I’m pretty sure you may have heard of the term intermittent fasting or IF.
Many people moot it to be the best way of losing fat or the best diet to lose fat. The reason intermittent fasting helps people to lose weight is that it makes it easier to control your calorie intake.
As you are eating just 1–2 meals a day and because you’re dieting and making nutrient-dense food choices, it’s very easy to limit your calorie intake.
This will help the general folks if they are able to stick to such a routine. It can also help enjoy your outings and occasional meals outside.
For those who cannot go for long hours without solid meals, protein fasting will serve you better.
Technically, it’s not 100% fasting.
Honestly, that should be the least of your concerns if your goal is getting into shape and if you succeed in doing so.
In protein fasting, you consume the regular number of meals that you are in a day or if you don’t have a number, a meal frequency of 3–5 meals would do the trick.
The last meal would be the one that’s the most calorie-dense one.
For all the meals before that big meal, you consume ~20 to 25 grams of high-quality protein with minimal carbs and fats.
Let’s say you have a dinner party and want to practice protein fasting, here’s what your day may look like:
Breakfast — 6–7 scrambled egg whites. (A protein shake for vegetarians)
Lunch — Grilled chicken with some leafy greens. (A small fruit with some leafy greens for vegetarians) along with a protein shake (you could skip this if you do not want to have one more shake).
Snack — A protein shake.
Dinner — A meal outside.
The reasons that you’d want to consider breaking the barriers of traditional intermittent fasting and do this are:
- You won’t get hungry: If you’re not used to traditional fasting, there’s a good chance you’d suffer immensely from hunger throughout the day.
- Better lean mass aka muscle retention: As your goal is to get in a good shape, you want to hold on to the lean mass you already have. To do that, you need to have adequate protein intake and there are studies that have shown that when protein is equated, equal dosages spread throughout the day is better than having just one or two big doses per day.
- More manageable: The idea that you get to eat some food through the day is mentally reassuring for those new to the idea of restricting calories.
- Portion control in the big meal if eating out: As you’ve consumed some food and importantly, protein in the day, you’ll be satiated and thus it’ll be easier for you to control your meal portions for dinner.
- You can train too: An example here, let’s say I want to fast on a Sunday to have dinner with friends. If I’m doing traditional fasting, I’ll not even think of a training session as my meal comes late evening and the gym shuts early afternoon. But if I’m doing protein fasting, I can train, have some protein around my training and that way, expend some extra energy that day.
Basically, I can earn my meal.
Just kidding, not a fan of such idiotic terms.
So yeah, if you want to do a protein fast:
1. Have 3–5 meals per day.
2. Save your big meal later in the day. You can do it the way round as well. I am giving later as a guideline so the tendency of binging or one thing leads to another happening is reduced.
3. Consume some protein and fruits/veggies throughout the day.
4. Train in the gym that day.
5. Enjoy your big meal.
And most importantly, show up the next day and continue the process.
Author: Pratik Thakkar