Fasting???

[Frostbite]

Me and a friend were discussing our different cutting programs. Mine being the basic calorie counting, watching my macros and regular exercise and cardio 5-6 times a week. My friend than jumps in and says he does fasting for two days straight than eats for two days than goes back to fasting for two.. He didn't get to explain his cardio and exercise plans to me because we than started debating on if it was even healthy or wise for maintaining muscle. I'm not an expert by any means I have read a few NSCA books and the canfitpro book. So my questions:
Is fasting for 48 hours healthy?
Will you lose muscle?
What are the pros and cons of fasting? ( for 48 hours at a time )
What would your body use for energy? carbs? fat? muscle?

any other facts would be nice to know also. Thank you.

[Praetorian]

Lets put it this way...the body can store fat as well as carbohydrate (glycogen) but it cannot store protein...this is why we eat every 3-4 hours while trying to build muscle or while dieting to maintain muscle.

See link to article below which may help explain things.
P

http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/most_recent/john_berardis_great_fasting_experiment

[YYZgeddylee]

from the research i've done, the 2 keys are...
continue your resistance training
and keep your fasting to 24hrs or less,

you will maintain your actual muscle mass.
muscles may appear slightly smaller but
will fill back up upon refeeding.
If you're really worried about it, sip on some bcaa's

[Praetorian]

Read the article...as it says just skipping meals or days of eating is a recipe for DISASTER! If you are going to fast and you are looking to improve body composition or performance...in other words you care about muscle maintenance then you need to do things CORRECTLY!
P

[cog]

Ray Mentzer in the 80's did a weekly 24 hour fast of only vegetable juice.Claimed he didn't lose lean tissue and was good for your digestive system to get a break.The BCCA's make sense.