Brad, any ideas of longer term fasting on muscle loss? A week? 2 weeks or more of fasting (assuming strength training of course)?

I get questions like this probably once a day between my personal facebook page, the Adonis Lifestyle fan page and the Venus Index Fan page.

So hopefully this post will serve as my ‘definitive’ answer to questions about losing muscle while dieting or fasting.

And here it is:

I don’t know. Either does anyone else.

I know that anything less that 72 hours doesn’t result in any measurable losses, especially when the appropriate amount of weight training is involved.

Based on this fasting once or twice a week Eat Stop Eat style is not going to cause you to lose muscle.

Most likely the amount of muscle volume or size you lose during long term dieting or fasting depends on your age, sex, amount of muscle to begin with, amount of of body fat,  amount of and type of exercise etc.

It would also depend on how you define ‘muscle loss’ (grams?, ounces?, pounds?, a look? strength?)

If I had to guess (and it’s just a guess) I’d say anything over a week would result in some form of measurable loss in muscle volume.

But this loss in volume would obviously be transient.

Meaning the muscle size would not be gone forever…just like the bodyfat you lose while you are dieting isn’t gone forever…You start overeating the fat comes back…you start eating and training again the muscle will also come back.

So any answer about losing muscle while dieting needs to come with a disclaimer – Any muscle loss would be temporary if you continue to weigh train.

Failure to bring up this point would just add more fuel to the “You need to eat more to lose weight” and “You’ll lose muscle if you diet” scaremongering that’s already way to prevalent in today’s diet advice.

BP

I guess technically it’s not really a secret since this has been shown in dozens of published clinical trials using many different protocols…

But ‘secret’ just sounds cool.

Anyways, something you should know about this little fact:

Your ability to maintain your skeletal muscle mass is likely a direct relation to it’s use.

In other words: If you only trained your right arm, this will most likely NOT prevent muscle loss from occurring in your left arm.

As an example:

If your right arm is in a cast it will atrophy (shrink) while the rest of your body stays the same…Regardless of nutritional intake.

This would apply regardless of whether or not you are fasting.

Bottom line: If you are following Eat Stop Eat properly, then you are fasting AND resistance training, and this resistance training should include all the muscles of your body…not every day, but as a general average.

BP

When you refer to resistance training (and the Eat Stop Eat program), is there a particular type you’re talking about?

To be more specific (and personal), most people use “resistance training” and “bodybuilding-type” workouts synonymously. And by bodybuilding-type workouts, I mean multiple sets of 6-12 reps.

I’m training as a sprinter and am working out specifically for increased power and fast-twitch fiber development. Namely, I’m deadlifting and bench pressing and, for each exercise, doing no more than 5 sets, with no more than 5 reps/set, and no more than 10 reps total (I mix it up each workout) with weights that are between 85-100% of my 1rep max.

Would this be effective with the ESE program?

Here is my answer:

This work out program would definitely be effective.

I believe that as long as your workout program contains a work load that creates enough stress to challenge your muscles (which I’m sure this program would do), I believe it will protect you from any muscle loss.

I often get asked why I never give an “exercise prescription” with Eat Stop Eat. The reason is simple. It depends on the person. (this is the same reason why I don’t tell you HOW to eat while following Eat Stop Eat).

For instance, it takes a high amount of volume, stress and exercise frequency for a 250 pound bodybuilder to maintain this high level of muscle mass.

If a 250 pound bodybuilder were to follow Eat Stop Eat then the amount and type of exercise that he would need to do to maintain that mass would be much greater than what a 145 pound women who doesn’t exercise at all would need to do.

So your exercise needs are very dependent on your current training status, your goals, and the amount of muscle mass you are currently carrying.

Look at the amount of exercise you were doing before you started following Eat Stop Eat, and make sure to slowly progress from there.

BP

Then I received a very interesting question that went something like this – “If calorie restriction doesn’t cause muscle loss, then what does?”

Great question. We all know that people who are bedridden and on a low calorie diet lose muscle. When I first starting writing Eat Stop Eat, and was running the idea past several dietitians for input, they all brought up stories of muscle loss in their patients who were bedridden and on a low calorie diet.

And since I am constantly saying that caloric restriction doesn’t cause you to lose muscle if you are working out, then that leaves being ‘bedridden’ (or ‘disuse’ as they say in research) as the cause of muscle loss.

Ever break your arm and have to wear a cast, or know someone who did? Do you remember how skinny that arm was when the cast finally came off? Put a cast on your arm and your muscles shrink faster then an expensive new shirt in the dryer.

There was no change in nutrition, only a change in the amount the muscles were used, and the muscle wasted away.

In fact, ‘casting’ is so effective at causing muscle loss that it has been used in research to study something called ‘disuse atrophy’ or muscle loss from lack of use.

In a study conducted at the University of Nottingham, 22 male and female studies had casts put on their right leg for two weeks. Their diets didn’t change, yet after only two weeks the cross sectional area of their quadriceps (the big muscles in your thigh) decreased by 10%.

NO change in diet..but the muscle still decreases in size by 10%.

Bottom line – as long as you are working out, and meeting some sort of caloric minimum (studies have gone as low as 80 grams of protein and 800 Kcals a day), you won’t lose muscle. However, if you don’t use the muscle, then it really doesn’t matter what you are eating, the muscle is going to shrink.

BP

PS- If, by some fluke accident you do break your arm, the research from Nottingham found that Creatine Monohydrate can speed the rehab process, helping you build back your muscle and strength quicker than normal.

Toronto Personal Trainer