Intermittent Fasting discussion thread!!

[RickRock13]

Ok Rick. I'm trying to dial in my macros and calories for workout and non workout days. I'm gonna track them like a Nazi for awhile until I get a feel for where I should be. Could you , for simplicity sake, tell us approx what percent calorie deficit of maintenance levels u recommend for off days and what percent cal surplus you recommend for workout days? Also what's your protien per pound of bodyweight/lbm suggestions for both days? Thanks very much.

Absolutely!

When primarily aiming for muscle gain, I will do 30% over maintenance on workout days with 10% under on cardio or rest days

For primarily a fat loss goal, I will do the reverse (10% over workout days, 30% under on cardio or rest days)

For recomp, I do 20% over and 20% under. Though I will tell you this way the progress is very slow on both muscle gain and fat loss, but it does work if you have it set up right.

 

[soupeater]

Or you could give us a macro ratio for each type of day instead of the protein per lb figure. ....

I'm currently setting up my spreadsheet with a 30/40/30 (C/P/F) macro ratio on cut days and 40/40/20 on workout days. Does that sound good? Thanks man.

 

[ballerj63]

Just started IF for a recomp. Did about a 3 month bulk and I ballooned up to 205. Gained a lot of strength while bulking and eating everything in site.

Started to cut carbs on off days(60-100 g) and increase on workout days (100-150 or more grams). Calorie intake when working out is 2000, off days is 1600. I initially thought that I would lose motivation and focus while training fasted. I was wrong. I'm still seeing some strength increases whole working out. Hopefully, it will continue, but it has only been a week.

They hardest thing for me on IF is getting all my required macros down in a timely manner. It seems that I'm eating nonstop for 8 hours.

Sent from my Desire HD using EliteFitness

 

[RickRock13]

Or you could give us a macro ratio for each type of day instead of the protein per lb figure. ....

I'm currently setting up my spreadsheet with a 30/40/30 (C/P/F) macro ratio on cut days and 40/40/20 on workout days. Does that sound good? Thanks man.

I like to go low carb on cardio/rest days. I pay less attention to ratio splits and go for more of a specific target. I like a maximum of 75g carbs on rest days but thats my preference. We are all different and respond to carbs differently, so you will just have to find what works best for you. If that split works well for you then go for it.

As for protein, I always aim for 1-1.5g per pound of LBM. So a 200 lb guy with 10% bodyfat would need to fall in the range of 180-270g per day

 

[RickRock13]

Just started IF for a recomp. Did about a 3 month bulk and I ballooned up to 205. Gained a lot of strength while bulking and eating everything in site.

Started to cut carbs on off days(60-100 g) and increase on workout days (100-150 or more grams). Calorie intake when working out is 2000, off days is 1600. I initially thought that I would lose motivation and focus while training fasted. I was wrong. I'm still seeing some strength increases whole working out. Hopefully, it will continue, but it has only been a week.

They hardest thing for me on IF is getting all my required macros down in a timely manner. It seems that I'm eating nonstop for 8 hours.

Sent from my Desire HD using EliteFitness

Like I said earlier, try eating bigger meals and less of them. At 1600-2000 cals per day it should be easy to get cals in. I do that all the time in one meal

I actually have more energy training fasted than I do after eating. I wouldnt have it any other way. I love fasted training!!

 

[Matthersby]

Alright Rick.
I swore I'd never even consider IF, but now I seriously am based on so many's impressive results, such as yourself.
Alright heres my thoughts, any advice you have to give would be great:
I work 430 a.m.-3 p.m. around 5 days a week. I lift around 330 p.m., sometimes as late as 5.
I am planning on recomping until my next cycle in 3-4 months.
When I don't work, I lift at 9 a.m.
My questions are: Should I change my feed times ( I am imagining my times on work days will be noon to 8p.m./bedtime) on off days where I wake up hours later and lift way earlier?
Should I still reduce carbs pre-bedtime?
Can I actually skip IF on off-work days or schedule the fast differently?
On non-lifting days, I really have no clue what I should do...

 

[tha_Waco_kid]

Hey Rick - I believe I read in past threads that you are a big fan of using a product like N2Slin for your diet (cutting and bulking).

How does N2slin work with a diet like IF and when and what dose do you take it relative to your fast and meal schedule? ie, should you have a dose in you when you break your fast with the first meal? Only with meals with more carbs?

Thanks!

 

[RickRock13]

Alright Rick.
I swore I'd never even consider IF, but now I seriously am based on so many's impressive results, such as yourself.
Alright heres my thoughts, any advice you have to give would be great:
I work 430 a.m.-3 p.m. around 5 days a week. I lift around 330 p.m., sometimes as late as 5.
I am planning on recomping until my next cycle in 3-4 months.
When I don't work, I lift at 9 a.m.
My questions are: Should I change my feed times ( I am imagining my times on work days will be noon to 8p.m./bedtime) on off days where I wake up hours later and lift way earlier?
Should I still reduce carbs pre-bedtime?
Can I actually skip IF on off-work days or schedule the fast differently?
On non-lifting days, I really have no clue what I should do...

The great thing about IF, is it can be adapted around your lifestyle and still be very effective. I can't stress enough how versatile this diet really is. Ideally you would want to maintain that 16/8 split as much as possible and keep the feeding window the same when you can.....but if you have a day that you need to shift things, go ahead and do it. It won't make a bit of difference in the grand scope of things. I have a family with a wife and kids, and sometimes we have things we do on the weekends. If we are out of town and my wife wants to go to breakfast, I will go and eat with them. I may not be getting all my benefits that day...sure, but building the physiques we want is a marathon and not a sprint right? I like to live my life comfortably. I've been OCD about things before, and this diet allows me more freedom than any other I've done before.

So....make your feeding window whatever will work best for you, but try to be somewhat consistent with it. If you want to break fast earlier on them days that you workout in the morning, that's fine. Just try to end your feeding after 8 hours to shift that window.

 

[RickRock13]

Hey Rick - I believe I read in past threads that you are a big fan of using a product like N2Slin for your diet (cutting and bulking).

How does N2slin work with a diet like IF and when and what dose do you take it relative to your fast and meal schedule? ie, should you have a dose in you when you break your fast with the first meal? Only with meals with more carbs?

Thanks!

Yes, bro I use need2slin religiously. On workout days I usually take 2 caps before my fast breaking meal and another 2 caps before my last meal of the night. On cardio days I take 1 cap before my fasted cardio, and that is usually about it since I go relatively low carb on those days. Sometimes I will take 1 cap before a meal if I have enough carbs in it (around 50g)

 

[RickRock13]

For the record, some people want to know how well IF can work on cycle. Well, let me be the first to tell you that it can be EXTREMELY effective on cycle for getting lean muscle gains. Right now I just started week 7 of a 12 week cycle of Test E and Masteron E with Epi for the first 6 weeks and Katana for the last 6. I am up 15 lbs as of today, and my body fat at the start was 6.5% and is now right at 7%. I'm now shifting my cals to shred up under 6% while adding in a couple more lbs of muscle. I would say those are pretty good numbers for a cycle that I'm only half way through! Not to mention adding 50-60 lbs on several compound lifts