Hey everyone! Im currently about to start my very first HST cycle and I was wondering if a diet such as IF would go well in conjunction with this sort of routine. I am currently aiming to eat 2800- 3000 cal a day (I weigh 150 lbs at 10% BF) and my goal is to gain muscle. Should I stick to the 6 meals a day 3 hrs apart or should I give IF a try? anyone on the program currently that could give pointers/advice? thanks!
HST and intermittent Fasting
- Thread starter amatella
- Start date
Brixtonian
Active Member
Hi,
I have been on IF since the begining of March of this year, with variable results.
Firstly, I really like the idea of the diet, and the science behind it - plus, I found I enjoyed my morning espressos even more, on an empty stomach (I started my feeding at midday, after a morning workout)
I did find it difficult getting used to training on an empty stomach though, as I train at about 10am. There is provision to eat before training, starting your feeding earlier ie; feed from 8am-4pm (in my case) but that means fasting from 4pm, through the evening - which is difficult with family/social evening meals etc.. - then eating when I get up.
I also lost strength while training without carbs pre workout.
The main concern, for you, would be trying to eat 80% of your cals post work out, especially if you are trying to bulk up. (Believe me, I needed around 4000cals post w/o, and that is one big heavy post w/o meal!) I found it very uncomfortable, trying to force that amount of cals down in the hour after training.
For cutting, its a lot easier, as you are eating significantly less cals.
I also work shifts occaisonally, working through the night, which also messed up my routine for fasting. Finishing eating at 8pm, then working through til 6am, on an empty stomach, is really hard going. Then I would eat when I got up about 1pm.
Results wise, I did cut a bit, and enjoyed it, mostly, but, I have lost some muscle over the last year, which I am desperately trying to recover, so I have reverted to a standard bulking diet for now, which I will follow with a rapid fat loss diet, before my beach holiday in September.
If you want the specifics of the IF, that I followed, please feel free to PM me.
Hope this helps
Regards
Brix
I have been on IF since the begining of March of this year, with variable results.
Firstly, I really like the idea of the diet, and the science behind it - plus, I found I enjoyed my morning espressos even more, on an empty stomach (I started my feeding at midday, after a morning workout)
I did find it difficult getting used to training on an empty stomach though, as I train at about 10am. There is provision to eat before training, starting your feeding earlier ie; feed from 8am-4pm (in my case) but that means fasting from 4pm, through the evening - which is difficult with family/social evening meals etc.. - then eating when I get up.
I also lost strength while training without carbs pre workout.
The main concern, for you, would be trying to eat 80% of your cals post work out, especially if you are trying to bulk up. (Believe me, I needed around 4000cals post w/o, and that is one big heavy post w/o meal!) I found it very uncomfortable, trying to force that amount of cals down in the hour after training.
For cutting, its a lot easier, as you are eating significantly less cals.
I also work shifts occaisonally, working through the night, which also messed up my routine for fasting. Finishing eating at 8pm, then working through til 6am, on an empty stomach, is really hard going. Then I would eat when I got up about 1pm.
Results wise, I did cut a bit, and enjoyed it, mostly, but, I have lost some muscle over the last year, which I am desperately trying to recover, so I have reverted to a standard bulking diet for now, which I will follow with a rapid fat loss diet, before my beach holiday in September.
If you want the specifics of the IF, that I followed, please feel free to PM me.
Hope this helps
Regards
Brix
hey man, thank you for your reply. I am doing fasted training as well at 11 o clock and I break the fast with my PWO usually an hour after. I have been eating a **** ton of calories and have gained ~2.5 kg since I started the program.
I might bulk for another 2-3 cycles then do a cut. I have a question tho, why the muscle loss? please PM me or something so we can talk more about IF!
I might bulk for another 2-3 cycles then do a cut. I have a question tho, why the muscle loss? please PM me or something so we can talk more about IF!
Regardless of what you do, you should forget about the 6 meals a day, 3 hours apart thing. That can mess you up if you are trying to make sure you always get that many meals and always 3 hours apart. Just make sure you get the right amount of calories and protein, however many or however few meals that takes. Meal frequency does not effect partitioning one bit.
thanks for the response. I am currently doing IF and I love it, the meal frequency is a bunch of BS, and im glad im not too paranoid over it. I have a question tho, when should I stop gaining weight? when should I consider doing a cut ? I gained quite a bbit and have lost definition, which is being noticed by people but if its necessary for muscle gains I have to keep on bulking.
I would track your caliper measurements and bodyfat percentage on a weekly basis, if I were you, so you can have a general idea not only of where your bodyfat percentage is at but also of how much lean mass you are gaining. Most people say to stop bulking around 15% bodyfat and then cut down to 10%. I think that once in a while, as long as you are not someone predisposed to being overweight, then you can bulk higher but only if you are comfortable with spending longer cutting down later on.
First of all, thank you very much for being patient with me and taking time to respond to my threads, I appreciate that a lot.
I unfortunately dont have a caliper on me as I am vacationing over seas. However, my BF % was around 7-9% when I started (morning weight was 67.7 kg). I took photos of front body flexed and posted it to another forum for an estimation and most said it was under 10 a lot said around 7-9%.
I will keep better track when I get back to the states, where I can monitor EVERYTHING more effictively (calories, etc) God Bless America, if our government did one thing right, it was requiring nutrition facts.
Cutting shouldn't be a problem, I started bodybuilding at a very high BF% at 175 lb and cut to around 148. Problem was, I did it really fast, 3 months roughly, sometimes eating below my BMR, which could have caused a lot of muscle loss. Fortunately, with IF, I know the proper way to cut and im never gna do anything that drastic again.
Thanks !