Happy New Years Eve friends!
So I want to start by saying a HUGE thanks to all of you that have read my blog thus far. The response had been great and I genuinely appreciate it. Especially as it is just the beginning and I'm still figuring out the best way to do this thing and finding my writing voice. So far I've had over 200 views and that is pretty cool. Heading into the new year, my goal is to put out one article every 2 weeks. Sometimes it may be more often and sometimes depending on externalities it may be less often. But that's my goal.
I realize I just posted the second article in the IF series yesterday but seeing as this protocol I'm doing regarding the topic begins arbitrarily tomorrow to start on the first day of the new year and will be running for 8 weeks through the end of February, I figured I'd just go ahead and post this protocol post to put it out there. Plus this will allow me to move on to start researching other topics since I'm sure you all are tired of reading about IF!!
OK for the protocol, we will be using the tried and true scientific method:
Ask a question: Can the addition of an intermittent fasting protocol to an already established HIIT style fitness program help maximize body weight reduction?
Background research: In creating the previous 2 blog posts, I researched more than 15 scientific journal articles and application articles through various sources, i.e. PubMed (various journals), Testosterone Nation website and others.
Construct a Hypothesis: If I add a daily 8 hour IF feeding window to my already established HIIT fitness protocol, then my overall body weight will be reduced by 5% over 8 weeks.
Let's dig into this testable guess. First, I'll explain a few things that are listed, the 8 hour feeding window is exactly that. I will allow caloric intake only during a predetermined 8 hour window each day. The other 16 hours will be set for digestion, recovery, sleep and essentially letting my guts take a rest. This time period will allow a resetting of blood glucose levels and improve insulin sensitivity. Also, considering the normal digestion period from putting food into your mouth to the small intestine breaking it all down and shuttling nutrients into the blood for use is anywhere from 3-8 hours depending on what you ate, this new period of nothing new coming in will encourage the body to be more efficient with energy expenditure. The idea is that since the body generally has high levels of stored energy through body fat, this gap in caloric intake will encourage the body to use this stored energy rather than relying on new nutrients being ingested. In simple terms, the hope is that limiting calories to be consumed during a smaller than normal window will encourage the body to burn all this flubber I have stored on my buns, hips and stomach!
The second aspect is the fitness plan. I used the acronym HIIT in the hypothesis above. What this means is High Intensity Interval Training. It is essentially a fitness protocol that includes short bursts of maximal exertion to jack the heart rate up followed by continued normal exertion throughout an entire workout. The plan that I'll be following is one that I used from the Muscle and Strength website, this is to prevent any biased situations seeing as I am a certified personal trainer (NASM). The program is a 5 day per week functional movement mixed training workout plan. There is a day for overall strength, a day for muscle endurance and hypertrophy, a day for overall power and a day for speed and agility. It will also include a day for stress reduction and flexibility through yoga. I have been doing this workout for a few weeks (not including the yoga day) and have a solid baseline. I've seen a reduction of overall bodyweight by 2% going from 255 lbs down to 250 lbs. So now I'll be adding the more target specific nutrition plan into the mix to see if, as guessed, I can drop an additional 13 lbs in 8 weeks.
I have compiled an Excel document that has my daily caloric goals including macronutrient breakdown and percentages. This is what I will use to ensure that I stay on track. I will do weight measurements every 2 weeks on Sundays using the scale at my gym for consistency.
Now is time to put up or shut up and get this experiment going. I'm looking forward to seeing where I end up at the end of 2 months.
If anyone is interested in getting more specifics or if you would like to implement a similar protocol feel free to reach out and let me know and we can discuss how to get your caloric goals etc.
Now go forth and make the last day of the year fantastic. Be safe and have fun and let's male 2016 our best year ever!!!!
Cheers,
Shawn
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