16% BF and dry fasting

I’ve had quite a year fixing my skinny fat situation. Between mostly protein and good fat when I do eat along with exercise, I’ve gotten to about 16% body fat and noticeable but not impressive muscle development. My goal is 11-12% BF and “lean” bulk from there. I’m down to lower back fat and a little on my lower abs. My inquiry is, what is my best course of action from here? I understand that dry fasting uses less muscle when it does break down the back up energy in our body but that also would mess with the creatine supplement I’ve been taking right? Should I avoid creatine while implementing dry fasting? I’m aware more muscle is more BMR which helps fasting in general so continuous resistance training is crucial. Should I be doing dry fasting and high protein diet on alternating days to keep muscle and whittle away at this last bit of stubborn fat? Advice on frequency of fast would be great! I know the idea of “body recomposition” is thrown around a lot online but I’m just looking to maximize fat loss and sustain/ possible growth in muscle. How do dry fasting periods fit into this goal?

Answer

Started at ca 99kgs, 25.6kg bodyfat a couple of weeks ago

Gained 6.4 kg in 4 days of refeeding, 1.6 kg per day, but the fat mass post fast increased from 21.9 kg to 22.3 kg (or 22.9 kg, did several weigh-ins today). So, 0.1-0.2 kg fat gain per day (?) and that was when I did keto the first day and then ate freely over the weekend.

From 92.9 at end of the fasts to 99.3kg in total body mass

did two prolonged fasts, one 4 day and one 3 day

back to back, 1-2 days of keto inbetween

so about -2.5kgs of fat overall

Didnt even do much training. Some light cardio and chinups/pullups/light deadlifts

That is how you fit in dry fasting in removing fat while building muscle

I’m leaning towards longer fasts being better. I.e. fast to 10% BF then refeed normally until you hit 20%. Preferably at least 3x the fasting period.

But I am not done testing yet, and those tests are how you fit in dry fasting periods into your goal

Keep a food log, a workout log, and note body composition pre fast, post fast, and during each refeed day

Fasting primes you for growth and with the correct diet it can be very effective

If I had to guess, and it would be a guess, then the ideal approach would be dry fast to 10% BF then do a 5 day dry fast once per month to prime yourself to gain more weight. its unclear to me if the BF portion of the gains are a fluke or can be repeated. I’ve repeated it before but I need to make the diet, duration, workouts, and starting bf% consistent before I can draw any real conclusions.