I’m new to this all and researching as much info as possible. Like a lot of people I gained heaps of weight over the last 2 years …I seemed to stay consistent on the weights and did minimal cardio and diet was shit - my issue is overeating.
Now I have a solid amount of muscle but it’s covered buy a lot of fat and tbh just makes you look stocky and to most people you’re just fat.
My question is , is there anyone that has done a water fast for a period of time who does regular weightlifting that can tell me about their experience about fat and muscle loss - I’m torn between just doing fasting and cardio for maximum fat loss but at the same time I don’t want to lose too much muscle 😭😭
Yeah! I’ve been lifting fairly consistently for ten years, have been consistently doing intermittent fasting with some water fasts for two years, and generally ate in an intermittent fasting way for the last seven or eight years. Here’s what I’ve noticed and read about fat and muscle regarding fasting.
1.) Muscle appearance is variable, and not a good benchmark to look to. Muscle contains a lot of water, especially when you’re “carbed up” and have full glycogen stores. (Glycogen is stored in a hydrated form which takes up a good deal of volume. So the difference between full and depleted glycogen states can be huge. The same can be said about creatine levels.)
2.) Weight is not a good short term benchmark either. Much of your day to day change in weight is due to changes in water weight based on glycogen levels, creatine levels, electrolyte levels, and general state of hydration.
3.) Losing muscle is much harder than making progress (until you get to a fairly advanced level). It takes 1/3 the stimulus to keep muscle you’ve built compared to what it took to stimulate the hypertrophy. This is important for fasting.
You aren’t going to increase your muscle mass during a water fast or calorie deficit eating. BUT, it is easy to keep almost all the muscle you have by continuing to lift.
Also, during a fast, the body preferentially consumes a carb heavy blend of carbs/fat, and this blend becomes more fat heavy until you reach ketosis, at which point you have depleted your glycogen, and the liver uses fat to produce ketone bodies which your brain can use. Ketosis is where you really start burning fat, as the brain accounts for about 30% of energy needs, but can only consume glucose/ketone, not lipids.
As a fast progresses, you will see a gradual increase in the body using muscle mass for energy as fat stores are used, but in general the body prioritizes carbs and fat consumption over aminos from muscle.
PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER:
Fasting is a great way to preserve muscle while reducing body fat. You need to continue to lift while fasting for best results, and keeping fasts to a shorter length will help preserve muscle. (My extended fasts are usually only 36 to 72 hours.)
However, it can be tricky to measure. My general advice is to be consistent in measurement. If possible, use a scale that estimates body composition, or get good at using fast calipers or another method and measure that way when you weigh yourself. Take measurements at the same general “point” I.e. when depleted after a fast or when hydrated and carbed up.
Personally, I measure when carbed up and well hydrated, and use a body composition scale. Doing so gives me my maximum weight, and gives a better estimate of muscle mass.
You’re most likely going to lose some muscle as you lose fat no matter what just because your muscle has less weight to carry around all the time. This is why you can’t preserve all your muscle if you’re losing weight with any amount of decent speed. Don’t worry about it. It’s not a huge amount of muscle. Just keep lifting and working out.
The most important thing for your health is to lose FAT, which you will easily do with a water fast.