Intermittent fasting and lifting?
I love intermittent fasting and I lift a fair amount. I often lift a few hours after eating and then fast for another 18hrs or so. Conventional wisdom says this isn't too bright, but I have continued to see muscle gain.
Has anyone else experimented with this routine? Has he/she found muscle gain a problem?
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I lift weights and also do intermittent fasting (8 hour eat, 16 hour fast). While I am a "hardgainer", I have not lost muscle and do see some adding of muscle. I think a big key for me with Intermittent Fasting, especially from a muscle building perspective, is to track your macros so you know where you are in the realm of protein/fat/carbs. I struggle with this some because I don't always track it well, and sometimes I don't get the proper nutrients...
There is discussion out there as far as how much protein one can take in within the course of one meal. I'm not sure what I really believe about that: there are a lot of discussions around 28g-36g being one limit, but others disagree. Additionally, some say you need 1g per pound of body weight for protein, while others suggest 0.6 to 0.8g per pound of body weight. Jeff Nippard does a good job in presenting a lot of the scientific studies on the subject, and he put together a good presentation on how much protein the body can absorb on Youtube.
I'm probably at the 0.7-0.8 per pound per day (with some fluctuation), and haven't noticed any side effects of that.
I am a weight lifter, and have been for 35 years to competition level in my youth,I have been a personal trainer also, I am 51 years old on intermitted fasting ( 16 hours fasting / hours feeding window )and I train 4 times a week as heavy as I can in the morning at 7.30am. I train in the morning in my fasting time, with only a cup a coffee taken 30 minutes before training with some MCT oil in it.
This is because apart from fasting I am on a ketogenic diet, which I have adapted to the training and that provides me with the energy I need from fats and allow me to build lean muscle mass at the same time, to do this you would need to teach your body to switch fuel source over a period of time, from carbs to fat. As I do not know your diet, to recommend something I would need to know is you are in ketosis, if you are overweight or want to lose fat as well as building muscle and if you have any medical history related to metabolic issues or diabetic.
In any case, for resting and recovery sake, which is when you grow, I would recommend you eat after training, not before, as during training you need energy, but is after training that you would use the protein and the other micronutrients to rebuild and recuperate.
This is a deep subject that would require more said and explained, but from here on, it would be more tailor made to the individual.
Regards,
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