* * * IF (intermittent fasting) Diets - post your opinions and experience here * * *

Weights will be done in the middle of her "feast" time so that pwo is the last meal and will consist of fewer carbs. Some days cardio is done at night after all feasting, sometimes cardio is done in the morning.


I'd make her post workout meal the highest carb content. Even if it's the last meal of the day. You'll have better partitioning that way.

Usually what I'll do is 20% of my carbs for the day in the meal pre-workout and 80% in the meal immediately post workout. I had pretty good luck with that setup.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by maxwkw

Weights will be done in the middle of her "feast" time so that pwo is the last meal and will consist of fewer carbs. Some days cardio is done at night after all feasting, sometimes cardio is done in the morning.


I'd make her post workout meal the highest carb content. Even if it's the last meal of the day. You'll have better partitioning that way.

Usually what I'll do is 20% of my carbs for the day in the meal pre-workout and 80% in the meal immediately post workout. I had pretty good luck with that setup.

---

You've run an IF diet before? Which flavor?

I've tried the fasting with the lemon water and teas........and fastly went to Burger King one night............

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by maxwkw

Weights will be done in the middle of her "feast" time so that pwo is the last meal and will consist of fewer carbs. Some days cardio is done at night after all feasting, sometimes cardio is done in the morning.


I'd make her post workout meal the highest carb content. Even if it's the last meal of the day. You'll have better partitioning that way.

Usually what I'll do is 20% of my carbs for the day in the meal pre-workout and 80% in the meal immediately post workout. I had pretty good luck with that setup.

---

Carbs at night = fat gain for her. I had a 50/50 split but it wasn't working out.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by SlimmerMe

I've tried the fasting with the lemon water and teas.......

---

Everyone who comes off those diets has a real easy time gaining weight and a real hard time losing it.

i dont realy know fvck all about this type of dieting but im sure that Johan/Karnysfellin or whatever his damm name here is uses this method ......................

I did a 16 hour fast with an 8 hour eating window everyday for about 8 weeks. My training times are all over the place. twice a week I trained fasted and twice a week I trained in the evening.

On training days my largest meal was always post workout, and on rest days my first meal was the largest.

I would say that I lost a little fat, and gained a little strength. Nothing too write home about though. I could've done the same on lots of different meal timing.


I think that intermittent fasting really shines when somebody is trying to cut a lot of fat. It's a very easy way to create a large caloric deficit. I think that for maintenance it can be very freeing to only have to worry about 2-3 meals as opposed to 6-8.

For bulking it becomes very difficult to consume enough calories in the small time frame.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by SlimmerMe

I've tried the fasting with the lemon water and teas........and fastly went to Burger King one night............

---

You realize this diet i'm doing is nothing like what you described, right? :)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Booz

i dont realy know fvck all about this type of dieting but im sure that Johan/Karnysfellin or whatever his damm name here is uses this method ......................

---

LoL, Booz you sound angry bro ... wanna talk about it? =P

Do you know his exact name? I'll hit him up for his feedback.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by maxwkw

I did a 16 hour fast with an 8 hour eating window everyday for about 8 weeks. My training times are all over the place. twice a week I trained fasted and twice a week I trained in the evening.

On training days my largest meal was always post workout, and on rest days my first meal was the largest.

I would say that I lost a little fat, and gained a little strength. Nothing too write home about though. I could've done the same on lots of different meal timing.


I think that intermittent fasting really shines when somebody is trying to cut a lot of fat. It's a very easy way to create a large caloric deficit. I think that for maintenance it can be very freeing to only have to worry about 2-3 meals as opposed to 6-8.

For bulking it becomes very difficult to consume enough calories in the small time frame.

---

This is disheartening! Without sounding condescending, a few questions that beg to be answered:

What were your stats when you started, and what was your primary goal with this diet?

How true to the diet were you? Did you hit your macros? Did you cheat during the fast periods?

How sure are you that you had your macros/calories right?

How clean was your diet, what were you eating? I realize people say you can be more lenient on this diet, but i'm not so sure I subscribe to that yet.

Again, I don't mean to sound like i'm calling you out, maybe you did everything right and this simply wasn't for you. I'm just trying to get the full picture of what you did, and what could have potentially been wrong.

Thx for sharing!

gbrice, if a lot of people would only do this much research before jumping into other things. much respect on all the questions and research. i havnt read all the responses, but if you were able to consume enough calories in that 8 hour time fram could you build muscle with this diet, or even loose bodyfat while adding muscle? also if its in another response you could direct me to it, but why is it an 8hour window?

what is so important about those 8 hours?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by kalspic

gbrice, if a lot of people would only do this much research before jumping into other things. much respect on all the questions and research. i havnt read all the responses, but if you were able to consume enough calories in that 8 hour time fram could you build muscle with this diet, or even loose bodyfat while adding muscle? also if its in another response you could direct me to it, but why is it an 8hour window?

what is so important about those 8 hours?

---

Thanks Kal!! To answer your questions:

Plenty of people are using this diet to build muscle. I don't know that it would be the best 'bulk' diet in the true sense of the word, but idk why in the world anybody would want to bulk anyway. Slowly add muscle and keep bodyfat low year round, that's the only way to go IMO. That's what this diet is designed for!

It's not so much that the 8 hour feeding window is important; there are other fasting diets that have a 6 hour window, a 4 hour window, etc. What's more important is the fasting period; the leangains author feels 16 hours is optimal and fat burning during a fast peaks somewhere between the 13th and 16th hour. With that said, you can eat your food in 1 hour and go back to fasting if you wanted, but that would be very difficult assuming you're eating good quality clean food vs. McDonalds. So you're given UP TO 8 hours to eat all your macros for the day. Eat them in 1 hour or 8, your choice. The point is to stay fasted for at least 16.

Hope this helps!

thanks! after reading some of yours and other posts it seems almost like an optimal diet to make lean gains on. so after the 13th hour of fast is when fat burning is at its peak? if you eat all your calories in 1 hour, would you burn more fat, or does it eventually level off and turn catabolic?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by gbrice75

This is disheartening! Without sounding condescending, a few questions that beg to be answered:

What were your stats when you started, and what was your primary goal with this diet?

How true to the diet were you? Did you hit your macros? Did you cheat during the fast periods?

How sure are you that you had your macros/calories right?

How clean was your diet, what were you eating? I realize people say you can be more lenient on this diet, but i'm not so sure I subscribe to that yet.

Again, I don't mean to sound like i'm calling you out, maybe you did everything right and this simply wasn't for you. I'm just trying to get the full picture of what you did, and what could have potentially been wrong.

Thx for sharing!

---

My goal for the diet was to recomp. Over the course of the diet I think I lost about 3-5lbs (if I remember correctly) and I definitely gained some strength in my lifts (probably 10-20lbs on each of the big 3)

I did not cheat on the fasting period at all. I did maintenance -20% on my rest days and maintenance +20% on my lifting days. I did some cardio on my off days and lifted with intensity. My diet was very clean during this period. My general layout was high protein moderate fat moderate carb on training days, and on rest days I cut carbs pretty low (all coming from fibrous veggies)

I will say that what I learned from this style of dieting is that I enjoy training fasted. It didn't seem to negatively affect my workouts at all. I also learned that cyclical dieting is the way that I like to eat. I don't need as many calories on my rest days as I do on my lifting days and when I lift hard, that I can eat big and it really helps with recovery.

(no offense taken, I understand that this style of dieting is really just coming to the forefront as of late and people have a lot of questions about its efficacy)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by kalspic

thanks! after reading some of yours and other posts it seems almost like an optimal diet to make lean gains on.

---

Once I get the fat all melted off, we shall see!!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by kalspic

so after the 13th hour of fast is when fat burning is at its peak?

---

Like everything else, it depends on the individual. In the author's studies, he found that it was at it's peak somewhere between 13 and 16 hours.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by kalspic

if you eat all your calories in 1 hour, would you burn more fat, or does it eventually level off and turn catabolic?

---

I would not recommend this. I was only using it as an extreme example, but it's not practical to do for any appreciable length of time IMO. Personally, I wouldn't do a feeding window any less than 4 hours. Currently, i'm going with 7 hours. With the addition of BCAA's, you shouldn't have to be too concerned with catabolism.

Gbrice, how is your client doing with the fasts?

She's female correct?

If I remember correctly Martin likes to start his female clients off with a bit of a shorter fast ~13-14 hours and work them up to a 16 hour fast. I believe that he said that a lot of his female clients do just as well with a slightly shorter fasting period

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by maxwkw

My goal for the diet was to recomp. Over the course of the diet I think I lost about 3-5lbs (if I remember correctly) and I definitely gained some strength in my lifts (probably 10-20lbs on each of the big 3)

I did not cheat on the fasting period at all. I did maintenance -20% on my rest days and maintenance +20% on my lifting days. I did some cardio on my off days and lifted with intensity. My diet was very clean during this period. My general layout was high protein moderate fat moderate carb on training days, and on rest days I cut carbs pretty low (all coming from fibrous veggies)

I will say that what I learned from this style of dieting is that I enjoy training fasted. It didn't seem to negatively affect my workouts at all. I also learned that cyclical dieting is the way that I like to eat. I don't need as many calories on my rest days as I do on my lifting days and when I lift hard, that I can eat big and it really helps with recovery.

(no offense taken, I understand that this style of dieting is really just coming to the forefront as of late and people have a lot of questions about its efficacy)

---

Thanks for the detailed info bro. I hope i'll see better results than you did in terms of fat loss as I will be at a deficit every day (greater deficit on non-workout days obviously). I'm at 250g protein, 150g carbs, 65g fat on workout days, and 250g protein, 50g carbs, 65g fat on non-workout days, so simply dropping 400 additional calories via lowering carb intake. I am considering a carb refeed every 14 days, but at 150g/day, I am not certain yet if i'll even need it. I've never eaten very high carb to begin with as i'm carb sensitive / insulin resistant.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by maxwkw

Gbrice, how is your client doing with the fasts?

She's female correct?

If I remember correctly Martin likes to start his female clients off with a bit of a shorter fast ~13-14 hours and work them up to a 16 hour fast. I believe that he said that a lot of his female clients do just as well with a slightly shorter fasting period

---

I think you have me confused with Twist? He just put a female client on IF. I'm personally running the diet myself. :)

if anyone can eat 3000 clean cals in one hour i would shake their hand. it sounds practical to apply in many peoples day to day lives. im subscribed to this thread

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by kalspic

if anyone can eat 3000 clean cals in one hour i would shake their hand. it sounds practical to apply in many peoples day to day lives. im subscribed to this thread

---

LoL, x2. I can eat 10,000 worth of fast food in 30 mins!

THIS DIET CAUSED HER TO GAIN 5 LBS SINCE THE BEGINNING. Calories have remained her normal 1,200 cals. 5lbs of fat have been put on as of today. It is evident in her physique. Started at 119 and yesterday and today she weighed 124. This will not be the result for everyone and I cannot say why it happened, all I can say is that it did. Diet changed today to a different diet. If this new diet I have for her doesn't work in the next 7 days I am putting her on keto.

I've never once had to resort to a keto diet but she seems to be very insulin sensitive.

^ ^ Wow man, very strange indeed. I can see possibly maintaining and not getting any results, but gain 5 lbs... of fat nonetheless? Something is wrong here for sure. Can you trust that this girl hasn't been cheating/binging bigtime and not being honest with you? If not, she must be super insulin resistant (is that what you meant?).

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by gbrice75

^ ^ Wow man, very strange indeed. I can see possibly maintaining and not getting any results, but gain 5 lbs... of fat nonetheless? Something is wrong here for sure. Can you trust that this girl hasn't been cheating/binging bigtime and not being honest with you? If not, she must be super insulin resistant (is that what you meant?).

---

I know 100% that she is not binging or eating anything not on the plan. She is more dedicated than anyone I know. This was the easiest diet I put her on lol.

Not insulin resistant. Insulin sensitive. More like carbohydrate sensitive in the sense that her body overreacts to carbohydrates and releases too much insulin or something of that nature.

Insulin sensitivity tends to correlate with fat/weight gain and when it gets too be too much the body reacts by becoming insulin resistant to halt weight/fat gain. However I should mention that studies conflict each other on this matter. Some studies have the exact opposite result as they should and some support the data. Basically there are a host of problems (or benefits) that go along with insulin. Being the right mix of carbohydrate sensitive while also secreting the proper amount of insulin plays a major part in staying lean and gaining muscle. It's impossible for me to tell you how her body responds to insulin but I can say that this diet did not work at all and it seems that carbs really crushed her. Keep in mind that calories were 1200 and 25% carbs. It's worth noting that protein also releases insulin so that may play a part as it was 50% of the diet.

I switched her to a diet of protein from chicken, fish, and beef; carbs are only green veggies, bananas, grapes, berries, apples; fats are only omega fish oils. This list is the only thing she can have. Let's see what happens lol. If this doesn't work I'm going the CKD route. Never had to resort to this before and its not sustainable.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Twist

I know 100% that she is not binging or eating anything not on the plan..

---

This shows this type of diet is not for everyone. It proves every diet will not work for everyone. Im looking forward to see how your body responds in terms of fat loss and LBM loss/gain GB.
Keep up the work.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by -KJ-

This shows this type of diet is not for everyone. It proves every diet will not work for everyone. Im looking forward to see how your body responds in terms of fat loss and LBM loss/gain GB.
Keep up the work.

---

Thanks KJ!

Twist - sorry this happened bro. Is her head all fvcked up now over it, or did she realize she was an 'experiment'?

She knows she is an experiment but yea shes down about it. We have a costa rica deadline so that's what the letdown is about. 2 piece bathing suit lol.

If you really want to experiment. Have her on the exact same diet and only vary the meal timing. You'd have a better understanding of how the fasting itself affected her.

(this being said, it sucks to have to lose the weight that she gained)

It was the same diet just with fasting. Her previous diet was calorie cycling so 1 day eat a lot, two of the days eat 1200 cals and then the end of the week taper down to 300 cals or so. I forgot exactly what it is but I think I posted it in the thread earlier. But I'm not that interested in experimenting with this too much. It was worth a try but that's about it.

Btw we are down to 121lbs. 2 more to go and she will be back to where she started before the IF diet.

i have been doing a little more research on the this diet and it looks do able. i am trying to figure how i would incorporate this diet into my training (triathlon training). with triathlon training, nutrition plays a huge role as everyone knows. my question is, with this diet, i usually use gel packs (roctane) which has carbs, electrolytes, and BCAA's, during the long bikes and runs. usually about one packet every 45 minutes or so. by doing this, will it 'break' the fast so to speak? or will i still be ok because i am enduring my body? thanks

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by 00ragincajun00

i have been doing a little more research on the this diet and it looks do able. i am trying to figure how i would incorporate this diet into my training (triathlon training). with triathlon training, nutrition plays a huge role as everyone knows. my question is, with this diet, i usually use gel packs (roctane) which has carbs, electrolytes, and BCAA's, during the long bikes and runs. usually about one packet every 45 minutes or so. by doing this, will it 'break' the fast so to speak? or will i still be ok because i am enduring my body? thanks

---

You'd be breaking your fast. I wouldn't recommend this type of dieting for triathlon training. This diet is geared more towards resistance training and actually the Leangains author isn't even huge on cardio, let alone high intensity like you'll be doing. I would not recommend high intensity cardio/training while fasted.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by gbrice75

You'd be breaking your fast. I would recommend this type of dieting for triathlon training. This diet is geared more towards resistance training and actually the Leangains author isn't even huge on cardio, let alone high intensity like you'll be doing. I would not recommend high intensity cardio/training while fasted.

---

thanks, thats what i was thinking.

This diet is not for adding muscle or triathlon training. Especially not triathlon training.

GB what is your progress so far?

Hmmmmm

Interesting but I would need to read more before I have an opinion...

I will say that increasing volume of meals but decreasing number of meals will still create the same metabolic activity...

Layne norton has done some research into meal frequency (not as drastic as this) and he thinks that you can increase protein synthesis by decreasing meal frequency.... Kind of like 'Priming' receptors to take more on in one go...

I would link you but I'm on my iPod and it's a pain....

Layne also talks about using BCAA's to extend the timescale on the protein synthesis or sumat... Not sure off the top of my head...

At the week ends some times I go down from 6 meals to 3 meals per day... I simply eat more in those 3 meals.... Makes no difference IMO...

This whole IF thing is a different beast tho.... Interesting tho

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Twist

This diet is not for adding muscle or triathlon training. Especially not triathlon training.

GB what is your progress so far?

---

Not true!!! Read further into it bro. Check out leangains dot com. Bodybuilding dot com has a huge thread going (it's like 4 years old already and still current) on it and there are plenty of people there making gains. They are eating surplus and stimulating growth - why wouldn't they be able to make gains?

I agree about the triathlon though; too much high intensity for too long. Not conducive to a fasting diet IMHO.

Down 2.5lbs in a week bro. Probably water, it was only the 1st week. This week will be a better indicator. Check out my log. :)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by gbrice75

Not true!!! Read further into it bro. Check out leangains dot com. Bodybuilding dot com has a huge thread going (it's like 4 years old already and still current) on it and there are plenty of people there making gains. They are eating surplus and stimulating growth - why wouldn't they be able to make gains?

I agree about the triathlon though; too much high intensity for too long. Not conducive to a fasting diet IMHO.

Down 2.5lbs in a week bro. Probably water, it was only the 1st week. This week will be a better indicator. Check out my log. :)

---

I'm sure some people make gains on this diet. That's not to say that they wouldn't do better on another diet though. Leaving the body high and dry for nutrients is not supportive of muscle growth and repair.

The body has mechanisms (which I've written and posted many times about on this site) that contradict each other when it comes to fat loss and muscle gain. This is not to say that it the two cannot occur simultaneously, I'm just stating that for them to occur the right conditions have to be provided. Fasting is not that condition.

Consider the anabolic conditions fasting does create though when you finally DO break the fast. You're body couldn't be more primed for macro partitioning IMO. It's not just about the food/nutrients either - it has alot to do with certain hormones. I've researched the sh!t out of it but i'm a gimp when it comes to explaining - I won't be able to do it any justice. Spend plenty of time on leangains! :)

PS - There is a whole thread dedicated on Lyle McDonald's board as well.

I'm not debating that this diet will work for many people (as would 80% of the other diets if it were followed as closely as this one has to be - not taking a jab at you personally GB, that is EVERYONES problem). I'm just saying that there are things that go on when cutting that make the body not want to gain muscle. Fasting and weight gain are not working toward the same goal. This is probably why they have you drink BCAA constantly. Still, that doesn't account for all of the issues (such as low cell energy inhibiting protein synthesis).

BUMP!!

Why? Because i'm not through with this yet. I want to keep it fresh and will continue to add info and quotes to it.

This is my third time typing this post (internet explorer is the greatest piece of ******** ever invented)

where do androgen's fit into all this?

How would you implement IF if you were training twice a day?

My plan for this recomp is

(BCAA's/protein on water) first thing in the morning before training

First meal of the day is a post workout meal

Followed by 7-8 hrs of fasting

Then (BCAA's/protein on water) before second training session

Finishing the day with my second post workout meal before sleeping

Meals will be low carb - high protein - moderate fat

Supplements use var/test/tren

With ghrh6 for assisted eating

__________________________________________________ _________________________

as a matter of interest in relation to the top 10 dieting myths

I found it interesting the part about the increase in awareness as a result of fasting for 36+ hours to help us catch prey

I remember one of my nutrition lecturers talk to me about on of his fasting adventures and how at sometimes during the fasting he would have amazing strength
At first I was like no way you need food every 3hrs to stay strong etc but wow 100% broscience at it's best

It was probably the increase in adrenaline/noradrenaline which gave him this boost of strength

Also he would tell me of his best training success when he was bodybuilding

Fasting post workout (mid-day training) and having only 6+ grams of l-ornithine before sleep for gh release
he repeated this for weeks and had great results

I'm only beginning now to understand the truth behind this madness lol

Im trying to understand IF better

Im trying to read everything( mostly from leangains) i can on it but my brain is getting overloaded with information and i cant remember it all
so i wanna make sure i understand it fully

I dont have to workout fasted correct?
I go 16hrs with no eating and then i have 8 hours to take in all my daily calorie/carbs/protien?
should i stick with eating carbs only pre/post workout?
does having a high BF% matter for this type of diet?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by PK-V

This is my third time typing this post (internet explorer is the greatest piece of ******** ever invented)

---

http://www.google.com/chrome/intl/en...&utm_medium=ha

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by PK-V

where do androgen's fit into all this?

---

Can you elaborate on your question? Are you referring to AAS?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by PK-V

How would you implement IF if you were training twice a day?

---

Why would you want to train twice a day? Just curious. It would depend on the structure of the routine. What is the first workout, and what is the second?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by PK-V

My plan for this recomp is

(BCAA's/protein on water) first thing in the morning before training

First meal of the day is a post workout meal

Followed by 7-8 hrs of fasting

Then (BCAA's/protein on water) before second training session

Finishing the day with my second post workout meal before sleeping

Meals will be low carb - high protein - moderate fat

Supplements use var/test/tren

With ghrh6 for assisted eating

---

This really wouldn't be considered an IF type diet. The fast period wouldn't be nearly long enough to be beneficial with regards to optimal fat loss and hormonal activity. Martin Berkman even concedes that 16 hours is a compromise in order to allow a somewhat 'normal' lifestyle. Alot of people actually opt to fast longer than 16 hours.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by PK-V

as a matter of interest in relation to the top 10 dieting myths

I found it interesting the part about the increase in awareness as a result of fasting for 36+ hours to help us catch prey

---

So did I... I'm a sucker for that kind of stuff!! Evolution and adaptation are fvcking amazing.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by PK-V

I remember one of my nutrition lecturers talk to me about on of his fasting adventures and how at sometimes during the fasting he would have amazing strength
At first I was like no way you need food every 3hrs to stay strong etc but wow 100% broscience at it's best

---

No doubt in my mind

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by PK-V

It was probably the increase in adrenaline/noradrenaline which gave him this boost of strength

---

Among other things

Also he would tell me of his best training success when he was bodybuilding

Fasting post workout (mid-day training) and having only 6+ grams of l-ornithine before sleep for gh release
he repeated this for weeks and had great results

I'm only beginning now to understand the truth behind this madness lol[/QUOTE]

Same here man... learning every day.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by oI Overdue Io

Im trying to understand IF better

Im trying to read everything( mostly from leangains) i can on it but my brain is getting overloaded with information and i cant remember it all
so i wanna make sure i understand it fully

I dont have to workout fasted correct?

---

Correct.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by oI Overdue Io

I go 16hrs with no eating and then i have 8 hours to take in all my daily calorie/carbs/protien?

---

Yep

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by oI Overdue Io

should i stick with eating carbs only pre/post workout?

---

You don't have to, but with fat loss as a goal and having a higher bodyfat %, it wouldn't be a bad idea

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by oI Overdue Io

does having a high BF% matter for this type of diet?

---

Nope. I would venture to guess somebody with a higher bodyfat would benefit even more and see results faster than a leaner individual

Hey all,

I'm new to the forums (as you can see from my mere 20-something posts), but I've had a recent interest in IF, so I thought I'd join the discussion.

I've just recently started considering an IF diet, and like gbrice, have been conducting a lot of research, primarily through leangains.com (thanks to gbrice btw for sending me there). I've never been a morning/breakfast person so this format is particularly appealing to me. I also feel like I'm somewhat of a slave to the kitchen as my day tends to revolve around my food (where my next meal is coming from, planning ahead, etc.). My main hesitation, however, is that I currently need about 3,000-3,300 calories/day to maintain my weight. SO, eating thousand calorie meals seems like a pretty large feat when you're eating clean. And, if you're to consume roughly 50% of your calories PW, that seems nearly impossible. I'm not really getting at a question here, I just wanted to throw in some background info.

Also, in regards to females and IF. Martin recommends that women fast for only 14 hours, rather than 16. So, Twist, that may have been an issue with your client (you went the other way, with an 18 hour fast). I think Martin's reasoning is that women typically don't handle the fast as well as men, though don't quote me on this. I just remember reading it, not too good at explaining.....

I'm sure I'll have more to say (questions, input, etc.) as I do more research...

Ah..! One question:

I know you're supposed to cycle carbs based on workout/rest days, but what about individual meals? My current diet splits protein/fat meals from protein/carb meals. Does IF do anything like this or are all three meals supposed to contain prot/carb/fat? One thing I really like about Martin's leangains diet is that all your meals are to contain real, chewable foods, i.e. no protein shakes/supplements. I've always been a big believer in cutting shakes/supplements to a minimum.

Thanks in advance for the help.

Welcome Bloozie!

Relatively high caloric intake is the one drawback I see to IF dieting. As you said, getting 3000+ calories in an 8 hour window/over the course of 3 meals is going to be tough for some people. Luckily for me, I'm right in the 2500 range and have a pretty big appetite. Using 3000 calories as an example, i'd do 1500 PWO, then either a 750/750 split, or 1000/500. Taper overall calories down throughout the day. As for carbs, that depends on the goal IMO. If you're cutting bodyfat, i'd personally taper carbs down as well, with meal 3 containing very few. Not that this is right or wrong, it's just what I prefer to do.

Hope this helps!