What size frame are you working with? (how tall are you)
5ft 10. Would describe myself as classic endomorph. Iām +40 now so have that thing called āageā to contend with also!
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One thing we didnāt discuss, I think, is something like a 5/2 or 6/1 approach. If someone isnāt fat per say, and just wanted to clean up their body composition somewhat, then I donāt see any downside to running gym days at 15*lbs, off-days with cardio/sports at 13*lbs and off-days as a 1100-cal day. Any thoughts on this?
Obviously, it takes longer than a fat-loss blitz.
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In those circumstances, yes, it is perfectly applicable. There are no issues with stuff like 5/2 in that regard.
Where these sytems come up way short is their inability to maximise the adaptive stress response to complete fasting, i.e. greater anti-oxidant defences, DNA repair, autophagy, downregulation of inflammation, increase in growth hormone, glucose regulation, not to mention reduction in belly fat, etc.
In contrast, any type of āfastā that involves the ingestion of certain nutrients, especially protein, even in small quantities, will trigger mTOR and the aforementioned benefits will diminish rapidly.
The fear of not triggering the mTOR response as frequently as possible (remember those trainers who said we should be setting the alarm at 3am to take BCAAs?) will always put folks off fasting; but they will be more inclined to undergo some sort of pulse fast or other halfway house. As mentioned, this may be preferable in the circumstances you describe but you can appreciate why more āhard core fastingā may actually benefit an athleteās progress just in the same way it would benefit any other personās general health and well being.
I donāt know. I donāt care about this in the abstract sense, in truth. And am only concerned with it for my own selfish concerns. And thatād be,
I just spent a few weeks decked out on the couch, sick, and quarantined and had a proper binge-fest (comfort food galore) with the bare minimum BMR. Recently, I noticed my power-to-weight-ratio lacking in the climbing hall, and have noticed the re-emergence of love handles. While the health benefits of fasting are intriguing, all I care about is reducing belly fat.
Thus, Iāve considered a four-week blitz where I start out with 3 whole body sessions and one bodybuilding day. Then, at week 3 I replace one whole body session with another bodybuilding session (these days would be my carb-refeeds)
Hereās a sample slice from the start and the end, Iād progress linearly between weeks. Fasted morning walks on weight-training days. Iāve tried 10x on climbing days before but it usually results in climbing less or not as hard. 2k calories seems to be somewhat of a sweet spot in attenuated deficit but maintaining performance. High protein for satiety.
Week 1
| lbs multiplier | Calories | Protein | Carbs | Fat | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Whole Body | 13.5 | 2380.99243 | 297.6240537 | 119.0496215 | 79.36641432 |
| Bodybuilding Day | 16 | 2821.916954 | 282.1916954 | 282.1916954 | 62.70926564 |
| Off-day | 10 | 1763.698096 | 220.462262 | 88.1849048 | 58.78993653 |
| Off-day Climbing | N/A | 2000 | 240 | 170 | 40 |
Week 4
| lbs multiplier | Calories | Protein | Carbs | Fat |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10.5 | 1851.883001 | 231.4853751 | 92.59415004 | 61.72943336 |
| 14 | 2469.177334 | 123.4588667 | 370.3766002 | 54.87060743 |
| 8 | 1410.958477 | 176.3698096 | 35.27396192 | 47.03194923 |
| N/A | 2000 | 240 | 170 | 40 |
and I can project that Iād lose a fair bit of fat. But, itād only be about twice as quick as the 6/1 approach and that wouldnāt need any refeeds and wouldnāt risk a decrease in unintentional decrease in activity level which is a possibility now that I have less NEPA (working from home because of COVID-19).
I understand that. I guess I believe people are genuinely missing out on an opportunity to actually gain/retain LBM while doing a complete fast, i.e. due to GH production (and subsequent conversion to IGF-1). Coupled with some science showing that, while fasting versus traditional slow cutting diets equal similar weight loss results, the former results in far less LBM loss compared to the latter. This again can likely be explained by the former point about GH production. Win, win, I think is the phrase.
As an aside, I have always remembered what I was told by the guy who did my first DEXA scan. He said, in his experience of carrying out some 2,000 scans, he had never seen a case where a repeat client who had cut weight hadnāt lost LBM too. He said female figure athletes were the worst and had a horrid fat to LBM loss ratio. No coincidence, these women are more likely to be on long-term deficits.
When you say āfastā in this sense, you mean longer-duration, correct? Like 24+ hours?
Yes, 24 to 72 hours generally.
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