How To Maximize Gains From Intermittent Fasting

[Quick Start Test Smith]

Hi, this question is particularly directed to Joshua and Cole Dano, but any responses are welcome.

 

I'm currently following an intermittent fasting eating schedule with an eating window of roughly 6-8 hours in the afternoon/evening. On workout days I will get about 1000 kcal an hour before the workout and then 2000-2500 within the next few hours afterwards. The main reason why I like this eating schedule is because I don't have to constantly prepare food and eat and have find it easier to concentrate on work for the majority of the day. Constantly eating disrupts my focus. 

 

I know you guys (Cole and Joshua) don't think it's optimal and are very partial to nutrient timing (the +/- 400 kcal at any point in the day) but at this time, I'm not sure that it's optimal for me as far as athletics and other work are concerned.

 

So I'd appreciate any advice on how to maximize my progress in intermittent fasting. Thanks!

 

(By the way, I have recorded things like BF%, weight, what I eat/when I eat it, my training (strict recording of sets, reps, weights, times, etc.) so that I can tell if I lose muscle mass, too much weight, strength, etc.)

[Daniel Burnham]

Have you read through the lean gains stuff. Some good info there.

[Tyler Gibson]

I'm no expert, but a resource I found extremely helpful during my experiments with IF was John Berardi's book, Experiments with Intermittent Fasting. I read an interview with John Berardi on T Nation, which provided a link to his book, which is free. I'd check it out for sure.

 

The Interview:

 

http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/most_recent/john_berardis_great_fasting_experiment

 

Link to the free pdf of John's Book:

 

http://www.precisionnutrition.com/intermittent-fasting

[Quick Start Test Smith]

Have you read through the lean gains stuff. Some good info there.

 

I've read through most if not all of it. That's all from a body builders perspective, though, and I think an athleticism point of view would have a lot to offer.

 

I'm no expert, but a resource I found extremely helpful during my experiments with IF was John Berardi's book, Experiments with Intermittent Fasting. I read an interview with John Berardi on T Nation, which provided a link to his book, which is free. I'd check it out for sure.

 

The Interview:

 

http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/most_recent/john_berardis_great_fasting_experiment

 

Link to the free pdf of John's Book:

 

http://www.precisionnutrition.com/intermittent-fasting

Man, thank you for the links! I'm diving in right now!

[Peter Sbirakos]

What does: "maximize my progress in Intermittent Fasting" actually mean?

 

Do you mean - Get ripped like a body builder?

 

Do you mean - Be able to do a Front Lever or any of the other spectacular exercises from the GB world?

Do you mean - Tap into the bodies energy systems (aerobic or anaerobic) for your sport?

 

And

 

How do you define athletics?  Do you class yourself as an elite athlete? ie At National/International Level or do you class yourself as a professional athlete as someone who works and trains in professional sport?  Or you train the specific progressions as outlined in the GB book? etc....

 

The whole point of the questions above is that asking meaningful questions will yield meaningful answers.  Finally, one of the most important questions you can ask yourself is: where is the evidence that Intermittent Fasting has generated someone a Gold Medal performance in the Olympics or the World Championships or the American NFL or UEFA?  Or a Paleo Diet or The Zone Diet, The Atkins Diet, Hoobaboloo Diet...

 

Something to ponder on...

[Larry Roseman]

I take it that he means the best possible results, body composition and strength-wise given the eating schedule. These are in opposition with each other making it challenging. However if eating all your meals in 6-8 hours trumps everything else then you have to make do.

 

On strength days you probably will want to work short of failure so your muscles aren't depending on extra nutrition for more than 6-8 hours. This may not be a major concern because the excess protein on diet days may at least support their maintenance. However the overall work volume in Leangains is low, so gains will be limited by this. It's more successful for cutting without losing mass. You would need something like 4 strength days on a surplus, 2 diet days and a maintenance day to make lean mass gains with minimal bodyfat increase. 

 

I don't think you're doing yourself any favours athletically by following it Patrick. Personally I would try to find a way to prepare a large number of your meals in advance and pack a lunch. If you have to follow it, lower expectations will help.

[Quick Start Test Smith]

What does: "maximize my progress in Intermittent Fasting" actually mean?

 

Do you mean - Get ripped like a body builder?

 

Do you mean - Be able to do a Front Lever or any of the other spectacular exercises from the GB world?

Do you mean - Tap into the bodies energy systems (aerobic or anaerobic) for your sport?

 

And

 

How do you define athletics?  Do you class yourself as an elite athlete? ie At National/International Level or do you class yourself as a professional athlete as someone who works and trains in professional sport?  Or you train the specific progressions as outlined in the GB book? etc....

 

The whole point of the questions above is that asking meaningful questions will yield meaningful answers.  Finally, one of the most important questions you can ask yourself is: where is the evidence that Intermittent Fasting has generated someone a Gold Medal performance in the Olympics or the World Championships or the American NFL or UEFA?  Or a Paleo Diet or The Zone Diet, The Atkins Diet, Hoobaboloo Diet...

 

Something to ponder on...

 

Hi Peter,

 

FutureIsNow's understanding is correct. I want to be able to improve in strength and conditioning while maintaining or decreasing BF%. It seems rather intuitional to me that athleticism is the ability to participate in athletics, which generally require strength, conditioning, agility, etc. Or in other words, not body building. Athletics, i.e. meant for sports.

 

Those are not separate goals. There is no reason why someone can not be very lean (although if I'm clearly a sportsman, than <4% BF is not my goal), well conditioned, and very strong at the same time.

 

Also, IF is not a diet.

 

I take it that he means the best possible results, body composition and strength-wise given the eating schedule. These are in opposition with each other making it challenging. However if eating all your meals in 6-8 hours trumps everything else then you have to make do.

 

On strength days you probably will want to work short of failure so your muscles aren't depending on extra nutrition for more than 6-8 hours. This may not be a major concern because the excess protein on diet days may at least support their maintenance. However the overall work volume in Leangains is low, so gains will be limited by this. It's more successful for cutting without losing mass. You would need something like 4 strength days on a surplus, 2 diet days and a maintenance day to make lean mass gains with minimal bodyfat increase. 

 

I don't think you're doing yourself any favours athletically by following it Patrick. Personally I would try to find a way to prepare a large number of your meals in advance and pack a lunch. If you have to follow it, lower expectations will help.

 

Hi Fin, 

 

Thanks for the advice.

 

LeanGains is not my primary source of information about IF. I am currently reading the online book by Dr. Beradi who seems to have been successful in training body builders to grow bigger/leaner while doing intense conditioning. I've yet to finish the book, though, so I can't verify if that's reasonable yet.

 

My volume is not very high right now. Strength work is done three times a week of 1-2 hours each time with about 3-5 hours of martial arts practice (most light, some heavy).

 

I don't exactly understand why you think it will negatively affect me though... I have been following a 16/8 schedule for the last week and a half and have noticed no decrease in strength or sports performance. Could you be more specific?

 

Thanks!

[Larry Roseman]

Yah, I read that book a while back. It went over a variety of approaches to IF, however if you are eating in a 6-8 hour window, that is pretty much leangains - although leangains has surplus and deficit days. There other patterns of course, like EOD. I like the skip dinner one day and breakfast the next day approach conceptually.

 

It is not that it would be bad for you, it's just that it may not be ideal for sports orientated individuals. For one, you have to perform on either an empty or a very full stomach. That isn't something that most people do well at. It's sometimes difficult to coordinate the meals, practices, games and training.  However, if you can manage it then more power to you!

 

Most of the studies have to do with Ramadan, which is probably not the type of IF you are going to do.  There are some definite performance concerns, although nothing seems extreme.

 

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22738880

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22318530

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22822448

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20460260

 

In terms of body composition, if you're basically eating the same amount every day, even when you're not as active, then you'll gain but you won't cut the fat. If you eat at maintenance every day, including your activity, you'll basically maintain. Of course there will be a little bit of adjustment in lean and fat mass from activity over time. IF with a deficit works well for fast loss, as evidenced in http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21410865 and allows preservation of lean mass better than a straight daily deficit.  There is little difference in terms of distribution of fat loss seenin http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19195863 . But keep in mind that individuals in these two fat loss studies were not athletes in training with above average nutritional requirements. And in the second study they had 4 legs!

 

That's my take on it.  I personally feel that it's a finer line to walk than when you are eating "normally". However, if you can operate that way, you should be able to do well on it.  Happy fasting!

 

Larry (incognito lest the boss be searching).

[Quick Start Test Smith]

Yah, I read that book a while back. It went over a variety of approaches to IF, however if you are eating in a 6-8 hour window, that is pretty much leangains - although leangains has surplus and deficit days. There other patterns of course, like EOD. I like the skip dinner one day and breakfast the next day approach conceptually.

 

It is not that it would be bad for you, it's just that it may not be ideal for sports orientated individuals. For one, you have to perform on either an empty or a very full stomach. That isn't something that most people do well at. It's sometimes difficult to coordinate the meals, practices, games and training.  However, if you can manage it then more power to you!

 

Most of the studies have to do with Ramadan, which is probably not the type of IF you are going to do.  There are some definite performance concerns, although nothing seems extreme.

 

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22738880

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22318530

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22822448

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20460260

 

In terms of body composition, if you're basically eating the same amount every day, even when you're not as active, then you'll gain but you won't cut the fat. If you eat at maintenance every day, including your activity, you'll basically maintain. Of course there will be a little bit of adjustment in lean and fat mass from activity over time. IF with a deficit works well for fast loss, as evidenced in http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21410865 and allows preservation of lean mass better than a straight daily deficit.  There is little difference in terms of distribution of fat loss seenin http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19195863 . But keep in mind that individuals in these two fat loss studies were not athletes in training with above average nutritional requirements.

 

That's my take on it. Hope it helps!

 

FIN 

 

Larry (incognito lest the boss be searching).

 

Ha ha! 

 

I don't intend to train fasted at all. I mentioned in my first post that I get about 600-1000 kcal 1-2 hours before my training session, and then the remaining kcal in the following hours in about 2-3 meals. I have done this recently for two fight nights and I have felt as fast and energetic as ever. It remains to be seen if this will last, though, so I will keep a close eye on how I feel and perform.

 

The Ramadan studies didn't include records of the athletes diets, though, did they? I quickly looked over the pages you linked to and I didn't see any details on protein, carb, or fat intake.

 

I'm thinking about following 16/8 with all training done inside the eating window (as usual) for the whole week except for Wednesday. In the coming semester, I will be at college from 9am to 9pm and won't have much opportunity to eat. Because of that, 20/4 on Wednesday sounds good. In fact, if I take about 300-500 kcal off non-training days and give about 200 of that to training days, I could create a slight deficit. It seems to me that the best plan of action to lean out and grow bigger is to lean out first and then do a lean bulk. I guess I'll see what happens! Lol

 

Thanks, Larry. I appreciate the advice. I will be sure to keep records of what I do and update my journal here so anyone interested in doing it can see how my experience was. 

[emos]

Some assorted points:

 

> An eight-hour eating window also strikes me as rather decadent. It's basically just skipping breakfast, for most people. Only in the most generous sense is it a form of IF, I'd say. Compared with the idea of six (or whatever) meals per day then it stands out as more restrictive, but compared to a standard three meals per day diet it's not much different.

 

> I always train completely fasted, which means at least 20 hours with only water. I feel much better like this and any food just slows me down. When I eat during the day I get very tired unless it's pure protein/fat - basically any amount of carbs puts me to sleep, it seems. On off days I sometimes eat six eggs at lunch time and that seems to not break the fast, really. The only exception to this is when I drink some kind of caffeinated cola

 

> I'm prone to fat gain and that's always been my main problem in all of this stuff - someone who basically can not gain fat would likely see absolutely no benefits to IF except for "social" ones if it fit their lifestyle well. On this point, those people who are naturally lean and muscular, and naturally add a very good ratio of muscle to fat when gaining weight, are those who can go on to be the best-performing athletes (in most sports, and in sports we're interested in). And it is they who are least likely to see any particular benefit from IF, which IMO is of most use as a great way to control your bf%. So, no, I doubt very many top athletes will bother with it - unless, as I mentioned, it just fits their schedule well.

 

> I make far better strength gains when eating across the day, and especially lots of carbs all the time. But I also get very fat. I had a season like that last winter/spring and I've dropped 30lbs this year so far, and am still going. I'll end up about 40lbs lighter, I think - ultimately not worth the trouble.

 

> By self-experimentation you can determine in a few weeks more than a few years of digging in the literature will tell you. If it works for you, it works for you. Just be sure that it actually does - for it is very easy for us to become so enthusiastic about what a certain diet (or "way of eating"...), or manner of training will apparently do for us that we delude ourselves into thinking it's working wonders, while months and years pass us by.

 

 

> IF seems to work best for me when I remain lightly active all day. My job is physical, but not strenuous - I'm on my feet constantly and carry and move things, but I never get tired. When I've done real manual labour I tend to eat (lightly, always) during the day, just in case. Also at those times I tend to de-prioritise my workouts anyway, so it doesn't matter so much.

[Quick Start Test Smith]

Thanks for sharing your experience, emos. That is always great to hear.

 

- The 8 hour window would be smaller; however, since I don't train fasted, I need the extra time to fit in a pre-workout meal. However, I will experiment in the new semester with shrinking it. I'd like to have more of a 6 hour window, but I don't know if that will work yet.

 

- I refuse to do any kind of intense training while fasted. I always feel bad while doing so (lightheaded and weak). 

 

- I'm also prone to fat gain, but I am not concerned with what top athletes do and how they eat. Many of them don't eat optimally and are still top athletes. I am only concerned with how I do right now.

 

- I am sure I could lean out while eating 6-8 meals a day, but I have been keeping a close eye on my measurements and I have gotten significantly leaner in just 1.5-2 weeks of IF and only increased in strength and muscularity. My sports performance has also not gone down; however, I have not yet tested my endurance intensely.

 

- Agreed. I am recording weight, workout+notes, daily diet info, sleep, etc. on a daily bases. I will be aware of any physical changes.

 

Also, thanks again adidashred for those sources. I've read both of them through, and the book was fantastic. It was interesting and useful to read about Dr. Berardi's experiences.

[Joshua Naterman]

I'm going to go ahead and start by saying that if you are looking to maximize your performance then IF, Leangains, whatever brand you want to call it, is not your ticket.

 

Having said that, to make the most of Leangains you're going to do a few things:

 

1) Make sure you start your eating window with a protein shake of 30g and maybe 30g of carbs as well, with some fat.

2) Make SURE you are training inside the eating window, to the best of your ability, and as early into it as possible

3) Make DAMN SURE you are getting a 60-80 gram portion of somewhat fatty red meat, along with a lot of vegetables and some slow starchy carbs like sweet potatoes. Make sure to mix this well as you eat it, don't eat the whole steak and then the whole sweet potato and then the whole pile of veggies.

 

That will ensure that you end catabolism abruptly with the smallest possible insulin spike (1, and will still be substantial because of the long fast), are maximizing the amount of the anabolic window that is actually used for recovery (2), and extending effective feeding time by several hours with a slow-digesting, slow emptying protein and calorie source (3).

 

You will never match the performance you can achieve with a better meal plan, but these are going to be the key to making sure you get the most out of IF.

 

 

 

 

 

 

You guys all have to keep something in mind. Everything that people do to get the most out of IF is attempting to mimic the nutrient release, particularly that of dietary protein, that we see with an all-day eating schedule.

 

Fatty red meat is the slowest digesting, slowest emptying protein you can eat. You mix that with fresh veggies like greens, and slow starchy carbs like sweet potatoes, and you're going to get a 7-8 hour release of nutrients from that meal. This gives you a ~16 hour nutrient release, very similar to a standard meal plan.

 

The big difference is that most people have the worst possible food choices to begin with, and they often do not understand why the things they do are the wrong things, and something like this allows you to basically mimic the basic structure of a proper diet with a bit of a less effective, but less complicated, implementation.

 

Bodybuilders are not performance athletes, and do one single brief training session per day. Brief = ~60 minutes or less. When you're a real athlete, you need a lot more practice time than that.

 

I'm not going to spend any more time on this thread, I am just dropping my opinion.

 

 

Whoever the poster was that said that any amount of carbs messes you up: Congratulations, you're almost certainly highly insulin resistant. That's most likely why your body crashes: it has to make so much insulin to process the carbs that EVERYTHING gets sucked out of your blood by the resulting spike.

 

 

You may have managed to screw your body up nicely. It's not a death sentence, but there are no positive correlations in any way at all to being insulin-resistant or carbohydrate-intolerant (they're the same thing). In my opinion, based on what I know at the moment, you should probably go to the lab and get a glucose tolerance test done as well as 2 or 3 other related tests. I don't remember them all, quite honestly, it is very late and I am very tired. Everything you can do to know how insulin resistant you are would be a good start. There are at least three tests to do, and some internet searching should reveal them. You may not care, and that's fine, I won't argue anything here... I believe that everyone has the right to live how they choose, so long as they aren't hurting others in the process. I wish you the best, and hope that I am wrong about the dangers to your health.

[Quick Start Test Smith]

Josh, I will think about what you've said.

 

If I can figure out how to manage frequent small meals on most days and simply IF on Wednesday because of class schedule, then I will try it out and see what I can do.

 

Let me ask you this, do you see anything wrong with simply dividing my macros by the number of meals I'm going to eat to find a constant meal size?

 

Regardless, I will think about my options. Thanks and Merry Christmas! 

[Joshua Naterman]

do you see anything wrong with simply dividing my macros by the number of meals I'm going to eat to find a constant meal size?

 

 

Yes, because what nobody thinks about is how quickly your body absorbs the food, or what the demands are based on activity level.

 

The top nutrition researchers are focusing on this across the board. I think that it is crazy for people to not pay attention to this trend.

 

Here's the thing: You need to do the best you can with the schedule you've got. That's real life, right? If you need to do IF  four days per week because your life is set up to where you literally either do that or starve, then you do IF. You simply have to think about whether or not you can bring water, salted nuts, some proteiin source, and some fruit + veggies with you and snack on them periodically.

 

You may need to save the veggies for breakfast and pre-bedtime meals, because they might make a mess during the day. You may need to only bring hard fruits like apples with you during the day, and a locking tupperware full of rice. Your protein might need to be primarily powder during the busy parts of the day, so choose slower-digesting powders like casein or egg albumin for those times so you don't get hungry.

 

Make sure you're having fats, carbs, and protein at each feeding.

 

That's all I can say.

[Peter Sbirakos]

Other than religion and politics, nutrition probably comes a close 3rd in generating a terrific amount of discussion.

 

Mark Twain was once reported as saying "Be careful of reading health books, you may die of a misprint" but having said THAT however, I would like to refer to anyone reading this current thread the following book.  It is the prescribed reading here at the University of Canberra in the Health Department's Sports Sciences and Coaching Curriculum:  http://www.amazon.com/Understanding-Nutrition-Eleanor-Noss-Whitney/dp/1133587526  I believe, it is also prescribed in a lot of other colleges in the States as well.

 

Keep things simple - If you are hungry, eat.  If you are thirsty, drink.  If you are tired, sleep.  Fresh, whole foods and clean water is the way to go.  All of us understand this basic principle and yet we all try to find some sort of intervention to help us perform and be better, stronger, faster.  The function of a diet is an intervention therapy that helps obese individuals to lose weight.  The diet will work so long as it is adhered to.  The diets are designed for obese individuals so as to promote weight loss because we know those that those that are obese suffer from many co-morbidities.  But the diets are countless and indeed have made their respective authors quite rich: Zone, Atkins, Paleo, Warrior, Macrobiotic, IF, Ketogenic etc etc.  Look for the evidence to see whether high level athletes in professional sport or elite level sport engage in these types of diets.  I'm pretty sure you would be hard pressed to find any.

 

I always remember this basic piece of advice given to me from a coach of the Australian Women's Basketball Team at the Australian Institute of Sport many years ago - a diet most beneficial to performance is remarkably similar to the diet recommended for most people.

 

Simply look for nutrient dense foods and those people that are active (like all or most on these forums) will eat for nutrient adequacy and energy.  The formula is simple: high carbohydrate 60-70% of total kJ, moderate in fat 20-30% and adequate in protein 10-20% will ensure full glycogen and nutrient stores.  But you can be certain this formula will be manipulated to the ends of the earth in order for people to make a fast buck.  At the end of the day, what Joshua has said about having fats, carbs and protein at each feeding is simple and true.

 

edited 1: for typos.

 

edited 2: Merry Christmas everyone!  Hope the new year brings you all happiness and success.

[Quick Start Test Smith]

Yes, because what nobody thinks about is how quickly your body absorbs the food, or what the demands are based on activity level.

 

The top nutrition researchers are focusing on this across the board. I think that it is crazy for people to not pay attention to this trend.

 

Here's the thing: You need to do the best you can with the schedule you've got. That's real life, right? If you need to do IF  four days per week because your life is set up to where you literally either do that or starve, then you do IF. You simply have to think about whether or not you can bring water, salted nuts, some proteiin source, and some fruit + veggies with you and snack on them periodically.

 

You may need to save the veggies for breakfast and pre-bedtime meals, because they might make a mess during the day. You may need to only bring hard fruits like apples with you during the day, and a locking tupperware full of rice. Your protein might need to be primarily powder during the busy parts of the day, so choose slower-digesting powders like casein or egg albumin for those times so you don't get hungry.

 

Make sure you're having fats, carbs, and protein at each feeding.

 

That's all I can say.

I'm paying attention to that trend, and I am keeping those things in mind in as much detail as my understanding permits. I just restarted reading Advanced Sports Nutrition by Benardot, and I'm sure I will learn a lot.

[Larry Roseman]

Other than religion and politics, nutrition probably comes a close 3rd in generating a terrific amount of discussion.

 

Mark Twain was once reported as saying "Be careful of reading health books, you may die of a misprint" but having said THAT however, I would like to refer to anyone reading this current thread the following book.  It is the prescribed reading here at the University of Canberra in the Health Department's Sports Sciences and Coaching Curriculum:  http://www.amazon.com/Understanding-Nutrition-Eleanor-Noss-Whitney/dp/1133587526  I believe, it is also prescribed in a lot of other colleges in the States as well.

 

Keep things simple - If you are hungry, eat.  If you are thirsty, drink.  If you are tired, sleep.  Fresh, whole foods and clean water is the way to go.  All of us understand this basic principle and yet we all try to find some sort of intervention to help us perform and be better, stronger, faster.  The function of a diet is an intervention therapy that helps obese individuals to lose weight.  The diet will work so long as it is adhered to.  The diets are designed for obese individuals so as to promote weight loss because we know those that those that are obese suffer from many co-morbidities.  But the diets are countless and indeed have made their respective authors quite rich: Zone, Atkins, Paleo, Warrior, Macrobiotic, IF, Ketogenic etc etc.  Look for the evidence to see whether high level athletes in professional sport or elite level sport engage in these types of diets.  I'm pretty sure you would be hard pressed to find any.

 

I always remember this basic piece of advice given to me from a coach of the Australian Women's Basketball Team at the Australian Institute of Sport many years ago - a diet most beneficial to performance is remarkably similar to the diet recommended for most people.

 

Simply look for nutrient dense foods and those people that are active (like all or most on these forums) will eat for nutrient adequacy and energy.  The formula is simple: high carbohydrate 60-70% of total kJ, moderate in fat 20-30% and adequate in protein 10-20% will ensure full glycogen and nutrient stores.  But you can be certain this formula will be manipulated to the ends of the earth in order for people to make a fast buck.  At the end of the day, what Joshua has said about having fats, carbs and protein at each feeding is simple and true.

 

edited 1: for typos.

 

edited 2: Merry Christmas everyone!  Hope the new year brings you all happiness and success.

 

       

         Largely agree however the the word "diet" also is simply what we eat. That's our diet. 

         "Dieting" or "going on a diet" means trying to lose weight by eating fewer calories. 

  

         IF isn't a diet in either sense really. It's meant usually for doing a "recomp" - meaning gradually

         adding muscle mass and losing fat on the order of a few percent each way by calorie

         timing and activity manipulations.  Performance is eventually enhanced as the strength to weight ratio

         increases. 

 

         I think there's value in looking at what is eaten as it's often just what we were brought up eating.

         And that wasn't always in the best interests of our health or energy levels, even if we are not obese or

         even overweight. Also exercise increases some basic requirements and also affects our hunger level so    

         people do not always eat enough. So paying attention to diet when exercising is certainly important.

 

         Opinions will differ, though it is good is that no one can force anyone to eat anything - or believe anything.

 

     

[Joshua Naterman]

Benardot's not the only one. He focuses on energy balance, but another guy named Dr. Donald Layman is focused heavily on protein.

 

Now, I do hesitate to introduce Dr. Layman to some extent, simply because it is easy to mis-read what he wants because it is not always clear when he is talking about a clinical population vs. athletes, or even healthy people with a low-intensity active lifestyle. When you break it down, during sedentary times he wants you to be consuming minimal carbs, getting the right amount of protein, and filling in the gap with fats. Essentially what I advocate here. When you exercise, he wants you to get enough carbs to handle the demands of exercise.

 

Please notice that even though this is on a low carb website, "You might be surprised by some of what you hear from Dr. Layman (i.e. he believes in consuming an equal amount of carbohydrates and protein to “balance†your nutritional intake), but he certainly makes a compelling case for his positions."

 

This is a website for people caught up in the low-carb cult. Remember that as you read, and notice that the expert himself, whom they interview, takes a position that they are clearly against before the time of the interview. They also, most likely, have let this interview fail to affect their overall message, since their money comes from the low carb fanatics that visit the site regularly.

 

These three bullet points help hit the main points I am referring to, and are a direct quote from http://livinlavidalowcarb.com/blog/atlcx-episode-24-all-things-protein-protein-101-dr-donald-layman/15359

• Carbohydrates “have to be restricted†but not for athletes
• He looks for “a more balanced approach†with carbs, fat and protein
• Get protein right first, then decide on fat/carbs based on activity

He focuses on nutrient-dense, slow-digesting carbohydrate sources for normal low-intensity activity fuel, with much of the actual calorie count being handled by body fat. He does overestimate the amount that said fat can cover, since we know that it scales linearly with exercise intensity, but the idea that you should be scaling your carb intake to the demands of exercise is exactly what I try to impress on everyone here.

 

I want you all to realize that I'm not all alone in the wilderness when I provide guidance on this area. All of the top people are really saying more or less the same thing, which is pretty much the exact same thing I am telling all of you. Different people focus on different aspects. Dr. Benardot focuses on energy balance. Dr. Layman focuses on carbs. I focus on understanding the metabolic demands of what you are doing, and matching them with your diet. We all end up at the same place. Think about that.

 

 

 

 

Also, on a related note:

 

Read this, if you have time. Make sure to read all the way through, a lot of things are covered. Specifically, timing of nutrients relative to workouts. This is a pretty good presentation of what nutrition research is really about, what it can and can't tell us, and why it is so hard to make any sense of it all.

 

http://blog.holygrailbodytransformation.com/?p=381