Intermittent fasting & working out

Do you want to combine intermittent fasting with an active lifestyle? You are not alone, because for many working out and fitness is an absolute must in their daily lives. So how do you balance working out, which often requires a heavy intake of food, with fasting? It might sound counterintuitive, but don’t worry, in this article we are going to cover how you can combine intermittent fasting and fitness safely and efficiently.

Can you work out while intermittently fasting?

The short answer is: yes.

The long answer is: probably.

Allow us to explain because there are caveats you need to keep in mind to safely combine intermittent fasting with an active lifestyle.

One of the main benefits of intermittent fasting is to make it easier to lose body fat, by coaxing your body into burning fat instead of glucose. This is beneficial because it can get rid of stubborn fat, as well as release a whole range of healthy physiological changes.

Balancing exercise and Intermittent fasting

However, the main way we do this is by fasting, which restricts your body’s access to sugar, so it is forced to use fat instead. Not having access to easily burnable sugars can be a problem for some forms of fitness, and this is the main thing you need to consider when choosing to exercise while doing intermittent fasting.

To put it simply, you can find out if intermittent fasting and working out is right for you by checking a few simple parameters: your age, nutrition, and general health. But the most important factor is what kind of fitness you want to do.

This is because different styles of fitness have vastly different nutritional demands. You might have seen videos of the incredible 10.000 calorie meals that some especially heavy strongmen follow. They do this because of the extreme energy requirements that their routines put on their bodies. In their extreme case, intermittent fasting would not be viable.

As a rule of thumb; The more strenuous your workout, the harder it will be to implement intermittent fasting.

The science of behind fasting

The reason for this comes down to nutritional science and physics. Any type of working out puts stress on the body. With extreme exercises like heavy weightlifting or running a triathlon, athletes often rely on easily digestible, high-energy foods to keep them, going. If they didn’t, their bodies would quite simply not have enough energy to perform without damaging themselves. These often professional athletes rely on highly nutritional meals before their exercises to keep them going. And because eating anything with a calorie count over 50 grams a day breaks your fast, the two are incompatible.

What types of exercises are compatible with intermittent fasting?

Most exercise routines and forms of working out are compatible with intermittent fasting. In fact, exercising while fasted can help speed weight loss along even faster. Here we have a list of popular forms of exercise that you can safely combine with intermittent fasting:

• Yoga
• Running
• Light to moderate strength training
• Swimming
• HIIT

Tips for working out while intermittent fasting

Here we have compiled a couple of tips for safely and effectively combining intermittent fasting with an active lifestyle

Common questions about intermittent fasting and working out

Is it okay to work out while fasted?

It is totally okay and even beneficial to work out on an empty stomach. This is because

Can i combine cardio and intermittent fasting?

Yes, you can, and safely too. However, if you are a longtime runner, and make the switch to intermittent fasting, you shouldn’t be surprised if your performance drops a bit. This is perfectly normal and happens because your body is switching from burning glucose to fat. Remember tip #2 and drink plenty of water, and keep going at it, and your body will slowly adapt. It can take up to six months for some athletes to complete this transition of burning fat instead of glucose.

Can i combine high intensity training (HIIT) and intermittent fasting?

High-intensity training combines periods of highly demanding physical exercise with intervals of rest. HIIT as it is often called has been shown to increase a wide array of positive physical changes, like an increase in human growth hormone, strength, stamina, and mental wellbeing.

Intermittent fasting has been shown to increase levels of human growth hormone, as well as promote a healthier metabolism. Because of this, combining the two can result in the benefits of both your fast and exercise getting even better.

HIIT is demanding on your body, and we recommend listening to tip #4 if you are thinking of combining the two.

Can i combine weight lifting and intermittent fasting?

Lifting weights while doing intermittent fasting is OK. In the article, we made an example out of extreme weightlifting, as an exercise that wasn’t compatible with IF. This is still true, where you should be eating immediately or shortly after when doing very heavy weight training. Unlike cardio or HIIT, weight lifting puts a large enough strain on your body that you need nutrition. One of the reasons for this is that glucose plays a very heavy part in muscle regeneration. Because of this, you might also perform worse while starting out, because your body hasn’t adapted to burning fat instead of glucose.

Summary

• Most people can combine working out and intermittent fasting. The most important considerations are your choice of fitness, as well as overall health.
• Exercising while doing intermittent fasting at the same time, helps you lose weight faster.
• Consider your meals to get the most benefits out of your training.

How to start working out while intermittently fasting?

For any intermittent fasting, you need to keep track of how long you have been fasting. We recommend trying out our soon-to-be-available IF app, which offers tracking, coaching, information, and much more. Stay tuned!