Hi. I am interested in intermittent fasting after reading about the anti aging theoretical benefits. Do you have any advice on how to combine intermittent fasting with exercise?
I feel completely fatigued and worn out after exercising without a meal before and after each training session. I have very little fat on my body and a high metabolism, which makes fasting very difficult. Any advice and/or recommendations are very much appreciated! Thanks
What kind of exercising are you doing? I’ll go for long easy paced runs. My strength training is more lower weights and reps. I don’t do any sprints or go to failure on reps. Also try to eat more calories on the day before you fast since you aren’t doing it for weight loss. More fats and protein. 36 hour fasts aren’t too bad to start with. Or just don’t workout on your fasting day.
If you have very little fat then you’re better off doing shorter, less frequent fasting. Try maybe fasting one day every week or two, or a 3 day fast once every month or two.
Then maybe limit yourself to maybe just light walking on those days.
I’m not sure how Intermittent Fasting is perceived here, but I regularly lift or run between 6:30 and 7:30 am and do not break my fast until after noon. I don’t see great strength gains, but I’m also in my 50s, so my major intent with IF is weight control. (I would like to get a bit more diligent and lose 15 lbs, but that’s not happening… yet.)
My current routine is fast for 36 hours, eat two good size meals equaling around 2000 calories in a 6 hour window then fast for another 36 hours ect. I usually do some cardio couple hours before the feast and lifting 6 hours after my last meal to allow insulin levels to decrease and glycogen to increase before lifting.
Equals to 8 meals per week. Each meal is around 75 grams protein, 75 carbs and 40 grams fat. Averages out to 85 grams protein per day on the week.
I was completely keto for 6 months but I get better quality workouts with some carbs. Mostly chicken beef rice and veggies. I calculated that you keep your insulin levels in a fasted state for 71% of the time throughout the week. I’m 6 foot and weigh 168.
My stack to get through works are 15g EAAs, 2 packets of LMNT, 5g of creatine, 1 packet of alkaseltzer gold - the bicarbonate increases endurance and buffers lactate for like an extra 20-30min, 5g D-ribose. It’s just enough to get through 30 minutes of HIIT but not enough to break the fast which supposedly happens at 50kcal. If I’m really smoked I’ll add in some ultra concentrate Vespa wasp extract (yeah it’s a thing). This will help me lift, followed up with HIIT then a sauna session for up to an hr.