What I have found with IF is that while you may lose weight from eating at a deficit, adding back those calories eventually will make you gain weight extremely fast.

Ya, that is one concern. As long as you don't go stupid wild and stay somewhat close to your normal calories, I think one would be ok. Sure, you might put a couple pounds, but once you get back to your norm, those will be he first to drop back off.

claym711 said:

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bam02 said:

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claym711 said:

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Hard to imagine fasting for 20 hours and being able to run for an hour or cycle for 2.

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Lots of stuff is hard to imagine when you have no clue what you're talking about.

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Ya? You're at peak physical performance fasted 20 hours? Tell me more wise sage.

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Someone of us don't have to be at peak physical performance to run for an hour.

At peak? No. But you have plenty of calories to run for an hour even after fasting for 24+ hours

You're not getting anything out of a run or ride on a 20+ hour fast other than a miserable experience and calorie burn.

claym711 said:

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You're not getting anything out of a run or ride on a 20+ hour fast other than a miserable experience and calorie burn.

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You ever done it? It surprisingly not bad once your body is adjusted and you're not hanging on to it mentally.

I've been doing IF for 10+ years and I'm as lean as I've ever been.

claym711 said:

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You're not getting anything out of a run or ride on a 20+ hour fast other than a miserable experience and calorie burn.

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Are you speaking from experience?

Some of you need to experiment. I love running in the middle of fast, 24-36 hours and a run is awesome

Can we get some peer reviewed articles on this topic? Anyone have any links to quality studies?

Look up Dr. Rhonda Patrick or Dr. Peter Attia, both have links on their websites to peer studies

I know there was a study that just came out that argued that not eating breakfast actually led to heart disease. I will try to find it...If someone already has it, please post

https://translational-medicine.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12967-016-1044-0

aggiederelict said:

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Can we get some peer reviewed articles on this topic? Anyone have any links to quality studies?

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Pubmed it. There are tons of studies on the subject.

Stumbled into this thread. I'm gonna give it a go. I work out regularly 4-5 times a week and have consistently done so for 2+ years.

I am thin, but have never developed 6 pack abs. My waist area seems to always hold that last bit of fat.

I've changed my diet, more carbs, less carbs, eating 6 times a day and no effect.

The science behind this makes sense and I'm gonna try to lose a little more fat. Today is my first day.

I work out at lunch everyday so my first meal will now be at 1pm.

Skipping breakfast is gonna be tough, I've always been a proponent of starting the day off with a good breakfast.

If you can jump right into it then go for it! If you struggle to wait for your 1pm meal then just incrementally move your breakfast back later and later. Also lots of black coffee helps.

Hit your protein macro and you'll be fine. As PUTO mentioned above, you'll adapt.

I workout fasted at lunch also. First meal is at 4PM.

bam02 said:

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If you can jump right into it then go for it! If you struggle to wait for your 1pm meal then just incrementally move your breakfast back later and later. Also lots of black coffee helps.

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So far so good, I drank a cup of decaf (black) and that is all I have had since 4PM yesterday. I am hungry, but not starving. My workout starts in an hour.

Caffeine is another story altogether. Caffeine (or caffeine withdrawals) give me migraines headaches. So I just dont do caffeine anymore, haven't for the last 5 years or so. Wished I had figured this out as a child instead of in my 30's. would have saved me lots of headaches.

Even drinking a cup of decaf coffee has enough caffeine in it to effect me the next day.

I am gonna keep my macros at 40% c/30% f/30% p. I would love to gain lean mass while losing weight, just not sure that my body type supports any additional mass. Maintaining is fine as well.

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I would love to gain lean mass while losing weight

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Maybe have a look into Leangains.

IF, carb cycling and RPT (2 sets) for cuts.

IF, carb cycling and whatever volume workout you want for recomp/bulk.

I like it and think I've had good results.

Early observations:

1. I can't eat nearly as much as I used to when I was eating all day. Compound that with only 2 meals and it's hard for me to reach 2000 calories.

2. Haven't really missed breakfast.

3. Tmi warning. regularity improved

4. No change in shape yet, but it's only 4 days.

5. On 2 occasions, I drank decaf coffee mid-morning to help me get to lunch. somehow I don't have the side effects from caffeine that I used to get.

P.U.T.U said:

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Look up Dr. Rhonda Patrick or Dr. Peter Attia, both have links on their websites to peer studies

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i was going to suggest Dr Patrick as well

I just listened to a Joe Rogan podcast with her, #901

shes a big fan of IF

coffee does technically break the fast as your body/liver has to break down the caffeine, therefore kicking in the enzyme metabolism, which is a big part of the IF

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I can't eat nearly as much as I used to when I was eating all day. Compound that with only 2 meals and it's hard for me to reach 2000 calories.

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Get your bro-shake on. It's easy calories.

Or drink beer.

I'm reading this thread and it's inspired me to restart intermittent fasting. Always struggled while traveling for work full time but just need to skip the free hotel breakfast and get back to it. I felt so much better when I was doing this a couple years back.

Tested yesterday at 10.5% body fat. I suspect i started around 12-13.

I am only down 2.5 lbs, so I think I am making slight progress on lean gains.

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1550413115002247

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1550413114000655

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S155041311400062X

What's the guidance on IF when you lift early morning? Common sense as well as my body tells me I need food.

10andBOUNCE said:

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What's the guidance on IF when you lift early morning? Common sense as well as my body tells me I need food.

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Depends on your goals, but you can probably keep going till lunch without much difficulty and without losing all your gainz. Maybe throw in some BCAAs if you want. Or you could just adjust your eating window as well to where you stop eating in the afternoon, although that may affect your sleep quality.

Also depends on your age. For the people I have worked with and studies it appears those 35-40+ in age see the most benefits from IF. If you are truly doing IF than you still consume nothing after your morning workout, Terry Crew (Terry Tate the office linebacker) does a morning workout and then eats his first meal at 2pm). Find a time frame that works for you, I wake up at 4:30 every day and rarely eat after dinner so my schedule would differ from someone waking up at 630.

I did about 14 weeks of IF recently and I stayed lean but did not see any gains. Could not eat enough in the 9 hour time frame so went up to 12 and gained 2 pounds of muscle. Did not get stronger but did look a little more cut.

I went back to not eating before 6am and not eating later than 7:30, combined with higher reps gained 8 pounds in 4 weeks. In short, if you want to get bigger focus on eating every 2.5hours when you are up with protein at every meal.

Just started looking into IF today and am wanting to give it a try. Searched and found this thread, but still have a few questions.

Based on a lot of the posts, it seems more complicated than I understood it to be with all the talk of macros, percentages, etc. Do you have to count macros and strictly track your percent c/f/p to make IF work for you? Or is that more related to also bulking up/lifting?

I'm a female, want to lose weight, started cardio and then resistance band routine to help tone, build lean muscle. So, I'm not looking to bulk up. I had been taking in about 1500 calories a day (counted for two weeks w/o making any changes) and have recently cut that to 1200-1300 a day, max. However, I'm not tracking fat/protein/carb percentages, per se, just cut out refined carbs and reduced sugar, don't eat fried foods. Trying to eat lean protein, vegetables, fiber like oat bran, quinoa, etc. (Though also intrigued by another thread on TA about going zero carb). Sometimes have a protein smoothie for lunch or breakfast on a weekend; use Vega protein and frozen fruits with spinach, flaxseed.

I'm also interested in recommended fasting windows as I noticed the 16:8 is sometimes done morning (no breakfast) versus evening (no dinner). I'm horrible about eating breakfast, so am leaning toward a fasting window from 8 p.m. to 12 noon, but wasn't sure if there was some benefit to starting the fast earlier in the day instead.

Additionally, I've also seen some sites talk of incorporating a 24-hr fasting period at least two days a week and saw some of you mention fasting for 24 hours. Is there added benefit to that? Is it hard to adjust to when starting IF?

There also seems to be two minds as to whether fasting period should include water only? Or water and coffee? Is that all, or is it any zero calorie beverage (I tend to drink green tea rather than coffee in the AM, and sometimes I like to have flavored sparkling water like Dasani Peach (0 cal, 0 sugar)?

Finally, how does alcohol fit in? I don't really drink often; could be months between a drink and then one every weekend for a couple weeks. However, I definitely drink when tailgating, and I like craft beer, scotch neat, or vodka with sparkling water. Is alcohol something that should be really limited, whether by type or amount, even if consumed during your food window?

TIA for your help! Appreciate all the expertise/experience shared here!