#62 - Intermittent Fasting vs Starvation & Running
Oftentimes people ask the question: What Is Intermittent Fasting, and How Is the Diet Different From Starvation? People also ask: Is IF healthy for weight loss? If you are a runner you may also ask: Can IF help me with my running or hurt me due to lack of food? In this week's blog/podcast we will tackle those questions for you and set you on the right path! Our opinions and advice do not substitute your medical professional's advice.
If your medical professional does not believe in IF it may be time to find a new one. Kidding, not kidding, your best advocate for your health is yourself. So never take anyone’s word as gospel, do your research and learn what is best for your body. Ok, let’s get into answering these 3 questions.
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What Is Intermittent Fasting, and
How Is the Diet Different From Starvation?
IF is a way of eating that calls for alternating between fasting and eating at specific times of the day. IF is different from traditional diets in that it’s not about eating specific foods. IF is not about depriving yourself and restricting calories either. Intermittent Fasting is all about eating your meals during a certain time frame and fasting for the rest of the day and night. Have you ever heard of anyone tell you that they do not eat past 6 pm? That person may talk about how they naturally would feel better doing this and as a bonus may have even lost a few pounds along the way. This same friend of yours may not eat breakfast until 7 or 8 am. Boom they just fasted for 13-14 hours.
Some of the benefits of this:
Better Sleep
Less Bloating
More Energy
Digestion Time To Recover (and more)
I heard an interesting quote in the book: Fast, Feast, Repeat that said: “Intermittent Fasting Is A Health Plan with the Side Effect Of Weight Loss”
With that quote in mind, let us head to our next question.
Can Intermittent Fasting Help Me Lose Weight?
The short answer is yes! Be patient, Rome wasn’t built in a day. Whatever weight we may be trying to lose didn’t come on in just a week or 30 days. IF is linked to weight loss because if you are purposefully closing your eating window at 6 or 7 pm and not having your usual late-night snacks then you are naturally cutting out those calories.
This process forces your body to turn to the fat stored in cells for energy. Insulin levels decline during your fasting period and once glucose is depleted, the body burns fat.
I recommend this method to the members of our running program that I teach locally and online. I use it as a one-two punch to the gut, literally! Seriously, think about it, stop eating at 6 pm one evening and wake up at 6 am and look into the mirror. You will notice a flatter tummy. I recommend that my clients, whenever possible, run in a fasted state. When we run in a fasted state we are burning straight fat, not the pre-workout calories we just took in. For years the experts would tell us that we can’t target belly fat. IF allows our bodies to run off of fat for fuel instead of 6 small meals a day, which causes all sorts of insulin spikes. Another added bonus is that when we are in a fasted state we also develop ketones which help our mind think clearly! With a clear mind, we can use that to say no thank you to the office donuts.
For our last question, I actually took this to Facebook and got opinions from other runners from around the world.
Can Intermittent Fasting Help Me With Running?
You may already know my answer based on how I addressed the last question. Of course, it can. Everybody is different, and with anything new, you have to make adjustments. Some may perform best in an 8 hr fasted state before working out. I personally enjoy racing in a 12 hour fasted state. One of my fastest mile times came on a 19 hour fast. This was an evening run after work. My mile time was 6:58 (That’s fast for me) my personal best is 6:55, I’m pretty sure that was in a fasted state too. That 6:55 came during a morning mile test. I have been practicing IF for solid two-plus years and love it. I started out fasting for 13 hours at a time. Then I worked my way up to 16 hours at a time. Now my sweet spot is 20 hours fast per day. There are many times I break my fast early and that is ok. Don’t feel like you must watch the clock. If it is a Saturday morning and the family is having a special breakfast at 10 am but you planned to fast until 12 pm, no worries break the fast early. I’m not going to come to arrest you. To make my fasting simple I use an app called Zero. I simply tap a button to start the fast and tap a button to end the fast. It tracks all my progress, I can peek at it to see how long I’m currently fasting. I created a tutorial on how to use the app. (Zero Fasting App Review) https://youtu.be/hWUTiSt7LUA
Don’t just take my word for it, let’s get some thoughts from other runners from across the country.
The question that I posed was: “Does anyone have a great Intermittent Fasting Story that helped you perform well at a race?”
Adam: My story is in the making right now
Roy: Research the winner of the first modern Olympic marathon
Irene Smith: I was going to have one until the pandemic canceled the half right before I was supposed to run. Honestly, I have NEVER felt better running as I do now that I fast. I have been doing it for a year and a half now. I have lost about 25 pounds and running is just so much easier now! I have way less digestive “issues” during long runs! 😉
Angela Carman: You have to think about training your body to run on fat or run on carbs. Read into it before starting.
Brian Peters: Yes! I ran my fastest ever Marathon in an 18 hours fasted state. No food or water was needed on the run. The end 😉👊😍👍
Danielle: I don’t have a specific story per se, but I have intermittently fasted for over a decade now and when I’m strict to my fasting, my race times have been better
Violetta: I ran my last full marathon around 13-16 hours fasted. Consumed only water during the race and waited until 7 pm that evening to eat. Finished that race with a time of 2:52 (6:34/mi). Keep in mind that it’s much easier to run in a fasted state when your body is fueled by ketones versus carbs. All of my training runs (up to 23 miles) are 18-24 hours fasted so come race day I’m not trying something new.
Thank you all for sharing you amazing experiences. Thank you also the reader of this blog and listener of the podcast. If you enjoyed our content please share it with a friend or family.
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