I recommend drinking the BCAAs as I cannot lift as much when I don't drink them and they reaaaally help with getting through the fast and have 0 calories so you are not breaking the fast.
Does your bottle of BCAA powder list the calorie amount as zero cals per serving? Or at least something low?
I have BCAA capsules (couldn't deal with the taste of powdered mixes). They do seem to help me recover faster and they may have been allowing me to go harder during the workout. But since they're amino acids (in other words, they are essentially food) I'm really torn about how that can NOT put your body back into a "fed" state.
If they really ARE non-caloric, I definitely want to add them back in!
Does your bottle of BCAA powder list the calorie amount as zero cals per serving? Or at least something low?
I have BCAA capsules (couldn't deal with the taste of powdered mixes). They do seem to help me recover faster and they may have been allowing me to go harder during the workout. But since they're amino acids (in other words, they are essentially food) I'm really torn about how that can NOT put your body back into a "fed" state.
If they really ARE non-caloric, I definitely want to add them back in!
Like I said, I am following LeanGains, which Martin Berkhan founded. According to him, fasting is not an on/off switch and consuming <50 calories won't make you go from a fasted state to a fed state. You can drink a couple cups of coffee with a tablespoon of skim milk during your fast for this reason. (4 tbs skim milk is less than 25 calories.) And he applies that same logic to BCAAs. They probably do have 3-5 calories per scoop (even though the label says 0) but it won't make you go from fasted to fed, basically! Hope this helps!
She had me stop taking pregnenolone for three days so we could get an honest reading for the saliva test. She thinks it all sounds like adrenal fatigue.
I know you don't want to give up IF, but do you think another type of fasting (for instance, twice weekly for 24 hrs instead of daily fasts) might be more compatible with recovery?
You're already ahead of the game by having a naturopathic doctor, at least
I didn't have an official diagnosis, but I'm pretty sure I was experiencing adrenal fatigue this past spring. It really bites to be exhausted and achy for weeks on end..... Hope you feel better soon
Like I said, I am following LeanGains, which Martin Berkhan founded. According to him, fasting is not an on/off switch and consuming <50 calories won't make you go from a fasted state to a fed state. You can drink a couple cups of coffee with a tablespoon of skim milk during your fast for this reason. (4 tbs skim milk is less than 25 calories.) And he applies that same logic to BCAAs. They probably do have 3-5 calories per scoop (even though the label says 0) but it won't make you go from fasted to fed, basically! Hope this helps!
Thank you so much - you rock!
I've been curious about LeanGains in the past but I have misgivings about keeping up the 3x weekly workout schedule. I know that's a pretty traditional routine but this January I started on a dedicated M-W-F routine and by mid-late March, I had what I suspect was adrenal fatigue.
I'm going to commit to the BCAAs for awhile (I'll give your brand a try when my capsules run out ) and if it looks like I can do a M-W-F schedule without problems, I might dive headfirst into a LeanGains regimen and see how it works.
Awww, thanks Lilith! I really appreciate hearing from others who validate my experiences here.
I got an email from the doctor this morning. She has me sticking to 12-hr fasts for now. She likes what I'm eating (low carb Paleo), she likes the vitamins I'm taking, but she's adding a few more. I really like that she's willing to work with me on the supplements. I'm not required to buy her's.
I'm feeling a bit less stressed about all this today. It'll get better with time. The good news is I've had two really good nights of sleep!
I began intermittent fasting a few hours ago, drinking a nice cup of tea to relax the body and I have my meals planned out for tomorrow, I'm excited to see how I do!
They also recommend taking in zero calories during a fasting period, and again, I follow that advice because it's based on scientific research (and it's the avoidance of calories that gives you benefits beyond just weight loss)
If you can point me to this scientific research I'd really be interested in reading it. I've read ESE and the health benefits of intermittent fasting have been demonstrated in rodents - not humans. In the human research it seems like IGF-1 is a key driver of disease and simply keeping calories low over a 24 hour period works to keep them low not actual fasting. I'm not saying you're wrong I just think you're overstating the case based on the research done to this point. I don't know if you saw the recent research results where caloric restriction has not been extending the life of monkeys in the same way it extends the life of rodents. The good news is it still stopped the early onset of disease. Just some things to think about.
Quote:
Originally Posted by AnonymouslyYours
My rest day is about the same but I don't take BCAAs and I don't workout. I recommend drinking the BCAAs as I cannot lift as much when I don't drink them and they reaaaally help with getting through the fast and have 0 calories so you are not breaking the fast.
You've been misled. BCAAs do have calories. Because they are a supplement they are not required to list this. I personally think that you're experiencing placebo effect with the BCAAs but I'm not inside your body so I'll have to take your word for it. BCAAs have around 4 kcals per gram. Martin suggests 50 kcals is not breaking the fast but as far as I know this information is something he made up however it does tie nicely to his reccomendation of 10g of BCAAs.
If you can point me to this scientific research I'd really be interested in reading it. I've read ESE and the health benefits of intermittent fasting have been demonstrated in rodents - not humans. In the human research it seems like IGF-1 is a key driver of disease and simply keeping calories low over a 24 hour period works to keep them low not actual fasting. I'm not saying you're wrong I just think you're overstating the case based on the research done to this point. I don't know if you saw the recent research results where caloric restriction has not been extending the life of monkeys in the same way it extends the life of rodents. The good news is it still stopped the early onset of disease. Just some things to think about.
You've been misled. BCAAs do have calories. Because they are a supplement they are not required to list this. I personally think that you're experiencing placebo effect with the BCAAs but I'm not inside your body so I'll have to take your word for it. BCAAs have around 4 kcals per gram. Martin suggests 50 kcals is not breaking the fast but as far as I know this information is something he made up however it does tie nicely to his reccomendation of 10g of BCAAs.
So do you believe Martin suggest 50cal is ok because it's very convienent for his plan? Or do you believe it really is ok and it will not have negative side effects to ones fast?
So do you believe Martin suggest 50cal is ok because it's very convienent for his plan? Or do you believe it really is ok and it will not have negative side effects to ones fast?
It's not a matter of belief.
Martin has said as much, 50cal is "ok" because it allows people to have things like milk in their coffee. Compliance is the most important thing with any plan.
I don't understand the rest of the question. Negative side effect to ones fast means what exactly? Calories dictate fat loss or gain so in the context of fat loss it doesn't matter when you eat.
The entire idea behind intermittent fasting is that it is a means to make caloric restriction easier. The health benefit aspect of it is completely unproven in humans other than the fact that we know caloric restriction is good for your health.
How health benefits tie to intermittent fasting is that in rodents - intermittent fasting has proven to mimic the health benefits of caloric restriction. This has not been demonstrated in humans except for some real early data although there are a couple studies ongoing right now.
Here is my point as simple as I can make it.
Calories matter - not meal timing.
Intermittent fasting makes it much easier to restrict calories.
If intermittent fasting does mimic the health benefits of caloric restriction in humans we don't know how long one must fast to obtain these health benfits, nor do we know what level of caloric intake during the fast would screw these health benefits up.
I think so, so basically what you're saying is it's basically a way for calorie counters to stay on track and not veer off. I'm not asking o contradict I'm asking out of pure curiousity for the sake of being new to intermittent fasting and I'm a who, what, when, where, why kind of person.
I think so, so basically what you're saying is it's basically a way for calorie counters to stay on track and not veer off. I'm not asking o contradict I'm asking out of pure curiousity for the sake of being new to intermittent fasting and I'm a who, what, when, where, why kind of person.
Yes. For a number of reasons this is true. For most people I know who have tried IFing it makes controlling calories much easier.
If you're only eating for 8 hours a day (or less) you've got fewer opportunities to over eat.
It you're eating fewer meals there is less planning to do and less to keep track of.
Many people feel more full when they eat fewer, larger meals so you're more satiated during your feeding period.
I'm a huge proponent of intermittent fasting and completely credit it for the fact that I've maintained my loss for the last two years dispite the fact that I don't calorie count and I eat pretty much whatever I want (just now how ever MUCH I want.)
That said - the health benefits of IFing are for the most part unknown in humans at this point.
Thanks for the reply johnp, I think it has some benefits but I'm just reaping whatever they are, can't say what but it's working.
I'm on day 4 of intermittent fasting, I dropped 2 lbs the first two days which is great yay! I've paid close attention to my macros having low carb on rest days and higher protien on my lifting days. I'm getting use to the no eating in the morning, it was difficult at first but not too bad.
Has anyone been completely derailed by excercise? So I have had an excellent run of IF. I have lost more weight doing IF than anything else in the last year.
I hadn't been very active lately and I just picked up running. I ran a mile at 7pm for the first time in.. nearly a decade.
By the morning time I was ravenous. It was a real.. raw.. hunger. Not emotional hunger by any means. It was the kind of hunger I couldn't ignore!
So I ate a healthy breakfast when normally I'd fast until evening for my 1 meal.
So I've been doing a morning meal and an evening meal. Skipping lunch. But I am just upset because I much prefer having all my calories within an hour or two.
I really hope my body can adjust and I can go back to what I was doing!! The great thing about IF is that I never felt hungry and now I am starving all the time since starting to run!
FunSize, I have a difficult time striking a balance between IF and exercise. On days when I exercise more intensely (cardio and weight training, at least two hours) I am ravenous. I have read or been told that my appetite should only increase by about 200 calories. I wish! I have no answers. Sometimes I don't bother to limit calories on my intense workout days, but can do it on days with less workout intensity. I guess that's how IF can work to advantage with the calorie averaging over the week.
I have a really hard time with exercise and IF or even just trying to eat less too. For one thing, I usually can't exercise fasted (except a walk) b/c that doesn't work for me so if I am working out in the morning or early, I have to eat first.I usually choose evening workouts though or late afternoon. For another thing, exercise makes me REALLY hungry and usually makes the sweet cravings stronger. I love all exercise for my physical health, but especially for my mental health. It really calms me down to say the very least. Sometimes I feel that if I didn't work out that it would be easier to eat less.
