Fast for Spring

So, spring is here and you want to get in shape, huh? You want to lose weight, be healthy, get ripped, become big, get stronger, and lift heavy metal, right? First ask yourself this question—what do you want to be? If you just want to get big, this isn't for you. If you want to lose weight, be healthy, get stronger, and in the process, maybe get a bit bigger, this is the article for you. This article will focus on strength and calorie intake.

Fasting

So, let’s talk about fasting. Fasting is defined by Wikipedia as “primarily the act of willingly abstaining from all food, drink, or both for a period of time.” Everybody fasts while sleeping and we break that fast during our most important meal of the day—break-fast. It used to be the most important meal of the day and still is for the rest of the world, but it’s changing for Americans as more and more are taking up bad eating habits.

Breakfast is very important because overnight all the glucose that has been derived from food has been used up from digested food and the body is in a catabolic state. Try this—when you wake up in the morning, see how long you can go without eating breakfast before you feel the hunger pangs. Chances are, for most people, it’s at least three to four hours before they feel that and even longer if you have a slow metabolism. This says that not only did the body use glucose through the time you were asleep, but after waking up, it was still using it. The glucose was only recently depleted. But what if you had eaten breakfast? There just would have been more calories that wouldn't have been broken down into glucose and, after a while, would've been stored as fat.

Why fast?

So what can fasting do for you other than help burn off fat? Well, fasting can help you build muscle, clean your digestive system (reset), heal you, clarify your brain, and help you get stronger. Recent studies have shown that intermediate fasting or minimal food intake can reduce the risk of cancer, diabetes, and heart disease.

Intermediate fasting has been very popular lately, but if we take that further, we have a seven-day fast—not long enough to kill you and not short enough to waste your time. It’s simple and effective. You don't take in any calories (solid or liquid) for seven straight days. On the eighth day, you start introducing small amounts of calories. I'm not recommending the seven-day fast on a regular basis but rather as a plateau breaker or when you need to lose that last bit of fat.

Before you get your panties in a bunch, there are some things to keep in mind. If you're an ectomorph, you should be aware that this might result in losing the muscle that you've worked so hard to gain. If you're just looking for strength, this is the way to go. If you want to preserve muscle mass, consider investing in BCAA and take the recommended dosage throughout the day and avoid exercising. Now, if you're an endomorph or mesomorph, you don’t even need to worry about losing muscle mass. Everyone says that in a fasted state, you will go into survival mode, which will result in a loss of muscle mass. Well, what they haven’t thought of is that you aren't on a deserted island and you know it. You know that if you wanted food, you could eat it. Your brain knows it, and your brain also knows that the only reason you're starving it is too lose fat and that’s exactly what it will do. Don’t underestimate the power of the mind. The only reason that ectomorphs are recommended to take BCAA is because their bodies don't have enough fat to last for seven days without the body starting to break down muscle.

How to fast

• Start off by disciplining yourself on small things such as not snacking or eating before bedtime, waking up at a specific time, or taking cold showers (shown to improve testosterone levels and strengthen the immune system).
• Start with a one-day fast (24 hours) for the first week. Then do two days for the second week, three days for the third week, and so on until you reach your individual limit or seven days (whichever comes first).
• After the fast, don’t devour everything you see, but eat in a controlled fashion and slowly introduce your regular diet to your body, which shouldn’t be Pop-Tarts.
• Keep your activities to a minimum because this is supposed to be a break from training to let the body heal itself.
• Get as much sleep as you can during your fast.
• Reduce your carb intake and lower it every day before the fast, especially salty and sweet food, to get the body less dependent on carbs as an energy source and to prepare it for no calories.
• Remove all the junk food from your house and keep only the foods that you hate.

Before you begin your fast, you should consult with your physician. It is highly recommended that you plan your fast. When planning your fast, keep things in consideration such as whether or not you'll be taking any supplements during the fast. If so, make sure that they don’t have any calories in them. For example, I took one capsule of green tea extract every morning, which only has caffeine. So if you're planning on drinking coffee during your fast, don’t go all out on a drinking spree. Make sure there aren't any sweeteners, sugar, or creamers in your coffee. Even though sweeteners may not have any calories, they're counterproductive toward the goal of the fast, which is to reset your body and break PRs.

You should also take into consideration what you'll do if the shit goes down. For example, in my plan, I had veggies ready in case I couldn’t control myself or bodily functions were shutting down. Fortunately for me, I experienced neither one of those effects and therefore didn’t need to eat anything during my fast. I picked veggies and not fruit because there are fewer calories in veggies such as broccoli. I do recommend taking multivitamins/mineral supplements starting on the fourth day of your fast because your body starts to empty out all the minerals that are essential for regular body functions.

My Personal Experience

Starting date: Night of Sunday, November 18 at 9:00 p.m.

End date: Night of Sunday, November 24 at 9:00 p.m.

Initial waist measurement: 42.75 inches

Initial body weight: 245.5 pounds

Initial body fat: 25.6%

Final waist measurement: 40 inches

Final body weight: 232.2 pounds

Final body fat: 22.63%

Total difference in waist measurement: 2.75 inches

Total difference in body weight: 13.3 pounds

Total difference in body fat: 2.97%

Effects on training:

As you can see above, this is data that I collected during my fast. By the end of my fast, which was over the 2012 Thanksgiving week (luckily I'm a vegetarian and didn’t have to give up a lot), my waist had shrunk 2.75 inches, my body fat decreased by 2.97 percent, and my weight dropped by 13.3 pounds. I also improved my 1RM squat by 10 pounds and my bench by 5 pounds. As you will see, my water consumption went up. That is due to the carbs and salts, which normally store water, emptying out of the body.  I didn't drop 13.3 pounds of pure fat though, due to the water loss. After continuing my diet, my weight went back up a couple of pounds. Therefore, the total fat loss was 8.6 pounds.

Final advice

In the end, you should definitely consult your physician before you fast. Plan out your fast and figure out your body type and whether or not you should be taking BCAAs. During the fast, you can drink coffee or take caffeine supplements. I recommend taking multi-vitamins/mineral supplements to prevent body function shut down. The hardest part of the fast will be your first two days. In the beginning, just remember that it has only been a day or two, but on your fifth, sixth, or seventh day, count down to how many days you have remaining, not how many you went through.“If you’re going through hell, keep going.” — Winston Churchill

References

Young Emma, “Depriving Yourself: The Real Benefits of Fasting,” Chicago Tribune, Jan. 16, 2013.