Fasting: Your Experience?

[Dada]

From what i read it was something about your body getting into this "hunter/warrior" status. If you ate already, the body gets into a "relax" status, because it's satisified, now it doesn't wanna work. it just wanna rest. so thats why you can feel tired and sleepy after a big meal (i always do). also, digestion takes a great deal of energy, so you better not eat big right before working out (a small carb meal will do good though).
but when you havent eaten for a looong time, the body needs it bad, and is doing everything to get it. so when you lift heavy stuff the body totally focuses on that because, for what the body knows, that might be you hunting for food or fighting the food or whatever like that...
it's kinda like when you are shit scared and run for your life, you don't really get tired, cause you wanna live instead and that's the focus just then...
i think you get my drift

Yeah, that makes sense.

I do usually feel like resting after a big meal most of the time. Although last week I ate a big meal and then went and lifted afterwards and ended up having one of the best workouts I've had all year (except that I felt like I was going to puke afterwards lol). That was strange to me because I was expecting to be tired and sluggish after the meal. But I guess there are rare occasions when things work out differently.

[chris9]

I think the most interesting thing I learned from my first one day (~36 hour) fast was how not big a deal it was. I was nervous coming into it thinking "oh i'll be so hungry and weak" and really it was nothing. I didn't feel tired or weak or (by the afternoon) even hungry. It's really easy to go a day without eating. We are so programmed to eat in habitual ways (cereal and toast for breakfast, oh now it's noon i'll have the chicken and rice for lunch, ok dinner) that changing it period is interesting whether it's not eating at all (now what do it do?) or eating every 3 hours.

and the thing that i learned from fasting AND from stronglifts is how much of what we typically eat and what we think we need is just garbage. like pretty much all snack food and light meals available in shopping malls and airports: some crumby white flour, some sugar or a little garnish. if you look at most people's diets it's amazing they're even alive.

i did some longer cleanses (3-4 days) where I lost weight (10-15 lbs that i put back on pretty quickly) but as I don't want to lose weight anyways I don't do them anymore. I wasn't doing it for that purpose at the time, more the "give your digestive system a break" idea but don't really feel that it was benefiting me anymore than one day might.

[recordbuyer]

I haven't tried the one-day weekly fasts, but earlier this year I did a 7-day water fast (i.e. you eat nothing and you drink nothing but water). This was primarily for cleansing, rejuvenation, and curiosity. I was doing the 5x5 StrongLift regimen for a few months previous to the fast, and continued after the fast.

I'm also a strict vegan with an emphasis on raw fruits/veg/nuts/seeds, although I still eat cooked foods occasionally. The reason I mention this is because I've heard that if you're a carnivore, or heavy into dairy, soy, processed food, or junk/fast foods, the effects of the fast can be more severe (i.e. more intensified cleansing crises, which are things like headaches, breakouts, pains, etc.), but I didn't have any particular difficulties like those other than lack of energy.

Anyway, during the fast I did nothing (no cardio, no walking, no lifting), and just did things around the house (I didn't have to work or drive anywhere, so I basically stayed home for a week). [And if you want to try this type of fast, I hope you're able to take a week off at work, otherwise, it may be risky.] The first day or two was tough (i.e. battling the hunger/cravings/etc.), but from the next day on, I didn't have any hunger/cravings, or even the desire to think about food, let alone eat it. After about 3 days, the effects of the fast kicked in because I was much weaker and had little energy. This continued up through the 7th day and by then I was like a zombie, just low on energy, and slept when I felt like it.

I've heard that the first extended fast is the worst, and that they get easier if you continue to do them. I hope to be trying another one (perhaps 5-day or more) sometime soon. It's a logistical concern, because you have to be sure you have no obligations (like to drive, or do anything basically for that period), and thus it takes some planning. Fasts should be prepared for (nutritionally), and you should read up on it before and during the fast. There are a bunch of useful books out there. If you have a lot of things you need to do/organize/clean around the house, it's perfect, and you don't realize how much time (out of a day) eating can take (driving/shopping, preparing/cooking, storing, cleaning, etc.) until you don't do it for a while! One book saw fasting as a form of time management.

The effects of the fast included both fat and muscle loss. I lost a lot of fat (there wasn't too much to begin with, but what was there was nearly gone), and some muscle. I was weak most of the time and did not do any strenuous activity. [Forgot to mention that on the first day of the fast, I was moving tons of very heavy boxes for about an hour or so, and thus did do quite a lot of strenuous activity, but after that day, no more.] I was a bit worried about muscle loss during the fast, but decided to try it anyway. When I got off the fast, after a few days of easing foods back into the system, I took it easier at the gym and didn't want to overdo anything. I was very pleased to notice that it only took about 2 weeks (2-3 sessions per week) to surpass what I was doing before the fast, and that was just because I wanted to ease back in gradually. I could have pushed/rushed it, but chose not to.

I'm not making any health claims, nor do I recommend that anyone do what I did. I also don't really think it's a good idea to associate/link (extended) fasting with weight lifting. The reason I did the fast had NOTHING to do with lifting, or losing weight, or anything. It was purely a cleansing/rejuvenative experiment that I plan on doing at least 2X per year, possibly more. Hope this helps anyone interested in this type of fast. Please don't do it unless you have a pretty decent idea of what you're doing, I WOULD NOT recommend this just anyone. Also, if during the fasting period you have to drive, or do anything like intensive work/study, etc. DO NOT attempt this type of fast! (You can still drive after the first day or so, but after that, it would be very risky.)

[Mehdi]

@recordbuyer

Thanks very interesting. Some thoughts & questions:
* I also agree 7 days fast is not good for people who lift weights. As you said: energy loss after 3 days and you had muscle loss.
* I didn't really have that severe effects the first day fasting, escept for hunger. Really gets easy indeed as you do them more. Increased productivity is indeed a big benefit.
* You're vegan and lift? Can you post body-weight/height/body fat + strength stats? Also example diet. Just curious about what you're doing.

[recordbuyer]

@recordbuyer
* You're vegan and lift? Can you post body-weight/height/body fat + strength stats? Also example diet. Just curious about what you're doing.

I think that what people eat is so personal that I don't like to recommend or promote any particular diet, or product. I work out for myself and no one else (sorry no public stats). I have some detailed logs of exactly what I ate and can send you some samples via PM. These are all off-topic and personal in nature. I don't want to particularly promote any resources/websites publicly, but would be happy to send you some leads on vegan lifting via PM.

[Mehdi]

@recordbuyer
* You're vegan and lift? Can you post body-weight/height/body fat + strength stats? Also example diet. Just curious about what you're doing.

I think that what people eat is so personal that I don't like to recommend or promote any particular diet, or product. I work out for myself and no one else (sorry no public stats). I have some detailed logs of exactly what I ate and can send you some samples via PM. These are all off-topic and personal in nature. I don't want to particularly promote any resources/websites publicly, but would be happy to send you some leads on vegan lifting via PM.

I ask out of interest, am not judging what you do. If it's an issue, yeah I'd appreciate if you'd send me what you have: http://stronglifts.com/contact/

Thanks.

[DarkShadow]

Mehdi - Interesting post.

As a muslim, we fast in Ramadhan for 30 days. Now during the fast you're not allowed to consume food/drink from sunrise to sunset.

Would it possible to do a general article aimed at fasting? It would be something I and I'm sure others be extremely interested in.

[Mehdi]

@Darkshadow
I wrote a post on fasting and will publish it in july.

[DarkShadow]

@Darkshadow
I wrote a post on fasting and will publish it in july.

Excellent! I'm eager for this one