Having returned from India and a month-long hiatus from eating healthy and working out, I started brewing on a strategy to “get back at it” and continue working to my ultimate goal, which is achieving never-before-seen (on me) lean-ness and vasculature.
My approach for most of the summer had been working out about five days a week (doing CrossFit) with daily fasting (i.e. 16 hour fasts daily). I tracked a lot of my daily workouts via my workout blog.
Unfortunately, I ran into any number setbacks as I had a couple long periods where I couldn’t manage to eat right or workout (A two week stint out west and a three week stint in India).
That brings me back to today. I’m going “back to basics,” which for me, was eating breakfast/lunch and the fasting until dinner the following day, with a weight-lifting oriented workout an hour or two before breaking my fast. This method worked for me the first time, stripping away a great deal of fat and focusing my diet/weight-training efforts. This time around, the only tweak I’m implementing is that I will do two fasts per week, lifting on days I break the fast, working out on days I eat, and resting on any day I begin a fast. Per usual, my diet will be carb-light, which means no breads, rices, cereals or starchy vegetables while still allowing for most fruits (apples and berries being preferred), some cheats (ice cream), and alcohol.
Goal is to try this for three weeks, track my progress daily and see how I come out on the other end. Stay tuned.
3 replies on “Back to basics: Fasting and Fasted workouts”
oh, and Reshma Bhabi makes some wicked awesome egg toast ( like the ones from V for Vendetta). This thanksgiving I went to charuls between wedding events to pick up outfits (thanks again Sonal,Justin) and for that egg toast.
Hi,
I am from India. I am 54 yrs. and just started fasting 2 times a week dinner to dinner. I also exercise 4 times a week in the morning empty stomach so I have no problems working out on fasting days. My question is … if I am not eating anything till dinner will I lose muscle.
Thanks & Regards,
Lewis
Lewis,
Whenever you are in a fasted state, there’s a good chance that you’ll burn *some* lean tissue (muscle, organs, whatever) for energy. However, the effect is likely to be marginal so long as you are eating adequate protein when you do eat. And for that, I have to ask – how do you manage a sufficiently high protein intake in India? When I’ve been there, it’s been difficult, if not impossible, to find enough protein. Eggs and chicken (and maybe milk, though that is problematic on certain nutritional levels) are the only sources that are remotely abundant, and even then, getting 150+ grams of protein a day seems next to impossible from just these sources in India.
So curious to hear what you’re doing —
Justin