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Comment by berzerk | Hacker News Reader

I'm a bodybuilder and I've been Intermittent Fasting now for about 3 years and have worked out 5 days a week most of that time. It's about all timing your meals properly. I work out in the evening so when I have a noon meal it gives my body enough time incorporate the food for fuel before the workout. My biggest meal is after the workout when my body is at it's anabolic peak. The funny thing thing is that you can still gain weight using this protocol and I've used it very well to pack on some additional muscle so it's not a free-for-all and you still need to eat clean 90% of the time.

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Wait, I'm confused. You say you've been fasting, but then you also talk about working out 5 days a week and eating after a work out.

I thought fasting was like, not eating?

He talked about intermittent fasting

Intermittent Fasting often means long periods between means (like 6pm-11am) but still daily eating. Sometimes it means a day of fasting followed by 2-3 days of normal eating. Either definition would allow eating after 5 workouts/week.

IF can just mean skipping breakfast or something. Apparently I've done it for years without meaning to by just often not being in the mood for breakfast. I wouldn't call it "real" fasting in the way you'd usually think of fasting, though maybe it does have health benefits. I'm skeptical—seems far too mild and too similar to ordinary eating habits to possibly do much, aside from maybe resulting is slightly lower overall caloric intake, which admittedly would be beneficial for most people, however that's not really a special effect of fasting per se, though it could still be an effective way to achieve it, which is fine.

IF would typically involve keeping your feeding window to around 8 hours.

So fast while you sleep and skip breakfast. Eat lunch at noon and nothing after 8pm.

It's pretty easy and sustainable after a few days. Your body adapts and you don't hunger for breakfast.

I have been doing this since forever...never knew it was called fasting! Ok sometimes I will eat after 8pm on rare occasions.

It's funny that skipping break-fast is considered not fasting.

I think this thing that we do (we have to eat every four hours or we will die) has nothing to do with the normal state of affairs for most of human history;

And I'm not talking only about the palaeolithic here, but my grandparents time also.

Because the three meals a day mantra and "breakfast is the most important meal" is hype to sell more cereal, eggs, and milk. Skipping breakfast isn't fasting if you aren't hungry.

Sleeping is fasting, that's why the first meal of the day is called break/fast. It only takes about 6-8 hours for food to be digested, when you aren't digesting, you're fasting. Skipping a meal is fasting, doesn't matter if you're hungry or not, if you aren't digesting, you're fasting.

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