[Closed] Intermittent fasting and exercise

How far and at what intensity? It all depends! 🙂

Probably a 2-3 hour dick about in the woods so about 14-20km, 600-1000m climbing and maybe burn about 1800-2400cals (according to Polar who I'm not sure I trust). Lots of chatting rather than continual riding.

I'm sort of wondering if I can shift my 8 hour period to start in the morning that day, or have a day off from the fasting - or whether the benefits are only appear after consecutive days fasting.

I'm doing the same as you and I that if I'm heading out for an easy pedal on the road bike then I'll just do it fasted, normally with a black coffee beforehand. Of course take some food just in case!

If I'm doing something a bit more strenuous then I'll have scrambled eggs and pastrami (if I've got any, other meat products are available).

Other breakfasts are available but I also try to eat a somewhat paleo diet.

I like to think that riding days are cheat days! 😉

did it myself to shed 2 and a half stone in around 5 months a few years back (16:8). at the end of the day its just a way of restricting calories, some may prefer lots of small meals, i prefer this way. every year around feb/march time i do it to shed a few lbs for summer.
like you, i find it easy, and exercise is no problem for me fasted. some even say its better that way (see the leangains site if youre interested).

got the potential to be an argumentative thread this, but you can only go by your experiences. theres plenty online about it, and as i said, its all down to how you prefer limiting your calories.

FWIW i used myfitnesspal alongside it to limit my daily calories to just under 2000.

good luck.

EDIT:

I'm sort of wondering if I can shift my 8 hour period to start in the morning that day, or have a day off from the fasting

Bushwacked

Probably a 2-3 hour dick about in the woods so about 14-20km, 600-1000m climbing

You'll be fine. Just have some coffee and do it.

Cheers - I've had a "good" look on the internet but most info on fasting and exercise is gym based and muscle building.

I might give it a try to see how I get on without eating beforehand. I'll take some food just in case. As a one-off, what's the worst that can happen?? 😆

I do 5-2 and train just as hard on my fasting days as the others

I do the 5:2 and just do light exercise such as walking on the fast days. Works for me.

Fasted rides (OP congratulations on the google search btw 😉 )

I like to do high intensity stuff fasted, first thing in the morning.

What I find personally is I just can't do high intensity stuff after eating as I just feel sick, even hours after eating.

I've done loads of similar rides fasted and I find them fine. The thought of a big bowl of porridge when you get in is always a good incentive to keep going.

Sounds like you're basically doing a slightly less severe version of ramadan. There was a big thread on here last year from a fella that was fasting, that might be worth a look.

Jambalaya - it's all about the key words and looks like I need some lessons!

For 2-3 hours dick about in the woods you should be able to do that fine without breakfast. Try it and see. If you feel faint from lack of food, eat something and start your 8 hours of eating from then.

Jesus, the GMBN guys don't go in much for personality on their videos do they.

Fasted rides give me severe heartburn.

You'll be fine. I used to get up and ride from Ciren to Swindon with nothing but a cup of coffee in my belly, no issues.

I'd normally shovel down loads of food beforehand

If you're eating loads directly before going riding for a couple of hours, what you're eating at that point isn't really fuelling your riding anyway.

When I was doing the iDiet, I'd do long rides with minimal food. I'd have a coffee beforehand then nothing but water for the first hour. After that hour I'd switch to watered down fruit juice and eat one mini pork pie per hour.

For just a couple of hours, I'd not eat anything beforehand or during.

A lot of how your body responds will be down to what it's used to. Give it a couple of rides.

Since you have just started a new diet it might be worth dialling back the intensity of your exercise short term just whilst your body adjust to your new diet.
As said above what you eat in the morning is not really fuelling that effort.

By keeping the intensity low you also train you can also train your body to burn stored fat more efficently.

I listened to this podcast yesterday where they were talking about this:

[url= http://fatburningman.com/mark-sisson-the-carb-loading-myth-how-to-fuel-athletics-with-fat-advanced-heart-rate-training/ ]http://fatburningman.com/mark-sisson-the-carb-loading-myth-how-to-fuel-athletics-with-fat-advanced-heart-rate-training/[/url]

Also are you in the chub club yet as it would be interesting to see your numbers?

http://fatburningman.com/mark-sisson-the-carb-loading-myth-how-to-fuel-athletics-with-fat-advanced-heart-rate-training/

Interesting article.

I just finished the Rapha festive 500 (although I ended up riding north of 600km, with 7,900m of total ascent) and didn't eat before or during a single one of my rides. That included two pretty rapid 50 mile clubrides too, so not just long low intensity stuff.

I've been IF/paleo for six or seven years now though.

Just do it fasted and keep the pace steady. Take an emergency cereal bar or gel just in case but if you keep the pace steady you should be fine.

Weeksy, from the article...

Why you should train slower to race faster

😉

Four years ago I went on the 5:2 diet. It just so happened that shortly afterwards I took voluntary redundancy and a period of brilliant weather started. I just did loads of riding whether or not it was one of the low-cal days. Went from 100Kg to 80Kg BTW but have put 7Kg back on.

I did this a few years ago with good results.

Went to the gym at 7 mon, wend, fri and bike ride saturday normally 35-40 miles on the road.

Bonked horribly once, but that was the only time in 18 months-2 years and I lost a load of weight. I'd post a photo, but it was during Movember and I look like the biker from the village people 😆

I used to stop eating at 8pm, start again at 12pm. Following the leangains method.

Probably could have done a lot better if Id paid more attention to what I was eating, but just by restricted when I was eating worked well enough.

I know Blobby, i read it... AS i say, very interesting... indeed. Hard though... Not sure i can psychologically do it !

One thing it doesn't state though, if slower has to be longer.

e.g If i did on a normal day training a 1 hour ride at 90% MHR... Then do I now do 1 hour at 70% or do i need to up that to 1hr 30 to compensate for the lowered effort ?

e.g If i did on a normal day training a 1 hour ride at 90% MHR... Then do I now do 1 hour at 70% or do i need to up that to 1hr 30 to compensate for the lowered effort ?

Pretty much, yes. Depends on what your goals are and what you're training for though.

There is definitely a place for high intensity work though, but for me it's only a small portion of my weekly effort. Have a look at stuff like polarised training.

e.g If i did on a normal day training a 1 hour ride at 90% MHR... Then do I now do 1 hour at 70% or do i need to up that to 1hr 30 to compensate for the lowered effort ?

might be worth looking on here:

[url= http://www.marksdailyapple.com/forum/ ]http://www.marksdailyapple.com/forum/[/url]

Fair bit of info to keep me busy, I'll report back after my ride on Sunday.

Jambalaya - it's all about the key words and looks like I need some lessons!

I was just teasing 😉 I have a subscription that that Youtube Channel and the video had been linked to the day before.

For a while I used to do a lightish gym session at 12:00 and found it killed my appetite for lunch so it was a double win from a weight loss perspective.

Fair bit of info to keep me busy

Don't over think it, just go for a ride and have your breakfast when you get home.

IHN - When have I even over thought anything... 😉

Jambalaya - You could have got away with that 😉

(16:8). at the end of the day its just a way of restricting calories

but its not the whole story. The weight (or fat) reduction is due to reduced amount of insulin in the body/ With wholly calorie restriction without long periods of fasting this doesn't occur

https://intensivedietarymanagement.com/caloric-reduction-vs-fasting-part-9/

To follow on from trickydisco

I also understand it is said to increase HGH and repair of damaged cells.

I do feel better for it so far

Yep

[url= https://www.dietdoctor.com/fasting-and-growth-hormone ]fasting and HGH [/url]

So, in theory, do you eat the same amount(ish) over the 8 hours as you would have done otherwise, i.e. you have the same daily intake but over a shorter period of time?

There'd be no point in that, to me this is a way of restricting calories. So I eat the same amount in 8 hours as I normally would in 8hrs, but don't eat anything else outside that window, thus reducing calories.

Think that's what you're asking anyway 🙂

So, it's basically just skipping breakfast then.

Depends what objectives you have, if purely weight loss then you eat less calories - although the idea as I understand it is after a period of not eating (the last 4 hours of the 16 hour fast) your body starts to run off fat so you drawn down on your fat stores.

I'm intrigued but the other aspects too. I do feel somewhat better than I expected on it.

So far it's mainly been dropping breakfast and late night cheese. So it does make it easy.

Yeah sounds daft but that's how I treated it. Except I had breakfast for dinner and then a healthyish tea, thatd do me 🙂

So out today, nothing but a coffee. Hit the trails at 8.30 and back to the van for 11am. Interesting experience riding with an empty stomach, felt somehow more sprightly on the bike initially, but after about 45 mins I started feeling hungry for my usual hourly snack, but ignored it (although couldn't stop thinking about food but made myself think of the recovery shake in the van). In the first hour it did feel a little harder than usual to really push had and looking at my HRM I barely went above 90% of Max HR which is unusual for me. Found in the second hour my legs were burning more on runs which I'm normally happy to push hard on. Then in the last 30mins I was tired and need to rest - a few near misses and lack of control (more than usual).

Overall did 2.5hours and covered 14.5km wiht 660m climbing. Spent 40% of my time in 80-90% MaxHR and apparently according to Polar burnt 1991cals of which 16% were fat burning.

Looking back, surprised at how well I did just on a coffee but OMG did that shake taste good when I got back to the car

Anything you can't keep up for the rest of your life is a fool's errand and is doomed to failure.

It doesn't make any difference if you eat all your daily calories in one go or spread them throughout the day, this is assuming your eating nutritious food and not crap.

The diet and fitness industry is a quagmire full of money grabbing bull shitters.

Weight loss isn't my main objective

Looking back, surprised at how well I did just on a coffee but OMG did that shake taste good when I got back to the car

I really want to try some fasted rides soon. Apparantley because your body wakes up in a fat burning mode after fasting all night and you are not taking on any carbs pre exercise your body remains in a fat burning mode during your exercise.

I know weight loss is not your main objective but have you been tracking your weight?

I'm on my 3rd 600cal day in a week and just completed a 50min zwift race. Its not easy but far from impossible to work hard when fasting.

Went out for a ride yesterday for an hour right at the end of the 16 hour fast on an empty stomach - got a little light headed and sketchy on the technical / fast bits.

Overall though I've been feeling the best I have for years. Which is great after having some health issues a few years back with PVF