Post workout diet

[cobracock1979]

OB

Any more info in insulin resistance? Any tips on controling insulin and manipulating it?

 

[OneBreath]

OB

Any more info in insulin resistance? Any tips on controling insulin and manipulating it?

I'm currently working on something that's WAY outside of the BB mainstream. It's called Intermittent Fasting.

On off or cardio only days i do not eat until 1PM and i stop eating at 9PM. For my diet i have 2 cardio only days back to back (wed and thur) so that means for thur a total fasting time of 16 hours and a feeding window of 8 hours. I also fasted this sunday after the carbup.

I've been doing this for 2 weeks now, weight is down a net of 7 lbs (some water because of ketosis) but my core lifts are going up. And i'm not on cycle either.

Based on my research, it appears that the whole 6 meals a day or "eat every 2 or 3 hours" is not ideal for cutting fat. Most likely the 6 meals a day fad came out of bulking in order to get more calories in. Probably when dieting down, those same guys went nuts if they tried to space out their eating frequency.

The reason why 6 meals a day seems to work is because it forces planning and those that implement it correctly end up meeting their calorie deficit. In other words it has nothing to do with increased metabolism but rather of keeping people honest in maintaining a negative energy balance.

The problem with 6 meals a day is this: the body never leaves the fed state and cells are exposed to insulin more often. It takes the body 3 hours to digest food. These 3 hours are called the fed state. Digestion is taking place releasing glucose into the blood and the pancreas responds with releasing insulin. So with this protocol, cells are constantly exposed to insulin. What can cause cells to become insulin resistant? Too much exposure to insulin.

This goes on for 3 hours. After the 3 hours mark, its called the post absorptive state. During this state blood sugar levels are baseline, no insulin is out there, and the body is running off of stored energy. IE, cells are getting a break from insulin.

The post absorptive state lasts until about hour 12. Then the fasting state begins. The fasting state lasts for about 48 hours. After 48 hours, the starvation state begins.

Not until the starvation state, after 2 days, does the metabolism begin to "slow down".

Now that might dispel the metabolism question but everyone still freaks out thinking they are losing muscle if they don't eat every 3 hours. Well, fasting might result in a little short term muscle loss, however, the longer term results seem to be increased muscle mass. Most likely this is the result of some seriously increased insulin sensitivity.

Here is a good place to get started on these topics.

Part 1: What Happens To Your Body When You Fast? - Energy Production | Life Spotlight - No BS Fitness, Health and Living

 

[oso0960]

SL - Thanks, I'm going to buy some BCAA's..I've heard nothing but positive feedback on them. Also very informative post. Everything I've read that has anything to do with PWO nutrition stresses high GI carbs.


OB - Also a great post. I'll admit, I'm one of those people that freak out if I ate my meal 4 hours after after the previous one. I never would have guessed that any period of fasting would be beneficial to muscle gains. I have a question though: what do you think about the 1 gram of protein per pound of lean body mass? Is it necessary? Do you still reach that number on your fasting days? (I have only read the first page of the link so far)

I believe both ideas should be stickied since there is too much info out there promoting the opposite.

 

[OneBreath]

SL - Thanks, I'm going to buy some BCAA's..I've heard nothing but positive feedback on them. Also very informative post. Everything I've read that has anything to do with PWO nutrition stresses high GI carbs.


OB - Also a great post. I'll admit, I'm one of those people that freak out if I ate my meal 4 hours after after the previous one. I never would have guessed that any period of fasting would be beneficial to muscle gains. I have a question though: what do you think about the 1 gram of protein per pound of lean body mass? Is it necessary? Do you still reach that number on your fasting days? (I have only read the first page of the link so far)

I believe both ideas should be stickied since there is too much info out there promoting the opposite.

I'm still undecided about the protein. I'm currently cutting and only taking in .8 grams per bodyweight. This seems to be working great. I'm beginning to think that excessive amounts (e.g. 2 x bodyweight) are not necessary for the average trainee and 1 x bodyweight is probably a good number.

On the fasting days i still get in the necessary protein. You don't have to reduce calories in any way because of the fast. It's just altering the time window in which you eat. So you can eat the same amount, just in a smaller window of time.

As you can imagine this mimics what we are designed to do. For 2.5 million years we most likely hunted all day and then had a large feeding. Sometimes going a full day without eating depending on how the hunting went. It's interesting that metabolic slowdown doesn't take place until the 3rd day of not eating. This is probably the largest indicator of how our ancestors fed.

Although don't believe anything i'm saying, i'm experimenting with this myself. I'm not endorsing it's use, at least not yet.

Good luck!