You body wants you to do that but you must resist it.

People will tell you you're crazy, you'll lose all gains, you'll gain more fat after this is absolute nonsense your body was designed for fasting if you think you're designed to have a meal every 3 hours and protein shakes in between - as great as this is for gaining mass - you're deluded.

Well my thoughts are this; if you lay in bed for 6 months and took a protein shake every 2 hours you'd never keep the muscle you have. It'll fade. If you workout during your fast to a low intensity making sure you use as many muscle groups as possible then your body will keep these muscles. Your body will not get rid of something it uses !


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## saxondale (Nov 11, 2012)

Junglejpn said:


> Your body will not get rid of something it uses !


it will I`m afraid, we lost a stupid amount of mass and strength during my little diet project.


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## ethos (Apr 5, 2007)

saxondale said:


> it will I`m afraid, we lost a stupid amount of mass and strength during my little diet project.


...which was?


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## saxondale (Nov 11, 2012)

ethos said:


> ...which was?


journalled it from November to Christmas - ate at most 1000 calories at day but taking exercise into consideration most days were < 600 calories and some days were a total calorie deficit.

lost a stone but also lost my strength, ability to sleep, temper (several times) and most of the muscle mass I had.

lesson learnt.


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## xpower (Jul 28, 2009)

saxondale said:


> journalled it from November to Christmas - ate at most 1000 calories at day but taking exercise into consideration most days were < 600 calories and some days were a total calorie deficit.
> 
> lost a stone but also lost my strength, ability to sleep, temper (several times) and most of the muscle mass I had.
> 
> lesson learnt.


& you were shocked when taking cals into account?


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## 3752 (Jan 7, 2005)

Junglejpn said:


> I won't go into too much detail as it's all been said before here but basically I have fasted for up to 48 hours about 12 times last year.
> 
> My advice for making it easier and worthwhile; Start the fast at night. Have a good last meal at say 4pm. When you wake up at 8 or 10am you're already deep into the fast. This is when I go to the gym (while drinking plenty of water) I do a full body workout using almost all muscles i can to only 30-50% my usual intensity and keeping my heart rate in check to make sure im not pushing too hard. I do very light cardio. I actually found it very easy to workout at this intensity. After the fast you must resist all attempts to gorge on food. You body wants you to do that but you must resist it.
> 
> ...


This is correct but if you think the body uses all your muscle mass you are deluded, I agree that we was not made to eat every 3hrs but then you have evolution so fasting is no longer what we should do just because we used to.

IF is very good for fat loss if done correctly you can maintain your muscle mass and loss fat but do to long between feeds and to much exercise you will lose some muscle.


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## TommyFire (Jul 18, 2010)

saxondale said:


> journalled it from November to Christmas - ate at most 1000 calories at day but taking exercise into consideration most days were < 600 calories and some days were a total calorie deficit.
> 
> lost a stone but also lost my strength, ability to sleep, temper (several times) and most of the muscle mass I had.
> 
> lesson learnt.


You werent fasting mate, you were starving yourself. Of course you lost muscle.


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## saxondale (Nov 11, 2012)

TommyFire said:


> You werent fasting mate, you were starving yourself. Of course you lost muscle.


yeah but it was a fun experiment - remember kids, I did this so you don`t have to.


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## Bashy (Jun 16, 2010)

saxondale said:


> yeah but it was a fun experiment - remember kids, I did this so you don`t have to.


Why would anyone do that?

I dont understand what you were looking to find out?

Did you expect to eat a max of 1000 cals and build muscle and maintain strength?


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## saxondale (Nov 11, 2012)

Bashy said:


> Why would anyone do that?
> 
> I dont understand what you were looking to find out?
> 
> Did you expect to eat a max of 1000 cals and build muscle and maintain strength?


was hoping to maintain muscle - like I say, lesson learnt.


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## Ukmeathead (Dec 4, 2010)

saxondale said:


> was hoping to maintain muscle - like I say, lesson learnt.


Lesson you shouldn't of done in the first place lmao!!! Common sense


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## ethos (Apr 5, 2007)

Pscarb said:


> This is correct but if you think the body uses all your muscle mass you are deluded, I agree that we was not made to eat every 3hrs but then you have evolution so fasting is no longer what we should do just because we used to.


Evolution is a slow process though, how long do you think the general population have had food to hand whenever they want?

The 18/6 leangains style *seems* to be backed up as a legitimate longer term lifestyle. I've been trying it for nearly two weeks now, I train fasted between 6.30-7.30am. Have 10g BCCA before training, then 10g every 2 hours until 1PM where I break my fast for an 8 hour eating window. In my fasted state I drink a lot of green tea!

Why am I trying it? To see how my body responds to it, I've always held a bit extra body fat- happy doing standard cuts but this seemed a different approach. So I guess body recomp is my ultimate goal.

I'm eating around maintenance calories at the moment whilst I adjust, I'm interested to see if I see any changes in bodyfat % without having to drop my calories in the first instance.

My observations


Strength hasn't declined (not surprising given the short space of time, but I was expecting some simply moving to fasted/morning training)

My energy levels with morning fasted training are great, no shakes or light heads

The hunger is nowhere near as bad as I thought it'd be

It has simplified my meal plan, I eat 3 meals maximum, sometimes as little as 2- this makes it a little easier to see flaws in my diet (not an IF specific benefit) but it's helped me realise whilst I'm getting in quality carbs/protein/fats, I really need to increase my fruit and veg

Not eating in the morning really increases my water intake

I get more sleep, this is mainly because I used to train around 8PM at night, and with a preworkout supplement by the time I got home at 9ish I was wide awake and it'd take me till around 11-12 to wind down- which is more like 9-10 now

My enjoyment of food has increased, I'm sure most of us have reached the "just get it down" level of eating ever 2-3 hours, this is a nice break away from that


My wife is trying IF 16/8 but eating over maintenance, so will be interesting to see how that works out for her.

Time will tell, but I'm liking it so far- and after 8 years of bodybuilding style diet and evening training it's a refreshing change.


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## Junglejpn (Sep 30, 2012)

ethos said:


> Evolution is a slow process though, how long do you think the general population have had food to hand whenever they want?
> 
> The 18/6 leangains style *seems* to be backed up as a legitimate longer term lifestyle. I've been trying it for nearly two weeks now, I train fasted between 6.30-7.30am. Have 10g BCCA before training, then 10g every 2 hours until 1PM where I break my fast for an 8 hour eating window. In my fasted state I drink a lot of green tea!


Sounds like a good plan but do BCCA's contain calories? I read somewhere that 5g can equal about 40cals depending upon which amino acid it is...

To help the loss of muscle you should load up on L-Glutamine while fasted - i believe small amounts of it can be taken without breaking your fast. but generally you'll want to stay below 50 calories or you'll break your fast.


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## Junglejpn (Sep 30, 2012)

Pscarb said:


> This is correct but if you think the body uses all your muscle mass you are deluded....
> 
> IF is very good for fat loss if done correctly you can maintain your muscle mass and loss fat but do to long between feeds and to much exercise you will lose some muscle.


Sorry I should have been more concise with my statement. If your concerns are to maintain all muscle mass then IF isn't for you as no matter what you do your body will eventually turn to muscle for fuel the time it starts to do this depends on a number of things. IF you are not concerned with losing a few LBS of muscle then I b strongly believe that IF has a lot more benefits than any supplements you can take for improving your health.


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## Junglejpn (Sep 30, 2012)

saxondale said:


> journalled it from November to Christmas - ate at most 1000 calories at day but taking exercise into consideration most days were < 600 calories and some days were a total calorie deficit.
> 
> lost a stone but also lost my strength, ability to sleep, temper (several times) and most of the muscle mass I had.
> 
> lesson learnt.


I know others have already pointed out but this was absolutely the wrong way to 'fast' and is why so many models that starve themselves in the same fashion suffer terrible health.

During a proper fast you should consume no calories or less than 50 for the duration. Anything more you cause a shock to your system and start to bring it out of the fast state. This will then take away all the benefit of ever starting the fast.


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## 3752 (Jan 7, 2005)

ethos said:


> Evolution is a slow process though, how long do you think the general population have had food to hand whenever they want?
> 
> The 18/6 leangains style *seems* to be backed up as a legitimate longer term lifestyle. I've been trying it for nearly two weeks now, I train fasted between 6.30-7.30am. Have 10g BCCA before training, then 10g every 2 hours until 1PM where I break my fast for an 8 hour eating window. In my fasted state I drink a lot of green tea!
> 
> ...


I think the 18/6 is a great method for many reasons my comments where aimed at fasting for days which I do not see the reason for.

And yes evolution does take centuries but that was my point in the OP's first post it made it seem that we as humans where not original designed to eat every 3hrs but as I pointed out things change over time......


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## ethos (Apr 5, 2007)

Pscarb said:


> I think the 18/6 is a great method for many reasons my comments where aimed at fasting for days which I do not see the reason for.
> 
> And yes evolution does take centuries but that was my point in the OP's first post it made it seem that we as humans where not original designed to eat every 3hrs but as I pointed out things change over time......


What's your take on 18/6, know any "big guys" who have tried it?


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## 3752 (Jan 7, 2005)

ethos said:


> What's your take on 18/6, know any "big guys" who have tried it?


well you don't look like a small guy in your avi.

i like it and yes i know a few who are on it but not for muscle mass as in the off season as it is virtually impossible to push the nutrition past the point for sustaining growth in such a small window, excellent for fat loss though

it is very good for women though i have found.....


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## Northern Lass (Aug 10, 2011)

ethos said:


> Evolution is a slow process though, how long do you think the general population have had food to hand whenever they want?
> 
> The 18/6 leangains style *seems* to be backed up as a legitimate longer term lifestyle. I've been trying it for nearly two weeks now, I train fasted between 6.30-7.30am. Have 10g BCCA before training, then 10g every 2 hours until 1PM where I break my fast for an 8 hour eating window. In my fasted state I drink a lot of green tea!
> 
> ...


I know what you mean when you quoted about trying to get food down you every 3 hours... i was like that today, i just couldn't i was nearly sick


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