Note: This is a reprint of an answer I posted in the comments section of my article on Bodybuilding.com.
Question: Thank you for your reply to my earlier question! I am very glad to see that you are still very active in helping all of us by still answering all our questions! I am sure we really all appreciate your support! However, may I ask some more additional questions though??
1) I took your advice and went through leangains.com to learn more about IF, and saw that one of the recommendations is to train fasted, which is bascially just consuming 10g of BCAAs before working out. However, I saw that you mentioned it is also important to have some carbs and proteins before working out. Which do you think is the more effective approach for losing weight? 2) During your fasted cardio sessions, did you have any supplements like BCAAs during it? Or they were completely at a fasted state? 3) Lastly, when starting your challenge and planning out your meals, how did you know how much calories you had to take and how much grams of fat,protein,and carbs have to be included in it? I am trying to make a meal plan as well, but I am not sure how much calories i should ingest a day and the macros for it. Btw, thinking of doing a 12 week challenge myself! Inspired by your results! But first I am just trying to plan everything out to get ready for it!
Answer: You are totally welcome. Sorry it took a few days to get back to you. I mentioned this in a previous post, but when I'm not at work or in the gym, I'm spending time with my family. My wife and kids missed out on a lot of quality time with me when I was so unhealthy and depressed, so now that I am optimistic and energetic again I am excited to do things with them as much as possible.
(Reader's questions reprinted for clarity)
1) I took your advice and went through leangains.com to learn more about IF, and saw that one of the recommendations is to train fasted, which is bascially just consuming 10g of BCAAs before working out. However, I saw that you mentioned it is also important to have some carbs and proteins before working out. Which do you think is the more effective approach for losing weight? Thank you for reading up on IF. Good catch on the fasted workouts. That is his primary recommendation, but he also lists other options for eating/workout schedules. There is a 1 pre-workout meal schedule and a 2 pre-workout meal schedule as well. I prefer to have a few meals in me when I work out. I don't think he recommends consuming carbs/proteins before and during working out. That is something I added, which I learned elsewhere. I like to read advice from many different sources, try it out, and then pick and choose what seems to work for me. My way may not optimize fat loss. When I started doing the carb/protein workout shake around week 7 of the Challenge, I had already lost a lot of fat and I was trying to gain some muscle and I thought the workout shake could help with that. It is entirely possible that doing a workout shake like I recommend is not optimal for fat loss. If I were starting over with all the fat I had, I could see going without the workout shake in order to emphasize fat loss. If fat loss is your primary goal, I would stick with whatever leangains recommends over what I recommend. He has done the research. He is the expert on Intermittent Fasting. 2) During your fasted cardio sessions, did you have any supplements like BCAAs during it? Or they were completely at a fasted state? Great question! I love BCAA's, but I have read that they can induce an insulin response, so I do fasted cardio without them now. I used to pop them around the clock to ward off muscle wasting, but once I started doing Intermittent Fasting I stopped using them at bedtime and before fasted cardio. If you are emphasizing fat loss, I would skip the BCAA's during your fast period, other than what leangains recommends (10g before weightlifting workouts). 3) Lastly, when starting your challenge and planning out your meals, how did you know how much calories you had to take and how much grams of fat, protein, and carbs have to be included in it? I am trying to make a meal plan as well, but I am not sure how much calories I should ingest a day and the macros for it. I didn't know any of that stuff when I started. I just started and learned along the way, and some of it I still don't know. I don't do macro percentages. The things which I pay attention to are total protein, total calories, and the quality of the foods I eat. I like to get about 1g of protein for every pound of body weight. Right now, I am trying to average about 2500-2600 calories a day. I am trying to maintain where I am, or maybe sort of an extremely slow bulk. For you, I would go to an online calorie estimator (freedieting.com has one I like) and see what it recommends for fat loss. I believe leangains.com has recommendations for macros. I would follow whatever he suggests. I think macro percentages can be important, but I just choose to limit what I concentrate on because it is easy to get overwhelmed when you try to control every little detail. Getting overwhelmed is counterproductive to your end goals. I don't think there is anything unsafe about doing a 12 week transformation, but I just don't see the need for such an aggressive time period without the motivation of the Challenge. More power to you if you can do it. That would be very, very impressive. There is no doubt in my mind that I could not do it without the external motivation of the Challenge. My wife and kids were my motivation to get healthy, but the Challenge was my motivation to do it quickly. Without the Challenge, I would have probably aimed for a 6 month transformation. Any transformation is incredible, regardless of the timeline. I hope some of this is helpful. Anything you read on leangains.com trumps what I say. He is the expert. He did the research. I am just benefiting from his teaching. I wish you the best! God bless, and may you achieve your goals. Have a great day!
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