So you want to lose body fat right? Of course you do, most of us wouldn’t mind dropping some of that unsightly muscle-masking blubber. Being lean is a top priority if a Hollywood Body is your goal – and I’m sure it is, because you’re sitting there reading my site.
Most of you are aware of the following, but let’s reiterate:
“In order to lose weight, you must create a calorie deficit (burn more calories than you consume). This is a true statement.
The problem lies in the discipline or methods used to do so. Sure, you can count calories 7 days a week, eat every three hours, and drive yourself somewhat crazy. Or you can simplify the process and relax a bit, still knowing you’re bound to drop fat. Sound good? Enter: INTERMITTENT FASTING.
A Simpler Approach To Effective Fat Loss
You may have heard of intermittent fasting (IF) because as of late, it’s become a fairly popular weight loss technique and for good reason. Fitness expert Brad Pilon is probably the most innovative when it comes to the subject. Check out his blog for more info on the matter than you’re likely to read all at once, but it will lay out the science and logistics behind IF to a far better degree than I could relate. He is the go-to guy for IF! His eBook is one of the best purchases I have ever made. It’s not your typical eBook – this information could be what takes you to the next level of fitness!
Intermittent fasting is exactly what it sounds like: sporadic periods of no food. For our purposes, we are not talking about lengthy fasts either. I recommend going anywhere from 14-24 hours, and a maximum of 36 hours, but 36 is pushing the limits and not necessary. However, you can choose to do so without encountering the negative benefits. Anything beyond the 36 hour mark and you begin to risk the things you’re probably worried that a 6 hour fast will create.
On that note, what about all the fitness sites that are telling us that we have to eat every 2-3 hours? Their claim is that by skipping meals or waiting too long between meals, your body will go into starvation mode and your metabolism will come to a screeching halt. This, my friends, is simply not true, and IF is not unhealthy. Far from it. The 6 small meals a day approach is currently very popular amongst the fitness community. But where did this all start? Is there actually a solid foundation backing this theory, or is it just word of mouth and then the general consensus assumes it to be true? Fitness Blackbook has a short post with some good points that question the veracity of this theory.
This isn’t to say that it’s a bad approach to weight loss. It can work, but remember, the bottom line is that whether you eat one meal or ten meals a day, if a calorie deficit is not created, you will not lose weight. Personally, I can put down food! No really, I can eat like a horse. So eating six meals a day could easily add up to a very large number in the calorie department. If your daily caloric goal is 1800, six meals a day would be 300 calories a meal. So this method requires a great deal of portion control and discipline. Sometimes, you just want to eat with somewhat reckless abandon, so to speak. IF makes this possible, while still creating a calorie deficit.
If Muscle Gain Is Your Goal, I Recommend The More Meals A Day Approach
If you need to pack on mass, and some of you do, getting doses of protein many times a day is an effective way to go. This is from personal experience as well as factual information. I will gain muscular size faster when I eat 5-6 times a day with protein at every feeding.
But if you’re happy with your size and are aiming for fat loss, both methods will work, and I have truly experienced the quickest fat loss and lowest body fat levels when performing some sort of IF.
Methods Of Intermittent Fasting
Eat Stop Eat
Brad Pilon’s tried and true method of fasting allows you to “Stop Dieting and Start Living.” Depending on your goals, the main principle is to do 1 or 2 24-hour fasts per week. It may sound like Hell, but it’s actually easy once your body adapts. Say you eat dinner at 7pm on Thursday – you would then fast until 7pm on Friday. Water, tea, and coffee (black) are allowed. After the fast is over, you resume your normal eating habits as if the fast never happened. You do not go to the McDonald’s drive-thru and order 10 things from the dollar menu, unless you want to ruin your hard work. Detoxification is an added bonus to this, but the main goal is creating a caloric deficit over time. Think about it. Hypothetically, say you normally eat 2000 calories a day, every day. That adds up to 14000 calories per week. If you fast 2 days, that would reduce your caloric total by 4000, which is over a pound of fat, and more weight on the scale (a pound of fat is equal to 3500 calories). So in a week, you’ve leaned down over a pound of fat by simply eating normally 5 days of the week, and fasting the other 2. No need to worry about creating a deficit every day, just maintain discipline for two days. Even one day of fasting using this approach will compound into good results over time.
Eating Window
Not the official name, but it makes sense to me. I used this approach last summer and got down to sub 5% body fat. It’s my favorite way method of IF. Basically, you will eat between certain hours, and not eat during other hours. For me last year, I would eat my first meal at 1pm, so breakfast was 2 cups of black coffee and that’s it. Coffee actually suppresses my appetite and obviously the caffeine helps in regards to having energy. So making it to 1pm was no sweat. In fact, I would perform a morning workout around 10am, fasted, and without food after for a few hours. And no, I did not lose muscle. I will touch up on this in a moment. I would eat meals between 1pm and around 11pm. That’s 9 hours where eating is an option, and 14 where it’s not. I did not monitor calories while on this style of eating, I simply ate healthy Paleo food until full, and ate again when hungry, inside the parameters of the diet. Honestly, I’ve never dropped body fat so quickly and easily as when using this method.
Working Out While Fasting?
So am I mentioned above, while on the 14 hour a day fast approach, I would incorporate a morning workout into the fast. Was I a slug in the gym? No – in fact, I had more energy than when fed, and had some of my best workouts while fasted. The body will use it’s “fight or flight” internal tactic to signal the body to heighten the senses and become focused like a laser. It’s crazy, but it really does happen. My strength in lifts increased, and my best CrossFit times were achieved when in a fasted state. One day I remember thinking, “Wow, if I am this pumped while fasted, imagine what some pre-workout carbs will do!” I ate a big bowl of oatmeal, went to the gym, and had an absolutely horrendous workout! My body was so used to working hard fasted, that it basically rejected the food as far as energy levels were concerned.
Will you lose muscle by not eating protein right after your workout? No. Again, my strength improved and I dropped body fat like no one’s business. My measurements stayed around the same, save my waist, which trimmed down to 29″, lower on some days. I had the V-Shaped torso to a greater degree than ever, and most of all I felt great! I want to tell you about these personal experiences so you can put your mind at ease when these concerns come about in your head. I worried the same things, but soon discovered the beauty of IF.
Drawbacks Of Intermittent Fasting
Honestly, I am yet to be displeased with anything about IF. I don’t think it’s the best way to go if you’re after big muscle gains, but that’s usually not of my concerns. If I do feel like adding some muscle, I will fall out of IF and use the “more meals a day” approach. But for fat loss, I think IF is the way to go, in terms of effectiveness and simplicity. Is it for you? I’m not sure. Try it out and see if it’s something you can incorporate into your fitness goals. Chances are, it’ll take some time getting used to, as all new things are, but after a couple weeks pass, your body should be primed and accept the concept of IF, whichever method of it you choose, with open arms.
