Thread: My Intermittent Fasting Plan...

How about you set your plan up by grams instead of percentages. Kinda makes more sense, don't you think?

PS just pick the macros you intend to run for the day, then arrange your feedings to suit your comfort. If you can't manage your appetite, it ain't optimal.

I do have it laid out by grams as well.... basically starting at 250g of carb, 250 g of protein, and ~55 g of fat.

More likely than not I'll be dropping the carbs some to cut calories.

Well, I'm starting today so we'll see how it goes, thanks for the help...and please feel free to give more input if you have it.

I'm actually kinda excited about not having to wake up to rush to cook and eat my usual 10egg whites/1 whole & oats for breakfast. Typically wake up between 4:30am and 5am most days so it will be a nice change of pace in the AM, just coffee for me

Although I may incorporate a straight whey shake depending on how I feel this is working out for me.

Is there any particular reason that most people seem to eat 3 meals during the "feed"

Is there any reason it couldnt be 4-5 smaller meals as long as the timing stayed consistent?

It could but eating 5 meals in 8 hours is unfeasible for many people's schedules. It also undermines the idea of consuming larger meals which tend to be more satiating compared to smaller meals.

Originally Posted by Marat

It could but eating 5 meals in 8 hours is unfeasible for many people's schedules. It also undermines the idea of consuming larger meals which tend to be more satiating compared to smaller meals.

Gotcha, makes sense.

Your fats are too low. A good target is half a gram per pound lean mass - so with my MASSIVE 119 lbs lean mass, lol, my minimum fat intake should be 60g, although in practice I prefer it much higher than this.

Pay for the extra fat by dropping your carb intake down, and abandon the percentage approach. It will become increasingly meaningless as your cut progresses (because protein should, if anything, go up when you drop calories).

Originally Posted by DaBeast25

I do have it laid out by grams as well.... basically starting at 250g of carb, 250 g of protein, and ~55 g of fat.

More likely than not I'll be dropping the carbs some to cut calories.

Well, I'm starting today so we'll see how it goes, thanks for the help...and please feel free to give more input if you have it.

I'm actually kinda excited about not having to wake up to rush to cook and eat my usual 10egg whites/1 whole & oats for breakfast. Typically wake up between 4:30am and 5am most days so it will be a nice change of pace in the AM, just coffee for me

Although I may incorporate a straight whey shake depending on how I feel this is working out for me.

Relative to whole eggs, eggwhites do not promote much satiety in humans. You may wish to include the yolks when you consume eggs. It'll help increase your fat intake anyway.

If you must eat eggwhites without the yolks, at least preload your meal with a whey shake.

I'll bump them up... was planning on staying on more of a low-fat diet to finish out the cycle then bump them back up to 90-100grams/day to start pct.

As far as the eggs go I'll be consuming the bulk of my calories in 3 meals now(not including my immediately post workout shake/bagel). With that in mind the egg whites will be a small part of a larger meal which should fill me up. If not I'll switch over to more whole eggs which was again something I was actually planning on doing as soon as my cycle is over.

My plan was to increase my dietary fat(+saturaterd) and dietary cholesterol significantly immediately after my cycle in an effort to help restore my natural test production. For the time being I was initially planning a lower fat/choleterol diet.

I forgot you were still on. Your plan seems prudent.

What are the thoughts on taking BCAA's during the fasted state?

Martin Berkhan advocates BCAA use during the morning hours/surrounding a morning workout when and individual is "feeding" in the second half of the day(1pm-9pm or so).

This leads me to believe that he must believe that the consumption of BCAA's doesn't actually break the fast... possible b/c the aren't any real calories just the 3 Aminos.

I'm considering using some BCAA's in the AM once or twice before my first meal around 11 or 12.

The calories still technically count, they are just so few that it isn't a big deal.

Here are some posts where he discusses fasted training/ bcaa:
http://www.leangains.com/2009/12/fas...le-growth.html
http://www.leangains.com/2009/12/pre...etabolism.html

Originally Posted by Martin Berkhan (leangains.com)

For fasted sessions, ingest 10 g branched chain amino acids (BCAA) shortly prior (5-15 mins) to your training session. This does not count towards the 8-hour feeding window that I advocate post-workout; that starts with your post-workout meal. By ingesting BCAA pre-workout, we can sidestep the increased protein breakdown of fasted training while still reaping the benefits of the increased anabolic response as seen in this study. Not only that, BCAAs actually increase phosphorylation of p70s6k when ingested in the fasted state prior to training. So by training fasted, with BCAA intake prior to sessions, we get a double whammy of increased p70s6k phosphorylation that should create a very favorable environment for muscle growth in the post-workout period.

Although I don't train in a fasted state(typically have 1 preworkout meal) I think I'm gonna consume 10grams of BCAA's once or twice during the fast.

For what purpose?

Yeah, I wondered the same thing. What do you think this will accomplish that Martin Berkhan didn't consider?

Originally Posted by Built

Yeah, I wondered the same thing. What do you think this will accomplish that Martin Berkhan didn't consider?

It's not that I think this will accomplish something that he didn't consider... BUT...

He seems to believe that the consumption of BCAA's during the fasted state doesn't interfere with the other benefits of the fast(i.e. it doesn't actually break the fast). This is based on his recommendation to consume 10 grams of BCAA's on 3 seperate occasions surrounding a fasted AM workout.

With this in mind(that the fast isn't "broken" by consuming BCAA's) I'd prefer to provide my body with a spike in BCAA's at 1-2 points during the 16 hour fast to even lesson the chances of muscle degradation and to help to increase protein synthesis during the fast.

It may be counterproductive. There appears to be more of a benefit to spiking it with aminos less frequently.

Originally Posted by Built

What do you think this will accomplish that Martin Berkhan didn't consider?

Originally Posted by DaBeast25

With this in mind(that the fast isn't "broken" by consuming BCAA's) I'd prefer to provide my body with a spike in BCAA's at 1-2 points during the 16 hour fast to even lesson the chances of muscle degradation and to help to increase protein synthesis during the fast.

You may be misunderstanding the impact of the bcaas after a 16 hour fast/before a training session and their impact a few hours after a feeding window.

Well, today's been my 3rd day... fasting about 16 hours, feeding from about 11 or 12 to 7/8pm every day. I know it's extremely early to make judgement, but so far at least I'm not really feeling this.

It could be coincidence but I've been dragging a*s and have been spacey throughout the mornings which is BAD b/c thats when I see a lot of my clients. I do go to bed happy and satiated which is a plus b/c night time is typically when those hunger pangs can attack while in a deficti.

BUT... the problem is that I'm so hungry by the time that I get to my first meal the next day that I've struggled to not eat more than I'm supposed to.

Also, I know it has only been 3 days but I honestly feel like I look fatter and skinnier, hahaha... It's probably in my head, but b/c I'm not used to eating such large meals I tend to be pretty bloated during the second half of my feeding which basically makes me feel and look like a fat a*s.

Anyway, just figured I'd share my thoughts for anyone who cares... again, I'm not passing judgement on the IF techinque BUT I am considering going back to what I know I can do successfully to cut... we'll see how the rest of the week goes.

DaBeast, how do you break fast?

Today was...

1 cup plain 0% greek yogurt with strawberries sliced up in it
1 cup plain cooked oatmeal
9 egg whites + 2 whole eggs with spincah, broccoli, tomatoes, and garlic,Mmmm
3 pieces of high fiber whole grain toast

It barely took me 15 minutes to throw all that down, lol

This was a lot more carbs than I was supposed to be consuming, but I was hunger as hell the toast I have is slamming(need to get rid of it) and today was my leg day so I basically justified the extra cals/carbs since tmw is a cardio day where I'll attempt to cut calories back some.

Do you have any no-carb whey protein powder?

one has 5 carbs, the other has like 2-3 I think. Both are whey

Excellent. Break fast with a 50g serving of protein. THEN eat. Let me know how you feel when you try this.

Originally Posted by Built

Excellent. Break fast with a 50g serving of protein. THEN eat. Let me know how you feel when you try this.

Is there a gap between the shake and food, or just simply the shake, then eat meal 1 right away.

I'll give it a try tomorrow.

I'd imagine you'd want a little time between the shake and the meal since the shake wont instantly fill u up.

Not much, ten minutes or less really. I sometimes drink it while I'm eating, but ideally first.

Originally Posted by DaBeast25

Well, today's been my 3rd day... fasting about 16 hours, feeding from about 11 or 12 to 7/8pm every day. I know it's extremely early to make judgement, but so far at least I'm not really feeling this.

It could be coincidence but I've been dragging a*s and have been spacey throughout the mornings which is BAD b/c thats when I see a lot of my clients. I do go to bed happy and satiated which is a plus b/c night time is typically when those hunger pangs can attack while in a deficti.

BUT... the problem is that I'm so hungry by the time that I get to my first meal the next day that I've struggled to not eat more than I'm supposed to.

Also, I know it has only been 3 days but I honestly feel like I look fatter and skinnier, hahaha... It's probably in my head, but b/c I'm not used to eating such large meals I tend to be pretty bloated during the second half of my feeding which basically makes me feel and look like a fat a*s.

Anyway, just figured I'd share my thoughts for anyone who cares... again, I'm not passing judgement on the IF techinque BUT I am considering going back to what I know I can do successfully to cut... we'll see how the rest of the week goes.

If you're actually serious about giving IF a try, stick it out for more than a week. Have you ever eaten like this before? Of course you're gonna be a little out of wack on day three. Stick with it for a couple weeks, at least if it doesn't work then, you can honestly say it doesn't work for you and be done with it for good. Good luck bro.