Leaning/shredding

[DelayedGratification]

Now that my workout routine has been curtailed for a week, I'm starting to get serious about having a Plan B for the medium/long term. See my other thread about home gyms.

The flip side: what about leaning-up aka shredding? Doesn't that involve less exercise combined with a restrictive diet? Seems like now would be the time to try that.

Or do I have that wrong?

 

[bcude]

Not to my knowledge, you still want to preserve (as much as) your muscles as you can while you're shredding which means resistance training and high protein intake. You will still lose muscles because you can't have it both ways at the same time, but you will lose as little as possible if you do those two things.

I can recommend fasting. 16/8 works great for this.

 

[DelayedGratification]

Not to my knowledge, you still want to preserve (as much as) your muscles as you can while you're shredding which means resistance training and high protein intake. You will still lose muscles because you can't have it both ways at the same time, but you will lose as little as possible if you do those two things.

I can recommend fasting. 16/8 works great for this.

Yeah, I've been doing the 16/8 fasting for awhile (I eat from 1-9pm). I plateaued a bit after the first couple of months, but that also correlated with the holidays. I'm also concerned that if I push it too hard I risk weakening my immune system. So if I'm really, really hungry by mid morning I will have something small.

But good info, makes sense.

 

[EyeOnThePrize]

Personally keto and basic cardio keeps me lean af. I use cyclical keto to replenish glycogen(necessary for gains since I lift) for 2 days a week but otherwise keep my intake to super low carb. Your body will use the most abundant macro for energy. When you make the most abundant macro fat your body adapts to use ketones rather than glucose. Low insulin levels means your body uses fat stores, high insulin levels means your body stores fat. Since eating fats spike your insulin the least your body is in the fat burning phase much more often than in fat storing phase. As a result you always feel hungry, even if you hit your calorie target(which is hard enough without carbs) because your body is always burning fat.

I've tried the intermittent fasting but I find it's really hard on my digestive system to try and pack my calorie target into a smaller window. I'm much more comfortable eating whenever and consistently eating high healthy fat, low carb food. Basically meat and veggies.

 

[bcude]

Fasting puts alot of stress to the body, a positive stress that puts the cells in regenerating/repair mode. I don't think it will weaken your immune system as long as you eat quality food when you eat. I've noticed those hunger feelings go away as the body adapts after a while for me personally.
Just take some omega 3 and get some sun exposure for vitamin D, focus on quality food and you'll be good.