My experience with IF, and a few questions

[Kyle Sattgast]

When I first started reading about IF I was really skeptical. I mean it flew in the face of everything I have ever been told about nutrition. I however decided to give it a try.

Classes just resumed this week, and on tuesday and thursday I have 6 hours straight of classes, and I knew I couldn't eat like I usually do (every 3-4 hours). So on tuesday I gave it a shot. I can't complain I had no hunger and no problem concentrating on my studies. I broke fast at 5:45 and ate until 10:45, eating the 21 zone blocks I usually consume in a day in 5 hours.

My questions are these

1. Does it matter that I don't IF everyday? I mean while the 4-5 meals is sometimes an inconvience so is sitting at home and stuffing my face on certain days.

2. Will I still experience some of the benefits of IF?

3. How should I appoarch days after my fast? Eat my normal Zone meals as I usually do? or perhaps cut back since I stuffed my face with 21 blocks the previous night?

4. Should I tweak my blocks at all on days I fast? Maybe cut back some carbs and up the fat and protein

5. One last one. Also, if my fast 5 day falls on a day I work out, should I break fast before or after I work out. Keep in mind that is about 18 with no food.

Any help is appreciated, I've look around the forums and answered a few of my questions, but these I need help with. Not sure if this matters but I weight about 195-200lbs and follow the CF WOD with black box ME as per Coach Rut. My goal is to lean out a little (read not really loose weight, I'd be happy around 190, more so change my body comp a little) and increase my performance. If you've stuck with this thus far, this is my first post and look forward to being a regular in this community. Thanks in advance for any help that can be had. KAS

[Eva Claire Synkowski]

hey kyle -

ive read that ppl have been successful with IF even a couple times a week. the idea is to make it work with your schedule - be it 1-7 d/wk - youll still get the benefits.

perhaps consider varying the lengths of your fasts, too. do the fast 5 some days, and then allow a longer feeding window on other days (e.g., up to 9 hrs) so that you don't always feel like youre stuffing yourself. for example, i generally eat 12-8 daily, which allows for the daily fast and a "regular" social schedule.

so, if you'll following zonish proportions - then yes, you eat that every day regardless of the time in which you eat it. if youre still stuffed from the night before, then ease into the next day. eat ad lib. although - with a frequent IF, you may find you don't need quite as much food to maintain your mass.

i keep pointing ppl to this thread - but steve summed up IF and training pretty well:
http://www.performancemenu.com/forum/showthread.php?t=722&highlight=IF+fat+loss

i find strength workouts tough on a long fast, and metcon pretty easy. others may say the opposite - you'll have to see what works best for you.

[Garrett Smith]

The first thing I noted was that I needed less food than the Zone rx'd.

21 blocks over 5 hours is a ton of food, especially with non-starchy veggie blocks. For myself, shoving down that much food in a short time was the reason I quit IFing the first time.

[Kyle Sattgast]

I've messed around with this a little since then. Reduced by carbs, I couldn't handle them all and upped my protein and fat. I seem to feel better on days I fast even doing it only twice a week. I'm trying a longer stint this week Sun-Thursday to see how multiple consectutive on a fast 5 works for me. Thanks for the above advice. KS.

P.S. I have not experienced any performance loss doing it only twice a week. I eat between 5-10pm or 7-12pm (on days I fast) depending if I have class late or have to go to the gym