What is Intermittent Fasting?
Intermittent Fasting is when you’re regularly not eating for an extended period of time -about 12-16 hours (sleeping counts) – and then eating for the remaining 8-12 hours of the day. There are many benefits of intermittent fasting like: weight loss, reducing inflammation, brain fog, and much more. Another huge benefit of fasting is cellular autophagy, which means the damaged cells and weak cells get destroyed and the strong cells stay. This is more likely to happen in a longer fast – about 24-48 hours. Josh Bowmar does intermittent fasting a couple days a week and does the longer fasts 1 or 2 times a month. Josh Bowmar doesn’t do longer than 48 hour fasts because fasting that long can burn muscle.
Does Intermittent Fasting work?
Intermittent Fasting does work! But it’s not for everyone. Testing it out is a great idea. See how it makes you feel – whether you get headaches, have no energy, or more energy. Listening to your body is key and if it works for you, that’s awesome. If it doesn’t, that’s okay too! If you are wanting to try fasting, start out with a shorter fast- about 12 hours, including sleep. Then go up to 14, 16, etc., until you find the perfect balance for you.
How many times should I eat a day?
Everyone is very different, so it is hard to know your exact biological needs. Josh Bowmar eats about 6 times a day, not to burn more fat but to build more muscle! The reason he does this is because every time you eat you get a protein synthesis spike. Through that spike, you can build more muscle. It’s also very difficult to eat the exact amount of protein intake in one meal, so it’s easier to space it out into 6 meals a day. Josh doesn’t do this everyday. He spaces it out with intermittent fasting a few days a week.
Can you build muscle on a calorie deficit?
If you’re new at lifting yes, it is easy to build muscle or if you used to lift in the past but haven’t in a few years, then you can get that muscle back quickly too with muscle memory. However, it’s not very common to build muscle in a calorie deficit.