Growth Hormone Fasting Experiment

Nope, cause I did.

Broke the fast last night. Had some fruit and a small amount of protein. A little while later I ate a meal of chicken breast and asparagus. This morning I ate 2 bananas, pineapple, bowl of life cereal and some more chicken. About two hours after that I went to the gym, worked out and ate some more bananas, life cereal and a can of tuna.

I lost a total of 5 pounds on the 4 day fast. As of right now I gained 4lbs back. My performance at the gym was pretty good all things considering. Matter of fact my Incline DB Press went from using 115lb db’s for 7 reps to 8 reps. The other 3 lifts were a little off however, but nothing big, about 5-10lbs. Then again, I had been due for a deload for quite some time.

The fast was not difficult at all. I actually didn’t feel the need to break the fast last night, but I have some things to do this weekend and fasting wouldn’t have been a good idea.

I guess I feel a little better. My digestion has gotten better just from the 4 day fast. Things are moving better. Overall, I would do it again, I had no problems.

The Life Extensions folks seem to think there could be some benefits from CR and fasting.
I think it makes more sense to just eat low to mid cals and high nutrition.

Thanks for sharing OP.

And always funny how ‘outside-the-box type thinking’ always seems to bring out the ones who insist on flaunting their closed-mindedness…

[quote]chillain wrote:
Thanks for sharing OP.

And always funny how ‘outside-the-box type thinking’ always seems to bring out the ones who insist on flaunting their closed-mindedness…[/quote]

Yeah, by the sound of some of the posters, you would have thought that I was going without food for a few years and not days.

Fasting is beneficial, study after study has proven that. People have been using fasting for thousands of years for health. You are not going to shrivel up and die if you don’t eat for a few days.

Oh and by the way, two days after the fast I am now 3 lbs heavier than when I started and just as lean. My appetite has improved from the fast, that is probably the biggest benefit I have seen.

[quote]Charlemagne wrote:
3 lbs heavier than when I started and just as lean. [/quote]

unconfirmed

this is interesting. i tried romaniello’s feast & fast idea though, and it didn’t work too well for me.

[quote]ritzgooch23 wrote:
this is interesting. i tried romaniello’s feast & fast idea though, and it didn’t work too well for me. [/quote]

Different things work for different people. All that I know is that intermittent fasting has been working for me.

[quote]chillain wrote:
Thanks for sharing OP.

And always funny how ‘outside-the-box type thinking’ always seems to bring out the ones who insist on flaunting their closed-mindedness…[/quote]

Maybe it’s close minded to think that being open minded is the only valid approach. brain explosion

Can’t put my finger on it but something here doesn’t add up. Just feel like the OP’s plugging something other than the awesomeness of not eating. OP, do you have pics of your physique or vids of your lifts? Inclining the 115’s for reps for a guy who routinely starves himself is pretty impressive.

[quote]WhiteFlash wrote:
Can’t put my finger on it but something here doesn’t add up. Just feel like the OP’s plugging something other than the awesomeness of not eating. OP, do you have pics of your physique or vids of your lifts? Inclining the 115’s for reps for a guy who routinely starves himself is pretty impressive.[/quote]

Though I think that going an entire week without food is excessive, regular intermittent fasting (for like 16-20 hours) is not starving yourself. Its irritating when people say that.

WhiteFlash, if by starving you mean ‘intermittent fasting’, then you can look to the left of a physique which has resulted from that. (If you mean water fasts for 3 days, then the rest of my post does not apply; I find that very excessive)

Not the best, but I’m 20 and like my Pop tarts; take it FWIW.

I do not wish to say that it is better nor worse than regular eating, as I cannot compare then accurately. But intermittent fasting does nothing negative to the body when done right, and the recompensatory effects when you do start eating can easily compensate for the lack of dietary intake.

Not the best plan for all out power and mass gains, but good for body composition and regulation. Eating required calories in 4-8 hours allows bigger meals too :smiley:

I don’t have vids of my lifts (so cannot prove these claims; I can’t bring cameras into my gym either), but the last few months have seen my bench reach 360 and squat reach 475. Haven’t done deads so cannot comment on them.

[quote]BONEZ217 wrote:

[quote]chillain wrote:
Thanks for sharing OP.

And always funny how ‘outside-the-box type thinking’ always seems to bring out the ones who insist on flaunting their closed-mindedness…[/quote]

Maybe it’s close minded to think that being open minded is the only valid approach. brain explosion[/quote]

LOL

a Guy a train with is a well respected athlete (ex-professional muay thai fighter and canadian rugby player) does 4 day fasts. This guy benches 220 lbs 22 times, clean the same weight for an easy 7-8, does 8 non kipping muscle ups and not to even mention his explosiveness, he does all this at a very lean 210. From where I’m standing it doesn’t look like fasting makes your muscles melts.

[quote]WhiteFlash wrote:
Can’t put my finger on it but something here doesn’t add up. Just feel like the OP’s plugging something other than the awesomeness of not eating. OP, do you have pics of your physique or vids of your lifts? Inclining the 115’s for reps for a guy who routinely starves himself is pretty impressive.[/quote]

Dude, using 115lbs db’s for some reps on an incline bench is nothing impressive. When I used to train for powerlifting and was 35lbs heavier I was using 150’s for reps.

And I don’t routinely starve myself, I went without food for 4 days. I wasn’t doing any hard manual labor for those 4 days, just paper and school work. 4 days is the longest I have gone without food btw, and like I said it wasn’t too difficult.

I follow an intermittent fasting plan. Usually its like 16-18 hours of fasting followed by 6-8 hours of eating pretty much whatever I want, especially post workout. (my past post workout meal consisted of 3 doughnuts, sardines, big bowl of life cereal, bananas and pineapple…talk about an insulin spike!) It has been working for me.

Am I as strong as I was when I ate all the time? No.

Do I feel and look better? Yes, and to me overall health is much more important than being able to bench more weight.