Eating before Lifting Weights - [What I Do - July 2017]

in fitness •  7 years ago 

One of the students of my Intermittent Fasting and Ketosis course asked on the forums: why I don't eat before lifting and he added that he cannot sustain a proper lifting session on an empty stomach.

So, first, he implied that he should copy ad literam what I was doing, even if it does not seem to fit well with his strategy and his individual lifestyle; and that's not okay.

I decided to respond in video format as I thought that the answer may help other people as well. The following is my 2-minute short response. If you guys have similar questions, you can post them here on steemit or on the comments sections of the video, though I'd prefer here for more engagement.



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Cristi Vlad, Self-Experimenter and Author

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I've read that if we work out in a fasting state, we can burn as much as 2x to 3x more fat than we can if we work out with food in our system.

I havent heard that.

I had hear of fasting cardio for fat loss, rather then say weights, although you may lose muscle mass as well. One of the few times I heard of it being useful to get BCAA supplements was to reduce muscle loss in fasted cardio but I don't have a link to the study...

I've also read that fasting increases the human growth hormone, so it should result in muscle loss.

that argument is mostly based on 1 study, which to my knowledge, has not been well replicated.

That approach is based on the old carbohydrate-based way of thinking. True muscle loss does not occur quickly. First glycogen is used up, then fat, then muscle. Carbs are the least efficient fuel and people who suffer from low energy without food are "addicted" to carbs, meaning their body is in a constant state of insulin over-production. Weight lifting will always produce more fat loss than cardio, but it happens in a delayed fashion. Ideally, one would fast in the morning, lift weights, eat, then remember never to eat past 8pm. This would produce the highest spike in growth hormone and use stored fat to build muscle. The protein for this action is stored in the blood from the previous meal.

What time of day do you break your nighttime fast?

currently, in the evening.