Praetorian
25-01-2014, 09:53 AM
Another great article by John Meadows.
P
Intermittent Fasting Kills Muscle
by T Nation Yesterday
Ifmuscleloss
Tags: Intermittent Fasting Muscle Loss
Intermittent fasting (IF) has become the latest diet fad and the subject of several books. IF diets purportedly accelerate fat loss and some proponents go so far as to claim you can build muscle while fasting. Trouble is, in addition to losing fat, a study by Wilson et al (2011) shows that you could also be losing muscle, or at the very least, not building muscle.
Most IF plans tout the benefits of fasted weight training. Some suggest 10 g of BCAA during training. But according to the study, consuming leucine (BCAA) without ample carbohydrate present prevented protein synthesis. In other words, any possibility of gaining muscle is eliminated when training in a fasted state, even when consuming BCAA.
Bodybuilding coach John Meadows adds:
"Proponents of IF like to think of it as the 'science diet' but the complete opposite is true. Intermittent fasting is the fad diet. There's no logic to it, unless your goal is to lose muscle, slow down your metabolism, and have poor workouts.
"My most difficult clients are people that have crashed and burned on intermittent fasting. Here's how it always plays out: I get a guy that was 20-30% body fat. He does IF and he loses some fat and muscle. Then he gets stuck at 15-18% body fat, so he takes his calories down. Now he's stuck at 1800-2000 calories, nothing is happening, and he's miserable. Then he comes to me for help.
"That's the scenario I see every time. His metabolism is shot and he'll gain fat when coming off IF. His body is hoarding fat at this point; it's a self-protective mechanism. It can take us months to get his body functioning correctly again."
P
Intermittent Fasting Kills Muscle
by T Nation Yesterday
Ifmuscleloss
Tags: Intermittent Fasting Muscle Loss
Intermittent fasting (IF) has become the latest diet fad and the subject of several books. IF diets purportedly accelerate fat loss and some proponents go so far as to claim you can build muscle while fasting. Trouble is, in addition to losing fat, a study by Wilson et al (2011) shows that you could also be losing muscle, or at the very least, not building muscle.
Most IF plans tout the benefits of fasted weight training. Some suggest 10 g of BCAA during training. But according to the study, consuming leucine (BCAA) without ample carbohydrate present prevented protein synthesis. In other words, any possibility of gaining muscle is eliminated when training in a fasted state, even when consuming BCAA.
Bodybuilding coach John Meadows adds:
"Proponents of IF like to think of it as the 'science diet' but the complete opposite is true. Intermittent fasting is the fad diet. There's no logic to it, unless your goal is to lose muscle, slow down your metabolism, and have poor workouts.
"My most difficult clients are people that have crashed and burned on intermittent fasting. Here's how it always plays out: I get a guy that was 20-30% body fat. He does IF and he loses some fat and muscle. Then he gets stuck at 15-18% body fat, so he takes his calories down. Now he's stuck at 1800-2000 calories, nothing is happening, and he's miserable. Then he comes to me for help.
"That's the scenario I see every time. His metabolism is shot and he'll gain fat when coming off IF. His body is hoarding fat at this point; it's a self-protective mechanism. It can take us months to get his body functioning correctly again."