Fasting Working Outs For Fat Loss, Ketosis + LoCarbs Diets

CTS / Train Right

Eric Heiden, M.D. Recommends Well-rounded Diet

(Five-time Olympic gold medalist)

From the 2008 book Faster Better Stronger: “Modern civilization, your work schedule, and your other obligations artificially dictate that you divide your food intake into three meals a day, but biologically, your body does better when you eat more often—about every three to four hours.” ( p.80) “Studies show that if you wait longer  than five or six hours to eat, you consume disproportionately larger meals.” (p. 81) Speaking of supper, he says “….divide you plate in quarters, two-quarters should be dedicated to vegetables, one-quarter to lean protein and one-quarter to carbohydrates. Your carbs should be whole grain and roughly a half to one cup in size. A serving of protein for the average adult is about the size of a deck of cards—about three ounces of meat.” (p. 86)

The Book Racing Weight Does Not Endorse
Low Carb Diets or Fasted Workouts for Endurance Athletes

This soon-to-be classic book, published in 2009 by Matt Fitzgerald, is designed for any endurance athlete, whether it be a cyclist, rower, skier or runner. It discusses how to get your optimum weight based on your particular sport.
He says “Atkins advocated a carbohydrate intake of no more than 40 grams per day, which is equivalent to less than 10 percent of total calories of most people. That’s extreme when you consider than mainstream nutrition experts believe that the nervous and immune systems of the average person cannot function properly on a diet that provides fewer than 150 grams of carbohydrate per day.” “The rationale for adopting a high-protein diet is that protein is the most satiating macro-nutrient, so people tend to eat less overall when they eat a lot of protein.” (p. 112) “My own view is that the evidence indicates that carbohydrate intake should be proportional to the individual athlete’s training load.” (p. 116) “The typical endurance athlete gets 30 to 35 percent of her daily calories from fat—substantially more than the minimum.” (p. 120) On page 127 he has a chart that indicates that the optimal macronutrient range for an endurance athlete should be in the range of 40–80% of carbohydrates, 20–40% of fat and 10–25% of protein.

“There is abundant research showing that endurance performance is compromised in the fasted state (more than 12 hours after the last meal). ( p. 145) “There is a need for more formal studies of the effects of intermittent fasting on competitive endurance athletes. The findings of these studies are not likely to make you see conversion to intermittent fasting of any kind! Sure, athletes do lose weight and body fat during Ramadan…In addition to impairing endurance performance by reducing muscle and liver glycogen and blood glucose levels, intermittent fasting is likely to sabotage performance further by interfering with recovery from training.” (p. 146)

Summary

I have only tried the full-on intermittent fasting and Ketosis regimen for about a week so far (April 2016) and did not lose much, if any weight. I do believe that not eating much after 7 or 8:00 p.m. is beneficial for weight management though and practice that today, including a late breakfast or brunch at 10 or 11:00 a.m. (unless a early morning workout is scheduled and then I eat breakfast earlier). Perhaps I have not given the Ketosis concept enough time to know if it is feasible for me. Most of my friends and family that are using this concept are body-builders and do little endurance training. I have tried some fasted interval (HIIT) workouts (as per the Dr. Mike video above) on a mostly empty stomach and have had lackluster results. I just felt super weak and could not get my heart rate up. The book Racing Weights says “When you wake up in the morning your liver is approximately 50 percent glycogen depleted due to having powered your nervous system as you slept.” (p. 134) I wonder if the Ketosis concept, which is NOT the same as the Atkins high-protein diet (it is high-fat, moderate to low protein) is too new and most experts have not had time to give it a fair evaluation. Or perhaps it more suited to the body-builder type person and not for aerobic-based endurance athletes.

For me, the best way to lose weight is to eat very lightly in the evening after a hard cardio day. I still consume a protein smoothie right afterwards and some 60 minutes or so later eat a very light supper. I have tried to replace all the grain carbs in my diet with more some fruit, more vegetables and lean proteins such as poultry, plain no-sugar-added Greek Yogurt, cottage cheese, aged sharp cheddar cheese and a lots of nuts. (This is largely due to the fact I recently read the very compelling 2011 book entitled Wheat Belly, by William Davis, M.D.)