nutrient timing/intermittent fasting/cbl

[jodi]

I’m a 37 yr old, mother of two, and an avid lifter and just entering my first comp ever in Florida (I’ve lived in Costa Rica for the last 10 years where the don’t exist). I’m already 10% bf going into the competition and have followed CBL and Carb nite for the last few years. As an avid enthusiast for research and science, I’ve read almost everything written by body.io and I also listen to the podcast (her body.io). I been following Kiefer’s whole breakfast-is-the-worst-meal-of-the-day rant by pretty much not eating in the a.m. I wake up, get my kiddos ready and whatnot, clean, grab some black coffee, and hit the gym to lift heavy (usually 2-3 hours after waking). My boys and I ride our bikes to the gym, so by the time I get there and lift, I am usually having my first meal of the day, my PWO shake around 2-4pm (depending on the day). We then play in the park, ride home, and eat another meal. I’ll have one or two more meals before bed. So pretty much almost everyday, I am implementing a carb backload. My big question is, now that I am prepping for my first figure competition trying to put on a tad bit more muscle on my shoulders and back would it benefit me to not fast so much in the a.m.? I recently heard the her body.io podcast Q & A where they both stated they never go longer than 8-10 hrs fasted…and I was utterly confused. I have also followed and read Sara Solomon’s intermittent fasting protocol where she has been helping ppl get lean and ripped by fasting 18-20hrs a day (while working out hard core) and moving their eating window to only 4-6 hours a day at he end of the day (a carb backloading approach). She even alternates her eating days (fast 24 hrs one day and eats during her 4 hour window the next).

Any suggestions? Ideas?

[Makoto Tomizawa]

Hi, I am by no means an “expert” to CN, CBL, or IF, but from my personal experience and what I have gathered from various sources, I too am confused by where the whole “don’t fast for more than 12 hours” came from. I easily go anywhere from 14-18 hours due to my schedule. However, it works for me since I’m trying to lean down.

Now, if you are trying to put on mass, I personally would not suggest fasting for that long. 10-12 hours at most seems pretty appropriate. Instead of fasting in the morning, you may benefit from adding some protein in the morning. Even if you can eat all the food necessary within the eating window, I think and have heard that there’s really no reason to fast if you’re really wanting to put on mass.

Another reason why IF seems to work so much is, yes, some outliers may have increased muscle mass while losing fat, but I think it’s very rare and difficult. People just seem bigger also, because when fat is lost and muscles become more defined, they just naturally appear bigger.

Training Log: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1vuwHRdBaPVILxxLhXly_N1Ys66Hcwk4j-bM7nvKSLrI/edit?usp=sharing

[asher_bails]

So the whole logic to not fasting for more than 12 hours in due to MTOR being down-regulated after this period. I believe this will be covered in CBL 2.0 based on a recent tweet by Kiefer, but you want to eat some dietary fat and enough protein/leucine to stimulate MTOR activation/muscle protein synthesis

[Amber]

I am a 35 year old mom and I have found through trial and error that if I use IF for a window longer than 12-14 hours I start to lose muscle mass. This occurs even if I add heavy cream to my coffee. So I eat dinner at 7p and then I eat breakfast between 7a and 8am the next days and it’s always just eggs, bacon and fibrous veggies. If I get away from eating actual food in the morning my muscle gains start to diminish. So for me 12 hours for IF is all I can do and still keep making progress. There have been a lot of studies indicating that women do not fare well on IF like males can. Female hormone balance is more delicate and the extended fast can affect thyroid levels because the body reacts to the lack of food as a stressor. You may try eating breakfast for a few weeks in addition to your normal meals and see how you do. I was able to workout harder with more intensity when I added food back in at breakfast no matter what time of day I lift.

[RagE]

Hi

I usually go 14-16 hours between last meal, and first meal next day (due to work), but I do have coffee with coconut oil around the 12 hour mark. sometimes i also have a few slices of cured ham and a few macadamias. seems to do the trick for me.

[Author]

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