Incorporating fasting in your workout routine for maximum fat loss

[BackInTheGame78]

Just wanted to bring up what I have been doing for the past month or so that has been extremely beneficial in terms of weight loss and especially fat loss.

During that time I am down 19 lbs and 5 inches off my waist. I have done fasting before but usually never more than about 30 hours. Extending the fast to 60+ hours has been pretty eye opening and much easier than I thought.

Fasting is actually highly beneficial in several ways:

1) Almost all weight lost will be purely fat. The body releases huge pulses of HGH during this time to maintain muscle and release stored energy in fat cells. 90% of permanent weight lost during a fast is fat, far higher than any other method.

2) Energy levels and focus are enhanced and metabolism is INCREASED. This is due to the body releasing adrenalin/noradrenalin to help you "be active to go find food". In fact even after 5 days of fasting, metabolism is still increased over baseline.

3) Autophagy is greatly increased starting after the 2nd day...this is the body cleaning up old and damaged cells to use for energy and/or repair the body. This happens at a much higher rate than when not fasting.

4) Your food bills are a lot lower. Not eating for 2 or 3 days cuts your food bill in half almost.

5) Inflammation is reduced and insulin sensitivity is increased. Type 2 Diabetes could pretty much be nearly eliminated by fasting properly but people mistakenly think they "need food". You don't. All the fat stored in your body is easily accessed by the body for use when there is no food available.

6) Fasting puts the body in an ANABOLIC state. Large amounts of circulating HGH preserve muscle and if done properly can actually be used to gain muscle. Couple this with something like PerfectAmino which provides the amino acids in 30g of whey protein in its broken down form and GABA taken pre training and pre bedtime which has been shown in studies to release 200-400% more HGH and has been shown to increase muscle mass from training and you can gain muscle effectively while fasting and dropping fat. The body will be primed to add muscle coming off the fast.

People have so many misnomers on fasting and equate it to the same thing as "cutting calories". You would be FAR better off fasting for 2 or 3 days and then consuming more calories the other 4 days than you would by simply lowering your food intake all 7 days. THAT is what will put the body into a mode where it fights you to preserve as much fat as possible.

 

[christie]

really good info; cutting food bills down sounds good as I'm trying to save up for things

 

[lost_blackbird]

Every so often I'll do a 4 day fast. After day 2 I feel energised and lively. I usually do most of my fasting when the
weather is warm though as I do feel very cold even when it's not especially chilly if I haven't eaten in a while.
I easily can get around this with more clothes. I also find that during a fast I'll crap out all sorts of foul smelling nasty
watery sh1t, even days after my last meal. I don't know if everyone experiences this but I do, every time I fast.
Surprising how much impacted faecal matter you carry around. The other benefit I find is that my stomach shrinks
so when returning from a fast so for a while I need far less food to be sated.

 

[RickTheToad]

Just wanted to bring up what I have been doing for the past month or so that has been extremely beneficial in terms of weight loss and especially fat loss.

During that time I am down 19 lbs and 5 inches off my waist. I have done fasting before but usually never more than about 30 hours. Extending the fast to 60+ hours has been pretty eye opening and much easier than I thought.

Fasting is actually highly beneficial in several ways:

1) Almost all weight lost will be purely fat. The body releases huge pulses of HGH during this time to maintain muscle and release stored energy in fat cells. 90% of permanent weight lost during a fast is fat, far higher than any other method.

2) Energy levels and focus are enhanced and metabolism is INCREASED. This is due to the body releasing adrenalin/noradrenalin to help you "be active to go find food". In fact even after 5 days of fasting, metabolism is still increased over baseline.

3) Autophagy is greatly increased starting after the 2nd day...this is the body cleaning up old and damaged cells to use for energy and/or repair the body. This happens at a much higher rate than when not fasting.

4) Your food bills are a lot lower. Not eating for 2 or 3 days cuts your food bill in half almost.

5) Inflammation is reduced and insulin sensitivity is increased. Type 2 Diabetes could pretty much be nearly eliminated by fasting properly but people mistakenly think they "need food". You don't. All the fat stored in your body is easily accessed by the body for use when there is no food available.

6) Fasting puts the body in an ANABOLIC state. Large amounts of circulating HGH preserve muscle and if done properly can actually be used to gain muscle. Couple this with something like PerfectAmino which provides the amino acids in 30g of whey protein in its broken down form and GABA taken pre training and pre bedtime which has been shown in studies to release 200-400% more HGH and has been shown to increase muscle mass from training and you can gain muscle effectively while fasting and dropping fat. The body will be primed to add muscle coming off the fast.

People have so many misnomers on fasting and equate it to the same thing as "cutting calories". You would be FAR better off fasting for 2 or 3 days and then consuming more calories the other 4 days than you would by simply lowering your food intake all 7 days. THAT is what will put the body into a mode where it fights you to preserve as much fat as possible.

Interesting. What do you think will happen when you go back to eating normally? Can't do this forever... Eventually, your body will run out of fat to burn and then pull from your bones and shut down certain functions of your body. Over the long term, this is not recommended, as you inadvertently pull nutrients from your bones; which is not as easy as one would think to replenish. Medically speaking, not the best way to lose fat unless you are under the guidance of a doctor and obscenely overweight.

 

[Sir FB]

About a year ago, I read the book The Complete Guide to Fasting by Jimmy Moore and Jason Fung. The ideas in that book changed my life. I have not done any fast longer than 24 hours yet but I stopped eating breakfast and pushed lunch up to about 2 PM. I dropped 10 lbs and got back to my high school weight. The thing I like best about the fasting idea is it's so simple. No counting calories, no special food to eat. Just don't eat for a period of time. I have to admit that book sat on my shelf in shrink wrap for months before I had the courage to read it, but I don't think I'll ever go back to eating the way I used to.

 

[BackInTheGame78]

Interesting. What do you think will happen when you go back to eating normally? Can't do this forever... Eventually, your body will run out of fat to burn and then pull from your bones and shut down certain functions of your body. Over the long term, this is not recommended, as you inadvertently pull nutrients from your bones; which is not as easy as one would think to replenish. Medically speaking, not the best way to lose fat unless you are under the guidance of a doctor and obscenely overweight.

Been doing it for years. You are basically manipulating your hormones to optimally burn fat while protecting muscle.

If you fasted for a long time then yeah maybe that would be a concern, but you are feeding yourself 4 or 5 days which gives plenty of time to replace those. Additionally if you are eating healthy foods and lots of fruits and vegetables, you will be getting far more minerals and vitamins than the majority of people do eating processed junk for 7 days or even worse, eating foods that leech minerals from your bones.

I only typically do it until I reach the weight I want to be at for the summer. Additionally, most people have a lot more fat than they realize at their disposal. If you can't see your abs you have plenty of fat, both visceral and subQ. The good thing about fasting is it burns through visceral fat first before SubQ which is the harder of the two to get rid of.

Pretty much anyone can do a 24-48 hour fast safely unless you have serious blood sugar issues and then it would be wise to talk with your doctor first. There are few ill effects even with a 5 day fast for most people. The body is certainly capable of using stored fat for energy rather than food you eat on a daily basis.

There is actually a medical case in the 1960s where a Scottish man under the careful watch of his doctors fasted for 382 days straight starting at 465 lbs and ending at 180 lbs. He showed no signs of ill health during this time and checked in at least once a week at the hospital with them. He also took a multivitamin.

 

[BackInTheGame78]

About a year ago, I read the book The Complete Guide to Fasting by Jimmy Moore and Jason Fung. The ideas in that book changed my life. I have not done any fast longer than 24 hours yet but I stopped eating breakfast and pushed lunch up to about 2 PM. I dropped 10 lbs and got back to my high school weight. The thing I like best about the fasting idea is it's so simple. No counting calories, no special food to eat. Just don't eat for a period of time. I have to admit that book sat on my shelf in shrink wrap for months before I had the courage to read it, but I don't think I'll ever go back to eating the way I used to.

The funniest part is that people will restrict calories for months at a time and kill their bodies fat burning ability but won't simply fast a day or two a week which would allow them to burn fat and still eat normally the rest of the week AND boost their metabolism levels, HGH, IGF-1 and other anabolic growth factors rather than destroying them and putting the body in a catabolic state.

 

[jimwho]

Clearly my next move (and I will) is to learn and understand what I'm doing. What I do has no title. I just don't eat until 7:00 pm-ish, and normally eat twice because I just can't get enough calories unless I graze again about 2-Hrs later.

My secret weapon is nothing in the house but ( Fruit veg fowl fish fat vitamins) my cheats are cowboy bread and oats, and I drink a lot of water.

Reading OP's thread makes me realize I have a lot to learn. HGH autophagy etc. I hope this thread goes on a while.

 

[christie]

I wish there was a place I could go to that would supervise me fasting. I feel too unsafe when I fast...a primal fear.

 

[Sir FB]

I wish there was a place I could go to that would supervise me fasting. I feel too unsafe when I fast...a primal fear.

Read that book. There's nothing inherently unsafe about not eating for a day or two. Human beings evolved for tens of thousands of years going days between meals, It's only in modern society that people think they will die if they don't eat for 12 hours.

 

[jimwho]

I wish there was a place I could go to that would supervise me fasting. I feel too unsafe when I fast...a primal fear.

Nah..you'll be fine. Todays humans are in constant digestion mode. It's not healthy, and often processed foods. Baby steps, get started. By this time next month you will be on your way to better health. Today people think they feel a twinge of hunger and stop everything to jam more food in..

 

[RickTheToad]

Been doing it for years. You are basically manipulating your hormones to optimally burn fat while protecting muscle.

If you fasted for a long time then yeah maybe that would be a concern, but you are feeding yourself 4 or 5 days which gives plenty of time to replace those. Additionally if you are eating healthy foods and lots of fruits and vegetables, you will be getting far more minerals and vitamins than the majority of people do eating processed junk for 7 days or even worse, eating foods that leech minerals from your bones.

I only typically do it until I reach the weight I want to be at for the summer. Additionally, most people have a lot more fat than they realize at their disposal. If you can't see your abs you have plenty of fat, both visceral and subQ. The good thing about fasting is it burns through visceral fat first before SubQ which is the harder of the two to get rid of.

Pretty much anyone can do a 24-48 hour fast safely unless you have serious blood sugar issues and then it would be wise to talk with your doctor first. There are few ill effects even with a 5 day fast for most people. The body is certainly capable of using stored fat for energy rather than food you eat on a daily basis.

There is actually a medical case in the 1960s where a Scottish man under the careful watch of his doctors fasted for 382 days straight starting at 465 lbs and ending at 180 lbs. He showed no signs of ill health during this time and checked in at least once a week at the hospital with them. He also took a multivitamin.

You'd be surprised how many people tell us this in the ER when they come in complaining of issues from extreme weight loss gimmicks and strategies. Mainly, it messes with your body's ability to retain water and electrolytes. We put them on a drip and have monitor them for hours until it's safe to discharge them.

Unwise.

 

[BackInTheGame78]

You'd be surprised how many people tell us this in the ER when they come in complaining of issues from extreme weight loss gimmicks and strategies. Mainly, it messes with your body's ability to retain water and electrolytes. We put them on a drip and have monitor them for hours until it's safe to discharge them.

Unwise.

It's not a gimmick, the human body is designed to go long periods of time without food. Suggesting otherwise is just silliness. In fact the natural state of the human body is designed to be in a fasted state far MORE than in a fed state. The majority of health issues people face these days is because they have gotten these backwards for their whole life.

 

[Lookatu]

5+ inches off your waist is great OP. I'm assuming you lost 5in first before OLD since you seem to be doing well on it? LOL

For those that don't wanna go this extreme, intermittent fasting has also shown good benefits and is more sustainable to more people.

I've been doing this unknowingly for the past 10+ years mainly because I don't like breakfast so I've never eaten it until recently.

It's pretty easy to do if you eat an early dinner and not eat until lunch time the next day. I believe you have to be off food for 14-16 hours(depending on who you believe) for it to be considered intermittent fast. You can still drink coffee and water and a few other things though.

Another alternative...

 

[RickTheToad]

It's not a gimmick, the human body is designed to go long periods of time without food. Suggesting otherwise is just silliness. In fact the natural state of the human body is designed to be in a fasted state far MORE than in a fed state. The majority of health issues people face these days is because they have gotten these backwards for their whole life.

Medically speaking, you are incorrect in terms of straight fasting for 72 hours or so. No doctor would agree with you stating that it's safe. You shock your body and that can cause issues. However, what do I know, only been in medicine for 14 years or so.

 

[BackInTheGame78]

Medically speaking, you are incorrect in terms of straight fasting for 72 hours or so. No doctor would agree with you stating that it's safe. You shock your body and that can cause issues. However, what do I know, only been in medicine for 14 years or so.

30000 years of human evolution suggests otherwise. And no offense, I would never take dietary advice from a doctor. They need stay in their lane and deal with prescription drugs, that is what they are trained in.

It would be like a person taking roofing advice from a plumber.

 

[jimwho]

Medically speaking, you are incorrect in terms of straight fasting for 72 hours or so. No doctor would agree with you stating that it's safe. You shock your body and that can cause issues. However, what do I know, only been in medicine for 14 years or so.

Wait so NO doctor would agree? That's a lot of doctors. Shock our bodies by periods of fasting? You've been in medicine for a whopping 14 years and get all knowing. Not SoSuave Dude! And you're a Moderator.. what's up??

 

[christie]

Read that book. There's nothing inherently unsafe about not eating for a day or two. Human beings evolved for tens of thousands of years going days between meals, It's only in modern society that people think they will die if they don't eat for 12 hours.

ok, I'll read it

 

[christie]

Nah..you'll be fine. Todays humans are in constant digestion mode. It's not healthy, and often processed foods. Baby steps, get started. By this time next month you will be on your way to better health. Today people think they feel a twinge of hunger and stop everything to jam more food in..

interesting to think about

 

[RickTheToad]

30000 years of human evolution suggests otherwise. And no offense, I would never take dietary advice from a doctor. They need stay in their lane and deal with prescription drugs, that is what they are trained in.

It would be like a person taking roofing advice from a plumber.

You'd be surprised at the knowledge of some roofers. I asked a nutritionist on this as well for you. She wasn't going for it either. For 12 - 16 hours a day, there's support for that. For 2 - 3 days, nope. Fvcks up your system dude.

But, hey, if it works, do it at your own peril. You're an adult and can make his own decisions.