Fasting and weight lifting

[BehindBlueI's]

I'm not a novice to fasting, but I'm used to no liquids while fasting as well so that tends to limit my physical activity as sweating becomes problematic. I have zero experience weight lifting while just food-fasting until this week (see my post in Daily BS about getting the deal of the century on a smith machine)

I noticed that I feel really good today after weight lifting despite 24 hours fasting (food fasting, still drinking) at this point and only 1k-ish calories for several days before that.

While trying to do a bit of research, I ran across this: https://www.prospectmedical.com/reso...ittent-fasting

Many people obsess over calories in versus out, and fear muscle loss that theoretically happens when you exercise without having refueled. But when you understand the beneficial impact that exercising during a fasted state has on the body’s hormones, you’ll see that fasting and exercise aren’t only OK, they are actually the optimal way to boost your health and body composition.

What does the PF hive mind say?

[Le Français]

I often workout during my daily 16-hr fast, and sometimes several hours before I eat. I like it a lot. A few years ago, I thought that I had to have something in my stomach to help « fuel » the workout, but that has proven false for me. I have plenty of energy to lift fasted—maybe even more energy than I did when I ate beforehand.

[Yung]

Do you mind coffee? Black coffee will go a long way during the fast period.

[EPF]

It works great for me. I only fast from 11pm each night until 2-3pm the next day so it sounds like your fasts are longer. I train bjj 4 times per week and lift 2 times. All activity starts At 12:00 pm. I feel great for all training sessions and this has helped me easily maintain my weight while not being hard core about calories and food selection. I’ve been on this plan for about 2 1/2 years.

If you feel good doing it and your taking in enough nutrients to facilitate recovery when not fasting, I think it’s fine for lifting.


ETA: I drink two small cups of black coffee in the AM as I did before fasting. Hat tip to Yung

[RevolverRob]

Following with interest.

I've decided to change up two things in my diet this week.

First, I am doing an intermittent fast daily, which I was almost doing anyways. Basically, I am now only eating between the hours of 12pm-7pm. This isn't terribly difficult for me, because I go to bed around 2am and prefer to sleep until 9:30am. It just means cutting out "dessert" that often would come later, after dinner. At this point between 7pm-12pm I am only drinking water or coffee.

Two, I've decided to focus on a "genetic oriented" diet. Which isn't to say I buy into the whole idea that genetic-defined diets are better for you. But there are genetic factors associated with food processing and I have a couple of them, that predispose me to things like...fatty liver. It stands to reason that one of those factors make it more difficult for me to process the foods of some cultures. So, instead of eating 'American' food, I'm switching to a much more Latin-oriented diet. With a focus on native American foods and more traditional preparations.

I don't know if it is the fasting or the diet changes, I suspect both, but I feel A LOT better the last few days. More consistent bowel movements, better hydration, less hungry, despite less caloric intake. Cutting way back on sugar and carbs has eliminated the lethargic/sleepy feeling of post-eating that was plaguing me. I'm literally, four days into this venture and feel so much better it isn't funny.

AND I find that even though I'm fasting when I get up in the morning, coffee and movement make me feel more energized not less. Long(er) walks with the dog in the morning and evening are no problem.

[Casual Friday]

I've been intermittent fasting for a couple years now. My feeding window is either 10am-6pm or Noon to 8pm, depending on the day. I typically only eat two meals, one at the beginning of the feeding window and one at the very end. I lift weights in the morning, always have, and I have never been able to detect a drop in performance or muscle gain. There are days that the last hour of fasting is harder, but it's mostly mental. You won't die. If people couldn't work and complete physical tasks on an empty stomach most of our ancestors would have never made it and we wouldn't be here.

First meal is a lot of food too. I'm eating my first meal right now, I opted to jump on the tractor and mow before eating today. It's a reverse seared rib eye with garlic butter left over from last nights dinner, eggs from my chickens, and a piece of toast. Tonight, it'll be beef short ribs that have been marinating for 24 hours, asparagus, brussel sprouts, and corn on the cob.

[David S.]

What kind of lifting are you doing?

What are your goals?

[revchuck38]

@BehindBlueI's - If you read down farther in that article, it emphasized that you should refuel right after a hard weight or cardio session.

Your body has about 1500-2000 calories' worth of glycogen in your muscles, liver, and blood. That and fat are the body's main fuel sources for activity. It uses both at the same time with proportions changing as activity level increases. Easy stuff relies mostly on fat, and as you start to go harder, the proportion of carbs (glycogen) increases. At some point, you max out your body's ability to burn fat and additional effort relies solely on additional carbs. Once you burn through your glycogen stores, your activity level decreases to the level you can maintain on fat alone. Plus you feel like dogshit since your brain runs on glycogen and you get muddle-headed when it's running on fumes. Runners and cyclists know this as "bonking".

I can see doing a weight session designed to maintain fitness working in a fasted state. A session designed to increase fitness - which, by definition, breaks down muscle tissue - would need fuel right afterward.

Other than for religious reasons, there's no benefit to abstaining from water.

[BehindBlueI's]

What kind of lifting are you doing?

What are your goals?

Short term is mostly weight loss and a general getting back into lifting. I won't bore you with the 'ustacoulds' but I've lost a lot of strength while recovering from a couple injuries.

Today was just a simple "push" day, heavy (for my current ability) and low reps. 10-8-5 sets with increasing weight, bench, incline bench, shoulder press, military press sort of stuff.

What got me thinking about this is I've not been hungry until just now (26 hours or so into the fast) and that's minor. I have plenty of energy, am not foggy, and am not grumpy. The opposite, actually, I feel pretty damned good.

@BehindBlueI's - If you read down farther in that article, it emphasized that you should refuel right after a hard weight or cardio session....

I can see doing a weight session designed to maintain fitness working in a fasted state. A session designed to increase fitness - which, by definition, breaks down muscle tissue - would need fuel right afterward.

Other than for religious reasons, there's no benefit to abstaining from water.

Yeah, I read the whole thing, I just posted the blurb so folks would know what the link was about. It does talk about waiting a few hours as well. I know there's no reason to abstain from liquids other than for religious purposes, that's just generally the point of my fasting.

For the record, I'm not really talking about intermittant fasting, I'm talking about 1-3 days no calories fasting. Normally by now I'd be hungry and/or cranky and I wasn't sure if it was because I'm not also dehydrated or because of the hormone release from heavy lifting, even if over a fairly short term.

I get I'm probably not going to "bulk up" and may not even get stronger right now, although that'd be nice. My primary goal is weight loss. Then I'll work on body composition. (For those who haven't followed the weight loss threads I've lost about 60 pounds over about 18 months and maintained at 220 for about two months and have set a new goal of under 200 by 9/1/20)

[Nephrology]

@BehindBlueI's the feeling of well-being you are experiencing is probably Ketosis . The science behind intermittent fasting/keto diets/etc isn't super thoroughly fleshed out but I know lots of people that swear by it and have had good results.