Is Intermittent Fasting The Fastest Way To Lose Bellyfat?

[infection]

Dude definitely way too many shakes. I wouldn't be surprised if you get mad diarrhea from all the liquid protein. Also, cut down on the fruit. Fruit has a ton of carbs. Sure, fruit is healthy, but it's easy to get way above on your carbs by eating fruit.

This is why I recommend carb cycling to people. One day high carbs, and 3 days low carbs, then repeat. With carb cycling, you can toss in some fruit or whatever you want on the high carb day, and then the low carb days you stick to the basics.

Example: My high carb day I stay under 200g carbs and spread it throughout the day but never past 7pm. On my low carb days, I never go over 50g carbs and I consume all of them before 1pm. I stopped counting calories because when I cycle carbs, my body fat percentage drops at a decent rate, and gives me the results that I am looking for. As long as I track my carbs, everything is good. Oh, I do keep my protein between 250-300g depending on the day.

This is a simple example of how easy it is to make a basic carb cycling diet. Some people may do it a little differently, but it's basically the same principle.

 

[infection]

Also, because I have done this a few times, you can learn how your body reacts to the cycling, and you can adjust your fats accordingly. Depending on my workouts, I consume more fats on certain days, and always plan my leg day after my high carb day because I perform legs best when I have carbs in my system.

You need a basic program to start with, and then build upon it with little variations that work for you.

 

[Surfgod]

Thanks Infection for posting. Whats your current bodyfat at and you mind sharing your carb cycling diet on here please?

 

[infection]

I don't know what my body fat is. Maybe 10%? Being a student really wears me out and so I can only cut carbs for so long before I start feeling mentally drained.

I usually keep my dieting specifics to myself, just because everyone has opinions and it's something I have found to be best for me, but I will share some of it.

As posted above, I cycle 3 days low 1 day high. Low days are about 50g of carbs and 300g protein. High days are about 200g carbs and 250g protein. I cut my protein a little because of the extra 600 calories I am intaking from carbs. My fats are based on how I feel, and also on what is available here at school. I am tending to buy more and more of my food, which I combine with the meal plan here at school.

Breakfast is usually 6 egg whites, and 25g mixed carbs(oats,flaxseed,rye,barley,quinoa, and wheat). This is usually my main carb meal for breakfast and if it's a high carb day I will add in a wheat english muffin.

I have boneless skinless chicken breasts that I eat for half of my meals, with a few drops of hot sauce as needed.

Last big meal before lifting is chicken mixed with cottage cheese.

Big evening meal before 7pm is tuna mixed with cottage cheese. This is a staple in my diet, and even though it's not too appetizing, I eat about 85-90g protein from this meal, with minimal carbs. I have low fat cottage cheese btw.

I mix in veggies to fill my gaps. I only drink water(no juice). I take a multi, and fish oil. Keep it simple.

 

[SonOfZeu$]

i just posted up my diet and how much i've lost and etc... check it out on my thread for burning fat. I ate every three hours and used protein as my main energy source, i still had carbs but low, i was taking in about 2400-2800 kcal depending on the day i woke up and started eating and went to sleep, you want to eat about every 2-3 hours, latest every 4th hour

 

[Ma213802]

Would an ideal diet be Chicken and Veggies? I know you need variety, but would this be a good base to start a clean diet?I mean is it possible to just eat nothing but this prepared in different ways, and be on a completly clean diet? Thanks! You guys really know your shit!

 

[sLd]

Just dont get the intermittent fasting, i thoght there were "proven" facts that if your eating window is longer than 4 hours your body slows its metabolis down and the food you ll eat later suppose to be stored by belly for future times u ll be hungry again.

Well I guess its not true, cuz you guys have had good results

 

[nolefan]

was eating 2200 calories a day, 5 meals a day for months, the BF was dropping. decided to try IF with the same calories,did it for 4 months. i saw no difference.

 

[ava350]

Use it bro. Its the best. What moat dont realize is that its not a diet. Its just an eating plan. You eat as much as everyone else you juat structure when u eat so tjat you can maximize the amount of time your body has too burn fat. Even more importantly it helps you control your blood glucose spikes that are responsible for hunger and it also promotes testosterone production. Your body does this to protect itself from using your muscles as a protien source for up to 28 hours. It worked for me. You are not starving yourself.

 

[freespirit074]

Hey if all else fails, there's always lipo.

 

[chillinkillin]

love your meal plan man, it's similar to my nutrition philosophy with the low carbs/loading. I do like to switch up my meats and am not afraid of fats and cheeses but I will probably start minimizing the fats as time progresses. Also, do you think that fats really affect a low-carb approach because if your body is constantly using fats as fuel you won't really gain weight on a low-carb approach regardless, here is a study claiming a man ate 48,659 cals over maintenance on the low-carb approach and didn't gain a pound, this is without exercise as well. So for those who doubt this approach as to getting lean, buzz off. magicbus.myfreeforum.org/ftopic846-0-asc-0.php

I came across that study off of musclehack.com--- good stuff on there if you haven't checked it out
musclehack.com/best-bodybuilding-diet-plan-revealed/

 

[Squatter13]

Last summer I was a really high BF. I started a cut.

I did plain old IIFYM and calorie counting. That worked for the first few months. And it kept working. But I decided to switch things up and try out IF because I heard a fair bit about it at that time.

So I gave it a shot. I don't know if it works any faster -- and I continued to lose fat -- but I will say that I found myself feeling less hungry when I ate during a smaller window of time. When I ate throughout the day (typically over 16 hours) I found I got stronger hunger cravings, even when I ate the same food type and quantity, as compared to a 6 hour eating window. My hunger would kind of just fade during the day and I'd run on caffeine (black coffee, maybe a diet soda, lots of water).

If anything it just helped me add some variety and keep moving things forward with my fat loss at the time. Good luck if you try it. Hell, good luck losing fat anyway

 

[SolomonGrundy]

Intermittent fasting is a joke. If you want to have serious results, learn to cook and lay out your diet properly.

There is no secret to losing belly fat. If you lose fat, it comes from all over the body, and the lower abdomen will be the last place for men to lose fat.

i disagree that its a joke but you're right that lifestyle and diet changes are what causes fat loss, intermittent fasting is simply a way to define your eating time, say 11 to 7, then you know you won't eat after dinner when you're idle, this alone helps most get use to smaller portions and burn fat since thier bodies are not processing carbs or sugars at night

 

[bennelson57]

alright, I used IF for a the past year. I just started a cycle and am not doing it for now.

IF works. the science behind it makes perfect sense. to simplify it, when you work out fasted, your body has no food calories therefore it must burn fat/muscle in order to fuel itself. You would burn off all your gains, but your body goes for fat first, its not like you are starving yourself, you are simply not eating for 12ish hours so you do not have any food to burn, therefore the miniscule muscle loss is overcome by fat loss gains. I experienced strength INCREASE on IF, my bench went from 305 to 320, and got a 6 pack for the first time in my life. this was all natural lifting, mind you. IMO: if you have food in your stomach, and are trying to burn fat, you're being foolish because you have to first tear through all the kcals you shoveled into your mouth pre workout (whereas if you had an empty belly, it would be entirely fat burn).

At the same time, what was said was correct, if you eat too much, you are not going to lose weight. And if your macros are jacked up, you'll shrivel to a nasty skinny pudge ball. IF is a tool to help you, not magic. It definitely worked wonders for me. If you can do it properly, it works.

 

[Wrasse02]

a caloric deficit is all that is needed to lose fat.
dont let all the names and diets confuse you

 

[Epizodiak]

The only way to loose fat is creating a calorie deficit...

 

[glase212]

You mean the guys that made sensa are lying to me!!!!?

*note sarcasm

Not really mad, I just think it's kinda silly that people seek these crazy alternatives for weight loss. If people understood how to properly eat, this wouldn't even be a topic.

Fat reduction is very straight forward. Proper clean eating, cycle carbs, calorie deficit, and done.

 

[juced_porkchop]

carb cycling with a slightly lower calorie content is what i would rec. no BS hype stuff you always hear about.

 

[theRZA]

I don't understand how carb cycling is any less of a BS hype than IF is. They both involve nutrient timing, which affects the way your body reacts and digests. IF is a great tool that can be used for people who are insulin resistant, prefer to eat bigger meals to feel satisfied instead of eating 7 bird sized meals, among many other benefits. Just as some people don't need to carb cycle, not everyone needs to do IF...but to go off and call it BS hype, a joke, is just idiotic. I don't care how yoked or shredded you are...just because one thing works for you doesn't make everything else nonsense.

I'm not saying Martin Berkhan is perfect but he uses legitimate studies and his sources are from PubMed. If you take the time to read those studies, you would understand.

 

[TampaMD]

Let's listen to all the "bro scientists" who just repeat what they have heard or believe without any scientific evidence.

IF works because there is science behind it. The number of myths regarding nutrition is astonishing. I have spoken to personal trainers who are also "registered dietitians" who do not know my own credentials and are quick to spout things off that are COMPLETELY FALSE. This string of misinformation continues endlessly. I have read articles online and even in Men's health with ignorant comments like "Registered dietician or even (God forbid), MD so-and-so says eat frequent small meals to keep your metabolic furnace hot." Someone said it and I have heard it before so it must be true right!?

Do you guys really believe humans would have evolved if when we didn't eat every few hours our body would eat up our muscle and ignore our fat stores? Why do we write IF off when tons of studies price it's effectiveness and you'd be hard pressed to find a bunch of people complaining about their simultaneous fat loss and strength gains after switching to IF.

It is not a "diet" it is a lifestyle.