Lifting is a women's bestfriend for getting toned. (-5lbs, 19.5% bodyfat)

[colton18]

@christianwithhope Girl, you are killing it!!! Good work, and thanks for sharing.

So when you switched to the IF, were you eating at maintenance when you were not fasting?

Also, I bet you were starting to get into keto by the end of your fast; in the past when I would get back on keto, I could always feel the hit the moment my body ran out of glycogen. I got a headache and sometimes nausea. Salt, potassium, and magnesium always helped, but keto flu is real, and usually knocks me on my ass. Keep up the salt and electrolytes!

 

[christianwithhope]

@colton18 Eating at maintenance all other days except the fasting days.

Electrolytes are a great idea. Your probably right about the keto flu.

 

[jared1991]

@christianwithhope This is great! I'm starting SC tomorrow and I'm excited to see where it takes me. I fast as well but intermittent and it's worked really well for me over the last 5 months.

 

[christianwithhope]

@jared1991 You're going to love strong curves! Its a fantastic program. Excited for you and your fitness journey!!

 

[dxblorna]

@christianwithhope Great to see another faster. I recently switched to eating at maintenance and doing short fasts to generate calorie deficits and it's really busted through my plateau.

You look great by the way!

 

[ephraimite]

@christianwithhope I'm going to go out and say I believe you should have gone for a longer bulk if you planned on cutting after, or focused more on recomp which would have led to maximizing newbie gains. Cutting doesn't seem to make too much sense at your BMI.

 

[christianwithhope]

@ephraimite That's good advice. Hopefully this fall I can start another longer/more serious bulk and put on more muscle for next year.

How long would you recommend bulking for and how much weight gain would be a good goal to aim for on a month by month basis when bulking?

 

[ephraimite]

@christianwithhope For people who are already lean like yourself, I’ve seen at least 6 months and up to 1 year on a 200+ daily calorie deficit. Since will also lose muscle for sure when you cut, your goal would probably to be just bulk as long as you can stand the fat gain with it. Whatever you land at would be up to your comfort level, but as someone who’s at a similar stage as you on a recomp and seeing that newbie gain rate go away, I only regret not having gone for a lean bulk!

You sound like you’ve got your routine down nicely! Looking forward to following your fitness journey on here.

 

[dawn16]

@christianwithhope You look absolutely amazing. I love that you thought a little outside the box and found what worked for you! Needs to be a lesson for all

 

[dawn16]

@christianwithhope Whoah! You look so awesome and strong!

I would love to try the 48-hour fast thing. Did you experience any side effects? I have issues with blood sugar and migraines, and am wondering if this is still a possibility for me.

 

[pwl]

@dawn16 I would do small steps first. I also get migraines as my primary sign of hunger (aside from just a rumbling stomach). You definitely don't need to do anything as extreme as not eat at all for two whole days, you can just alter your daily window for eating (eg like 10-6 each day).

 

[christianwithhope]

@dawn16 The occasional headache or low blood pressure for sure from fasting - especially on the second day. It takes a while to get the hang of how much water you need to drink and how much salt you need to consume to mitigate the side effects.

A teaspoon of sea salt made a big difference in my mood and energy levels while fasting.

 

[idris07bon]

@christianwithhope Do you choose certain days to fast? Are you drinking only water, or do you still have coffee?

Edit: saw your answer re: days in another reply!

 

[christianwithhope]

@idris07bon Hell YES I still drink coffee! Going through caffeine withdrawal and fasting at the same time is not something I ever want to experience. Coffee and tea are ok in my books.

 

[pingpong321]

@christianwithhope Sorry if this is a silly question, I’m just starting to learn about this and I’m so interested, but is that coffee just black or do you put anything in it? Thank you!

 

[wandafaith]

@pingpong321 Generally anything you put in coffee is going to knock you out of fasting. Which is why I’d never be able to do that lol. If it’s caffeine in particular you’re up against tho you can get pills and take 1/4 or 1/2 etc with water.

 

[idris07bon]

@christianwithhope Wow! Can you post a little more on your diet/fast? I’m the same height as you and haven’t settled into a good eating plan yet.

 

[christianwithhope]

@idris07bon Sure! My diet is pretty regular:

Breakfast (450 cal, 42g protein):

Latte with extra filtered milk

Homemade protein bar (can post recipe if interested)

Lunch (500 cal, 40g protein):

150g Chicken or Salmon

Argula Salad w. 30g goat cheese

Giant bag of carrots and tomatoes

Pumpkin Seeds

Snack (400 cal, 25g protein)

1 mini coconut greek yoghurt

1 scoop whey protein powder

1 cup berries

Dinner (500 cal, 30g protein)

1.5 scoop of whey protein powder

1 cup unsweetened almond milk

200g frozen raspberries

Sometimes there will be a little snack thrown in there (cookie, extra coffee, granola bar, apple). So I probably end up somewhere between 1800 - 2200 calories on an average day. Upping my protein was a real game changer for me in terms of satiety. Also the bag of vegetables at lunch made a huge difference when it came to snacking in the afternoon.

Edit:

Here's the protein bar recipe for those interested!

Frozen Pumpkin Pie Protein Bars

Ingredients:

1 can pumpkin puree

175g quick oats

1 small container of almond butter (about 325 ml)

350g of vanilla protein powder (I use vanilla whey isolate)
1/4 cup of maple syrup

6 tbsp hemp hearts

ground ginger (about a tablespoon / to taste)

ground cloves (to taste)

all spice (to taste)

cinnamon (about a tablespoon / to taste)

sea salt (to sprinkle on top - trust me this is key)

Directions:

1. Combine the pumpkin, maple syrup, and almond butter into a large bowl and mix until thoroughly stirred.

2. Add spices to taste (the goal is to make it sort of taste like pumpkin pie)

3. Stir in the hemp hearts, then the oats, then the protein powder. It should be pretty thick by the end but not crumbly.

Then get a square baking pan (9inch x 9inch) and line the bottom with parchment paper. Don't worry about being super precise it's just to help get the protein bars out after you chill them.

Pour the protein bar mix into the baking pan, smooth it out with a spatula and top with a sprinkle of sea salt.

https://imgur.com/jgFu0KY

Stick the entire thing in the freezer.

https://imgur.com/DSSMzrA

In the morning (or after it's sufficiently hard) pull it out and dump it onto a cutting board. Cut it into 16 pieces.

Stick each piece in it's own ziplock bag and stuff it back in the freezer for an easy grab and go breakfast.

Nutrition per bar:

~300 cal / 16.8 carbs / 13.6g fat / 26.2g protein

 

[elijaht]

@christianwithhope That dinner is definitely not 500 cal.
A cup of unsweetened almond milk is barely any calories, 50 at the most. Mine is around 30 something. 200g of raspberries is less than 120calories. 1 and a half scoops of whey is not in the realm of 300-350 cal. Each meal is over estimated calorically.

Above calculations say you’re eating 1850 cal per day, I think you’re probably under 1500cal, coupled with 48 hours fasting a week, you calorie intake is fairly low; which is how you get a slim body.

 

[jerrytz]

@elijaht Glad it's just not me. Those calories look quite off, even if it's full calorie yogurt /almond milk.