Just eat fats and protein. Don't any sugars or carbs. There is a misconception that eating fat causes fat which is not true its the sugars and carbs.

Just an update on Intermittent Fasting...

http://www.precisionnutrition.com/intermittent-fasting

Here is another well-sourced site (co)authored by a Dr. John Berardi, who is often noted for advocating multiple meals/snacks throughout the day, which is quite the opposite of IF. This is one of several diets that I've given to clients in the past, and all have seen great results. The main takeaway is to figure out a healthy diet that is adaptable to your specific lifestyle, and even IF has certain limitations that can limit your results if not properly adhered to.

For those who are already skinny/thin, your metabolism is probably fast as lightning, and you can probably recall many many times saying "I just can't gain weight no matter what I eat. I've taken weight gainers, protein shakes, etc." For these guys, you need to find your larger friends/relatives and go to buffets and try to beat them (or at best match them) in plates. This is of course preferred after a session of heavy lifting and short but high intensity conditioning.

As a trainer and coach this sounds bad, but in reality the poor guy (you) need to learn how to eat, and eating with those who eat a lot will teach this. On these guys, it is easier to strip off the fat after they have gained some muscle.

Then there are those who struggle to lose weight/fat, and for them IF could work. What IF does is it controls the calories in the beginning of the day and allows much more eating at night... and what this does it saves the muscle and reduces fat mass by a large percentage if followed correctly. This is of course, with the understanding that the individual exercises as well, as the effects can compound on each other in a good way!

It's been about two months, how is everyone doing on this diet, and if you are still following along with this lifestyle/diet?

I'm still bulking. My fat gain has been minimal, but that's also because my diet has been pretty clean. But I've added almost 20 pounds in about 3 months. All of my compound lifts are up quite a bit. I eat from 12PM to 8PM every day. Usually 4-5 meals. On workout days, I eat mostly carbs and protein. On off days I eat mostly fat and protein with less carbs. Off days, it's no problem getting all the food down. On workout days, it's hard. My body really doesn't respond well to complex carbs. I get bloated, gassy, lethargic, low energy. On low carb days, I always have tons of energy.

Only complaint with the IF is that often in the middle of the night I get really, really hungry. I usually stop eating at 8-9PM, but don't go to bed until 4AM or so. So those last couple hours, I get hungry and it can be hard to fall asleep.

Other than that, it seems to be going well though. Going to keep bulking for another month. Gains have slowed down a lot. I probably need to up my calories again. But eating 4000+ calories in eight hours is hard enough as it is. Adding another meal on top of that feels daunting. I don't know how much of the fat minimizing is due to the IF or due to my diet. My diet has been very good, but not perfect. But I figure I shouldn't mess with a good thing, so I'm going to keep doing it. It'll be interesting to see how much it helps when I cut next year.

Do you ever get acid reflux? I get that sometimes and I confuse it with hunger so much, I can't tell the difference.

Cutting is going to be liberating for you, having to eat almost half of what you already eat. I hope your cut goes well. I know there was a guy a while back that had a very nice cut.

Here's a link if you are interested:
http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread...t752479303

He went down to around eight percent bodyfat in twelve weeks eating 2100 calories on workout days and 1600 on rest days.

The leangains guide is pretty awesome!! It uses short term cyclying of cutting and bulking.

The leangains guide is pretty awesome!! It uses short term cyclying of cutting and bulking.

(10-20-2011 06:24 AM)Mark Wrote:  I'm still bulking. My fat gain has been minimal, but that's also because my diet has been pretty clean. But I've added almost 20 pounds in about 3 months. All of my compound lifts are up quite a bit. I eat from 12PM to 8PM every day. Usually 4-5 meals. On workout days, I eat mostly carbs and protein. On off days I eat mostly fat and protein with less carbs. Off days, it's no problem getting all the food down. On workout days, it's hard. My body really doesn't respond well to complex carbs. I get bloated, gassy, lethargic, low energy. On low carb days, I always have tons of energy.

Only complaint with the IF is that often in the middle of the night I get really, really hungry. I usually stop eating at 8-9PM, but don't go to bed until 4AM or so. So those last couple hours, I get hungry and it can be hard to fall asleep.

Other than that, it seems to be going well though. Going to keep bulking for another month. Gains have slowed down a lot. I probably need to up my calories again. But eating 4000+ calories in eight hours is hard enough as it is. Adding another meal on top of that feels daunting. I don't know how much of the fat minimizing is due to the IF or due to my diet. My diet has been very good, but not perfect. But I figure I shouldn't mess with a good thing, so I'm going to keep doing it. It'll be interesting to see how much it helps when I cut next year.

Mark I read somewhere on leangains site that you can actually eat something like 50-100 calories during the fast without having it actually diminish the effects. So maybe you can have like a tablespoon of peanut butter or something and it would help with cravings. Dont quote me though.

Hey mark

question: can you post an example of what exactly you eat?

I eat: sprouted lentils, whole wheat bread, oatmeal, almonds, peanut butter, eggs, tuna.

Work out day:

Pre-workout meal:
- 3 ham sandwiches (4 slices of ham each), plain with wheat bread
- Protein shake

Workout

Post workout protein shake
Post workout Meal:
- Three grilled chicken breasts
- Baked potato
- Little bit of salad

Snack:
- Fruit
- Some peanuts

Evening meal:
- Three ham sandwiches with wheat bread
- Skim Milk

Dinner:
- Chicken and rice, veggies, skim milk

All in all comes out to about 4000 calories, 40% carbs, 40% protein, 20% fat. I'll deviate a little bit here and there, but this is what I usually follow on workout days,. Drink a shitload of water as well.

You eat 400 grams of protein???

Whilst bulking? And having problems to stomach all that food? WHY?