IF and exercise

Hi everyone. I'm curious if anyone exercises while fasting and how you handle protein intake post workout. I typically work out in the very early morning, usually 4:30-5:30 am, lifting weights 3-4 days a week. I worry about muscle loss while fasting long-term, so I have been drinking no calorie BCAA because I thought it wouldn't break my fast. But I've been reading that anything that causes an insulin response will break your fast, of course I've also read that it doesn't, or that there isn't enough data to know one way or another. The particular brand I use contains sucralose, which may or may not cause an insulin response. Anyway, it got me thinking that maybe I should just stick with water post-workout. I'm sort of stuck with worrying about breaking my fast, and worrying about muscle loss fasting long-term. So I've come to ask what others are doing, and hopefully gain some knowledge and perspective. Thanks!

Answer

I’m an early morning lifter as well, and I’ve put together an IF-calorie cycling hybrid approach thats worked really well for me, especially while cutting. On lifting days, I lift and eat a protein-heavy breakfast as soon as I get home, and just track calories throughout the rest of the day. I aim to be done eating by 6pm, and then fast through the following rest day until at least 2pm. Repeat on the following lift day. I’m lifting 4 days, resting for 3, so it turns into a nice calorie deficit by the end of the week.

Not the conventional IF approach by any means, but it works for me and it’s something I can stick to long-term consistently.

Answer

It depends what your goals are. If your goal is to use intermittent fasting as a way to help you stick to your diet and prevent overeating and overall improve your body composition, then there’s no harm in having some BCAAs pre/post workout because at the end of the day they are not going to contribute any calories to your total for the day. And if thats the goal, then it’s probably best that you do take those aminos to prevent losing any muscle. If your goal with fasting is to reap the health benefits on fasting like cell autophagy etc, then you’d want to skip the aminos and stick to just water/black coffee.

I don’t regularly work out early morning but from time to time I do, and when I do I’ll take my pre-workout (which contains BCAAs) and then I’ll just wait until I break my fast to have anything else.

IF is a great tool for making life simpler, don’t over complicate it!

Answer

I only eat one meal a day and I normally eat at 10 or 11 pm before bed. I work out around 7 or 8 and either get high protein grilled chicken from chickfila or chicken salad bowl from chipotle. High protein low calories.

Did that for a month while fasting 20-24 hours a day.Exercise would consist of swimming and lifting. Did body scan at my gym at the beginning and month later, lost about 10 pounds fat gained about 6 or 7 pounds muscle.

If you have to wait more than 1 hour to eat after workout I would suggest drinking bcaas, I’ve heard celebrities like Terry crews and the rock mention this to help keep muscle deterioration after workouts and no protein. Obviously research this but that’s what I’ve heard.