Hi Paul, I have a few questions regarding 5/2 fasting. First, do you follow the template in TC Luoma’s article where you eat two 400 calorie meals on fasting days or do you completely fast those 2 days?
Second, in the days you eat normally, do you still maintain some type of calorie deficit? I’m probably around 25-30% BF ( totally guessing here ) so I wasn’t sure if I should still keep calories low on non-fasting days/training days or if the fasting days are enough to slowly start leaning out.
Third, does apple cider vinegar provide nutrient partitioning? Unfortunately Indigo-3G is too cost prohibitive for me right now.
Last question is more general. There’s so much dieting advice/articles that things get confusing. If I’m overweight but wanting to still gain strength and size, can i be in a calorie deficit? I know the general advice is to have a calorie surplus to gain, but I’m wondering if having excess body fat will provide the needed surplus to keep gaining while still losing weight. It just seems as if most articles are geared towards either lean guys wanting to gain or fat guys wanting to lose. As I said I’m just confused on how to proceed. I’m totally willing to forego weight loss for now if that’s necessary to keep making some gains, but to do both would be better.
Sorry if this was long winded, as always I appreciate your advice and your time!
If you have been training hard for over a year, and gear is not a factor, doing both at the same time is VERY unlikely. If your truly at 25-30%, you need to lose some fat. Not sure about this particular fasting protocol but I would suggest you maintain a calorie deficit all days, regardless of fasting or not.
Did you read the 5/2 article? The point is to not do a deficit on the other days. Eating 800 calories 2x per week will put you in enough of a deficit to lose a pound per week.
Yea I read the article, it states you could bulk while still losing fat, and that goes against common knowledge as indicated by fitgm’s response above, hence the confusion, and since Paul is knowledgeable on this topic and uses it I was interested in his take on it. Also, I would’ve figured eating two small meals on fasting days would negate the benefits of fasting aside from the weight loss caused by the calorie deficit.
Yes, you could. But it would not be optimal. It doesn’t really matter though if your goal is to lose fat. You’re going to lose strength with a drop in bf% that large, but once you get down to 15% or so you’ll actually look muscular. The benefits of a 5/2 fasting day are not the same as fasting without eating, you’re right, but the point of the 5/2 fast is fat loss, so for that purpose it’s great.
My template is similar. 1 500-calorie meal on the fasting days usually late at night.
Honestly I’m pretty much in a calorie deficit more days than not.
Yes on the apple cider, it’s been proven to improve insulin sensitivity.
LASTLY…if you’re really overweight STOP WORRYING ABOUT STRENGTH GAIN. GET IN SHAPE FIRST! Period. During that time the weight on the bar is completely irrelevant.