I'm starting intermittent fasting. I don't normally take supplements at all. I have a off brand multi-vitamin to keep my body healthy, but I don't take any performance enhancing products. Should I start using supplements and if I should what are they? Are they not required? Will not taking them hinder my gains?
Answers (3)
Intermittent fasting will cause you to gain weight. Your body will react to a lack of food by retaining more of what you eat when you break your fast and changing its hormonal base to store more fat accordingly for the medium to long term. I would not advise this course of action.
Taking supplements is still controversial even among health care professionals. Some advocate it, and others think there is little or no value in it. Why not try smoothies with your regimen? It helps to give you the natural vitamins your body needs in their best form, and doesn't require your stomach to work on solid foods like it normally would. Also, don't forget to drink lots of water. The rule is half your body weight in ounces each day. So if you are 120 lbs, then you would need to drink 60 ounces of water. It is best to drink filtered water instead of bottled or tap for various reasons including price and health. When choosing a system, consider a solid carbon block filter like those at www.mosteffectivefilter.com. They are the best at what they do. Hope this helps.
Hello JP,
As long as you have enough vitamins and minerals stored in your body before the fast. Especially the fat soluble vitamins A, D and E. Eggs contain low quantities of almost all the vitamins.
Fasting for a few days is totally natural to help the body to heal. When we are sick with something like flu, we fast and sleep to get better.
Just drink more water than normal. It will help to remove the toxins from your body while it is healing, will briefly alleviate hunger pangs.
Last time I fasted, I tried a five day fast, but managed three days because it was difficult. Fasts of this type of duration are not dangerous unless you are already so hungry your body is about to digest itself.
You need to fast for more than 18 hours before your body starts to directly use its fat stores and before the weight starts to roll off. If you want to fast for two weeks, do consult your doctor though. It usually takes at least two weeks before body runs out of essential amino acids and starts to digest protein.
See a fast as an experience, not a sacrifice.