LeanGains.com and Intermittent Fasting
 

I wanted to post about leangains.com and intermittent fasting. It seems radical - I was a huge (pardon the pun) skeptic. I'm 37 years old. I weighed 207 pounds @ 5'7", 34% bodyfat. Yes, I'm a male. I have 8 years, or thereabouts, experience with weight training. After a ten year break, 8 months ago, I started weight training again.

LeanGains combines heavy compound lifts with high intensity, low volume focused training. The only real requirement is that you use heavy compound lifts. If a higher or lower volume works well for you, then by all means, go that route.

LeanGains involves a 16-hour fast, followed by an 8-hour feeding window. There are other fasting programs, but this one works well for me, since I have a love of lifting weights.

Eat-Stop-Eat is another program that can be followed (24-hour fasts, followed by 24-hour feasts, but still maintaining a calorie deficit).

In the last 3.5 months, with 5 weeks of diet breaks (re-feeds) scheduled every six weeks, conservatively, I've lost 20 pounds. 75%-85% of that weight has been fat. I've maintained or increased my strength in the squat, overhead press, bench, row and chin-up. The only decline has been my deadlift; But I had stitches placed in my finger and couldn't grip for 2 weeks.

Anyone else use fasting for weight loss?

I do a fast about once per week, usually on a sunday (between saturday's dinner and sunday's dinner). While I am unsure whether or not it has made a huge difference in my fat loss, it certainly hasn't hurt the process; furthermore I have never felt like I was depriving myself in any way (which can really damage one's perception of dieting in the first place...).

It also cuts down on food bills :D

Never

Yes, I don't feel deprived other than calorie restricting (limiting). I'm not talking about a calorie deficit, but putting the breaks on once you've reached your maintenance or just-above maintenance caloric needs. On non-lifting days, I'll eat at maintenance or 200 calories above and on lift days I'll eat 400-500 calories over maintenance.

I'll be going back to a calorie deficit soon. I zig-zag my calorie intake so that it's higher on lift days and lower on non-lift days. I've been losing 1.5 lbs/week this way and it's nowhere near as depriving as a "normal" diet. I get to eat two gigantic meals a day. Yes, there's a little bit of hunger before meals, but it's usually brief and tolerable; Unlike when I was eating 6 small meals per day.

Smaller food bill, but also less cooking. :) Two big meals, for me, to cook and it's all within an 8-hour (sometimes 4-6 hours) window. My kitchen's not as messy.

The problem with fasting is that it's been labeled "bad for you" by the supplement companies (they sell less product). Even bodybuilders are guilty of this, and they're generally on the cutting edge of nutrition.

I hope fasting gets huge (pun intended :p) so that the health benefits can be reaped by all, especially in the U.S.A.

No way would I have enough energy to lift weights if I fasted.

I thought this too. Now that I have fully adapted to this style of eating, I'm having my best lifting sessions.

LeanGains is set-up so that you're on a 16-hour fast followed by an 8-hour feeding window.

You're not training completely fasted, branched chain amino acids (BCAAs) or a serving of whey protein is taken 15 minutes prior to lifting. Completely fasted training can actually be detrimental to strength gaining.

Best of all, I can stuff myself for 8 hours and still only be slightly above maintenance. Prior to the fasting eating pattern, I was eating like a pig from breakfast 'til bed.

The first few days of this type of eating pattern will be difficult, within a few weeks, you'll be completely adjusted.

My suggestion is that you don't start this diet with a calorie deficit; Start by eating whatever you normally would. After you're adapted, switch to a calorie deficit.

ESE and fasting works for a lot of people. If you are someone who doesn't have time to be eating every 3-4 hours or has a hard time staying on track with a calorie deficit it is a strong approach.

Instead of IF sometimes I'll hold off eating anything until later in the afternoon. I've found that this helps with energy and concentration if I have a particularly stressful task in the morning like a research paper to work on or if its "reply to the 300 emails I missed while I was on vacation" day. Some days I will wake up and instinctively know that if I were to have anything besides black coffee, I'd just be in a daze all day long.

Then you're fasting instinctively.

I forgot to mention another fasting diet and that is the Warrior Diet. 20-hour fasts with a 4-hour feeding window.

Right now, fasting is blowing-up in the bodybuilding community. It will spillover in to the mainstream eventually. Right now, I get a lot of comments on how "it's not good for you". No one can tell me "Why?". It's dogma and accepted as "bad".

I was never a big breakfast eater. I ate it because Mom told me to. That's not to say I don't love breakfast foods, I do. Oh yes, I love a stack of pancakes or waffles with syrup. I just wasn't hungry.

My Dad ate this way. He was 52 and still had a six-pack. I'd watch in awe as he'd eat two boxes of spaghetti with about 90 meatballs before he'd go to sleep. All day, he'd have some coffee, maybe an apple, or on rare occasions, a sandwich. Then I'd watch him demolish huge piles of food every night.

I was a skeptic until about 4 months ago. Now I understand it.

I picked up the book Eat Stop Eat and since then I have done two weeks with a single fast and last week I did two fasts. Even after pigging out on holiday treats and potlucks for the last couple of days over Christmas I still lost a some fat (roughly 2 lbs in 2 weeks.)

I used to count calories and eat multiple times a day and while this is a solid approach that did net me a lot of fat loss, there are other ways to do it. I decided on trying Eat Stop Eat because I wanted my diet and nutrition to stop playing such a large part in my life. I wanted to eat guilt free, and enjoy food again.

The best part is that now I can eat on a normal breakfast, lunch and dinner schedule. I can indulge in foods that normally would be too calorie dense for my former eating plan. I can go out to eat and order whatever I want off the menu. I can lift weights and gain muscle because most days I eat plenty, but then I still lose fat because I maintain a weekly deficit.

In my experience with fasting so far I never get hungry, I do feel the empty stomach but this isn't painful hunger, its just a feeling of an empty stomach. I have exercised and had great days while fasting.

Its great to be freed from the need to constantly eat every three hours and meticulously record everything and manage my nutrient macros.

The fasting can also be a great tool for maintenance over a lifetime.

If there is anyone who is sick of calorie counting and spending hours cooking and cleaning every day because of your diet I encourage you to take a look at Eat Stop Eat or other methods of fasting like Leangains and The Warrior diet. There is also a free ebook on the internet called Fast 5. Eat Stop Eat is the most informative and science based approach out of the three, and that is why I chose it.

As long as you are not fasting for a period of longer than 24 hours, the body has enough stored energy in the form of glycogen to power a weight lifting session.

You would however run into a problem if you were going to try and run a marathon or triathlon while fasted. Most of the time you need to consume calories during these long events to sustain performance.

Yesterday I played about an hour of ice hockey while fasted. No problems there. The bonus was that I was elevating my fat burning during and after because I was fasted.

I am the same way. I feel kind of "sickish" if I eat in the morning. I usually eat my biggest meal late at night. I also fast once, sometimes twice a month, unplanned.

I have no interest in the feasting part, just return to normal eating the next day. :)

IF Works for me
 

This really works for me and I think it will become a lifetime plan. I follow the Fast 5 method: 19 hours fasting, then a 5 hour feeding window. I sort of fell into it in mid December, after reading a post on Mark's Daily Apple about IF and all of the different ways of doing it. I'm 47, a mom of two and I really didn't think I could do the Eat Stop Eat style of alternate day fasting given my lifestyle. The 5 hour window seemed more realistic, given that I cook dinner for my family daily and I schedule my window so that I can cook, eat with the family and enjoy a dessert or wine, too.

That's basically what I've been doing since December 13 or so. I don't know how much I've lost (I stay off the scale--it makes me crazy), but the drop inches has been substantial. My waist measurement has gone from 31" to 28", my hips from 41" to 38". My bicep measurement is down 1.5" and you can really see the definition. What's weird is, other than walking, I've not been exercising particularly strenuously. My guess is I've lost about 10-15 pounds, very easily and without feeling deprived.

I was able to maintain this over Christmas, while vacationing at Disney World-- and I think I still lost weight.

I don't count calories anymore, and during my window I eat "normally" but not to excess. If I want chocolate, I have it. If I want a glass of wine, I have it. If I want a handful of potato chips I have them. I pretty much eat whatever I want between 3 pm and 8 pm. It's helped me to get over some "food fears" and concentrate more on just making sure I get some protein, some fruits and veggies everyday. Healthy, but not super limited or super "clean." The interesting thing is I get full very quickly. It's almost like the daily fast has shrunk my stomach. I don't want to overeat when I eat and I find I enjoy my food so much more. It also makes it easier to manage cravings. I just tell myself "I'll eat that in my window" and I do. I am hungry by the time I eat and my stomach gets growly... but I've certainly felt that way before on diets where I ate 5 or 6 times a day, too. The difference is on IF, when I eat, I don't have to eat low fat/low carb. I really do eat what I want!

I'm still losing, though more slowly now, I think. I only have may be 10 pounds to lose, so that makes sense. Yesterday, I did calculate my calories just out of curiosity and they were around 1400. Considering that I'm only 5'1" and not a super-avid exerciser, I'm thinking that's probably about right to maintain a goal weight of 125 or so.

Just had to weigh in here (pun intended) and share my experience.

I'm very glad you've found something that works well for you--thanks for sharing!

It just reinforces the fact that we're all different. If I had an "unlimited" 5 hour feeding window I'd likely still weight over 400 pounds as I'm pretty sure I could have shoveled in many thousands of calories in that period.

Regards,
Michael