# Intermittent Fasting



## Anabolic5150 (Apr 6, 2012)

I'm noticing as I get older that intermittent fasting is becoming my normal eating style. I've read a little bit on it, know that there are many schools of thought on how it should be done.

For me, I have zero appetite in the morning and don't really get hungry until between 11am and noon. I do make myself eat something prior to this based on the old "eat every 2-3 hours" thinking that we have sometimes pounded into our heads. Also, I'm really only eating 2-3 meals a day, I drink a shake between based on old school thoughts, not real hunger.

Looking if anyone has any real world experience in IM, was it successful, how was it structured?

Also looking for any online or printed resources (books, e-books, websites) that may help in learning more about the subject.

Thanks in advance.


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## Lang (Apr 6, 2012)

Hey A-5150, You prob already seen this, but I was asking about this last week and someone sent me to this blog and I started to read some of it ans it sounded really legit, like the dude knew his stuff.

Intermittent fasting diet for fat loss, muscle gain and health


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## lee111s (Apr 6, 2012)

I've followed the Intermittent fasting diet for fat loss, muscle gain and health method for about 10 weeks. Using info from rippedbody.jp I went for the "cut" macro's for the 10 weeks and lost about 11lb over that time.

I'm back on the juice now so I'm going for the body recomp macros (20% more than BMR on training days and 20% less on off days). I've just started this week. The leangains method is intermittent fasting and carb cycling at the same time and people seem to get very very good results with it!


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## Anabolic5150 (Apr 6, 2012)

Lang said:


> Hey A-5150, You prob already seen this, but I was asking about this last week and someone sent me to this blog and I started to read some of it ans it sounded really legit, like the dude knew his stuff.
> 
> Intermittent fasting diet for fat loss, muscle gain and health



Thanks Sir!!!


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## Anabolic5150 (Apr 6, 2012)

lee111s said:


> I've followed the Intermittent fasting diet for fat loss, muscle gain and health method for about 10 weeks. Using info from rippedbody.jp I went for the "cut" macro's for the 10 weeks and lost about 11lb over that time.
> 
> I'm back on the juice now so I'm going for the body recomp macros (20% more than BMR on training days and 20% less on off days). I've just started this week. The leangains method is intermittent fasting and carb cycling at the same time and people seem to get very very good results with it!



Thank you!!!


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## Lang (Apr 6, 2012)

Anabolic5150 said:


> Thanks Sir!!!



What's with the "Sir" crap, I work for a living! haha


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## Anabolic5150 (Apr 6, 2012)

Lang said:


> What's with the "Sir" crap, I work for a living! haha



I knew you were gonna say that!! Thank you SSGT!!


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## Pittsburgh63 (Apr 6, 2012)

Maybe if your wife pre chews your food for you?  Make it easier to eat.. you know?


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## Anabolic5150 (Apr 6, 2012)

Pittsburgh63 said:


> Maybe if your wife pre chews your food for you?  Make it easier to eat.. you know?



Oh, look who has jokes, you young punk!!!


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## Pittsburgh63 (Apr 6, 2012)

Anabolic5150 said:


> Oh, look who has jokes, you young punk!!!




haha.. had to do it..  Good Morning Cupcake.    

I actually started doing this lately inadvertantly as well.   Yesterday I had a few shakes and the only meal I really ate was fish for dinner.


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## Anabolic5150 (Apr 6, 2012)

Pittsburgh63 said:


> haha.. had to do it..  Good Morning Cupcake.
> 
> I actually started doing this lately inadvertantly as well.   Yesterday I had a few shakes and the only meal I really ate was fish for dinner.



Mmmmmm, cupcakes!!!

I just have no appetite until afternoon. Saw some info on intermittent fasting and it looked similar to what I want to do instead of forcing myself to eat when I have no hunger. I'd be happy to just do the 2 meals a day. Just have a lot of reading to do on the subject, where are my reading glasses??


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## Pittsburgh63 (Apr 6, 2012)

I got my reading glasses on my face. LOL.  Seems like I've caught up to you a little prematurely.  LOL


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## exphys88 (Apr 6, 2012)

I dont know much about Int fasting, but I have studied longevity quite a bit and there's a lot of research being done on the health benefits of calorie restriction.  Its pretty amazing the health benefits that result from just restricting calories by 30%.


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## Anabolic5150 (Apr 6, 2012)

exphys88 said:


> I dont know much about Int fasting, but I have studied longevity quite a bit and there's a lot of research being done on the health benefits of calorie restriction.  Its pretty amazing the health benefits that result from just restricting calories by 30%.



I think for me, with wanting to eat this way that it would automatically reduce my calories. I do worry about losing muscle, but from the reading you need to keep your protein high. I am gonna read a bit more of it if time allows this weekend and may give it a try for 6 weeks or so and see how I look/feel.


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## Pittsburgh63 (Apr 6, 2012)

Keep me posted.. I'm curious to hear what you think.


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## Anabolic5150 (Apr 6, 2012)

Will do.


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## pjreiff (Apr 10, 2012)

Intermittent fasting has worked well for me.  Started this about 8 weeks ago and have dropped about 14 lbs of fat and gained 2 pounds of muscle.  No juice this time around.  In my plan I'm taking in the same amount of calories as I was before (about 3,300), just making my first meal of the day huge.  The intervals for my other two meals doesn't really matter but I typically have my last meal of the day around 6:30 PM, then nothing again until noon the next day.


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## Anabolic5150 (Apr 10, 2012)

pjreiff said:


> Intermittent fasting has worked well for me.  Started this about 8 weeks ago and have dropped about 14 lbs of fat and gained 2 pounds of muscle.  No juice this time around.  In my plan I'm taking in the same amount of calories as I was before (about 3,300), just making my first meal of the day huge.  The intervals for my other two meals doesn't really matter but I typically have my last meal of the day around 6:30 PM, then nothing again until noon the next day.



Isn't the fasting period only supposed to be 16 hours? Looks like you extended it a bit, any hunger issues?


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## ThreeGigs (Apr 10, 2012)

If you're interested in reading about others' experiences with intermittent fasting, you should read this:
Intermittent Fasting | John Berardi Intermittent Fasting Free E-book

If you don't know who John Berardi is, he is (or was) a die-hard gotta-eat-6-meals-a-day-every 2 or 3 hours fanatic. Then he tried IF, in various forms. 

There are several 'styles' of IF. Some involve fasting for a whole day, one or more times a week, and some involve 'eating windows'. I'm a big fan of the eating window.  If you aren't already adapted, the first week is rough, the second week is a little easier, and after that it's a piece of cake. You asked about a window longer than 16 hours and hunger issues. Generally, there are no hunger issues *unless* you are combining IF with carb restriction and a calorie deficit. From experience, as long as you aren't restricting carbs or doing HIIT in the morning, you might not ever feel really hungry. In fact, I just realized I haven't eaten yet today, and it's 6:40 PM local time.

If you're into research and reading and want to make the most of an IF eating style, look up info on "pulse feeding". IF gives you great insulin sensitivity, and if you have the right window time, you can space your meals 3 to 4 hours apart and really use the sensitivity to your advantage. 

Don't worry about losing muscle. I dropped IF in October of last year when I started a bulk. Went back to IF in December after gaining too much fat too quickly, and actually gained more strength and, I think muscle, after I was back on IF.  I think IF just trains your system to be able to use fat stores much more easily, so temporary energy deficits where your body might have gone catabolic in the past are now simply fueled by a higher availability of triglycerides from fat.

Another link I saved from my previous research on IF:
Trained muscles stronger and harder from fasting every other day

And definitely read back on all the stuff on the Leangains site, lots of good info there, but take some of it with a grain of salt, as Martin is a bit of a fanatic about IF.


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## Anabolic5150 (Apr 10, 2012)

ThreeGigs, thank you!


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## Anabolic5150 (Apr 10, 2012)

Decided that Monday morning I will be doing IF for a 30 day trial period. Thanks to all who offered up such excellent resources and input. I'll keep this updated once a week or so.


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## Pittsburgh63 (Apr 10, 2012)

Are jelly beans cool with IF?  I fasted most of the day.. but I'm pounding these jelly beans boy!!


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## Anabolic5150 (Apr 10, 2012)

Pittsburgh63 said:


> Are jelly beans cool with IF?  I fasted most of the day.. but I'm pounding these jelly beans boy!!



If they fit your macros, yes.


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## Pittsburgh63 (Apr 10, 2012)

Anabolic5150 said:


> If they fit your macros, yes.



LOL.. I quit counting my macros once I started hitting the cardio hard.  LOL.  Still count my protein, but that's about it.  Carbs are low.. but I couldn't tell you a number.


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## Anabolic5150 (Apr 10, 2012)

Pittsburgh63 said:


> LOL.. I quit counting my macros once I started hitting the cardio hard.  LOL.  Still count my protein, but that's about it.  Carbs are low.. but I couldn't tell you a number.



I only counted protein for years too, it sucked!


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## MuscleGauge1 (Apr 10, 2012)

lee111s said:


> I've followed the Intermittent fasting diet for fat loss, muscle gain and health method for about 10 weeks. Using info from rippedbody.jp I went for the "cut" macro's for the 10 weeks and lost about 11lb over that time.
> 
> I'm back on the juice now so I'm going for the body recomp macros (20% more than BMR on training days and 20% less on off days). I've just started this week. The leangains method is intermittent fasting and carb cycling at the same time and people seem to get very very good results with it!



Great method and great info all around.


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## Pittsburgh63 (Apr 10, 2012)

It's funny.. when I'm bulking I count everything.  Make sure I'm right on point for growth.. Once I start cutting, I just don't have the motivation.. it's such a depressing thing, losing size and all.. LOL.  Counting just makes it worse.


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## pjreiff (Apr 11, 2012)

Anabolic5150 said:


> Isn't the fasting period only supposed to be 16 hours? Looks like you extended it a bit, any hunger issues?


16 - 18 hours but I have also seen IF protocol that uses a full day of fasting.  For me, I had no hunger issues.  My biggest challenge initially was choking down a pound of steak for my first meal.


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## Anabolic5150 (Apr 11, 2012)

pjreiff said:


> 16 - 18 hours but I have also seen IF protocol that uses a full day of fasting.  For me, I had no hunger issues.  My biggest challenge initially was choking down a pound of steak for my first meal.



That's true, but as I said, I have noticed myself gradually over time moving to this style of eating naturally so I am hoping it is a good fit for me. I'm not looking to shed much fat as my body fat is pretty much in check for where I want to be, but just to maintain my size and if I drop some fat then ok. It's just going to simplify my eating. 6 meals a day for 12 plus years has gotten really old, especially the morning meals.


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## garrythomson (Apr 13, 2012)

Ive been reading Eat.Stop.Eat. and leangains for about 72 hours... and I keep thinking this is never going to work for me because I work out at 8 pm on weekdays and like 11am on weekends because I need to include a long distance run. I dont have time to eat a pre-workout meal on weekdays in the 15 minutes Im home before going to the gym, and I get home from the gym at 11:30 at night... how do I eat my big post-workout meal at midnight? Is my work-schedule dooming me from trying this?


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## Anabolic5150 (Apr 13, 2012)

garrythomson said:


> Ive been reading Eat.Stop.Eat. and leangains for about 72 hours... and I keep thinking this is never going to work for me because I work out at 8 pm on weekdays and like 11am on weekends because I need to include a long distance run. I dont have time to eat a pre-workout meal on weekdays in the 15 minutes Im home before going to the gym, and I get home from the gym at 11:30 at night... how do I eat my big post-workout meal at midnight? Is my work-schedule dooming me from trying this?



You'll need to pick an 8 hour eating window that works around your schedule. I'm too new to this to give advice, wait for others with experience to try chime in.


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## moresize (Apr 13, 2012)

Anabolic5150 said:


> You'll need to pick an 8 hour eating window that works around your schedule. I'm too new to this to give advice, wait for others with experience to try chime in.



Just read the books and everything else, sound like the correct advice. I take it this is for fatloss? the basic answer I got was to keep it simple, workout in a fasted state (16hr window) and eat in the 8 hour window.


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## Anabolic5150 (Apr 13, 2012)

moresize said:


> Just read the books and everything else, sound like the correct advice. I take it this is for fatloss? the basic answer I got was to keep it simple, workout in a fasted state (16hr window) and eat in the 8 hour window.



Fat loss or recomp, think growing on it may also work if calories are high enough.


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## pjreiff (Apr 14, 2012)

I typically train at 6:15 AM but my schedule forces me to train at night some times.  Regardless of when I'm training, I've kept my feeding schedule the same and it has worked extremely well for me.  The protocol that I've been using is my first meal after a 16 - 18 hour fast is the largest.  It looks like this:  6:00 AM 10 g of BCAAs.  6:15 AM - 7:30 Train.  8:30 AM 10 G BCAA.  10:30 10 G BCAA.  Noon - 1:00 PM Largest meal of the day and start of my 8 hour feeding window.  3:00 PM - 4:00 PM Second meal.  6:30 PM Last meal of the day.  Key Points:  No calories are to be ingested during the fasted phase however coffee, calorie sweeteners, and sugar free gum are OK in moderation.  Meal frequency is irrelevant however most people prefer three meals.  The feeding window should be kept somewhat consistent due to hormonal entertainment of meal patterns.  My caloric intake is about 3,300 and consists of animal protein (sirloin, chicken, fish) and greens. There are probably a number of protocols documented for intermittent fasting but the results I've seen from this one have been extraordinary.  I've shed 27 lbs of fat and gained 3 lbs of muscle over 90 days.


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## pjreiff (Apr 14, 2012)

Clarification on my last post.  My fat loss directly related to IM is more in the area of 16 lbs with 2 lbs of muscle gain over a 9 week period.  The additional fat loss was the result of a significant diet change that I made about 90 days ago, moving to a very clean caloric intake.  Sorry for any confusion.


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## johnnydeeper (Apr 17, 2012)

This is the only way I eat after trying IF-I didn't even workout fasted and still lost 10lbs. in 3 weeks. I think one of the most interesting things to really get you thinking is it was either Martin(dude is ripped to shreds) or the author of Eat Stop Eat that said the reason the 6 a day meal plan was pushed to the public was to sell more nutritional products like MRPs and protein powder and now everyone is saying you should have 5-6 small meals(general public) a day and that is $$$  for a lot of in the food chain.


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