The truth is, fasting and muscle loss have a strong connection. Dieting can actually hurt your muscles — if you strip away the necessary macros and micros for muscle building for the name of fasting, you’ll lose weight but you’ll lose tons of muscle too.
What is Intermittent Fasting?
Fasting is the act of deliberately abstaining from all food and drink, typically as a spiritual practice. Intermittent fasting may reduce insulin resistance, improve glucose tolerance, and help in part to manage type 2 diabetes. Diseases such as cancer and neurodegenerative diseases can also be helped by intermittent fasting.
There are different forms of intermittent fasting: 24-hour fasts and 16-hour fasts. Intermittent fasting (IF) can be done for various amounts of time. Usually, IF means a fast on a long period of 24 hours, repeated twice or thrice a week. When you do IF of any duration, ensure you are getting your 8-10 hours of sleep at least every day.
So how does IF work really?
Here is what happens inside the human body during Intermittent Fasting: One thing that the body does when you fast is it lowers leptin production which is a hormone that will help with fat storage for energy. Leptin levels also go down which will help burn fat more quickly.
When you fast, your metabolism will go up because it will lower insulin production and also glucose production. Insulin does not help burn fat as much as insulin promotes fat storage so by fasting you will see an increase in fat burning even without a high-intensity exercise regime.
The Shocking Truth About Fasting and Muscle Loss
Fasting is a relatively recent trend in dieting trends with proponents citing its benefits for weight loss, health, and longevity. However, if you are not fasting properly you may lose muscle mass. This can result in a less toned, seeing as muscle tissue is primarily made up of proteins. The loss of muscle mass can lead to a loss in strength and overall fitness.
Still, fasting is not the blame here. Poor diet choices are to blame. Let’s say you are only drinking water and not getting enough protein, carbs, and healthy fats; your body will start to attack muscle tissue to get the energy it desperately needs.
If you want to change this problem and still be able to fast, here are some tips:
- Make sure that you eat a good amount of calories and protein before going into IF. At least 20 grams of protein should be consumed before starting an IF fast and enough calories should be eaten so that your body doesn’t go into starvation mode once it enters it.
- If you are worried about losing muscle mass, add more weight training workouts to your weekly schedule. In fact, research has shown that the more muscle mass you build in the gym, the more your body will resist using it as fuel when fasting.
- Take supplements such as BCAA and L-Glutamine. Branch chain amino acids (BCAA) such as L-leucine, L-isoleucine, and L-valine are amino that serve to prevent muscle loss due to fasting. L-Glutamine, on the other hand, is a building block of protein. This will help your body to recover faster.
Drinking A Lot of Water Before Fasting
Aside from the weight loss benefits of fasting, another benefit is that water can also help promote weight loss in people that are overweight. Many people think that drinking a lot of water during a fast is unnecessary and if you are only trying to burn calories, then you do not need to drink as much water as you think. How much water should you drink? Be sure to drink around 1.5 liters of water during a 24-hour fast. This is equivalent to drinking 4 liters of water in a day.
Fasting Can Be Beneficial For Your Body and Health
Fasting has been practiced since ancient times in many different ways as a spiritual practice and as a way to cleanse the body. In more recent years, people go on fasts for other health reasons such as weight loss, detoxification, and digestion. Although fasting is recommended for healthy people, those who are sick or have an illness are advised not to fast without consulting their doctor first. Also, fasting and muscle loss are linked for those who don’t diet properly!
Fasting can be beneficial for your body and health in many ways such as allowing the immune system to function better. Fasting can also help rid the body of toxins, reduce inflammation and fight against diseases, lower cholesterol levels, improve memory, prevent cancer, regulate the metabolism, and strengthen the heart.
One of the most popular reasons for fasting is weight loss. People who want to lose weight are lured by this alluring benefit. However, it does not mean that if you fast you will lose a lot of weight or be able to fit into your dream dress once again. Going on a fast must be done under medical supervision especially for people with certain conditions or illnesses such as diabetes and hypertension.
Summary
Fasting is a type of lifestyle that involves the voluntary abstinence of food and drink. Fasting may be either partial or complete, depending on the degree of voluntary abstinence from food and drink.
Intermittent fasting and muscle loss have a strong connection for people who don’t eat the necessary macros and micros to protect their muscle mass. Please check the article below to see meals for pre-workouts:
Best Pre Workout Meals for Muscle Gain!
Be smart when you are dieting, drastic changes to your diet and lifestyle can be too much for your body to handle. If you don’t have steel nerves, you’ll quickly fall back to your bad habits.
Thank you for reading.
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