Weekly 72s and Lifting

Does anyone have experience with lifting while often fasting? I’m planning on doing 72 hour fasts during the week, likely Monday evening to Thursday evening, then lifting Friday, Saturday, Sunday. I would continue this regiment until I’m at my goal weight. Would lack of protein during the week affect my body’s ability to recover? Would it be possible to gain muscle as long as I’m getting enough protein on my workout days?

Answer

Let me know what you find out! I’ve been planning on doing something similar so i’ve researched this quite a bit. It seems like it’ll be hard to build muscle this way since you’ll be in a weekly deficit and spend too much time in a catabolic state. Will probably be able to maintain tho and might be able to recomp slightly. It’s hard to find any good information on this but Peter Attia talks about it in this video

Answer

I think as long as you’re eating for 24 hours after your last lift your body will recover just fine. The question is if you can get above your minimum effective volume to gain muscle. For most people I’d say almost certainly you will but for advanced lifters probably not. Creatine will help recovery for lifting days and I don’t think it would affect fasting benefits since there’s no calories.