If You Screw Up a 24 Hour Fast, is it still Muscle Sparing? (HGH)

[nicksaiz65]

Had a question for my fasting bros on here. IF and regular fasting have been amazing on my fitness journey. I love fasting and then eating the big satisfying meals. I can stick to it and I’m getting results, unlike 5-6 meals of chicken broccoli and rice. That is literally fvcking impossible to stick to.

One of my favorite techniques is using a 24 hour fast as a “reset button” to undo a bad day of eating, or even a bad weekend. That way, a day or two of bad eating can’t screw up your entire week for weight loss. It’s already been proven through the research that you will not lose muscle mass on a 24 hour fast due to the increase in HGH. So fasting is essentially muscle sparing.

I had been a little bit sloppy on my diet this week, so I decided to do a 24 hour fast to ensure I was in a deficit. I made it until 8 PM without eating, and then I cracked. I was working a big social event, and the organizer offered me a slice of pizza. I didn’t have the heart to turn him down.

So my fast is now broken because I consumed calories. Because I’ve broken my fast, do I still get the muscle preserving benefits or will I be burning up a ton of muscle since I’m not in the fasted state anymore? Since I’ve now eaten: I was wondering if I needed to slam like 6 chicken breasts before bed to hit my usual protein requirement now and avoid muscle loss.

So when I attempt a 24 hour fast, and life happens and I end up consuming some calories: what should I do and how should I handle it so I don’t lose muscle? Should I slam a big ass protein Shake before bed? Or should I keep it moving, not worry about those calories and not worry about losing muscle?

 

[nicksaiz65]

Especially interested to hear what you think @mrgoodstuff

 

[jimwho]

My unprofessional opinion is you're over thinking it. I eat once, sometimes finish the rest a couple hours later. If the majority of your life you are strict you are guaranteed to lose weight. Having pizza is a treat, not something to beat yourself up about. I thought if you're young and do lots of protein you wouldn't need to worry about muscle loss?

Again the times you stay in a calorie deficit you're losing weight. For me my reset is blowing it on purpose. Beers, pizza, ice cream, pie. Just to change it up and keep my sanity. Maybe ten times a year, not counting going out with women or Thanksgiving. Hope this helps.

 

[mrgoodstuff]

Especially interested to hear what you think @mrgoodstuff

I'm not looking at any studies at the moment but the HgH boost comes later. I'm pretty sure it's after 36 hours. When people are on a fast and say they get a boost of "clarity" and energy surge after a couple of days, that's said to be the HgH boost.

You still got to clear out glycogen for 24 hours, and to burn stored calories during the 24 hours, but for the full benefits you need a longer fast, 2-3 days at least IMHO.

 

[FlexpertHamilton]

I'm not sure, it probably does depend on your diet to some degree. If you're on a keto-ish diet I think you can safely assume you're already using ketones for energy well before your 24 hour fast is up, especially if you exercise early in the day.

I wouldn't worry about it though. Even IM fasting for 16 hours a day can be muscle-sparing.

 

[nicksaiz65]

I'm not looking at any studies at the moment but the HgH boost comes later. I'm pretty sure it's after 36 hours. When people are on a fast and say they get a boost of "clarity" and energy surge after a couple of days, that's said to be the HgH boost.

You still got to clear out glycogen for 24 hours, and to burn stored calories during the 24 hours, but for the full benefits you need a longer fast, 2-3 days at least IMHO.

Nice. I can’t say I’ve ever used fasts longer than 24 hours to improve my body composition. But it would be useful to throw them in every once in a while to improve my health. And to induce autophagy.