I have recently been finding it quite easy to wait until the evening before eating, either achieving OMAD or at least 20:4, which is great.
My issue is my usual form of exercise is to lift weights, however I’m reluctant to do so whilst fasted (especially heavy weights) in case I feel weak and could over exert myself or injure myself. I have tried to up my step count to compensate but I really want to get back to the gym. Also, worth noting going to the gym in the evening doesn’t really suit me which is why I don’t do it after eating.
So long story short, should I just go for it and lift weights?
Yes with a couple extra things to look into to help alleviate concerns:
Elite strength athletes have been using multiple forms of fasting for decades to control bodyweight for weight classes as well as more generally for bodyfat management; protein sparing modified fasting (psmf) was the “current” Hot New Thing™ when I drifted away from those circles about 5-10 years ago so maybe start there?
The energy systems’ main sources of ATP resynthesis during high intensity, short duration efforts (aka lifting, assuming your sets don’t last longer than a minute or so but either you’re doing Big Lifts and Heavy such that 5-8 reps are around the longest anyways, or else you’re doing bodybuilding type work aka lots of isolation exercises and forced post-failure rep techniques and while draining, those sets don’t REALLY depend on your holistic energy systems fuelling abilities to anywhere as great a degree and often rely more on mindset and such. Regardless, the simple breakdown of it is that your body doesn’t really even get to use macronutrients to fuel near maximal efforts unless they last longer than 60-90 seconds or you aren’t allowing for sufficient rest between sets to completely recover (which is probably going to be where you feel it most if you’re not resting 4+ minutes between sets but again that’s more down to your programming and cycle planning)
Do it! I have lifted weights off and on for the last fifteen years and was genuinely terrified to lift in the fasted state. I absolutely thought that I had to eat before any workout, and then one day I finally just went for it. Felt completely fine! I can now lift or do a high intensity spin class while fasted and feel completely fine. You’re stronger than you give yourself credit for! Maybe don’t go for all PRs on your first fasted workout just to be safe, haha, but I promise you it’s easier than it seems!