MegaSack DRAW - This year's winner is user - rgwb
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I'm tempted to try Intermittent Fasting as it seems there are potentially significant health and performance gains to be made, although I expect them to be hard won.
On three days of the week I train twice a day, and I'm wondering is it better to do riding fasted or weight training?
Has anyone tried IF? And is it likely to help me in anyway with my out of control sugar cravings? I'm trying not to give them into them, but jeez, sugar is a drug....
ive used it (still do when i want to shed a few lbs) but i dont see any difference in anything at all, its just my favourite method of limiting calories per day. some people have smaller meals, i find i can quite easily go 16 or 24 hrs with zero calories, so thats what i do sometimes. i dont have sugar cravings tho, much prefer savouries to sweets.
as for training, again i can quite easily do a fasted weights session, or an hours ride maybe, not sure id want to be doing a long bike ride fasted but everyones different.
leangains is the website for all things IF, a lot of info on there.
I tried it but ended up just eating more on the day I wasn't fasting
I tried 16/8 for around a month. Fasting 8pm until 12pm the next day. I generally train / ride at night so I was ok. I'd have a small meal at 12pm to break my fast, then a small meal at around 5pm before I left work, go the gym or ride then have my largest meal at 8pm. It was great, I lost almost a stone in that month and the hunger in the morning passed after around a week.
I only stopped when I went on holiday. I will be starting again soon. If you want to workout fasted then its recommend to take some BCAA's beforehand.
On the sugar cravings thing - i know this may sound like it's just stating the obvious, but anyway - i recently gave up refined sugar to see what would happen.
The first week or two were hard, but after that, one effect was that sugar cravings pretty much disappeared. In fact my hunger levels generally stabilised a lot overall (I lost some weight though I wasn't trying to).
I had to make sure there were no biscuits in the house for the first couple of weeks but now I can happily walk past a packet of chocolate digestives without touching it.
Worth a try, if you can manage it - although you have to be careful around things like baked beans, ready made sauces, yoghurts and so on...
No idea what Gainz are, but you'll feel much better once you cut the added sugar and sweetened foods out of your diet. The irony is you can only cut down on your sugar craving by reducing the sugary/sweetened food and drinks you consume.
key things to avoid and the best way to avoid them is to avoid temptation by not having bought them in the first place.
Breakfast cereals.
Toast/bread and jam
All sweetened drinks i.e. juice, squash, fizzy pop, sweetened tea and coffee
Milk chocolate
Anything other than homemade desserts, cake and biscuits ( the effort of making your own will cut consumption to a reasonable level)
It isn't - as I understand it - actually about eating less (although as mentioned above it could have that effect) more that there are (metabolic?) advantages to confining your eating to a smaller window.I tried it but ended up just eating more on the day I wasn’t fasting
e.g. if you work out/cycle commute etc on an empty stomach you are more likely to use stored fat as fuel.
sugar craving, as above, is a vicious cycle (the more you eat, the more you want) so basically just requires some willpower. What I found though is it got a LOT easier, very quickly.