In this article, we take a look at:
What is Intermittent Fasting and Why are people drawn to it?
Why We Get the "Feels" For Fasting
Types of Intermittent Fasting
What Intermittent Fasting Isn't
Intermittent Fasting and Muscle Growth
What's Intermittent Fasting Good For?
Changing your body is emotional. If you hate what is looking back at you in the mirror, it's likely you want better body composition... yesterday. With strong emotion comes a lack of objectivity. People become easily seduced by the more extreme diets, and this is where intermittent fasting.
What is Intermittent Fasting and Why are people drawn to it?
Intermittent fasting (IF) is umbrella term for any form of diet that cycle between a period of fasting and a period of feeding over a 24 hour period. The most common form of intermittent fast is the 16/8 method, where the user would fast for 16 hours per day and have a feeding window of 8 hours (other methods of IF will be discussed later in the article). The rationale behind IF is simple; by limiting the amount of time a person is able to eat, fewer meals are consumed, thus leading to an automatic reduction in caloric intake.
Why We Get the "Feels" For Fasting
Fasting has gone in and out of style for ages. Its popularity is on the rise because of short-sighted beliefs like:
"If you don't eat, you lose weight."
"I should be able to eat what I want and lose weight."
Not eating for 16 hours will automatically conjure images of huge weight loss in an average person's brain. So right off the bat, they're convinced that it'll work. It even FEELS like it's working when you learn to suppress your hunger that long. Then if their particular fast allows them to indulge in foods (that are normally off-limits) at the end of the fasting period, they're sold! Unfortunately, it does not work like that. Your body won't instantaneously release all your stored body fat after a few extra hours without food.
The truth is: it is possible to succeed with a fasting strategy.
It's possible to improve your health markers and change your body comp, is it effective long term? Can it be used to gain muscle? What are the drawbacks?
Types of Intermittent Fasting
There are three main types of intermittent fasting:
The 16/8 Method
The 5:2 Method
The Warrior Diet
The 16/8 Method: This method consists of using a fasting period every day followed by a short period where all the nutrition is ingested. Typically, the fasting period last between 14-16 hours, with the remainder of the day allotted to a window of eating. When starting this particular method, non-caloric beverages (water, coffee, tea, etc.) and a few cruciferous vegetables can be used to work into it. Once you are more comfortable with fasting, you can still consume non-caloric beverages ( mostly water), but you would refrain from consuming anything else.
Pro-tip: On training days, the end of the fast should coincide with a period starting around 30-60 minutes before the workout, where a pre-workout meal would be had.
The 5:2 Method: With this style of intermittent fasting, an individual has two non-consecutive days a week where you fast for the whole 24-hour day; the other five days you'd eat normally.
Pro-tip: If the goal of your current training program is to put on muscle mass, ingest a surplus of calories five days a week and utilize the fasting days as a means to limit fat gain.
If the goal is to lose body fat, eat at caloric maintenance or a slight deficit during those five days.
The Warrior Diet: Those following this style of intermittent fasting, consume a very small amount of calories during 20 hours per day, then consume as much food as desired at night.
During the 20-hour fasting period, people are encouraged to consume small amounts of raw fruits and vegetables, as well as plenty of non-calorie fluids.
After 20 hours, people can essentially eat any foods they want within a four-hour eating window.
What Intermittent Fasting Isn't
One reason why intermittent fasting doesn't work for many is because they use it as a pass to eat everything they want. If that's the reason why you're looking to start intermittent fasting, you'll run into trouble.
Intermittent fasting is not a diet – it is an eating pattern.
Keto is a diet (don't eat more than 30 grams of carbs and consume at least 60-70% of your calories from fats). The Zone is a diet (every meal has a 40:30:30 ratio of protein, carbs, and fats). A "diet" gives you specific food choices or a ratio of nutrients. Intermittent fasting only gives an eating schedule and the schedule itself can't compensate for poor food choices or too much food.
Are you able to indulge more with an intermittent fasting approach than other diets? Yes, however if you turn it into an all-you-can-eat crap-fest, you'll be in for a world of trouble!
Intermittent fasting can be done with any type of nutrient ratio. You can do ketogenic intermittent fasting, Zone intermittent fasting, high carb intermittent fasting, etc, but what you cannot do – if you want to see favorable results – is crap-fest intermittent fasting.
You will gain fat and you will also feel like a bloated turd. More importantly, it will reinforce bad eating habits and make it even harder to come back to eating clean.
Intermittent Fasting and Muscle Growth
Intermittent fasting is not a good way to build muscle.
Sure, find examples of people who've added muscle using it, but we don't know the whole story. Their fasting may have been what they were doing at the time, but it doesn't necessarily mean that it was the cause of their muscle growth. What
Were they beginner lifters?
Were they eating a crap diet prior to that?
Did they use anabolic assistance?
Were they training inconsistently?
Did they stop doing tons of cardio?
There are a ton of different things that may have lead to their gains. I do believe a small percentage of people can build muscle on it, but for the rest of us it won't lead to hypertrophy. Some will be able to maintain their muscle mass and others will actually lose muscle.
The individuals who would be able to achieve muscular hypertrophy with an intermittent fasting cortisol under-producers. The individuals would experience little, if any, anxiety; they would not get stressed about much of anything; they would seemingly have ice in their veins; they are amazing under pressure. Think Liam Neeson in Taken or every Vin Diesel movie ever. These individuals can get away with intermittent fasting when trying to build muscle. Everybody else will either stay about the same (muscle wise) or lose muscle.
If you're someone who's naturally anxious, worries a lot, doesn't handle pressure well, etc. you'll likely be a cortisol overproducer. When fasting, you are more likely to release a lot more cortisol to maintain blood sugar levels and mobilize fuel. Whereas the cortisol under-producers will release less and produce more growth hormone.
What's Intermittent Fasting Good For?
It can work well for fat loss and muscle maintenance provided that you're not under a lot of stress or someone who produces too much cortisol. It can also program your body to be more efficient at burning fat for fuel. As such, it can be good as an "induction" phase that'll make a subsequent "normal" fat loss diet more effective.
The biggest advantage of intermittent fasting is its simplicity and convenience.
Intermittent fasting, if done properly, requires MORE discipline than dieting with a macro ratio or simply choosing healthier foods on a regular basis. If you're still on the fence, remember these things:
If you're prone to disordered eating (anorexia, bulimia, or binge eating disorder), don't use it.
If you're overly anxious, have a lot of stress, or suspect you overproduce cortisol, don't use it.
If you're attracted to it for the perceived freedom to eat whatever you want, don't use it.
If your goal is to put on more muscle mass, don't use it. (Caveat: Unless you're never anxious or are using steroids).
If you have a busy lifestyle, yet are rarely stressed out from it, it may be a work.
If you already have a great foundation of muscle and are willing to sacrifice a bit of growth, it may work.
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