intermittent fasting

[a312]

Would u count a low carb protein shake instead of bcaa as breaking ur fast? Or is it when u eat solid food?

[costco77]

i tried leangains and just couldnt curb the hunger even with coffee and aminos, now i do a variant of leangains where i have a post shake and continue to fast till my first meal....works like a champ and with NO cardio im leaning up nicely (and a few supps)

This is what I was thinking of doing...after listening to Carl LaNore's show superhuman radio episode #553
they hypothesized that the longer you go without a carb-full postworkout meal the greater the insulin spike will be with your first real breakfast meal, also the longer you wait to have that full meal the longer the fat burning process will go.

So maybe a post workout shake w/25g or less of whey then a couple hours later have your first carb-filled meal.

[doggy_dog]

I've been doing it for a long time.

Not following the exact Lean gains protocol, but I do fast for 16 hours every day.

To tell you the truth, I can't say I have noticed a huge difference. For me it's just more convenience.
But it does help with controlling hunger while I cut.

[MrKleen73]

Guys there is an extensive thread in this section on Lean Gains and other IF strategies with thousands of posts of how people respond to it, tweak it and work with in it. However here are a couple pics of me that are 6 weeks apart using IF to drop fat and build muscle. Yes anabolics were involved to help add the muscle but it should give you an idea and I was not crazy strict and did not do much cardio at all.

[RogerBob]

i find im always hungry and hour or two after brekkie.. if i miss it until lunch i can do that no probs, so for me fasting was fairly easy. Remember you can do a daily 18 hour fast or a 24 hour fast 2-3 times a week. Just tell your body to "**** off" when its hungry, it soon goes away, bit like holding in a poo.
Once you do it daily your body doesnt expect food until 1pm, its boredom i find that makes me eat if anything.

[MrKleen73]

Lean Gains is pretty specific about the times you eat or at least the 16/8 ratio. However with this thread being about IF not just LG I will say that after a very long time of fasting you can easily change the time you break your fast with minimal hunger. Martin recommends starting your feeding window close to the same time to set the rhythms so you don't get too hungry before your time. However the longer you do this the easier and easier it is to fast longer without hunger ever becoming a major issue. Kind of like the guy above said it is a bit like holding in poo. After a little bit the urge goes away.

I tend to keep things pretty consistent on Build Days. I have aminos pre and post training then once or twice more before breaking my fast around 1:00PM. I eat until between 8:00-9:00PM
On burn days I break my fast mid to late afternoon, IE 3:30-4:30PM and eat until 8:00-9:00PM, if I haven't eaten by 4:30PM I will typically just wait to eat dinner with my family or just have a protein shake and then a large dinner. I prefer to shorten the window and have 1 or 2 larger meals on my burn days. I find it more satiating that way.

[Beta BBer]

I am on a cutting phase right now under the guidance of a internet trainer who is doing my macros etc.

Honestly, its the easiest thing ever, even on a cut. Arms and legs are the same size, weight is down, lifts are up. I wish I had learned how to do this years ago and quit worrying about eating every 3 hrs etc etc. By far the best I have ever looked. I train in the AM, so the bulk of my fasted time is evening and asleep...program is just extremely easy for me to comply with because of my work schedule.

[inda11]

Does a protein shake break your fast? What if i can't eat all my post work out meal? Im really struggling to down it!

[MurphyMove]

Would anyone say this is worth trying for the first time while on an AAS cycle? Or try it when all other things are normal, to get a better feel for how the body responds?

[Beta BBer]

Would anyone say this is worth trying for the first time while on an AAS cycle? Or try it when all other things are normal, to get a better feel for how the body responds?

Is it a bulking or cutting cycle? If bulking I'd say to wait.

[Beta BBer]

Does a protein shake break your fast? What if i can't eat all my post work out meal? Im really struggling to down it!

If the protein shake is preworkout, its okay, but not ideal. BCAA poweder Pre-WO is what the protocol calls for.

[Thepaul7]

What if i can't eat all my post work out meal? Im really struggling to down it!

Sweating the small stuff here. Eat until you are satisfied. More importantly get all of your nutrition needed during your whole window of eating.

[MrKleen73]

Does a protein shake break your fast? What if i can't eat all my post work out meal? Im really struggling to down it!

Any food with any amount of calories breaks the fast. What you are worried about is insulin release and return to fasting state of blood sugar. Martin recommend no more than 50 cals preferably with as little carbs as possible. However 10g of whey or whey isolate is fine too. Isolate preferably during the fast. Unless your post workout meal is the last meal of the day you just need to get in 65% of your calories SOME TIME after your workout. A bulk of it in the first meal after but it does not really matter. Same if you train fasted and he says then 95% of your calories come Post workout of course that is the case since you don't break your fast until after you lift, then you have 8 hours to finish that 95% post workout, it is not 65% of your cals all in one meal that is not the requirement.

Would anyone say this is worth trying for the first time while on an AAS cycle? Or try it when all other things are normal, to get a better feel for how the body responds?

ABSOLUTELY! It is worth trying at any point in the game. Regardless of what anyone says most of the time anyone on cycle changes their nutrition plan from the normal one they run when not on anabolics. Now if you are looking to compare this then if you haven't done a cycle with your normal nutrition you wont get a good comparison. However a good diet is a good diet whether on anabolics or not.

This diet is really not any better or more effective than the 6 meal a day plan to be honest. I did both but this one is far more convenient, far easier to continue and maintain. Results wise they are about the same but the amount of effort to follow the diet is about half if even that which makes it far superior to me. If you have insulin sensitivity issues this diet will help correct them. It is also so much easier to follow, only having 2-3 meals in a day to worry about.

Is it a bulking or cutting cycle? If bulking I'd say to wait.

I don't think it matters at all. I have been using IF for a while now and did more recomping. I don't think too many people do a "bulk" on IF anymore. I mean the bulk for LG is gaining like 3-4 lbs over 12 weeks, however it is all muscle. That is how Martin intends it to be.

If the protein shake is preworkout, its okay, but not ideal. BCAA poweder Pre-WO is what the protocol calls for.

Aminos are only used before the workout if you are working out fasted. There is no reason to waste money on aminos if you are not training fasted. YOu should be getting in ample amounts of protein and should not be taking in aminos during your fast on cardio or rest days. Only during the fasted period post training if training fasted in the morning.

Sweating the small stuff here. Eat until you are satisfied. More importantly get all of your nutrition needed during your whole window of eating.

Precisely, just like I stated above. I think most people see the 65% and think crap I have to eat all 1800 cals in 1 meal. Of course after a little bit on this that is not that hard to do.

Also unless you are a "whole food purist" protein powder goes a long way toward keeping your macros in line and protein high.

[a312]

So do pre workouts break ur fast too?

[MrKleen73]

So do pre workouts break ur fast too?

Don't over think it too much. I will say that some pre workouts will break the fast as some of them have things like waximaize, maltodextrine or dextrose to give energy or help promote the pump via carbs. Typically tho they don't have many calories in them at all and the Aminos that are in some of them are not a problem. Technically any consumption of calories is breaking the fast. Martin recommends not going over 50 calories during the fast and at that it is every couple hours someone on here mentioned having them every hour, but it was every other hour post fasted training.

My morning thing is above what he recommends I do 2 scoops of Xtend pre workout. That is a total of 22 grams of aminos and glutamine, then I have 12g of HumaPro post workout. It works really well for me. I will normally get 1-2 more servings of aminos in before breaking my fast typically at 1:00. I am done training by 6:00AM so that is 6-7 hours later. He recommends trying to at least get it in around four hours after but no convenient for me. Protein synthesis doesn't really even start increasing until 4 hours after resistance exercise, and it reaches it's peak around 24 hours so there is not any risk of missing out on any protein synthesis. Don't sweat the minutia, the absolute best part of Intermittent Fasting is you can be extremely basic and it will work like a charm. You can also be worried about the minutia of it all, try to do everything with perfect timing yada yada yada and get pretty much the same results without the benefit of enjoying the pure simplicity of the way of eating.

[a312]

Don't over think it too much. I will say that some pre workouts will break the fast as some of them have things like waximaize, maltodextrine or dextrose to give energy or help promote the pump via carbs. Typically tho they don't have many calories in them at all and the Aminos that are in some of them are not a problem. Technically any consumption of calories is breaking the fast. Martin recommends not going over 50 calories during the fast and at that it is every couple hours someone on here mentioned having them every hour, but it was every other hour post fasted training.

My morning thing is above what he recommends I do 2 scoops of Xtend pre workout. That is a total of 22 grams of aminos and glutamine, then I have 12g of HumaPro post workout. It works really well for me. I will normally get 1-2 more servings of aminos in before breaking my fast typically at 1:00. I am done training by 6:00AM so that is 6-7 hours later. He recommends trying to at least get it in around four hours after but no convenient for me. Protein synthesis doesn't really even start increasing until 4 hours after resistance exercise, and it reaches it's peak around 24 hours so there is not any risk of missing out on any protein synthesis. Don't sweat the minutia, the absolute best part of Intermittent Fasting is you can be extremely basic and it will work like a charm. You can also be worried about the minutia of it all, try to do everything with perfect timing yada yada yada and get pretty much the same results without the benefit of enjoying the pure simplicity of the way of eating.

Thanx alot

[RogerBob]

at the end of the day, if it goes in your mouth, and its not water, it breaks your fast!

Remember, you're fasting.. if youre not fasting, youre eating.

A very small, dash of milk in your coffee ive heard is not a deal breaker, but downing a protein shake or sugary post workout, sorry but you've stopped fasting.

Think of it as draining your cars tank to find its MPG... if you add more fuel, its sscrewed the results.

Simple - fast 24 hours (dinner to next dinner) two to three times a week, or fast by eating your meal early evening (6pm) and not eating again until lunch the next day, every day (16-18 hour windows of no food or calorie drinks). Its that simple

No greay areas, no varients, its black and white, thats it.

[sarguy]

To rid myself of the lbs I added during my last semester, I started doing a "compressed feeding window" sorta-Leangains style of IF. I eat two large high protein meals a day, one about an hour after waking, and another one between 6-8 hours later. May 27th I was 222, yesterday I was 198 lbs. Overall I think it's been working well for me. Being that I'm eating low-carb , hi-fat paleo, my workouts suffered a bit at first, but after a couple of days they came right back.

Edit: I would mention that I don't do BCAAs while fasted. I'm somewhere between an Endo and Meso-morph and I haven't seen any loss of muscle from the fasting, which jives with what Rob Regish has seen as far as Endos and Mesos not needing the BCAAs as much as Ectos. Further, according to Brad Pilon and Robb Wolf, the BCAAs will indeed turn on MTOR, but will interfere with cellular autophagy. I might reevaluate my position if I were to embark on a mass gain, but until I'm at my target BF%, I'm only thinking of leaning out and general health.

[daAMx]

Is it a bulking or cutting cycle? If bulking I'd say to wait.

You didn't read much before this...did you ?

[Beta BBer]

You didn't read much before this...did you ?

I'm not really sure what you are adding to the discussion or even asking, but my personal opinion is that a newb test cycle should be
done with high cals to get the most out of it. If it was stanazol etc, then yeah, go for the cut or recomp-, if its test E for mass gains
I say go for broke and eat up and take advantage of the anabolic environment. Its not practical to get heavy bulking calories in the window of IF.