How much muscle will i lose if i fast?

[Hoppy]

I've had it. I've been eating 800 less calories then normal for over a month now and i haven't lost a pound and i can't gain muscle while i'm eating like this.


How much muscle will i lose if i fast for 3 days every other week? I figure i can gain it back quicker then i can lose fat on a conventional diet anyways.


Keep in mind i'm only looking to drop 10-15 lbs anyways.

 

[sfalexi]

Instead of fasting, keep ingesting the same amount, but add a little more exercise. Try wind sprints. Or another interval training type exercise. This should boost your metabolism and help eat up the fat.

Alexi (do a google on interval training, you'll find out some interesting things)

 

[check_mate_kid_uk]

yeah, more excersize is better,
sfalexi you mentioned in the hobbies post that you cycle, me to man! i do corss country cycling, this guys got to learn to do more excersize, form cycling you have to eat so much just to maintain your weight.

after a hard 90km ride, i find that to pack up on carbs you have to eat anywhere form 4000-6000 calories in a day! obviously if you only cycle 20km its more like 3000 cal's in a day. Obviously you have to cycle hard for this, im going at 75% of my maximum heart rate for times of up to almost 6 hours often going near my lactate threshold for 10km at a time.

one time i over exherted myself and had to little food, i ended up passing out.

what are your experinces with cycling
sfalexi?

 

[sfalexi]

I only own a mountain bike. I don't do cross country, but what I do do is on warmer days, anywhere I need to go I ride my bike. So on warm/sunny days I'm riding anywhere from 12 miles to 25 miles a day (weather permitting). If I CAN, I go on an actual tough trailride (if I can find someone to go with . . . this year I'm gonna just show up at the mountain and see whoever will allow me to tag along).

I started up about a year and a half ago and have been LOVING it since.

Like you, checkmatekid, I ride at about 75 percent most of the time, taking breaks (cycling slowly) every few miles. REALLY boosts up the heartrate (and burns those calories).

Alexi

 

[Jariel]

If you fast, you will lose more muscle than fat and end up skinny, yet flabby. When fasting, the body will store fat as an emergency mechanism.

I have fasted numerous times in the past for upto 2 weeks and had to seek medical help. Fasting for long periods is dangerous and doesn't help you.

 

[Alpine]

^^^^^

He's right.

Maybe the odd day, once or twice a year for the odd clearout, but other than that, especially as a weight loss strategy you'd be an idiot.

Not only do you lose just as much muscle as fat, but your new body composition means you burn less calories, becuase muscle burns cals even at rest.

That's why cereal dieters end up fatter of the years.

800 cals?, your body is in emergency mode, it is making itself as effecient as possible, therfore poor losses even at those cals.

Your answer is to do some form of exercise you enjoy for 20-30 mins a day, either aerobic or short burst excercise over that period.

Count your cals so you don't cheat, eat healthy protiens, carbs and fats. Emphasise protien and do some weights twice a week as well. No one should be eating less than 1500 cals, maybe a midget.

It's a combination of knowledge and self discipline, like most things in life.

 

[check_mate_kid_uk]

if you fast, you will not lose much fat, mostly just muscle and you may stand on the scale and be happy with the result but in fact most of the weight lost will be water loss due to dehydration (much of water comes from food) so you are not loosing fat, mostly just water.

So do excersize and remember that the more intense the excersize is the better. Some people will tell you at high intensity you burn carbohydrate at low intensity fat, so work at low intensity.

Although the first statment was true, even tohu the ratios change hugely, because the energy increase is so great that oyu still burn more fat at high intensity then low intensity.

Do not starve yourself, after hard excersize you need carbohydrates, just eat low fat foods with high carbs (depends how much excersize you do)

you cna eat bread and pasta (wholemeal is better) as well as potatoes. Fruit is also a good source. Watch out for food with high fat content.

Personaly i make sure i have some fat on me, i have a BF% of 12-13 and would not let uit go any lower then 9-10 under any circumstances because even thou loosing weight boosts your VO2 max (maximum aerobic capacity)per kg of body weight, because the vo2 max stays the same as the wieght decreases. But muslces store only, i think it is 3000 calories of glycogen, with training it increases, but it is not enough for hard rides. Fat stores can be infinite, having a fair bit of fat rtaher then being realy skinny means i have a reserve of somthing like 10,000-15,000 calories to get me through the ride, even thou at this point i will anyway be shatered.

if you want to try and excersize and not eat, let me tell you a little stroy of what happened to me. I was not trying to loose weight, i was just bieng stupid and thought i would eat when i get back. It was a 45km ride at a hard pace. I was doing great for about 33km, i thought i might even brake my best record time. Then I got really weak with in a fre hundred meters, not only did my glycogen suplies run short buy my blood sugar levle plumpted. By chance it happened to be the dya that i had run out of glycogen sports drink so only had water with me. To cut a long story short, i was in such a state that at one point a stumbled off my bike and passed out. I learnt my lesson.

 

[Hoppy]

Well ****, i'm glad i didn't go through with that then. 15lbs of muscle loss, yikes! Thanks guys.

Now all i have to do is figure out what i can do to burn more calories.

Parhaps jogging?

 

[sfalexi]

Originally posted by Hoppy
Well ****, i'm glad i didn't go through with that then. 15lbs of muscle loss, yikes! Thanks guys.

Now all i have to do is figure out what i can do to burn more calories.

Parhaps jogging?

What sport do you like? Do you ENJOY joggin? Cause if not, they you won't enjoy doing it and you'll hate doing it to the point where you'll be more motivated to stop. I enjoyed bikeriding, so that's what I do.

Doesn't have to be an "exercise" sport. It could be anything that keeps you active for a little while. Basketball, football, soccer, snowboarding, tennis, raquetball, etc. etc.

The ups to jogging is it's free and you don't need other people to do it. Find something fun that you can afford to do, and do it.

Alexi

 

[check_mate_kid_uk]

if you want to burn the most calories with the least amount of time spent excesizing, then go swimming, that is the sport that burs most calories per unit of time, obviously you have to swim fast to burn a lot of calories.

If you do not want to swim, cycling is second best at burning calories.

If jogging is what you want to do then good, because its pretty high up on in the rankings on number of calories burnt, but remember what ever you do you have to do it hard.

Warming up is important otherwise you will not achive high speeds, i do nto mean just streching and then jogging on the spot. When cycling after my off bike warm up i need to cycle 5km-10km before i am at my 100% point. This actuly really bugs me because i do not liek the fact that on a 45-60 minute ride after school each day, i get to the turn around point by the time im at my top. I push myself hard so i get to this point in 5km where i can now cycle at high speeds efortlessly, but on longer rides where i can not afford to use energy at the start sprinting to lower the time it takes to fully warm up, it can take me 10km, thats not to much of a problem on a 90km ride but on a 45km ride its almost one third of a long ride.

This is why when racing you have to warm up hard, and you are sweating from the second you start the race.

 

[sfalexi]

I thought rowing was the best form of exercise (as far as calories/hour burned).

Swimming is excellent though in the sense that it doesn't put any real pressure on any joints or muscles and so there's very little risk of injury or even wearing down on cartilidge or anything. A hell of a whole lot less than running and other forms of exercise. Biking is pretty good in that sense too (just don't crash)

Alexi

 

[Hoppy]

To completly honest i wouln't say i enjoy jogging. I don't mind doing it but it's more of a chore then anything.

Probably my favorite way to lose weight would be to water ski. It's below freezing outside so that's not an option right now.

Swimming is another thing i enjoy doing, altough i'd rather scuba dive then swim laps.

Paintball is another sport i like but it is too expensive for my income at this time.

I like playing basketball but it's hard to round enough people up to play a game.


Maybe i should invest in a Y membership or something?

 

[sfalexi]

Y memberships aren't a bad deal. usually fairly cheap, and you get access to all the facilities, not to mention, depending on the Y and what time you go, there'll probably be enough people for you to just start up a basketball game or at least make a few friends and make plans to play every few days.

Alexi