Hey guys, Nate here. I'm proud to announce that I'm now the Program Director of Scrawny To Brawny. From now on all of my blogs and articles will be posted on the brand-new Scrawny To Brawny Blog. So if you enjoyed what you read here, please go check it out. (It's awesome, if I say so myself.) I'm keeping the NGE website alive for resource reasons, but will no longer be actively updating it. The best way to get in touch with me is through leaving a comment on the Scrawny To Brawny blog or by posting on the S2B Facebook page. See you guys over at the new blog!
Experiments with Intermittent Fasting: A Brand New (Free) Book
John Berardi, shredded
Location: Poolside at Castello Banfi – Tuscany, Italy – August 2011.
Situation: After a day of riding Vespas, drinking red wine, eating gourmet food, and enjoying their rented castle digs, four friends head out to the pool to take in the views of the lush vineyards that stretch for miles in every direction.
Oh, and Dr. John Berardi, founder of Precision Nutrition, takes off his shirt for a swim.
+++++
“Dude, what the hell?” asks Phil. “Alex, Jay. Guys, look as this!”
Alex and Jay turn to look.
“Holy shit.”
Holy shit is right.
In the ten years that Phil’s known him, John has never ever been this lean. This ripped. This absolutely freakin’ shredded and in shape.
“Is this from that experiment you mentioned?” asks Phil, motioning to John’s body.
John smiles and shakes his head. He’s been talking about his experiments for the past eight months, but no one’s been that interested. But now, well, the results are out in the open. It’s obvious his friends want to know what’s he’s been up to.
Since you can’t argue with a captive audience, John pours himself a glass of wine and thinks about where to to start. Judging from the over-the-top reactions, it may even be time to write another book, he thinks.
Maybe other guys would be interested his experiment, too.
New Book: Experiments with Intermittent Fasting
So, yeah, he ended up writing that book. It’s called “Experiments with Intermittent Fasting” and it details 6 months of nutrition and training experiments. The ones that got Dr Berardi into the best shape of his life.
(I actually worked on the project as a co-author, so I know you’re gonna dig it).
The best part? You get access to the entire thing for free.
Honestly, you can read it online right now without even giving away your email address or anything.
Once you see it, you’re gonna think we’re crazy for just giving it away. It’s really one of the best fitness resources put out in a long time. But that’s just how we roll at Precision Nutrition.
Here ya go: Experiments in Intermittent Fasting
So, Why Read the Book?
The new book not only details Dr. Berardi’s experiments in getting ridiculously lean, it also covers hot topics like intermittent fasting, exercise minimalism, and self-experimentation.
In the end, this book provides a bunch of new protocols and key takeaways for guys who want to lose fat, maintain muscle mass, look awesome, and perform at their highest potential.
Sounds pretty good, huh?
So guys, enjoy the book. It’s just the first of many more cool things we have brewing at Precision Nutrition and this here blog.
(Seriously, just wait till you see what's coming out in the next few months.)
+++++
Question: Have you tried intermittent fasting? If so, how has it worked out for you?
Comments for This Entry
-
I practice intermittent fasting most times, and I enjoy it. It becomes problematic because I play a lot of sports and competing on a full stomach is tricky, so in that respect, I think the smaller more frequent meals may have an edge.
Anxious to check out the book. Thanks for sharing, Nate. -
I've never experimented with intermittent fasting myself, but I've heard many positive anecdotes from others that have tried it. I look forward to reading the book and seeing how I can apply it to my own lifestyle, especially when Spring/Summer roll around next year.
Thanks for sharing Nate. -
I have ran the intermittent fasting protocol for quite some time and really enjoy it. I find it is far easier on the social life than other diets that are around these days. I'm a big fan of big meals as well so it really suits me.
Thanks for the post Nate, I look forward to reading the ebook. -
I've been using Leangains-style IF for about the last 6 months and really like it. I much prefer 3 decent sized meals to a whole lot of little ones that never really filled me up, even if I do have to wait til the afternoon before breakfast!
-
The only issue i have is for people that train in the evening. I personally cant make it to the gym until 6-7pm, so i find myself doing a 16/8 fast/feed, from 9pm to 1pm, with 2 small protein/fatty meals @ 1pm @ 4pm, + pre-workout @6pm (creatine, carbs, beta-alanine), then one large protein/fat meal before bed @8:30... any suggestions?
-
I've been experimenting with fasting method such as the one Chad Waterbury recently described on his blog (mainly based on The Warrior Diet book). I've been fasting and heating one or two meals a day for the entire summer. For the first couples of weeks, I've been dropping fat and then took some lean mass during the month of july and august. I really appreciated the protocol. It's sound sound crazy at first to eat nothing but veggies until 5, 6 or 7pm, but I became really accustomed to the plan in the first week. I rarely felt like having no more energy to spent and if it was the case, it last no more than 15-30 minutes. So, it wasn't a torture at all. In fact, I think that method would allow anyone to have a better relation with what they eat regarding their actual eating habits. While eating only one meal per day, I didn't care at all about calories (I've never care about those anyway) or quantity and simply choose something nourishing and tasty. I wouldn't say I feel really better following such an eating plan because I've been exercising and eating well for years, but I definitively like the protocol for it's simplicity. Eating once a day (without considering veggies during the fast) makes me save lot of time and even money. I'll surely read that new ebook from you and John and compare your protocol to the one described in The Warrior Diet and give it a try.
Thanks alot -
I'd take some pointers on how to get lean from this guy, however, I think he needs some pointers on some good leg/calf exercises. Maybe the picture is just deceiving.
-
Everyone I know who's tried it has told me they love it. At some point I may have to jump on the bandwagon. One girl has been eating a half pint of haagen dazs every night while losing fat (bod pod measured). Doesn't make sense, but she's pretty convincing.
-
Always great articles Nate. Appreciate the free material, it will pay dividends. Keep em coming bro.
-
Nate,
Your opinions have really made an impact on me the last several years. Everything from training, career advice, life-lessons, even book reviews, has been much appreciated. I also did notice a short while ago that your articles on t-nation during the spring and summer of 2010 aren't posted for some reason. If you know any way to get those issues back on the site I'm sure a lot of people would benefit from that resource as much as I have, even though they aren't listed by category still. Either way, it's always good info from you.
Best,
Mike -
I've tried Intermittent fasting on and off for the last several months and really love it. I've also eased up on the grains which always seem to cause bloating. Aside from the decrease in body fat, one thing I have noticed is having a clearer head in the morning and the ability to focus on tasks that need a bit more attention. I've been getting most of my info from the LeanGains web site, but can't wait to see what Mr Berardi has to say on the subject. Thanks mike.
-
Great stuff Nate (and JB and the folks at PN). JB and I had a discussion on the forum awhile ago about IF.
I've been using it myself for about 2.5 years now and with clients for about 1.5 years and it is awesome.
It took me about 2 years prior to change my mind and get through all the research though.
The more I learn, the more I really believe that the ability of the body to burn (oxidize) fat is a VERY key component.
When you are fasting, your insulin levels are very very low . At the end of 24 hours, they are as low as you can get in a healthy person.
Insulin is your fuel selector switch.
Low insulin = use fat for fuel. High insulin = use carbs for fuel.
Ideally, you want to be as Metabolically Flexibility to BOTH conditions.
Fasting allows very low insulin levels and is a huge metabolic hammer to push your body to burn fat.
A study done on Metabolically INflexible people (where their body did not use much fat for fuel), showed that under a fasting condition they would still switch to burning fat. Very cool!
Keep up the great work !
Rock on
Mike T Nelson PhD(c) -
I've been using it for the past 5 months. Over the course of 3 months, I lost 22 lbs and got my BF% down to 10.5% using this method in combination with GSD. Great stuff, just not for everyone.
-
Nate,
Congrats to you (and your co-authors) on the new ebook. I know it takes work to produce these things and I know you work to do it so wishing you the best.
Tim -
I read pretty much all of the book. The chapter that caught my eye the most was ch.6 "the daily fast". The 16/8 method looks intriguing, but it appears very difficult to manage this if you are not training in the middle of the day (i.e if you train in the evening or morning your 8 hour-feeding window would leave you at an inauspicious time). Any thoughts on managing this?
Yo Alex,
I saw someone posted the exact same question in the discussion on the IF website. Here's what they wrote:
"Suggestions on how to adjust the daily fasting protocols when doing late PM workouts (4-6 pm time frame)? Rather than large/moderate/moderate meals I was thinking first meal approximately 3-4 hours prior to the workout (small, low carb) and then the 2 meals Post Workout are both larger. Your thoughts?"
JB gave that two thumbs up.
So, break the fast with a small meal a few hours before your workout, and then try to fit another one or two HUGE meals in after.
This may be a case in which a weekly fast (24 hours) may work better for you, however.Nate Green
-
Nate,
I love the free book. I actually tried this IF in the summer, based on Jason ferruggia's Renegade Diet. Do you think it is possible to build lean muscle by upping the protein and or carbs on this style of diet?I think so. I've got some things up my sleeve, but I can't share them just yet. But yeah, I think it's possible to do some kind of fast on a muscle-gaining program and see great results.
-
I've been trying flexible intermittant fasting for the past 3 years. My experiences are as follows:
1. It is not the magic pill for fat loss. Calories still matter
2. I have greater freedom to eat normal-sized meals while still achieving a caloric deficit instead of grazing on portions that don't fill me up
3. Smaller meal frequency means less chance of eating more than your caloric limits, more filling meals and gets rid of the habit of snacking, which is undesirable, in my opinion (see next point)
4. The fasting periods help you get used to being hungry. Hunger is mainly in the mind and many people, past me included, would panic when we feel hungry. Fasting calms this urge and helps teach you what real hunger feels like and improve our association with food.
5. Despite that, greater likelihood of bingeing when breaking the fast, so I've found that breaking it conservatively helps a lot. As I observed in (1), one should not see fasting at a guilt-free pass. Calories still matter.
6. More time in the morning and throughout the day not wasted on food preparation and consumption
7. If I fast for more than 20h I start to get gastrointestinal pains. I don't know if anyone has experienced this. Therefore, I stick to a Martin Berkhan-style of 16-8 fasting.
8. Greater alertness in the morning. When I used to eat breakfast, I'd feel tired soon after. The morning fast keeps me energised.
9. The fasting periods are the times to get more water in! On a full stomach, it can be difficult at times to get that one gallon of water.
10. No more effective than other methods of eating, in my opinion. Aside from the psychological advantages, if one takes in the exact number of calories on both protocols, there shouldn't be any difference in results, as I've found. I now practice the 3-meals-per-day approach and have achieved great results too. Fasting merely makes life easier for me on a deficit as I get to eat more at every meal. But if someone doesn't like fasting, they can still get amazing results on any other calorie-restricted diet.
11. Not hard to gain muscle at all. Seriously, I've found I need way less than what some experts say to gain muscle. 15kg in 4 months weren't gained by eating like a horse - they were gained through eating a bit above normal and being committed to the gym. Gaining muscle is possible without breakfast or bulking!Thanks for your detailed note! Awesome stuff.
-
Very cool stuff! One more question:
I work out first thing in the morning at 6:15 am. How would you schedule a daily fast protocol (16/8) around that?
Thank you very much and keep up the GREAT work! -
Hi Nate,
This looks interesting, going to have a read and see what I think.
I agree this is a very hot debate at the moment and there seems to be a lot of mixed views on fasting.
I will keep you posted with what I think
Speak Soon
James
AKA The Fitness Blogger UK -
Sup Guys,
I wanted to say how much I appreciate all the awesome content and offer my experience on intermittent fasting.
The hero handbook was really cool, I used it to help get my act together before going off to college. It was a very relaxed, down to earth way to reflect on one's life.
Recently, I experimented with intermittent fasting during a 8 week fast-loss program. I dropped from 11% fat (which is not bad, but I wanted to get shredded) to 4%-5%. At the same time, I gained a couple inches all around for LBM. I was blown away by the results, perhaps being 18 had a lot to do with it :)
The main nutritional factors in my 8 week program include completely cutting processed carbs from my diet. Also, I ate a greater amount and variety of fresh vegetables. In addition, I tried intermittent fasting once a week for around 16 hours.
Ceteris paribus, perhaps intermittent fasting helped the fat loss process. I certainly got great results, yet there were so many changes/factors to consider that I was curious as to how much fasting contributed to my results.
So, I was happy to hear about JB's experiment and Nate's collaboration with the new book. I'm definitely looking forward to diving in.
By the way, I started taking some nutrition classes. I may add a nutrition major or minor to my current math major. I'm definitely inspired by everyone on this blog and through other research.
Take care, college calls :D -
This looks great! You and JB put out some really quality stuff so I'm looking forward to giving it a read.
I experimented with IF this summer as an adjunct to the rest of my dieting. I did two 16-hour (sometimes 18-hour by life circumstance) fasts per week on Mondays and Thursdays. The rest of the week was spent with a fairly "normal" diet (loosely Paleo, slightly hypocaloric, targeted carbs) with a pretty solid cheat meal(s) on Friday night and looser food choices (but I found I tended to not overdo too much it on calories) on Saturday.
Monday was a fairly hard training day but because I was still pretty full from the weekend I a) had good workouts and b) enjoyed the "reset" feeling of dieting from the overeating on Saturday/Sunday. Thursday's fast wasn't as much fun but because I didn't train much on Thursdays it wasn't really that big a deal.
As for the results I was pretty impressed. I found that I maintained muscle well as long as I focused on getting enough protein and didn't skip on post-workout carbs (which honestly was probably more of a calorie thing than a carb thing, per se).
The only time I ran into issues was if I really cranked up the training volume and was not paying attention to compensating with additional food. -
Is there a way to get the ebook in pdf format?
-
Thank you for the material. Once I was looking for such information. I just want to try Intermittent Fasting. But I can not decide.
-
My only problem with intermittent fasting is that I lose strength after 4-5 weeks of dieting.
-
Nate, I'm considering something even more radical. How do you think IF (16 hours fasting a day) + keto diet (no carbs) would work? I'd still maintain a calorie intake of 2500-300 and train 6-7 times a week. I'm well below 15% BF and surely have the mental toughness to pull it off.
Regards,
Pete :) -
very good !
-
thank you for sharing!
-
This is the best weblog for anyone who wants to know about this subject. You know a lot its virtually challenging to argue with you . You certainly place a new spin on the topic thats been composed about for many years. Fantastic things, just fantastic!
-
I have not read the book yet but have fasted all my life. the shortest being 3 days and the longest being 21 days. Fasting is a very healthy practice done properly, that allows the body to rest, repair and rebuild, but I do not believe that building ridiculous looking muscles is a healthy practice.
Sorry but to me we are not mean't to be RIPPED as you guys say....just my opinion ;-) -
I know it takes work to produce these things and I know you work to do it so wishing you the best.
-
The patent Michael Kors Totes are the quintessential tote bag
-
I just like the approach you took with this subject. It isn’t every day that you discover something so concise and enlightening.
-
thanks for your sharing
-
good article
-
Thanks very much, I have learned a lot from your post. Well done, really!
-
I like this article.
-
Good Post. It is really very nice. Thank you!
-
[url=http://www.ray-banscheap.com][b]ray bans cheap[/b][/url] company sale many [url=http://www.ray-banscheap.com][b]ray bans cheap[/b][/url],all [url=http://www.ray-banscheap.com][b]ray bans cheap[/b][/url] low price and free shipping for you, our [url=http://www.ray-banscheap.com/ray][b]ray bans cheap[/b][/url] store suppley many oakley products for everyone,[url=http://www.ray-banscheap.com/ray][b]ray bans cheap[/b][/url] very hot sale in this time.buy in our [url=http://www.ray-banscheap.com/ray][b]ray bans cheap[/b][/url] give you most discount.
-
Nike Shoes are popular with more and more young peple nowadays. As we all know that Nike is a famous shoes brand all over the world. Many more people like to wear the Nike shoes, because of the good foot feelings of them. They are variety kinds of series from Nike shoes, such as basketball shoes, dunk shoes, running shoes, max shoes and heel shoes. What' more, there are some famous world basketball player such as Lebron, Kobe, Jordan and so on. All of them wear the nike shoes. As to many fans, own a pari of their nike shoes maybe a great way to support them.
Jordan Shoes are well known to many basketball players and young people. It is one series of the Nike shoes. Jordan Shoes manufacturers have to produce to meet the needs of human sports shoes as their responsibility, and they realized that the shoes also have the rest of attributes. You will feel wonderful when you wear the jordan shoes and playing basketball. Both the breathability and foot feeling of them are all great.
Christian Louboutin Pumps are popular for the special design and fashion look among many customers. The latest fashinal and beautiful Christian Louboutin shoes have come to our store now. We always try our best to meet your need online. People who are fond of them, please enjoy your shopping time here soon! The most profits are bring to you if you come.
Carey’s Met Dress.ELLA ALEXANDER 11 May 2012.CAREY MULLIGAN is selling her Prada custom-made Met Ball dress on eBay for charity. Currently priced at $1,025 (£636), the gold sequinned style was put up for auction on Wednesday night. Final bids will be taken on Saturday May 19 and all proceeds will go to Oxfam.The 26 year old stepped out in the glittering size 38-40 number on Monday night at the annual Met Ball, which celebrated the opening of the museum's new exhibition - Schiaparelli and Prada: Impossible Conversations. The star was seen on the dance floor with her new husband, Marcus Mumford.This isn't the first time Mulligan has donated a dress for charity - she gave the Vionnet gown she wore to the 2010 BAFTAS to Oxfam in May 2010.
COMMENT RULES: Critical posts are fine, but if you're rude I'll delete your stuff. Please do not put your URL in the comment text and please use your personal name or initials and not your business name, as the latter comes off like spam. But most of all, have fun and thanks for adding to the conversation! (Thanks to Tim Ferriss for the inspiration.)
Anthony Mychal 12:51pm Oct 12, 2011