Short term fasting is something I have been doing for a while now.
I fast for about 24 hours at a time and only once every week or once every two weeks.
No longer than that for me. And I can't recommend fasting for longer than that because I just haven't studied it myself.
I do believe that long-term fasting can cause more harm than good, though, when it comes to getting a healthier body, burning fat, and building muscle.
For that reason I stick to short-term fasting and I only use it once every one to two weeks. And that might be for a program cycle that lasts 12 weeks. Not all the time.
Sometimes I may go longer with no fasting periods.
How to Use Fasting Combined With the WLC System
Today, I'm going to give you some tips on fasting and how to use this great strategy to help your muscle building and fat loss efforts.
Fasting also cleanses your body and gives your digestive system a break.
Short term fasting also gives you a mental break from eating 6 meals per day and recording everything you are eating.
Overall, short-term fasting is simply something you should try.
If you've been eating 5 to 6 meals or more per day for a long time now… you really to think about giving your digestive system a break once per week. This can really help you.
Your mind needs a break too.
Eating that many meals per day can take a toll on your mind. Once you go a day without having to plan every meal and eat that often, you'll see why fasting gives your mind a break.
My Experiences With Short Term Fasting for 24 Hours
I like to fast about one day per week during certain muscle building and fat loss cycles.
Usually, I do this on the last day of the week… usually Day 7 on one of my typical weight lifting schedules as shown below:
Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5 | Day 6 | Day 7 |
Workout | Rest | Workout | Rest | Workout | Rest | Rest |
Typically, muscle building from a workout is over about 48 hours post workout but is on the downhill slide after 36 hours.
So, on the night of Day 6 shown above, I have my last meal until 24 hours later.
So, I'll have a meal around 7 to 8 PM on Day 6. I will then fast for 24 hours and take nothing in but lots and lots of water. At about 7 to 8 PM on the night of Day 7, I will finally have a meal.
During the fasting period, I usually get very hungry for a few hours. I start to appreciate food and sometimes want healthy food that I never really enjoyed very much.
For example, I eat cottage cheese but don't really enjoy it. Well, during one fast I wanted cottage cheese very badly.
You start to realize things that you take for granted… food is a luxury for us and many people throughout the world are starving right now. When we think that we MUST have junk food, you realize that you don't need that junk during fasting.
You would be happy with some very healthy food that you never enjoyed eating. We have been spoiled because we can get any food that we want at any time.
That's why we make bad choices with food… because we can.
If all the junk weren't here, we wouldn't even know what we were missing. Junk food shouldn't be here… all it does is hurt people by leading to poor health.
Try fasting for 24 hours and tell me you wouldn't be happy with a lean and juicy steak, a baked sweet potato, and some lima beans. Trust me… you would be ecstatic with that meal.
Here's What Fasting Can Do For You If Implemented Correctly…
How about some real benefits of fasting? Here's why you should try fasting:
Feel Great During and After Fasting
Believe it or not, there's only a few hours that are on the miserable side during fasting. During the rest of the fasting period, you feel great and full of energy.
And the day after the fasting period is even better — at least it has been for me. My mind feels clear. My energy levels are skyrocketing. The feeling is amazing. I believe it's due to some type of supercompensation effect.
Remember, I haven't studied fasting extensively so I'm not sure what's going on for certain…
I have only implemented it so I am not yet an expert on fasting — working on that, though.
Learn to Appreciate Food
During the harder part of the fasting, you will learn to appreciate food and how you have readily available to you at all times.
You don't have to go hunt for your food or worry about whether or not you will have food on your table today, tomorrow, or a week from now.
This thought never crosses your mind: “Where's my next meal coming from?” If you are reading this right now, you truly are rich. All of us. We should be thankful for everything we have at all times.
We think we have real problems. We don't. If you have to worry about where you're next meal is coming from, then you have problems.
Fasting really helps you appreciate what you have. And that is an amazing benefit of fasting. You should try it.
Body Turns to Fat For Fuel
When you don't eat anything, your body only has stored carbohydrates, body fat reserves, and muscle mass as a source of energy. Once you use all the carbohydrate stores, your body will turn to body fat as its energy source.
You will burn fat during your fast. That's a guarantee.
If you have fewer carb stores, you will burn more fat because it will turn to these fat stores earlier because there is no other energy source available. Your body will not turn to muscle for energy because you haven't triggered the starvation response… you only do this for a single day.
Your body doesn't feel threatened and burns body fat for energy.
Detoxification of Your Body
Toxins are stored in body fat. When your body turns to fat for energy, it burns these toxins and gets rid of them.
This is one of the HUGE benefits of fasting and is probably the reason for feeling so much better the day after fasting.
The first time I did this, I was amazed at how great I felt. Amazing.
The digestive system is given a break during fasting too. The body can then use extra resources to heal the body instead of digesting food. Yor digestive system should get a break sometime. 6 meals per day really has it working over time.
Release of Growth Hormone
Studies have shown that large amounts of growth hormone is released during short-term fasting. This is huge for building muscle and burning fat.
Higher growth hormone levels can only be beneficial.
You're going to learn how to take advantage of this extra growth hormone release in some of the weight lifting programs I have developed.
Keep reading throughout this website, and you'll learn more and more.
Increases Your Appetite
Let me tell you… at the end of a short term fast, my appetite is roaring — big time. As soon as I go off the fast, I eat a very healthy and balanced meal that is a little larger than usual.
No junk allowed.
The following day… I hit the weights hard and I take advantage of the increased growth hormone levels. Results are amazing.
My experiences with fasting have been very, very good — less body fat and greater amounts of muscle mass.
And I attribute a lot of that to the fasting.
I also attribute it to the other protocols I use during my programs. So, it really does take a combination of fasting and many other things to get the results you are looking for — keep reading through this website and you will learn more.
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