So I’m in the middle of a bulk and I have an extremely fast metabolism. Normally I need to eat every 2 to 3 hours. However because of my current health situation a couple times a week I go 6 hours without any food.
I still meet my total calories for the day, but there’s that 6 hour window of nothing. If this happens a couple times a week should I still be able to gain weight? Or will my body start to go catabolic during this time? Thanks for the help
It takes over a day without calories for your body to go catabolic. Intermittent fasting is a (somewhat) common approach to gaining mass while staying lean. While it may not be ideal for mass gains, it certainly doesn’t make you catabolic.
For your edification:
IF can assist in growth hormone production
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?Db=pubmed&Cmd=ShowDetailView&TermToSearch=1548337&ordinalpos=9&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum
A study on IFing in reducing fat and increasing lean mass:
So in short, don’t sweat it. At all.
–Me
[quote]bulkNcut wrote:
I still meet my total calories for the day, but there’s that 6 hour window of nothing. If this happens a couple times a week should I still be able to gain weight?[/quote]
People have used strategic fasting, up to 12, 16, 20 hours with no food, for weight gain no prob.
http://www.T-Nation.com/readArticle.do?id=4927546
As long as you are meeting your daily calories, on the “regular” days and the days with these 6 hour no-food blocks, it should be fine. The human body is generally not fragile enough that going 6 hours without food rather than 3 hours is cause for muscle catabolism.
Your body won’t start devouring your muscle just because more food doesn’t enter your body every 2 hours. From a evolution standpoint, that makes no sense. We would’ve died out long ago.
Plus, a lot of people seem to forget when they sleep they don’t eat yet their body doesn’t devour all your muscle.
Don’t you sleep? You’re going much more than 6 hours without food there everyday. What’s the problem again?
Thanks for the replies, I’ll take a look at the links you guys posted. Tomorrow will be a bit of a stretch as I have a porcedure at the hospital. I have to fast after midnight and the procedure doesn’t start until 8:30am and lasts until 12:30. Hopefully that doesn’t ruin my progress for the week but judging by what you guys have said it shouldn’t.
As others have said, it’s not a big deal. I firmly support the idea that strategic fasting potentially has significant health and body composition benefits. Of course, that’s a whole other conversation.
Above you are describing a 12 hour fast, during which you will likely be asleep for around 6 hours. If you had dinner at 6pm one night and didn’t eat again until breakfast at 6 or 7am the next day would, you really expect it to ruin your progress for the week?
Total calories and macros over extended periods are really what make the difference, IMO.