Intermittent Fasting discussion thread!!

[FT10]

Hey fellow EF members. IF really interests me. I'm a professional w/stable work hours, and I'm just soooo tired of my life revolving around eating 5-6 times/day. It's holding me hostage! I have a few questions about IF that I hope you can help with. Since I work stable hours, wake up at around 6-7am and train at 7pm, the LG guide suggests 2 pre w/o meals, one at 12pm-1pm to break the 16 hour fast (consisting of around 20% of my daily calories), one at around 3pm-4pm (20% of daily calories), and a post work-out meal at 8pm-9pm (60% of daily calories). I'm looking to recomp right now, so I'm consuming around 3000 cals daily. My training split is shoulders/tris (monday), abds/HIIT cardio (tues, fri, sun), legs (wednesday), chest/bis (thurs) and back/traps (saturday). Now, I understand that my post w/o meal should be lower in fat b/c I'll be consuming a fair amount of carbs there, but what do I do for my macros for the 2 pre w/o meals? I need some carbs in me to do HIIT cardio, so should I split my three meals in a "protein and fat, protein and carbs and protein and carbs" manner? Whatever help/suggestions you guys can make will be greatly appreciated.

 

[RickRock13]

Hey quick question. If my eating window runs until bedtime, should I still eat the majority of carbs pre and post workout and taper them down towards bedtime or just hit my targets for the day however I can?

The bulk of your carb intake is best centered around your workouts. I would make sure and get at least 60% of your total carbs then. Other than that when you take in carbs is irrelevant as long as it fits into your feeding window

 

[RickRock13]

Hey fellow EF members. IF really interests me. I'm a professional w/stable work hours, and I'm just soooo tired of my life revolving around eating 5-6 times/day. It's holding me hostage! I have a few questions about IF that I hope you can help with. Since I work stable hours, wake up at around 6-7am and train at 7pm, the LG guide suggests 2 pre w/o meals, one at 12pm-1pm to break the 16 hour fast (consisting of around 20% of my daily calories), one at around 3pm-4pm (20% of daily calories), and a post work-out meal at 8pm-9pm (60% of daily calories). I'm looking to recomp right now, so I'm consuming around 3000 cals daily. My training split is shoulders/tris (monday), abds/HIIT cardio (tues, fri, sun), legs (wednesday), chest/bis (thurs) and back/traps (saturday). Now, I understand that my post w/o meal should be lower in fat b/c I'll be consuming a fair amount of carbs there, but what do I do for my macros for the 2 pre w/o meals? I need some carbs in me to do HIIT cardio, so should I split my three meals in a "protein and fat, protein and carbs and protein and carbs" manner? Whatever help/suggestions you guys can make will be greatly appreciated.

Everyone is a little different on what may work best for them, so you might have to try a couple different ideas to see what will give you the most benefit. Your idea of going protein/fat, protein/carb, protein carb is a good start and probably what I would do

 

[CSB]

Ok just a bit insecure about my layout, with work my training evolves day to day , but my previous schedule was 1 bodypart a day 5 day week with cardio on weekends and 2-3 sessions during the week in the evening, I am trying to adjust it so that I can maximize fatloss and retain muscle as far as possible. Now I have taken the advice already given and tried adapting it as far as possible. So this will be an example of this week.

Monday – no training diet wasn’t the best although I did only eat after 1pm till 9pm mainly rubbish lol
Tuesday – training back and did 20min cardio moderate 6-7am
Tuesdays diet will be :
1-pm meal 140g pro 140g carbs 20g fats
4.30pm meal – 80g pro 30g fats
6.30 – 7.30 – 40 min moderate cardio
8pm meal – 80 g pro 30g carbs 20g fats

Overall macros : 300g pro 170g carbs 70g fats calories 2500-2600 cal

Wednesday – chest and delts am and 40 min cardio pm

Calories breakdown same as Tuesday

Thursday – legs am no cardio pm

Calorie breakdown will be higher carbs up to 250g and overall calories 2800-2900

Friday – arms am 40min cardio pm

Calorie breakdown will be 2200 to 2300 cal no carbs fats slightly higher

Saturday and Sunday will be 45min cardio fasted in the am

Calorie breakdown will be 300g pro and 100g fats both days calories 2100

Current weight is 218 lbs down from 220.6 lbs last week so total loss for the week was 2.6 lbs

I know I am below maintenance everyday , maintenance if I work it out should be 3270 cal per day ?

Maybe on quads / legs day I should increase calories to 3500 ?

Sorry for the long post just want to confirm I am still on the right track here .

 

[RickRock13]

Ok just a bit insecure about my layout, with work my training evolves day to day , but my previous schedule was 1 bodypart a day 5 day week with cardio on weekends and 2-3 sessions during the week in the evening, I am trying to adjust it so that I can maximize fatloss and retain muscle as far as possible. Now I have taken the advice already given and tried adapting it as far as possible. So this will be an example of this week.

Monday – no training diet wasn’t the best although I did only eat after 1pm till 9pm mainly rubbish lol
Tuesday – training back and did 20min cardio moderate 6-7am
Tuesdays diet will be :
1-pm meal 140g pro 140g carbs 20g fats
4.30pm meal – 80g pro 30g fats
6.30 – 7.30 – 40 min moderate cardio
8pm meal – 80 g pro 30g carbs 20g fats

Overall macros : 300g pro 170g carbs 70g fats calories 2500-2600 cal

Wednesday – chest and delts am and 40 min cardio pm

Calories breakdown same as Tuesday

Thursday – legs am no cardio pm

Calorie breakdown will be higher carbs up to 250g and overall calories 2800-2900

Friday – arms am 40min cardio pm

Calorie breakdown will be 2200 to 2300 cal no carbs fats slightly higher

Saturday and Sunday will be 45min cardio fasted in the am

Calorie breakdown will be 300g pro and 100g fats both days calories 2100

Current weight is 218 lbs down from 220.6 lbs last week so total loss for the week was 2.6 lbs

I know I am below maintenance everyday , maintenance if I work it out should be 3270 cal per day ?

Maybe on quads / legs day I should increase calories to 3500 ?

Sorry for the long post just want to confirm I am still on the right track here .

I'm not a big fan of being in a continuos caloric deficit every day. No matter what diet you are on, you will be at a high risk of catabolism and muscle loss. I know it will drop your fat quicker, but it is best to do it slow and controlled. There is no need to lose any hard earned muscle if you don't have to. I would at the bare minimum make sure you are a good 10% over maintenance on your larger body part days like legs chest and back

 

[CSB]

I'm not a big fan of being in a continuos caloric deficit every day. No matter what diet you are on, you will be at a high risk of catabolism and muscle loss. I know it will drop your fat quicker, but it is best to do it slow and controlled. There is no need to lose any hard earned muscle if you don't have to. I would at the bare minimum make sure you are a good 10% over maintenance on your larger body part days like legs chest and back

thanks RR , so basically just raise my calories to 3500 today , tomorrow and thursday (big days) then into 30% deficit fri sat and sun , then repeat week on week ?

can i still do my evening cardio sessions on some of the big days , just doesn't feel right only doing 2-3 a week, feel more accomplished doing 5 good sessions at least ?

 

[RickRock13]

thanks RR , so basically just raise my calories to 3500 today , tomorrow and thursday (big days) then into 30% deficit fri sat and sun , then repeat week on week ?

can i still do my evening cardio sessions on some of the big days , just doesn't feel right only doing 2-3 a week, feel more accomplished doing 5 good sessions at least ?

You can do whatever works for you, though personally I'm not a fan of mixing lifting and cardio on the same days. I like to eat and train for the goal that day. When doing cardio, the goal should be to burn fat, when lifting the goal should be to build muscle, and your diet should also reflect those goals.

Doing cardio 3 or 4 times a week will be fine. That is what I do. I just make the most of it and go for a 60-75 minute session.

 

[CSB]

ok got it ,many thanks ,will restrict cardio to 3 times a week on "off" days and increase to longer sessions and on those days be 30 percent below ,other days 10 percent over !will let you know how it goes

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[muscleaddiction]

Just started IF again today, and don't think I want to come off again...last night I crashed early due to just exhaustion, so last meal yesterday was 6pm, and due to meetings at work this morning didn't get my first meal of the day until 1 pm...so 19 hour fast the first day, unintentional of course, but also slept 12 hours too...double whammy! So eating my second meal of the day right now...Fava Beans w/ground chicken and marinara sauce & greek yogurt w/ scoop of Rocky Road protein mixed, earlier for my first meal I had 12 whites w/low sugar organic apple cinnamon oats cooked in w/2 tbls peanut butter drizzled on top, a protein shake, and an apple...dinner will be chicken and veggies, then fast again at 9 pm. See how this works for a while...calories were low today as I didn't train...letting body rest. Will train tomorrow morning at 4:30 am...fasted!

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[Rayca]

IF is really effective, I love it. I fast from 4pm to 8am next morning. Have shredded my abdominal fat. In conjunction with paleo, recovery and body composition and health has never been better. Reading iv done suggests it's favourable for metabolism, growth hormone secretion and insulin sensitivity. Highly recommend for competitive athletes in speed strength disciplines and also for cutting.

4 p.m. is what works best for me to stop eating. How many hours is that before you go to bed?