Intermittent Fasting is GREAT, my workouts, not so much. page

[Bolivar]

Since the start of this year I have been enjoying IF everyday [grouped with lower carbs], with a 4 hour eating window and the rest fasted. After finally taking the plunge and skipping breakfast in the morning I am loving it, my mental clarity is great and I can enjoy a big meal or two in the evening without worrying about lunch and breakfast in the morning.

Although a BIG downer is; when I get in from work, I really cannot be bothered to workout. I know that sounds terrible and lazy, and sounds like something a person who was new to working out would say; but I have been a regular exerciser since 2005, whatever capacity I have done workouts without fail.

But being fasted and getting in of the evening, I feel like crap. I can barely manage a 15 minute sledgehammer workout, god help trying to squat 120kg like I used to on high-carb.

I want to try fasted workouts in the morning, but I fast until 5pm in the evening, so i'll be missing the ALL IMPORTANT!!! post workout meal. I'm not a huge believer in post workout, but I want to know what it would be like to delay it until 5pm in the evening.

Has anyone else experienced a similar feeling? Would a quick 30m snack before working out do it? I just feel like i'm losing eitherway (morning/evening). I want to kick ass again but i'm troubled for time, or energy, it's pathetic.

[primalrob]

i love fasting after a workout. i feel super energized for the rest of the day. it looks like we're on a pretty similar eating schedule. there are plenty of days when i don't want to work out when i get home from work too, and just grab a bite to eat and promise myself i'll get to the exercise in a bit. or i eat post workout. i absolutely love it when i can get in a late morning/mid day workout and keep fasting until i get home from work. food has never tasted so good at that point.

[Bolivar]

i love fasting after a workout. i feel super energized for the rest of the day. it looks like we're on a pretty similar eating schedule. there are plenty of days when i don't want to work out when i get home from work too, and just grab a bite to eat and promise myself i'll get to the exercise in a bit. or i eat post workout. i absolutely love it when i can get in a late morning/mid day workout and keep fasting until i get home from work. food has never tasted so good at that point.

I get up at 7am, live off coffee, return home at 5pm and eat pretty much as soon as. I have tried a small pre-workout meal as soon as I get in but I still lack that energy, any later (hour or 2 of waiting) eats into the evening too much and ruins any plans.

I'll try getting up at 6 and working out, and seeing how no post workout meal goes.

[jtrain_36]

Being a college student it seems as if my only time to get a good workout in without the gym being absolutely packed is in the 5:30-6:00 range. Same as you I love to IF and have been IF'ing for quite a while now, although I've only started to seriously work out in the past month or so. Most of my workouts are just lifting heavy things for about 45 minutes.

After that I just drink coffee and water all day until ~6 PM or so. That's when I eat my big meal for the day, and let me tell you I definitely look forward to that meal; however I have had no adverse reactions to this type of workout and fasting schedule (knock on wood).

Obviously what works for me may not work for you, good luck finding something that works well

[solstice]

I work out in the 'am' fasted and LOVE IT...feel awesome. Can you tweak your schedule at all? ....or change and/or lengthen your window of eating?

[jackson44]

I love training in the fasted state and have better performances and continue to hit PR's. If you do sledge hammer WODS it sounds like you do high intensity work. If you, you may want to add more starches to your diet. For athletic performance, you just need to replenish your glycogen stock. Being in ketoisis may work for aerboic athletes but not for explosive anarobic work.

Good luck!

[buremarey]

food has never tasted so good at that point.

[canuck416]

I have settled on an IF schedule from 7 pm to 12 noon the next day. I wake up and have a black coffee then go for a workout. My workouts have been great, lots of energy throughout the morning. Tried not eating until 5pm but it didn't work as well for me. Obviously its an individual thing and I suggest you experiment with different approaches and see which works best for you.

[Toshison]

During the weekdays I train at around 6pm and on the weekends I train around noon. I fast from 9pm-1pm everyday. What has been the greatest compromise for me is not worrying to much about training fasted. On the weekends I do but during the week I dont because I take in a meal around 1-1:30. During the weekdays, my first meal is small and my post workout meal is the big one. On the weekends, my first meal is the big one and my last meal is smaller. So I do feel that taking in the bulk of cals after working out makes sense.

I found that this is the best way to maintain some flexibility with your schedule and evergy levels in the gym. I just keep the same IF window everyday and work everything else around that. Try to keep it simple and realistic and you'll get better results.

[itchy166]

I was under the impression that too much IF (and working out while IFing) could result in lean mass loss due to the body breaking down protein for food.

Am I off-base? Maybe I'm listening to too much bro-science off of the muscle sights? Some go so far as to recommend Casein before bed to avoid this...