Intermittent fasting: can it be good for weight loss and muscle gain?
Intermittent fasting is when your body goes through a sustained amount of time without food. For example you don’t eat from breakfast until lunchtime, including the time you spend asleep. The intermittent part is that is irregular and the fats stops when you eat at lunch. Your body will start to work differently during the fasted state.
Weight loss
Intermittent fasting is great for your weight loss, it has to be done with a regimented approach. Your body only enters a fasted state 12 hours after the last meal. In this state your body will start to use fat stores as energy and will burn them up. Meaning on a normal diet you hardly ever reach this state unless you have missed a meal for being busy.
If you are finding it hard to lose weight through exercise alone it might help to try this, but make sure you ask a doctor or professional first. The opposite to fasted state is fed state, this is when your body is digesting food. Digesting food can last 3-5 hours and the time after that is called absorptive state which can last between 8-12 hours. Like I have said above it takes time to get into this fasted state. The typical person eats 3 large meals a day meaning they will never be in this state. So if you are looking at losing weight it can be a good thing to start doing.
Eating the same amount of cals
If you are going to start intermittent fasting it is critical that you eat the same amount of calories that you usually do. This should be done in two large meals lunch and dinner or breakfast and lunch. Your body will start to absorb the nutrients from that meal in a different way to usual. Because it feels like it needs it more now due to the fast. It is also a good tip that you still eat a healthy meal with all the food groups that your body needs.
Muscle gain
If you workout in your fasted state make sure that you have eaten a big meal the day before so the muscle has glycogen in. This will give you more energy for your workout. The muscle won’t be in the same state as if it was just feed so it has to work harder. So that when you break your fast the body fills up the muscle and repairs them at a state much quicker than usual. Because your body is in a state where it is going to absorb everything you give it. People have found that intermittent fasting has made them lose fat and gain muscle. Which sound strange but its due to the fact that the body is working more efficiently during the time it’s fasting and during the time its fed.
Last note:
As a personal trainer in Windsor I try to get my client so sort out there nutrition before they try anything like this. The reason being is because when you are 100% hungry the weak minded people will just eat rubbish food. And when your fasting you need to eat lots of healthy highly nutritious foods.