Intermittent fasting fine for bulking

[qbkilla]

I'm not huge in nerdy science stuff but found this interesting. I know if is controversial. I think most can agree it's useful for cutting but would not work for bulking. So you need breakfast, gotta lug the Tupperware to work, you can't just eat all your calories after work.

The science says this is fine for gaining, no less muscle will be gained by spreading out your calories.

Now of course some guys have a smaller appetite or eat 6-7k to grow. But for anyone with a healthy appetite and only eating 4k so on a bulk/lean gaining phase you don't need to space the meals if it's not convenient due to work, preference, etc.

Thoughts?

 

[Cerberus777]

IF work well for me. I can put on as much body fat as muscle quickly, on 3k calories. IF isn't the fastest way to gain, but the gains are leaner for me. I wouldn't suggest it for a hard gainer. Or someone that need a lot of calories to grow.

 

[Elvia1023]

Of course it could still be done. Although it just makes it a little harder because you have to get those lost calories in somewhere so that would work out as 1 extra meal for the next 5-6 days. Someone's goals are also a big factor as well. Would this be a great approach for someone trying to be a mutant and huge... not really. Someone who wants to be fairly big and lean and look good on a beach... easily done.

Most of the guys who fast are not big and do it for health reasons so they can do it fairly frequently if they want. Now a bigger guy wanting the benefits of fasting could do it but I wouldn't make it a regular thing unless they were purposely trying to downsize. I am going to be fasting 1 day this week but I do fasts very sparingly so it doesn't really effect anything because it's just 1 day and I am losing body fat and I want to deplete myself so it works out great. Would I do this every week... fuck no.

 

[BLang]

The science says this is fine for gaining, no less muscle will be gained by spreading out your calories.

Well, that's not what the thing you linked says, at all.

They ran them at maintenance, not in a gaining phase. And in fact, the IF group actually lost a small amount of LBM, but the scientists were just like "well its probably just glycogen" so whatever.

Not super compelling, but science is a shitshow as are the people who interpret it.

 

[qbkilla]

Of course it could still be done. Although it just makes it a little harder because you have to get those lost calories in somewhere so that would work out as 1 extra meal for the next 5-6 days. Someone's goals are also a big factor as well. Would this be a great approach for someone trying to be a mutant and huge... not really. Someone who wants to be fairly big and lean and look good on a beach... easily done.

Most of the guys who fast are not big and do it for health reasons so they can do it fairly frequently if they want. Now a bigger guy wanting the benefits of fasting could do it but I wouldn't make it a regular thing unless they were purposely trying to downsize. I am going to be fasting 1 day this week but I do fasts very sparingly so it doesn't really effect anything because it's just 1 day and I am losing body fat and I want to deplete myself so it works out great. Would I do this every week... fuck no.

Good points. These guys were talking more about time restricted feeding vs fasting an entire day

Basically say I'm bulking at 4000 calories

8 meals from 6 am to 12pm will give the same results as 4 meals from 4pm to 12 pm. As long as the total calories/macros are equal, the spreading it out isn't better at building mass and the fasting during the day isn't better for staying lean. Calories in vs calories out.

 

[qbkilla]

Well, that's not what the thing you linked says, at all.

They ran them at maintenance, not in a gaining phase. And in fact, the IF group actually lost a small amount of LBM, but the scientists were just like "well its probably just glycogen" so whatever.

Not super compelling, but science is a shitshow as are the people who interpret it.

What time stamp are you referring to (if you remember). I listened to a good 25 minutes while cleaning the kitchen and it seemed to be based on all the evidence they concluded time restricted feeding (eating all calories in a small window) was no different than spreading them for bulking or cutting.

 

[LK3]

didnt watch the video but this is doable.
you end up eating more then once but its all within like a 4-6 window around training so it works.
pre work out meal, intra work out shake and post work out meal. you can get 300.500 g protien in there pretty easy. play with the rest accordingly.

 

[BLang]

What time stamp are you referring to (if you remember). I listened to a good 25 minutes while cleaning the kitchen and it seemed to be based on all the evidence they concluded time restricted feeding (eating all calories in a small window) was no different than spreading them for bulking or cutting.

Haha, well when I clicked play it started around the 38min mark.

I assumed you time-stamped it but I guess its possible I've watched that video before and it started playing where I left off. So, I thought you were referring to that particular study. My bad.

 

[BLang]

Anyway, I just went through all of the studies they cited and not a single one was a controlled study during a gaining phase. Again, not super compelling and I'm not sure how they could draw that conclusion based on that.

 

[qbkilla]

Haha, well when I clicked play it started around the 38min mark.

I assumed you time-stamped it but I guess its possible I've watched that video before and it started playing where I left off. So, I thought you were referring to that particular study. My bad.

It's all good I can't watch 2 hours lol. I started at 40-44 minutes then probably listened to 25 more. Seems like the concussion was it's fine to jam the calories in a smaller window even when trying to gain lbm. They said to be safe maybe 3 daily meals I think. But seems like 8 hours of feeding vs typical eat every 3 hours has no drawbacks.

 

[qbkilla]

Anyway, I just went through all of the studies they cited and not a single one was a controlled study during a gaining phase. Again, not super compelling and I'm not sure how they could draw that conclusion based on that.

I think at 47 minutes they talk about the latest study.

 

[BLang]

It's all good I can't watch 2 hours lol. I started at 40-44 minutes then probably listened to 25 more. Seems like the concussion was it's fine to jam the calories in a smaller window even when trying to gain lbm. They said to be safe maybe 3 daily meals I think. But seems like 8 hours of feeding vs typical eat every 3 hours has no drawbacks.

I get that, but the title of your thread is "intermittent fasting fine for bulking" and none of the studies they discuss address that claim.

 

[qbkilla]

https://translational-medicine.biom...86/s12967-016-1044-0?__s=ovzgowspzgzjrjm83r95

I believe this is the one they are talking about at 47 minutes. I don't see where it says If they were in a surplus, maintenance, or defecit. But based on the guys talking in the video talking about "missing out on gains" it seems they are inferring from the studies that they are not just talking about not losing muscle on a diet. From what I interpret?

 

[qbkilla]

Also, 1:58 the doctor comes on who did the latest study. They say "training goals and adaptation" I assume this refers to muscle gain?

Time-restricted feeding plus resistance training in active females: a randomized trial - PubMed

IF, in the form of TRF, did not attenuate RT adaptations in resistance-trained females. Similar FFM accretion, skeletal muscle hypertrophy, and muscular performance improvements can be achieved with dramatically different feeding programs that contain similar energy and protein content during...

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

 

[BLang]

The doctor does in fact suggest it in non-specific terms, but none of the studies he's conducted or that they cited actually show that.

I still don't see anything here that definitively backs up the thread title or the statement from the OP: "The science says this is fine for gaining".

 

[b-boy]

I have nothing against fasting especially during dieting when all I want out of my steroid cycle is maintaining lean muscle mass, But in an OPTIMAL mass gaing phase and I'm taking steroids for the increase protein turnover rate and anabolism I want a steady supply of amino acids thus I'm having MULTIPLE protein feeding around the time I'm awake. Just common sense to me, but I'm a bodybuilder not an underwear model.

 

[Muay Thai]

I almost do it inadvertently from working all night, then i will wake up and pin 10iu GH, take ketamine, and listen to lectures on philosophy and psychology, and alas im alive!
we come from cavemen, hunters and gatherers (not by choice) we would hunt a wooly mammoth and gorge, and on to the next hunt, chaos and order, we didnt have multiple meals per day, we biologically evolved this way. back to normal, AUTOPHAGY is another benefit of this .bye bye dead cells, make sure to hydrate

 

[OuchThatHurts]

I just eat small meals, real food, many times a day. The meals are easily and quickly digested, no bloat, and my belly doesn't get distended. Maybe one big gorge-fest does it for some but my digestion doesn't work that way. Especially training with a belly full of food or shakes/drinks. Intermittent Fasting when cutting bodyfat is okay for me but muscles will go flat and whether it's LBM or glycogen, I don't like losing either. Not at my current weight. Besides, carb fasting/loading is as good as IF in my experience.

 

[jeroendebleser]

I'm not huge in nerdy science stuff but found this interesting. I know if is controversial. I think most can agree it's useful for cutting but would not work for bulking. So you need breakfast, gotta lug the Tupperware to work, you can't just eat all your calories after work.

The science says this is fine for gaining, no less muscle will be gained by spreading out your calories.

Now of course some guys have a smaller appetite or eat 6-7k to grow. But for anyone with a healthy appetite and only eating 4k so on a bulk/lean gaining phase you don't need to space the meals if it's not convenient due to work, preference, etc.

Thoughts?

Why would it not work for bulking just as it does for cutting? It's all about the energy balance. That's not to say it's optimal because I don't think it is for various reasons.

But why would you do IF as a BB'er?

I like you QB but it seems you are always looking for other ways to get the job done while we know what works and what doesn't already and so do you 😉

Is it an OCD-, wanting to experiment thing? Or what causes you to constantly try unnecessary new things?

Or are you looking for the Holy Grail of bodybuilding? The Holy Grail is already covered by BigA's "The truth"-thread imo.

Again, not dissing you here 😉 But I get fatigued thinking about how much thinking you must be doing on this hobby/sport of ours. Just chill, you know what you need to do to get optimal results.

 

[jeroendebleser]

Good points. These guys were talking more about time restricted feeding vs fasting an entire day

Basically say I'm bulking at 4000 calories

8 meals from 6 am to 12pm will give the same results as 4 meals from 4pm to 12 pm. As long as the total calories/macros are equal, the spreading it out isn't better at building mass and the fasting during the day isn't better for staying lean. Calories in vs calories out.

Et voila 😉