Week 5, Interesting...

SAs I continue the IF experiment, I get more and more intrigued. I'm continuously doing research on the latest fads, and "new break-through research" because many of these fads and "ground breaking research studies", while being full of shit, have a little bit of truth behind them.  They have to or else everyone with any knowledge of the subject will be able to immediately discredit their claims and they'd never sell a product ever again.  But... most of them are masters of advertising, and pump you up with false information, claiming that they "started out just like you" (to build instant rapport) and tell you stories of how they were either super fat, had no idea what their feet look like, or were so skinny that they struggled carrying a gallon of milk - and now... they are competing in Mr. Universe competitions and did it all by following a few secret steps that are so simple (and they are) only found in the pages of their latest click-bank product.  Well, as you know, my job is to filter out the bullshit of these fads and "break-through" products, discredit the false claims and hog-shit "workout of the month" and show you that some of these techniques may work, but are just tools to break through plateaus.  I'm buying and sorting out the facts from the myths so that you don't have to.  And I love every minute of it!

So, in this week's research, I've come across something that's been around a while, and people actually get pretty good results with.  It's called Lean Gains.  It's geared towards the people that want to put on lean muscle, drop body fat, and look like a muscle anatomy chart.  It's a program based on IF with DAILY intermittent fasting using the 16/8 method.  That is, 16 hour intermittent fasts with an 8 hour feeding window.  For the average person, this is very do-able, and most people actually do this without even knowing it. I mean, if  you eat dinner at 6:00 pm and miss breakfast because you're in a rush, and grab a quick snack at 10:00 am, then you're on the schedule.  The part I don't like is that they strongly suggest supplementation - something I am vehemently against.  When you fast, you supposedly lose muscle mass (I don't refute that claim) and suggest that taking Branch-Chain Amino Acid supplements (BCAA) helps minimize muscle loss.  These are basically engineered amino acids that are incomplete proteins, and are designed to quickly bond with growth hormone in your body to repair and build muscle very quickly.  They work pretty well, but I will not inflate the over-utilized supplement market for fast artificial gains. What I am doing though, is investigating whether or not a 16/8 type of IF is beneficial on days when I'm not doing a full 24 hour fast.  Shortening your fast window doesn't produce as good of hormone boosts as a full 24 hours, but its something to consider.  Not sure if I'm going to attack this full on just yet.  I really want to finish the 12 week experiment and see where that lands me.

So, I'm sticking with the same Saturday workout addition, and 2 day a week, 24 hour fasts on Tuesday and Thursday.  1 cheat day towards the beginning of the week (Sunday or Monday) followed by the same workout routine of Stronglifts 5x5.  This week, I had an impromptu lunch offer with my sister and her husband on Tuesday.  That cut my fast from 24 hours to 18 hours, which is still pretty good.  I'm not letting my diet dictate my social life, except when it comes to peer pressure of eating a whole pizza and drinking a half keg of beer! Use good judgement for christ sake.  On Thursday, I cut the fast down to 23 hours mainly because it fit in a little better with my chores for the week and me getting out of work a little bit early.  The difference between a 23 and 24 hour fast is virtually negligible.

So, results?  Still pretty good.  I feel like things are really stabilizing now after 5 weeks.  Weight loss has slowed (but I don't care about that number at all).  Fat loss is slow, but still there.  I lost a few inches  this week, and remained relatively the same weight.  That's a good indication that fat loss is there, but not so much where it affects your total body weight.  It's also a good indication that a little bit of lean mass was added.  Lean mass gains are slow and really can only be measured over periods of months, rather than days or weeks.  So, without further discussion, here's my results for this week.

Weight	153.5 lb.	Loss
Body fat %	10.65%	0.75%
Chest	34.5"	0.25"
Waist	30.5"	0.25"
Hips	36.5"	0.5"
Thighs	21" each	0"
Biceps	13.25" R, 13" L	0"
Neck	14.75"	0"

Some things to point out.  I, again, used the Navy body fat calculation and also recorded my results with the BIA meter.  The results were slightly different, but not enough to really raise alarm. The BIA meter indicated 11.3%  The Navy calculation showed 10.64%  These numbers are close enough for me, and I figure I'm actually in the 10.8 - 11% range.  Pretty close to what I expected.

So far, still liking the IF technique.  There's a few things I want to incorporate that I will borrow from the lean gains program.  First is looking at balancing my macronutrients properly.  If you don't get enough protein, you won't build muscle.  The rule-of-thumb has always been 1g per lb of body weight... I don't really like that rule.  Once you get up to about 180-200 lb, that's a LOT of protein, and could actually start damaging your kidneys.  Lean Gains suggests even more than that!! I really don't think that's a good idea... however, with my diet, I really don't feel like I'm getting enough protein either.  I haven't been tracking calories (bad, bad, bad!!) but estimate about 120 g per day.  Starting this week, I'm tracking all calories that I possibly can (cheat meals can be hard because if you grab a piece of pizza at a local shop, chances are you can't find the exact calorie amounts... good thing its only 1 day a week!).
The second thing I'd like to borrow from Lean Gains is carb cycling.  I am a firm believer that your need carbs, every day.  I will not accept the fact that one macronutrient makes you any fatter than another.  A bad, improperly balanced diet does that, not a bagel you eat twice a week...  Carb cycling is a tool to maximize results, not a way to sustain yourself.  The basic principle is that on workout days, you eat more carbs than on non-workout days, and that's pretty much it.  Eat higher fat foods and meats like steak and fish on  your off days (so you get the calories) and more carb dense food with leaner protein, like chicken, turkey, tuna, rice, and potatoes on your workout days for energy and recovery.  Lean gains suggests its OK to eat carb heavy food before bed, but I still disagree.  When you sleep, your digestion slows way down making it a dangerously good time to store those carbs as fat.

So, what EXACTLY am I doing?  Pretty much the same thing I've been doing with a few tweaks.  I'm going to shoot for two 24 hour fasts on Tuesday and Thursday.  On workout days, I'm going to be eating lots of protein, carbs, and fibrous vegetables like broccoli, asparagus, and chard.  On off days, I'm going to be eating less carbs and more fats, good fats of course, like nuts, eggs, etc.  I'll be tracking calories much closer as well.  I'm also going to recalculate my caloric needs for muscle gain.  I'm not sure my target of 2500 are accurate, and really want to make sure I'm doing what I should be doing.  I don't want focus on just fat loss through calorie deficit when the biggest fat burner, muscle, is being ignored.

So thats it for this week.  We'll see what happens and what there is to post about next week :)