This is the protocol I’ve come up with for my own fasting where my focus is on optimizing body composition changes (reduce fat and preserve muscle) without compromising organ health and function.
Broadly, I am trying to consume enough water and electrolytes to keep my fluids and vital functions stable and enough quality protein to trigger muscle protein synthesis with HMB to reduce muscle protein breakdown.
On fasting days I take a multivitamin, a Vitamin D tablet, and three approximately equally spaced servings (6am, 2pm, 8pm) of a concoction of powder supplements dissolved into \~1 L of water.
The powder contains: (per serving)
Fasting day totals are \~360 kcal, 90g protein, 3g Na, 5g K, \~450mg Mg, 3g HMB.
On each fasting day, I do a moderate amount of resistance exercise with body weight and dumbbells. I try to take each muscle group to failure once per session. I alternate the workouts between light/fast/high-rep and heavier/slower/lower-rep.
On eating days, I consume a calorie surplus of roughly 500-1000 kcal above my TDEE (\~2800 kcal). I try to do 10-15 minutes of HIIT such as stair running, jump rope, etc for cardiovascular health.
I had a DEXA scan around New Year’s and I’ll get another one around June to see how effective this protocol has been.
Some questions:
My first thought is that if you’re consuming 30g of Protein three times per fasting day, you’re not fasting. I would cut that out completely and only consume the sodium, potassium, magnesium.
One of the downsides to extended fasting is that it’s nearly impossible to build muscle, and the longer you go, the more lean mass you will lose due to your body’s need for amino acids. If you want to maintain your muscle, you need to train a lot (which you are doing), and consume protein around your training times.
If you want to stick to 36:12, just make sure that you are working out hard during the 12, and that you are consuming lots of high quality protein during that window. The chances that you’ll break down lean mass during the 36 is almost zero if you’re exercising and consuming adequate protein within your window.
In theory there is minimal muscle loss with fasting. But what you are doing with protein powder is not fasting. So your strategy could be self defeating. Potentially. Why not just eat a lot of protein during the 12 hours and do a water fast for the other 36?
I’m taking during my fasting window Good Salt. It’s invented by Dr Heikki Karppanen of Finland. Or so they wrote on the box. I don’t know if this is a marketing trick or if this person even exists.On the box, they wrote:
Per serving 0.6g (1/8 tsp):
sodium 134mg
potassium 70mg
magnesium 6mg
or per 100g:
sodium 22400mg
potassium 11680mg
magnesium 1109mg
I don’t know if this is the right amount. I hope so. You can count ratio yourself and think what works best for you.
Don’t forget about iodine (potassium iodine) if this is added to a kichen salt in your country.