Is Intermittent Fasting ideal for your weight loss goals? Proponents of these methods will approve it and say all the best things about it, but does it really help with weight loss and muscle growth?
In the fitness industry, there is no wrong and right, and one has to have reasons for doing something. What used to be extreme in this industry has nowadays become a norm. The not eating method for about 16-20 hours has become the talk in most gyms, but how does intermittent fasting work?
Let’s have a clear and logical view of these methods to understand better how they work.
The Old Way Of Eat, Eat, And Eat
Eating more frequently, and to be specific in a period of 2-3 hours, has been claimed to help improve your metabolic rate. Eating frequently sounds logically good, but will it stand the litmus test of science? Almost all scientific experiments done on meal frequency have shown that there are zero changes in fat loss and calories controlled.
There also appeared to be no big change in the metabolic rate and hunger markers when meal frequency was affected. While this might be surprising news to people who follow the idea of eating 6-8 meals a day, you can never argue with scientific data.
However, these stats are on fat loss and not muscle gain. When your aim is muscle gain, three main meals in a day might not be enough to provide you with the strength and protein distribution the body requires. The ideal recommended meals per day are 4-5 protein rich meals, depending on your personal preference.
If you take any less of these amounts, you will suffer huge amounts of protein loss and start eating protein individual meals which might not be a good idea.
What About The New Way: Fast Then Feast?
So here we have eight meals a day off the table. Should you then be doing intermittent fasting? You will realize that people fail in their dieting not because of the meal frequency but because of the adherence. Whether you have the best food sources, a magical voodoo cleanse or something special, sticking to your meal plan is more essential than anything else.
Research data has proven that a majority of the people that have lost huge amounts of weight have ended up gaining the same weight and even more in a period of 4 to 5 years. This is a very big problem, and is the main challenge for people looking to lose weight.
There is no need to sacrifice a lot and get to regain the weight you’ve lost in a short period. Dealing with this problem should be done by focusing on utilizing strategies that improve your diet adherence.
Intermittent fasting here is a great fit that allows you to stick to a better diet that works well for your lifestyle. However, this is not enough to approve this method as the best. Some people fast just because they are not hungry or because they are busy with certain jobs. The real question should be whether they can keep to this plan even when they are hungry or craving for their favorite snack.
However, there are advantages of intermittent fasting that shall not be overlooked. When we eat 6-8 meals a day, we get something like 2, 500 calories spread across the day, but the same can be gotten from 1-2 meals. However, for most people, it is all about holding it out longer before they can have a bite. Let’s say you reduce your eight meals a day to four.
Are you able to take it any steps furthers and let’s say go 12 hours without a bite? This is the problem with intermittent fasting, and most people who do this end up with binging tendencies. Others will start to get loose with their timelines and develop excuses for eating before the 12 hours are over.
When you look at the ideal intermittent fasting, people should go for a normal 16 hours without a meal and then eat in the next 8 hours before going for another 16 hours. In between the 8 hours you can eat something, take a break before biting on another meal.
However, there are others who have gone up to 22 hours without a meal and only eaten in the remaining 2 hours. You find that the problem here is not with the intermittent fasting but the people themselves who can’t cope with the method. It is crucial that you understand your tendencies towards food and what you’re likely to eat.
If you’re the kind of person that prefers intermittent fasting, then you must remain adherent to your meal plans.
Modified Fast For Max Muscle Growth
While your protein intake is important, it is also good to consider the amount you consume per meal and how these meals are distributed. This is especially critical for intermittent fasters who only tend to argue on the protein intake per meal.
Research has shown that consuming huge amounts of proteins at one time in a day might not cater for the huge loss in other parts of the day. This simply means that if you eat small amounts of protein in a day and others eat huge amounts of protein once, these two are not going to balance.
Take for example that the anabolic cap is 40 grams of protein while the minimum protein required to initiate anabolism is 15 grams. You can get all the proteins you want, but this will not mean you’re anabolic for the 16 hours of fasting.
Intermittent Fasting Fat Loss Muscle Growth Tips Summary
In general, if you want to gain muscle mass while still on intermittent fasting, it is recommended that you engage a different kind of fasting where you only limit your carbs and fats during the fasting window. During this window, however, you should continue to distribute your protein throughout the day.
This is a more effective way of ensuring there are proteins available for muscle building at every passing minute in your body. This is a great way to distribute protein for better muscle growth while at the same time ensuring you’re in a low insulin fat-burning state.
