What are your thoughts on IF for high intensity sports, eg, swimming? Now that it’s my “between season” time, I was thinking of trying it, but I’m not sure if it’s a good idea.
I’ll have a couple of OW races this summer, the nice thing is that the venue is just about walking distance from my house. IF might play well with a 5k OW race. Not sure about shorter stuff though, which is my primary focus.
I used to do it before getting into triathlon. I think if you’re only working out once a day it would work great. But I can’t imagine doing it with doubles everyday. But then again I haven’t tried it.
I do IF 4 to 5 times per week, eating between noon and 6:00 or noon to 8:00. (I shoot for 6:00 but don’t sweat it if I eat my last meal at 7:00 or 7:30). Energy-wise I have no problems getting a one-hour workout in the morning, provided it is at no more than moderate intensity. If I’m doing anything at intensity or care about performance, I’ll skip IF that day and eat breakfast.
The beauty of IF is that it’s not an all or nothing method. You don’t blow the week if you miss a day or two.
IF noob here………what is the benefit of IF?
IF noob here………what is the benefit of IF?
Easier to manage caloric restriction for some people. Even the guy who widely popularized it (Martin Berkhan) and pores over the literature constantly now admits that there’s no demonstrable metabolic benefit.
Having said that, I do it at times because I find it easier to manage my calories that way.
IF noob here………what is the benefit of IF?
Not sure about any metabolic benefits, but there are many cancer and disease prevention benefits, as well as apparently anti-aging benefits.
I’ve only been doing IF since around the beginning of the year (so ~5 months now). I eat dinner around 6-7PM and then don’t eat again until lunch the next day (usually around 1PM for me). Lunch, then dinner with the family, and no snacking, ever. I never really went into it trying to do intermittent fasting, but waiting until I was actually feeling hungry before I ate anything. And for me, I rarely get hungry for breakfast. So I skip it now.
I run 6 days a week, usually around 11 or noon. I thought IF would make me feel tired, weak, or sluggish, but it hasn’t. I can run easy, tempo, or intervals same as if I went to IHOP for breakfast. I have more than enough energy to train. I also do a 12 mile run on the weekends on no breakfast, drinking water only, no problem. Caveat is that I haven’t been racing, nor training 2-3 times a day or doing any super hard bike workouts. (or swim races!)
I think everyone responds differently to food timing, and ultimately you have to figure out what works for you by experimentation.
Curious if any IF practitioners still have morning coffee and if so do you drink it black or add milk or cream? I think I could do IF several days a week if I still could add a bit of cream, milk or coconut milk to my coffee. I realize that adding the calories by definition “breaks” the fast. Thanks. David K
My wife is doing it, which is one of the reasons I’m asking about people’s experiences. But she’s not an athlete, so my experience if I were to try it would likely be different than hers.
According to whatever guide she’s going by, coffee with a little bit of cream is OK. If it wasn’t, she wouldn’t be doing it.
I have found that while training it is difficult. Here is how I am doing it now. I will have dinner (4-5pm ish large meal) and not eat again until breakfast(Smallish). That will give me a solid 12-13 hr fast atleast and it has been working out well. That being said if i have a hard/long evening session I will take something post workout otherwise I wake up in the night really hungry.
This is working for me, but I know others who struggle. I find a lot varies with what time of day I am able to train.
Curious if any IF practitioners still have morning coffee and if so do you drink it black or add milk or cream? I think I could do IF several days a week if I still could add a bit of cream, milk or coconut milk to my coffee. I realize that adding the calories by definition “breaks” the fast. Thanks. David K
I always had coffee in the morning, but only black. As soon as you add even a speck of cream, the fast is over. Some would argue that even drinking coffee ends the fast, but I said F that. I did it for about a year and a half.
Curious if any IF practitioners still have morning coffee and if so do you drink it black or
WHY ON GODS GREEN EARTH WOULD ANYONE POLLUTE THAT PURE BLACK LIQUID?
(never used creamer or sugar since I started drinking coffee 10 years ago)
Curious if any IF practitioners still have morning coffee and if so do you drink it black or
WHY ON GODS GREEN EARTH WOULD ANYONE POLLUTE THAT PURE BLACK LIQUID?
(never used creamer or sugar since I started drinking coffee 10 years ago)
I used to drink it black, and still do occasionally, but the coffee at work is crap. I need a tiny bit of sugar and a cream to make it palatable.
Curious if any IF practitioners still have morning coffee and if so do you drink it black or
WHY ON GODS GREEN EARTH WOULD ANYONE POLLUTE THAT PURE BLACK LIQUID?
(never used creamer or sugar since I started drinking coffee 10 years ago)
I used to drink it black, and still do occasionally, but the coffee at work is crap. I need a tiny bit of sugar and a cream to make it palatable.
Understandable. That’s also why I bought a hand grinder and french-press for the office. 
I have found that while training it is difficult. Here is how I am doing it now. I will have dinner (4-5pm ish large meal) and not eat again until breakfast(Smallish). That will give me a solid 12-13 hr fast atleast and it has been working out well. That being said if i have a hard/long evening session I will take something post workout otherwise I wake up in the night really hungry.
This is working for me, but I know others who struggle. I find a lot varies with what time of day I am able to train.
Thanks folks. (still waiting for Monty, where are you mate??)
My current situation is that I’m just swimming about 3x per week (two 8-9pm swims and one that I usually get early afternoon (around 1 or 2pm ) and 2-3 weights sessions at noon. None of those are really low intensity sessions, but some are higher intensity than others. So what I’m trying to figure out is whether IF has a chance of actually working for me, and if it is likely to be OK, how to schedule the “fasting period”.
I’ve only been doing IF since around the beginning of the year (so ~5 months now). I eat dinner around 6-7PM and then don’t eat again until lunch the next day (usually around 1PM for me). Lunch, then dinner with the family, and no snacking, ever. I never really went into it trying to do intermittent fasting, but waiting until I was actually feeling hungry before I ate anything. And for me, I rarely get hungry for breakfast. So I skip it now.
I run 6 days a week, usually around 11 or noon. I thought IF would make me feel tired, weak, or sluggish, but it hasn’t. I can run easy, tempo, or intervals same as if I went to IHOP for breakfast. I have more than enough energy to train. I also do a 12 mile run on the weekends on no breakfast, drinking water only, no problem. Caveat is that I haven’t been racing, nor training 2-3 times a day or doing any super hard bike workouts. (or swim races!)
I think everyone responds differently to food timing, and ultimately you have to figure out what works for you by experimentation.
If we define IF as no cal for 12 hrs or more, then I’ve been doing IF almost every day for many yrs. Generally, I have “brunch” from 0930 to 1000, then no more cals until I eat from about 2200 to around 2345, then to bed. I just don’t usually feel hungry until late evening, do all my training in evenings. Some days my “no eat” time might be only 10 hrs but usually it is at least 10 if not 11 or 12 hrs. Never had any prob with energy during 2-4 hr workouts.
IF noob here………what is the benefit of IF?
Not sure about any metabolic benefits, but there are many cancer and disease prevention benefits, as well as apparently anti-aging benefits.
Would love to see you provide actual double blind study with evidence on that. I bet you can’t/won’t.
I wouldn’t define it as 12 hours. That’s easy, I do that all the time as I usually don’t eat breakfast and have my first bit of food (other than coffee, that is) around 11 am.
What is the goal from this? Is it supporting your wife, athletic performance or personal weight loss? Or some mixture of all three?
Maurice
What is the goal from this? Is it supporting your wife, athletic performance or personal weight loss? Or some mixture of all three?
Maurice
Some mixture of all 3, along with just general curiosity. It’s my injury-imposed offseason now, no running for me, so now’s the time to play around with this stuff.