My IF experience

[Stephen Majerle]

I have pretty muched reached my fat loss goals and am no longer trying to lose weight. I still continue IF however for practical reasons and I just really like it. Seems a great way to maintain what I have lost and on the few occasions I have eaten breakfast in the past few months for social reasons I found I had little appetite in the morning and got full very quickly.

[Leonhard Krahé]

For the winter, I am seriously considering going back to a normal breakfast (or just shifting my "window") because I'm constantly cold in the mornings (which sucks). Will be hard to fight the urge for snacks in the evenings though

[Matthew Jefferys]

Just my personal experiences...

 

I fast for 24 hours every Monday, simply because it's very easy, schedule-wise, and I don't really do much on Mondays (a rest day, mostly). Exercising and drinking lots of water helps satiate any feelings of hunger, which helped me stay hydrated (which I'm usually terrible with). I found that it was a bit of a bulwark during bulking cycles, as I struggled to find enough food to eat on regular days (I eat a lot), so my performance was less than optimum. During cutting cycles though, it was an awesome way to get/stay lean without really affecting how much I ate on regular days. I bounce around between 80kg and 84kg (176lbs to 185lbs) depending on whether I'm bulking or cutting, if that helps.   

Edited November 5, 2015 by Mercurial Flow

[Edoardo Roberto Cagnola]

Sadly today I've decided to give up IF. It was an amazing learning experience, and I will use in the future when my main goal will be losing some extra fat. It was great for my college student schedule too. The problem is that I really can't fit 3400 kcal into the eating window without making every meal a torture (I should literally eat beyond my stomach capabilities). That being said, I'll still do my HS 1 and 2 workouts fasted first thing in the morning (mainly for convenience), and have my breakfast right after.

[Luzian Scherrer]

3400 calories? Not that I personally would have any problem at all eating that much every day but that's a pretty serious amount of calories! How did you calculate it?

[Edoardo Roberto Cagnola]

I have calculated my BMR (basal metabolic rate) with this formula, which seems to the most accurate, if you have a rough idea of what your bf % is. BMR=370 + (21.6 x LMB in kg). After that, you should multiply with one of the following numbers, based on your activity level (both workout and basically any other thing that makes you burn calories). 1.2 if sedentary and non exercising, 2.2 if you are an endurance athlete. I'm pretty active so I went for 1.5. That will give you your TDEE (aka maintainence calories). Since my goal is to add some lean mass to my frame, I stared by adding 25g of carbs (100 kcal) and monitored my weight gain during the following week. Since no weight was gained (actually some was lost!) I added 100 more calories. I'm now at 3400, but it might go even higher if I continue not to gain weight in the next couple of weeks!

I also take advantage of a concept known as the G-flux: basically, research show that consuming more calories and exercising more should result in better body composition and nutrients partitioning. So, on top of my Foundation work 3 days a week, H1 and 2 2x week and stretch series, I also do some high intensity cardio 3x week. And I also walk around 3 km a day most days of the week. So there you have it, how to get away with eating two pizzas a day

Edit: I messed up the formula. It's 370, not 270! My bad

[Luzian Scherrer]

So you have a LBM of about 86kg? Can I ask how tall you are and what your bf% ist?

[Luka Kopusar]

you could get in with oils, but then again a good oil is not that cheap (olive oil, coconut oil, ghee... ) 

[Luzian Scherrer]

I'm just interested because personally I think I could always eat a limitless amount of calories and I never really understood those who struggle to get enough in

 

I estimate my TDEE to be around 3000 kcal currently.

[Edoardo Roberto Cagnola]

I'm 194 cm tall (a little more than 6'4) and I weigh 82kg. I estimate my bf% to be around 8%.

BMR=370+(21.6x75.44)= 1999 -> x1.55= 3099

My TDEE is about 3100 kcal according to the formula, but it's still an estimated number. Clearly, since in the past 10 days I've maintained my weight around 82kg eating 3200 kcal, my TDEE is higher. I guess it will take some time to figure out

[Luzian Scherrer]

Ah, that makes sense. I didn't realize you are that tall by looking at your Instagram stuff; but I'd also visually estimate you at around 8% bf.

This one is pretty interesting by the way: http://www.strengtheory.com/your-drug-free-muscle-and-strength-potential-part-1/

[Edoardo Roberto Cagnola]

Very interesting read, thanks for sharing!

Ps. Good to know that my bf% estimation makes sense to other people. I was pretty unsure about it

[Edoardo Roberto Cagnola]

A little update out of frustration. I'be been eating 3800 kcal for the past week and maybe (just maybe) I'm almost to the point where I want to be in terms of gains on the scale (1-2lb/month). It's a awful lot of food tough

[Leonhard Krahé]

Especially if you have to cram them into a short period of time like in IF, right?

[Edoardo Roberto Cagnola]

I gave IF up for now, it's kind of impossible to get all that food in me in 7/8 hours

[Giovanni Garcea]

Well, there are many nutritionists that I respect that agree that intermittent fasting is absolutely non-optimal if the goal is muscle gain, while it is a very powerful method for losing fat.

I am in the "losing fat" category, so my experience has been good so far, but I've been studying a lot recently and listening to many many opinions and, while IF is suggested by many for losing and maintaining, almost nobody promotes this method for gaining mass, especially if you are not an absolute beginner.

[Edoardo Roberto Cagnola]

Very true Giovanni! I've read some more articles from people like Lyle McDonald, Alan Aragon, Greg Knuckles and they all recommend IF strictly as a fat loss tool. I still think it's a nice "lifestyle" though!

Btw, I'm now eating 3960 kcal, hopefully I'll start gaining some damn weight. No way I could eat that in 8 hours. My stomach would have probably exploded

[Giovanni Garcea]

Maybe you can look into carb backloading, if you work out in the afternoon/evening...

[Leonhard Krahé]

Maybe you can look into carb backloading, if you work out in the afternoon/evening...

I think there is a CBL protocol for working out in the morning, too.

[Edoardo Roberto Cagnola]

Thanks for the suggestion, but there is no need for that now in my diet, since I'm "bulking" (I really don't like that term, but it's just to get you an idea ). 

[Leonhard Krahé]

Hey guys,

As stated before, I don't really follow a very tight regimen regarding IF and more often than not eat quite late in the evening (10 pm-ish) because often I train rather late, then stretch and then still have to prepare something to eat.

Anyway, I often feel that the later I ate in the evening (and possibly the closer to going to bed as well), the earlier in the morning I get or at least feel hungry again, regardless of what exactly I ate the night before or how "active" I have been.

Has any of you experienced something similar? I'm curious.

[Ryan Bailey]

Hey guys,

As stated before, I don't really follow a very tight regimen regarding IF and more often than not eat quite late in the evening (10 pm-ish) because often I train rather late, then stretch and then still have to prepare something to eat.

Anyway, I often feel that the later I ate in the evening (and possibly the closer to going to bed as well), the earlier in the morning I get or at least feel hungry again, regardless of what exactly I ate the night before or how "active" I have been.

Has any of you experienced something similar? I'm curious.

 

 

 

 

 

I notice the combination of meal plan and intensity of exercise to be a factor.

I find this hunger does not happen in the following combination:

food composition that is geared towards "fat burning" combined with exercise programing that allows for good recovery. (In this situation, hunger is rare, fatigue is rare) and for me, a consistent following of this combo is rare ​

I notice, when higher percentage of carbs are in the meal plan, combined with exercise programing that borders the "healthy overreaching" category towards higher anaerobic thresholds (recovery if poorer, hunger increases, fatigue is greater)

 

 

[Karen Zanon]

On 12/22/2015 at 4:34 AM, Leonhard Krahé said:

Hey guys,

As stated before, I don't really follow a very tight regimen regarding IF and more often than not eat quite late in the evening (10 pm-ish) because often I train rather late, then stretch and then still have to prepare something to eat.

Anyway, I often feel that the later I ate in the evening (and possibly the closer to going to bed as well), the earlier in the morning I get or at least feel hungry again, regardless of what exactly I ate the night before or how "active" I have been.

Has any of you experienced something similar? I'm curious.

Yes.  It's generally related to low blood sugar.  For example, if you use up a lot of glycogen stores during exercise late at night and you haven't had a chance to restore them, your body will be seriously wanting food in an attempt to restore the glycogen circulating in your blood stream and the stores in the liver upon waking, particularly once you start moving around.  This is particularly common if you work out late and don't eat or drink anything after your workout.  

Since you are also noticing this when you eat after your late workout or when you eat close to bed, in general, it could also be that since your body went to sleep so soon after eating and you weren't moving around to burn up the glucose from your meal, the body had to overproduce insulin to process it while you slept.  Then you have some left over insulin that is floating around with no glucose to balance it.  So when you wake up your body is signaling you to eat to balance out the low blood sugar created by the excess insulin.  (This can be better understood when you compare it to the "crash" people sometimes experience after eating too much sugar/junk food at one time.  The body detects an amount of sugar that is out of the normal range and over-produces insulin in order to process it all.  Then you actually experience a low blood sugar reaction (the crash) because you essentially end up with low blood sugar.)  

It doesn't mean anything is wrong, your hunger is just the body's way of signalling you to eat to balance your blood sugar and insulin levels.  If you find it bothersome and you want to try to improve how hungry you feel in the morning, if you eat late at night you may feel better upon waking if you eat primarily protein and lower glycemic foods (such as non-starch vegetables) for that particular meal.  (You may feel best with more easily digestible protein sources such as eggs, fish or some light chicken if it's late at night.)  If you feel you need some carb-dense foods, eat a very controlled portion such as 1/4 to 1/2 cup and try to avoid eating any processed foods, sweets, and snack foods right before bed (since they really spike the blood sugar and require a lot of insulin to process). 

[Leonhard Krahé]

Yes.  It's generally related to low blood sugar.  For example, if you use up a lot of glycogen stores during exercise late at night and you haven't had a chance to restore them, your body will be seriously wanting food in an attempt to restore the glycogen circulating in your blood stream and the stores in the liver upon waking, particularly once you start moving around.  This is particularly common if you work out late and don't eat or drink anything after your workout.  

 

Since you are also noticing this when you eat after your late workout or when you eat close to bed, in general, it could also be that since your body went to sleep so soon after eating and you weren't moving around to burn up the glucose from your meal, the body had to overproduce insulin to process it while you slept.  Then you have some left over insulin that is floating around with no glucose to balance it.  So when you wake up your body is signaling you to eat to balance out the low blood sugar created by the excess insulin.  (This can be better understood when you compare it to the "crash" people sometimes experience after eating too much sugar/junk food at one time.  The body detects an amount of sugar that is out of the normal range and over-produces insulin in order to process it all.  Then you actually experience a low blood sugar reaction (the crash) because you essentially end up with low blood sugar.)  

 

It doesn't mean anything is wrong, your hunger is just the body's way of signalling you to eat to balance your blood sugar and insulin levels.  If you find it bothersome and you want to try to improve how hungry you feel in the morning, if you eat late at night you may feel better upon waking if you eat primarily protein and lower glycemic foods (such as non-starch vegetables) for that particular meal.  (You may feel best with more easily digestible protein sources such as eggs, fish or some light chicken if it's late at night.)  If you feel you need some carb-dense foods, eat a very controlled portion such as 1/4 to 1/2 cup and try to avoid eating any processed foods, sweets, and snack foods right before bed (since they really spike the blood sugar and require a lot of insulin to process).

Thanks for the reply!

I was suspecting that some kind of an insulin "overshoot" might be to blame here but couldn't really figure out the how and why.

Regarding my eating habits: I usually have very little processed food or sweets, if at all, and am eating somewhat paleo-ish most of the time, although with exceptions. I try to have some leafy greens or vegetables with every meal as well as some protein and healthy fats but usually go reasonably low on carbs (a pretty hardwired "uneasiness" towards carbs, especially later in the day, stemming from a diet regimen I was following for quite some time in the past and which I find very hard to let go of). I often have some fruit and a handful of nuts for dessert or as a snack during the day.

I will try to keep eating and going to bed further apart in the future.

[Karen Zanon]

Thanks for the reply!

I was suspecting that some kind of an insulin "overshoot" might be to blame here but couldn't really figure out the how and why.

Regarding my eating habits: I usually have very little processed food or sweets, if at all, and am eating somewhat paleo-ish most of the time, although with exceptions. I try to have some leafy greens or vegetables with every meal as well as some protein and healthy fats but usually go reasonably low on carbs (a pretty hardwired "uneasiness" towards carbs, especially later in the day, stemming from a diet regimen I was following for quite some time in the past and which I find very hard to let go of). I often have some fruit and a handful of nuts for dessert or as a snack during the day.

I will try to keep eating and going to bed further apart in the future.

 

Paleo-ish is an excellent style of eating, which can also explain some of your experience.  The cleaner you eat, the more sensitive your system becomes.  Your body becomes more efficient and more in tune to even the most subtle changes.  (This is a good thing.)  This is really how we are designed to be anyway.  (Which is why paleo and IF work so well for many people.)  If you had to live off the land you would eat what you could when you could and you would have times of feast and famine and you wouldn't care about what time of the day it was when you had a chance to eat. Fortunately, we have the luxury of being able to balance our schedules and time our eating any way that we would like to.  It's all about knowing your body and tweaking things so that you feel your best.