Find out how effective 16/8 intermittent fasting can be for gaining lean mass. Intermittent fasting is an effective nutritional system that allows you to lose fat and gain muscle mass at the same time. Probably now many of you will say that this is simply impossible if the athlete trains naturally. After reading this article, you will find that 16/8 intermittent fasting for lean mass is an excellent choice for this task.
Is intermittent fasting harmful?
Every person who wants to have a beautiful body knows that this can be achieved only with the help of properly organized nutrition. Today, a fractional meal system is popular, when you need to eat often, but in small portions. However, fitness fans often express dissatisfaction with the results obtained and want to find a more effective method. It is the 16/8 intermittent fasting for gaining lean mass that can become such.
However, let's ask ourselves first, what is the right diet? The answer is obvious enough - to use high-quality and healthy products. Modern food is fatty and not natural for the human body. Thus, it is necessary to limit the amount of fat in the diet, consume enough protein compounds, and carbohydrates can be manipulated and thereby lose weight or gain weight. Add vegetables and fruits to all that has been said for the perfect nutritional recipe.
However, there are now many studies that tell us the opposite - by eating poorly foods, your strength parameters may be higher. But this is only possible if a person does not have constant access to food. Now we want to say that proper nutrition involves not only the use of certain foods, but also the timing of their intake.
Agree that our ancestors for many centuries lived in conditions of a limited amount of food and were forced to starve. However, this fasting was intermittent. Modern man has already forgotten what hunger is and we have round-the-clock access to food. People no longer spend much time looking for food, they just go to work. Having received a salary, they calmly go to the supermarket and buy everything they need.
Now we are not talking about the fact that the food you eat is excessively fatty. You have the opportunity to eat at any time. After people stopped starving, an obesity epidemic began. Over millions of years of human evolution, the body has developed special mechanisms that allow it to efficiently spend a small amount of incoming energy. In addition to obesity, there is another serious problem in the modern world - diabetes. This disease is also related to the fact that we have round-the-clock access to food.
Let's talk about hunger and fasting now, because they are different concepts. The main difference between the two is control, or lack thereof. Hunger is an involuntary lack of food and cannot be controlled. Fasting is on the other side of the scale, and you do not voluntarily consume them if you have food. Fasting is possible at any time interval, for example, several hours or days.
If necessary, fasting can be stopped, even for no reason. The 16/8 intermittent fasting system for lean mass gains requires specific times for food intake and fasting. We'll talk about this a little later. Now we need to deal with the positive and negative effects of fasting.
Benefits of 16/8 intermittent fasting for lean mass gain
To understand the advantages or disadvantages of a particular system, it is necessary to refer to the results of scientific research. In the West, a lot of attention is paid to proper nutrition, and scientists are trying to find the most optimal meal plan. In America, an experiment was carried out on rats, which proved that intermittent fasting not only does not harm the body, but is also beneficial for it. Let's see what conclusions scientists from the United States have come to:
- Intermittent fasting is natural for the human digestive system. This is due to special mechanisms that have been created over millions of years of evolution.
- All food that comes after fasting is absorbed quickly and as efficiently as possible. We talked about the fact that the body is able to effectively use a small amount of energy and after fasting all incoming nutrients are used as efficiently as possible.
- Since the nutrients will be used efficiently, they are guaranteed not to be converted to fat. Moreover, the adipose tissue will begin to be utilized.
- Skillful use of nutrients by the body leads to a set of quality mass, but this requires regular exercise.
- In the course of the study, which was mentioned just above, the muscular endurance increased in rodents. If you carry out training, then the physical parameters will begin to grow.
Let's return again to the experiment we are considering, since it is of particular interest to us. The rodents were divided into several groups:
- group number 1 - fatty junk food was consumed and the animals did not starve;
- group number 2 - junk food with a high fat content was consumed against the background of starvation;
- group number 3 - without the fasting phase, the diet consisted of quality food;
- group No. 4 - a system of intermittent fasting was used and the rodents were fed quality food.
As a result, the best results in terms of gaining muscle mass were obtained by animals from the fourth group. An interesting fact is that the second place was taken by mice, representing the second group. At the same time, the lag in the amount of muscle mass was small. Animals that had constant access to food showed worse results, which was quite expected. Most people can be counted in the first group, because they eat incorrectly, eating fatty foods with unlimited access to food. From the results of this study, we can conclude that, even eating bad food against the background of intermittent fasting, you can get rid of excess fat and gain quality muscle mass.
16/8 Intermittent Fasting Scheme to Gain Lean Mass
This system is quite simple, and you need to divide the day into two time intervals - the phases of food intake and fasting. Note that there are more complex schemes for using intermittent fasting 16/8 for gaining net mass, but now we will talk only about the most simple and understandable for each person. Already from the name of the system, you can understand that the numbers mean the duration of each of the two stages. Fasting should last 16 hours, and all meals should be contained in eight.
If you carefully understand this issue, then almost every one of us uses this technique to one degree or another. During sleep alone, a person goes hungry for seven to nine hours. Note that the system has no restrictions on the start time of a particular stage. You have the right to choose when the fasting and eating phase starts. It is only important that they last the required amount of time. It is also important to exercise regularly because it will speed up metabolic processes and increase hormone production.
If your goal is to lose weight, then it is better to train at the end of the fasting phase. However, it is very important to correctly calculate the load, because the body takes more time to obtain energy from fatty acids in comparison with glycogen. If you decide to try 16/8 intermittent fasting to gain lean mass on yourself, then you should move on to it smoothly.
At first, you can use a lighter version of the method and replace the fasting phase by giving up fats and carbohydrates. Simply put, at this time, the use of protein products is allowed. You can also fast for 14 hours first and thereby increase the "food window" phase to ten. We recommend that you adapt this technique to your daily routine and body characteristics. This will allow you not to experience discomfort during the fasting phase.
Let's take a closer look at the food intake phase, because everything is very clear with fasting. Begin this phase after completing the activity and eat well. On training days, it is the first meal after the end of the lesson that should be as high in calories as possible, but you should not overeat. You should have all the essential nutrients in your diet, and should serve as a serving size for your two fists.
After completing a workout, the body will actively restore glycogen stores and be reluctant to process fats. The second meal should take place three hours after the first. Serving size and calories are the same as for a post-workout meal. Take your last meal in two or three hours and should be the lightest. After that, the countdown of the fasting phase begins.
Now let's summarize and deduce the rules of the 16/8 intermittent fasting system for gaining net mass:
- The day must be divided into two stages - fasting and nutrition.
- The fasting phase lasts 16 hours, and the "food window" lasts for eight.
- During the fasting phase, you can consume black coffee, green tea, and BCAA or other amines to protect muscle tissue.
- During the feeding phase, two or three meals should be taken, the break between which is about 3 hours.
- The diet should contain no more than 50 grams of animal fats.
- Food serving sizes are no more than two of your fists.
Disadvantages of the 16/8 intermittent fasting system for lean mass gain
Let's not dissemble and assure you that this technique is ideal. In no case, because intermittent fasting 16/8 for gaining net mass has certain disadvantages:
- At the moment, there are no results of long-term studies of this system, and we cannot predict the body's response with complete certainty.
- Some people find it difficult to switch to using the system.
- During the fasting phase, an increase in irritability is possible, although this largely depends on the person himself. Many of these problems do not experience.
- Often, during the first week of using the technique, working capacity is somewhat reduced, which is explained by the need for time to restructure the body's work.
Summing up, this system can be recommended for those who find themselves in a plateau state and cannot gain muscle mass. Try the 16/8 intermittent fasting system for lean mass, and it might just be the one you've been trying to find for a long time.
More on 16/8 intermittent fasting in the following video:
