Nation,

Many of you may or may not have seen the great article Justin Janoska (NutritionMax) wrote on Intermittent Fasting or IF. I know many of us on SHF.com are looking for the best natural ways to get single digit body fat levels. Let's face it, having anywhere from 6%-10% bodyfat looks great and for many people is sustainable and attainable without drugs. The absolute level of leaness you can get naturally does have some genetic llimitations for each individual but in general everyone should be able to get to at least 10% - which is very lean at any age.

I recently decided to try IF after reading Justin's article and researching it online. There are many versions of IF - 16:8, 5:2, 24-hour, eat-stop-eat, Warrior diet, etc and lots of new research to back up its claims. To summarize for those who either have not read Justin's article or don't know about IF, IF in a nutshell is not a diet but rather a feeding regiment. I am doing the 16:8 daily fast which Justin discusses and is popularized by Martin Berkhan and LeanGains (www.leangains.com). The basic concept is you still eat the proper amounts of quality macronutrients and the required amount of daily calories but you do so in a set "feeding window". In the case of 16:8, you eat in an 8 hour feeding window and fast the remaining 16 hours. Most of us do this already as we fast when we sleep for 8 hours. IF is just extending the fasting window. I eat breakfast at Noon and have my last meal at 8PM.

The basic science is that Insulin and Growth Hormone (GH) are antagonistic meaning when one is high the other is low and visa versa. Insulin forces nutrients into all your cells and signals fat cells to store excess calories. Growth Hormone signals fat cells to release their energy and stimulates muscle growth and repair (along with testosterone and Insulin-like Growth Factor -1). IF uses your natural hormones to achieve the goal of muscle mass with low body fat. You leverage Insulin during the daily feeding window and Post workout to force nutrients into your cells and you leverage Growth Hormone during the fasting stage to build muscle and burn fat. Today's typical American diet leaves you in a constant state of insulin secretion due to the high sugar/simple carb heavy foods. You need at least 6 hours after a meal to exhaust all glucose in the blood so you can start burning fat via GH. With only 8 hours sleep and a diet full of simple carbs, you never get enough time at night or during the day for GH levels to get high enough for long enough to burn fat. This is why there is an epidemic of Type 2 diabetes in the U.S. If I eat my last meal at 8PM, after 6 hours (1AM) the blood glucose from that meal is gone and insulin is at its lowest. I now have 11 hours of GH release since my next meal is not until Noon the next day. Research has shown that this type of fasting increases GH levels by 2000% in men and 1400% in women! You can burn a lot of fat and build a lot of muscle in 10-11 hours. With the typical American diet and eating schedule, you would be lucky to get 4-5 hours of GH secretion each night depending on what time you eat breakfast in the morning - figuring last meal at 9PM and first meal at 8AM but you get the picture.

I am already seeing noticeable reduction in body fat after just 3 weeks. Once you get to 10% body fat, the body fights hard against going leaner as a "protection mechanism" for survival as body fat is used in times of starvation. IF fixes this problem and actually uses the body's own natural hormone systems to get to single digit leaness because you are keeping GH levels much higher for longer. As for hunger, the hunger you feel is mental not physical. True physical hunger does not occur until after 80 hours of fasting and is when the body starts digesting muscle tissue for protein. The "hunger" we feel is from us training our bodies to expect food at certain times. Once you get over this mental hump, IF is a breeze. So for those of you with no medical pre-conditions like diabetes, heart disease, or other medical ailments where fasting is contraindicated, IF is the real deal in achieving natural leaness while maintaining as much muscle mass as possible without the need of drugs :-)

John

Thank you for all these informations, John. Think I will research a bit on this topic and give it a try!

But for now I have one question: Should my training always be during the feeding window so I can get a post workout meal in or is it okay to train while fasting?

Kassi

Lasso,

IF works faster if you train fasted as long as you have some BCAAs before you work out to save your muscles from being used for fuel versus fat. Some people can't train fasted or it doesn't work into their life/work schedule so they train later in the day after eating some meals - which is what I do.

John

i'm stuck at Lasso and laughing so hard right now

So I will have to do the same because of both reasons, I can't train fasted and my schedule makes it impossible.

Thank you (also for making me laugh, I needed that right now)!

Love the article. I am doing IF as well and am on my 4th week. I have been losing 2lbs a week and I know my lifting is not suffering because my strength feels better each week and I keep improve better than I had in the past. Part of that I am sure is because of some big changes I have made to my lifting. Definately want to train fasted but eat immediatley after lifting. It's hard for some because of their schedules but that's why I joined 2 gyms, 1 by the house and 1 by work, to make this schedule work for me I have to lift at lunch 11:30am-12:30pm. I also enjoy some green tea first think in the morning and make sure I stay hydrated.

Thanks for that John. Valid point about the diabetes comment. This is also why the "requirement" to eat breakfast or your metaolism hits the floor is flawed. With the lower amounts of sleep we get each day and the immediate breakfast following our awakening, we never create a long enough fasting state that has any meaningful impact on growth hormone. 7-8 hours wil hardly do much.

Just for the hell of it to try it out, I went probably 23 hours last night. Trained. and ate all of my calories in 1 meal. Not saying this is what we should do, and honestly I didn't really like it, but I find 2-3 meals in an 8 hour slot is more realistic and probably better.

Sorry Kassi......damn spell checker on iPad :-)

John

Justin,

I know a lot about how the human body works and I have been struggling to get from 11% to 7-8% BF. The science behind IF makes total sense and I like that it uses your hormones, which have the most impact on body composition and metabolism, to achieve lower BF levels. Had you not written your article, I wouldn't have known about it so thank you for that :-)

A 23 hour fast might be too much for me right now. The 8-hour feeding window is working great. My 'hunger pangs" seem to have adjusted and now are active during the feeding window :-)

John

Looking good so far Aaron :-)

John

Hi John

Yet another example of some great information presented well. Thanks!

I'm currently researchng doing IF and am going to give it a go on a rest day this week. My work schedule doesn't allow training towards the end of the fasting window, so I think that it would be best to try it on a rest day otherwise I'd be training about 9 hours in to the 16 hour fast. This may be well doable eventually.

Cheers

Well, my intention wasn't to suggest doing a full 24 hours or anything... that's certainly an option, but I really was just saying how I experiemented with literally back loading all of my calories late at night in one massive meal.

Is there some way I can combine IF with fasting in Ramadan?

I think I'll lose power and or muscles if I just keep eating 2 times... The struggle is, it starts at 3pm and ends at 10pm....

Karim,

Sure. There are many different fasting/eating ratios. Ramadan is actually a good example of IF. You need to remember that the body does not start digesting muscle tissue for protein until you have fasted for 80 hours or more. This means you can go more than 3 days of not eating before you will start to lose muscle mass. The perceived loss of power or size is due to the muscle's glycogen stores being completely depleted which leaves the muscle looking flat and it has less energy for contractions so it "feels" weak. This is immediately rectified once you eat some food. Ironically, you have more energy when fasted because the body releases epinephrine and norepinephrine in larger amounts. Evolutionarily speaking, this was to provide the energy one needed to hunt for their next meal. Many people have reported strength gains and/or higher PRs on lifts when training fasted.

What you need to try to do is eat as much of your required calories and macros within the timeframe Ramadan allows you to eat - even if it means you are eating just one big meal. There is a version of IF called the Warrior Diet where basically you eat just one large meal in the evening and fast the rest of the time.

John

Thanks for the info. John. I know that IF has been used for years to great effect in the American Hollywood movie studios in order to get major male stars into "film shape", such as Hugh Jackman (The Wolverine) in the X-Men movies. In a recent TV interview he actually said he "looked forward" to the regimen (plus weight training, of course) as it put him in better physical condition than ever.

My only question is that in order to do the 16:8 program AND if you workout in the mornings, then that means that you would be lifting on a totally empty stomach, correct? Are there better options that would allow a morning meal (carbs + a bit of protein) prior to going to the gym?

I do not have access to any supplements whatsoever, so I'd just be taking my 1.5 Lt. water bottle along....

Although I am currently at 10% BF, I would be interested in trying IF-- just to see what my body is capable of handling...but I cannot imagine going for a morning workout without my "usual" oatmeal + yogurt (or Peanut Butter + banana+ honey sandwich!).

I suppose I COULD "try" training fasted and see what happens? I haven't done that for years, and at that time was doing an intense cardio-based workout (which would sometimes induce vomiting--due to the severe cardiovascular strain involved).

Suggestions?

Harley

P.S. To compound the problem, I believe I made a major error when I changed gyms 10 days ago...although the "new" gym was 1/2 the price (monthly) it doesn't have AC and thus I feel much more drained / spent after just a few supersets compared to the other gym (even at 7:30 AM it's nearly 38C / 90F in there--with fans), so (unfortunately) I'm losing a bit of my motivation (getting on a treadmill after lifting is a major chore)...plus the little Thai attendants keep following me around telling me I MUST cover every bench-pad / chair with a towel before using (even the Swiss ball has to be covered!), and then I have to wipe it down AFTER with their provided paper towels and blue spray (even if my body never touched the pad!)...talk about "Gym Nazis, HA HA"....just this morn. one littler girl came over and said I was "too loud" loading plates onto the leg press.....and I NEVER drop stuff or clang it around....

Harley,

Any chance of going back to your old gym? That place sounds too restrictive to me on top of having no air conditioning :-)

As to your question, 16:8 IF works best when you train fasted - you burn more fat faster as you are training while your GH levels are still high. The key to preserving muscle in this state is to consume 3-5g of BCAAs before you work out - this is a must or you will lose fat and muscle together. You can also drink some 0 calorie beverages like green tea or coffee before your workout. You then eat your largest meal after your workout consuming 50-60% of your daily allotted carbs and protein. Your body is most sensitive to insulin and most receptive to using calories for growth and repair after you workout. The remaining meals you eat during the 8 hour feeding window is to complete the consumption of all your required daily macros.

Training fasted is hard and biochemically you should have more energy as your body releases a lot of epinephrine and norepinephrine when in a fasted state as well as GH. If this just isn't doable, you can still eat early and train in the morning but you will just have to cut off the feeding window earlier to start the fast. If you eat breakfast at 8AM and train at 11AM, you have until 4PM to eat your last meal and you will thus be fasting until 8AM the next morning.

John