What is Intermittent Fasting? Why fat loss seekers and bodybuilders love it?

In a world where we have become habitual of a sedentary lifestyle and less of manual work, health issues have surfaced a lot than ever before. This is why people are turning towards gyms and various diets to stay fit and healthy. Exercising is the best way to lose weight, build strength and stay fit. But, diet also plays an important role in shaping up your physique.

In an era where various diets have taken over the storm, intermittent fasting is something that the bodybuilders and fitness enthusiasts are going gaga over. There are a lot of misconceptions about fasting and some people think that fasting is almost starving your body. This is why they think that it will make them lose muscle instead of gaining.

But is it really so? In this article, we will tell you what is intermittent fasting and how it can help you build muscle.

Life without food is dull. The majority of us love to eat a variety of foods but often end up curbing this desire due to fear of getting fat. People give up on their favorite food to stay lean and muscular. But what if we told you that you can stay fit and muscular while you enjoy the foods you love? It is possible through intermittent fasting. Read below to learn how.

What is Intermittent Fasting (IF)?

IF is a practice to stay without consuming any calories for a longer period of time. It means that all you need to do is drink water or black coffee or tea. There are various modes of performing IF, but the most popular one is 16:8 mode. This means that you keep your body on fasting mode for 16 hours and eat during the 8-hour window known as the ‘feeding window’.

Sounds difficult? Not really!

We are just asking you to stay calorie-less for 16 hours but you still have black coffee, green or black tea to feed on. Still, thinking its too much of struggle? Well, here is a hack to get you past the 16-hour fasting window.

Try and have a protein shake before going to bed. Take 8 hours of sound sleep and when you wake up, you are already past 8 hours of fasting. Yes! The sleeping hours count as the fasting period. Now you have 8 hours to go and during this, you can have coffee, of course without any added sugars, cream or milk. You can also have green tea. The basic idea is to avoid having any calories during the fasting window. Leave the calories for the feeding window.

What can you consume during your fasting window?

Whatever you have, it should contain zero calories. That doesn’t leave you with any choice other than water, green/black tea and black coffee. You can also go for zero-calorie beverages that are unsweetened. Artificially sweetened beverages should be avoided as they can be responsible for insulin response, which affects your capacity of burning body fat. So try and stick with the mentioned drinks. If you need to have something other than these and cannot just bear at all, try lightly flavored sparkling water.

Do I get to eat a pizza during the eating window?

Well, we know, now you can finally eat something during your much-awaited feeding window, but do you get to eat pizza? Well, before we tell you yes or no, learn how you need to eat during this time-frame.

You should not over-eat and neither should you under-eat in compared to your standard diet plan that you follow on a regular basis. Consuming the right amount of carbohydrates, fats, and protein is necessary when you are eating during the feeding window.

Before going on an IF diet, the diet plan that you were following to keep yourself fit is the diet that you need to consume within the hours that you get to eat while on IF. If you under-eat, your performance at the gym will be affected. Anyone looking for building lean muscle mass and developing strength should consume all the nutrients, especially protein.

So all-in-all, your total calorie intake and macros intake stays the same with a shift in the schedule of eating. As per your physique and training goals, you can adjust your calorie intake.

So now you know the answer to this question.

Why Intermittent Fasting?

Here is the most important question- why should one go for an IF? We will tell you why and then you decide when are you taking up IF as your regime to build sturdy muscles and meet your fitness goals.

• Boosts fat burning: Various researches have stated that when you fast for longer periods, your body’s fat-burning capacity increases and speeds up the fat loss, even when your calorie intake is the same. Many people have noticed that they can more of the food from their ‘cheat meal’ menu than ever before when they consume it during their feeding window while on IF. This is one of the reasons why IF is good for most people.
• Easy to follow: As compared to other diets, it’s relatively easy to follow.  Your body just needs to adjust to the new schedule of eating and once you get used to it, it’s easy to stay on this diet. And this is a diet that you can keep going with for years. It is not tough on your body once you get used to it. There is no hassle of preparing special kinds of meals. You can consume your regular meal during the feeding window. Carrying out IF for longer-term has no adverse effects on your body, rather you will be benefited from it.

How does your body burn more fat during IF as compared to other standard diets?

The crucial factor in the fat loss that is induced by fasting is the increase in gene activity that ultimately increases the number of calories the body utilizes and the quantity of fat it burns.

When you are on fasting mode, your body turns on the genes that encrypt for all the uncoupling proteins and enzymes that are responsible for increasing fat oxidation, i.e. the fat-burning mechanism of your body is turned on.

The uncoupling proteins that we are talking about here are like ‘poke holes’ in the mitochondria present inside the muscle cells. Mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cells and most of the energy you get is from mitochondria. When you poke holes in it, mitochondria’s energy production declines and thus your body needs to burn more calories than usual to generate the same amount of energy in the form of Adenosine triphosphate (ATP).

To put it in simpler terms, you will be able to utilize more calories as a source of fuel when into fasting mode, which will help you with weight-loss.

I’m a bodybuilder. Why should I go for IF?

We know your goals, we know what you want to achieve. Intermittent fasting can make it easy for you. Earlier, not much was established on how IF helps in muscle building. Some recent studies stated how it can help in building muscles and be helpful for bodybuilders. In a study released in 2016, resistance-trained males were the subject of study. The study results showed that males who were following intermittent fasting and did resistance training lost more fat mass as compared to those who ate the standard diet and did resistance training. The muscle mass maintenance was similar in both the groups and the number of calories burnt while resting was also the same.

Some researches conducted on the effect of IF on bodybuilding/muscle-building states that:

• Combined with resistance training, IF helps in strengthening the muscles (1)
• Combined with endurance training, IF helps maintain muscle mass and promotes weight loss (2)
• To maintain lean muscle mass and reduce body fat, one should practice IF with resistance training (3)

How to build muscles with IF? Easy tips to follow to meet your goals and enhance bodybuilding

Follow a proper bodybuilding meal plan along with IF: Strategic eating and exercising are the keys to a successful IF routine. Ensure having 1g of protein in your diet per kg of your body weight. When in your feeding window, sip on BCAAs drink as the amino acids present in it helps improve muscle protein synthesis along with minimizing protein muscle breakdown. To gain energy prior to the workout, you can also have caffeine, but not in a large amount.

Exercise calculatingly

Now, this doesn’t mean that you need to count the number of reps while you are working out but deciding when to work out. Depending upon your goals, the workout time may vary. If you aim at fat-loss, workout 2 hours before your feeding window. To stay energized, try working out during your fasting window. Experiment and decide what is best suited for your body as per your goals.

See, it’s that simple to shape yourself with intermittent fasting.

The first meal of your feeding window

The best part about intermittent fasting is that it has a less-stricter diet routine as compared to other diets. But protein still remains an essential component. A diet high in protein combined with a sufficient amount of complex carbs and healthy fats is your ideal diet when consuming your first meal after the fasting period. 

The reason for a high-protein and low-carb diet is that when you fast and then consume a low-carb diet, the activity levels of genes that build-up calorie consumption and fat burning are enhanced with the meal you consume. A high-carb meal, on the other hand, decreases the activity of these genes.

Sipping on to my favorite flavor of BCAAs while in the fasting window won’t have any effect on IF, or will it?

When we say that you are fasting, that means you are keeping your body without any calories for a certain period of time. BCAAs are your Branched Chain Amino Acids and as you might be aware that amino acids come together to form the protein. There are a total of 20 amino acids that act as building blocks of protein. Out of these 9 are essential amino acids and 11 non-essential amino acids. Consuming any of these amino acids means consuming protein in smaller quantity and this, therefore, drags you out of the fasting zone. So technically, not consuming BCAAs is the best option when fasting. 

An exception to the consumption of BCAAs during IF is when you are training when fasting. In such a situation you can have a sip of BCAAs while you workout. BCAAs are a great source of energy and boost your workout capacity. And when you just sip from a BCAA drink, you are not consuming a lot and, burning your energy in a workout.

Diet plays an important role in your fitness routine and fasting techniques like IF help you meet your fitness goals. But, one should not give up on proper training and workout. A solid workout plan combined with intermittent fasting and a healthy protein-rich diet will give you optimum results.

Intermittent fasting is easy to follow and you can continue it for a long period of time and get the desired results. Don’t forget to eat healthy and workout hard.