Aims...

Hi @Caseji, congrats on moving to a new diet !!
For exercising it is usual to get a physical check-up from your doctor first.
As to diet and exercise: please see https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/best-time-to-take-protein
Best Wishes

@Caeseji I find doing weights fasted gives me more energy - and doesn’t increase hunger. Can’t claim to be building much muscle as I dip in and out of the gym rather than being consistent. In my view, if you’re properly fat adjusted and feeling good while weight training, all is good. However, tagging @Mbaker who is much more knowledgable in this area.

Someone kindly suggested this book for me as I am on a keto diet and have been training whilst fasting. It hasn't arrived yet so I can't actually recommend it myself yet but it looks like a well informed tome.
The Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Performance by Jeff S. Volek PhD RD
My current experience (on a bike rather than in a gym) suggests that it is very effective for endurance and does build muscle in a satisfactory way but doesn't help much with higher intensity levels of exercise.
So if I stay at low to moderate levels I can 'go' forever and recover quickly but a sustained 'attack' remains an aspiration. I have only been doing this for a couple of months so it is still early days but I am enjoying the whole experience. Best of luck with your aims.

I find resistance training makes me ravenously hungry almost immediately, but I’m extremely lean. It seems that my body wants to hold onto its stored fat reverses and prefers to make me eat. Most of my energy comes from dietary fat, and fasts longer than 24h don’t feel optimal. Otherwise lifting without carbs is just fine for someone doing it casually.

Turning the clock back 10 to 15 years ago, I used one of these rowing machines, furnished by my employer. I used it for an hour a day for two weeks at a time. I was doing the Atkins diet simultaneously. Anyhow the combination helped me reduce fat and build muscle. I stopped the Atkins diet after gall bladder complications.

Following on from this I then spent several years at a gym approximately 3 to 4 nights a week, no more. For about an hour doing resistance weights and cardio work including cycling, with a swim thrown in sometimes. It all helped to reduce fat and build muscle. I don’t remember being any hungrier then.

Unfortunately for a number of reasons I was unable to keep it going, but would thoroughly recommend the exercise to anyone.

Goonergal said:

@Caeseji I find doing weights fasted gives me more energy - and doesn’t increase hunger. Can’t claim to be building much muscle as I dip in and out of the gym rather than being consistent. In my view, if you’re properly fat adjusted and feeling good while weight training, all is good. However, tagging @Mbaker who is much more knowledgable in this area.

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Good morning @Caeseji building muscle naturally is about setting the foundation for your body to react to the stimulus the training elicits. I am guessing that you are looking for improvements in blood glucose control, functional use and perhaps aesthetics. The foundations are the right type of exercise and method of training with progressive overload, consistency, eating wholefood protein sources such as red meat and or oily fish, good hydration and quality sleep.

There is no requirement for pre-post meal anything, your glycogen stores will fill naturally. Traditional body building methods are not required at high end amateur levels. No requirement for whey or similar, just real food.

Different regimes can be employed, but I would stick with all over body workouts as opposed to legs day etc. 80-90% of what you would like to achieve can be done with the power lifting moves with some others thrown in so, this is what I do:

• Barbell Deadlift
• Barbell Squat
• Bench Press
• Lateral Pulldown
• Seated row
• Barbell Press (just started)
• Landmines (several different ways, YouTube these)
• Dumbbell Bicep curls (more for vanity, but I never waste these now in isolation, I do a squat, to stand, bicep curl, to should press, repeat

If I had to choose only 2, these would be the top 2. I focus on a tight core, shoulders and buttocks, whilst breathing correctly (not as easy as it sounds but this is key), the mentality of the exercise - i.e. never taking any rep for granted, correct posture and dedication, this will help avoid injuries, especially as the weights go up. I would advise not to do "bro" reps I.e. the heavier the better often with bad form, I would focus on building muscle memory, grip and ligament strength. Without the latter 2 lifting heavier will not be possible and injury is likely (been there with strength in the muscle but not enough adaptation of the connecting tissue). I mix up the sets so 5 x 5, 3 x 10. For warm up I do 10 minutes on the stair climber (for me burns double walking on a treadmill for the same time), and time permitting a sauna.

If I were training 3 times a week, I would go heavier over time closer to exhaustion, if I were training almost everyday I would go about 80% of maximum and heavier over a much longer time period to prevent over taxing / cortisol build-up. I get my music right to get the mentality (works well for me from my previous martial arts background).

Once you have got to a stage where say the deadlift is twice bodyweight for 3 reps, it will be tempting to keep going further. I would advise to have a word with yourself a re-evaluate your goals; I am at this stage so I am just increasing reps and trying to maintain grip strength. I have a more to add but this is getting long.

The results for me have been muscle mass increase, tone, increased strength and with 3 days of fasting and additional cardio a 6 pack. Blood glucose is amazing 3.8 / 3.9 fbg at will. I tend to eat LCHP, but am still working on this. I have found I can only do 1.5 days of fasting before loosing muscle.

Best of luck to you. I admire anyone who takes control and gets the results they want.

Caeseji said:

@kitedoc @Goonergal @Muddikins @Jim Lahey @Listlad Thanks everyone for all your responses there, that was a lot to read through!

At the moment I do have a lot to lose weight wise so I shouldn't have to worry too much about going ravenously hungry at least I hope so, currently doing OMAD most of the time with some 16:8 thrown in there on the odd occasion but I may start to do some longer fasts to cut down the fat even more so.

Thank you so much for such a comprehensive response as well @Mbaker I'm going to take that advice to heart and make a start on whole body workouts like that, I did so before and it did wonders for me but of course fell into bad habits which lead to the T2 diagnosis but those are some amazing FBG figures. I am looking towards at least a 3 times a week protocol so I will have to keep in mind to keep my form tight and to push myself during those sessions to maximise what I get out of it.

That in mind too, what timings for meals would you personally advise?

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I have played with meal timings which have had to fit in with being a chauffeur parent to athletic young ladies, a general family man and business networking / IT guy. So on my 2 meal a day-days I eat around midday and then around 16.00. For OMAD again around 15.45, 16:00. When going out for a meal I go for the earliest evening sitting around 17:00. I like a lot of time between eating and bed and not eating too close to 21:00 when the circadian rhythm is said to set in. If I smashed my workout, I call this a 700 calorie (by Fitbit measures) burn, then I will just walk after a meal. If I did between 400 - 500 calories then I will walk and do up to 1.5 minutes of weights in my home gym, but not more than one set barbell squats 15 x 110, barbell deadlifts either 2 x 140 for 5 reps or 20 x 105.

As you are OMAD, test yourself to see if you can workout after your meal, if not no problem. Don't be shy to mix and match 2 meals if you don't feel right.

Caeseji said:

@Mbaker That really must take a heck of a lot out of your day to keep that all in check, I'm really impressed there! It's all finding out what you can take and I'll have to keep on this journey. The gym is a fair half mile from me so I can do some cardio on the way in too, probably build up to a jog. Again thank you so much for the support there and you too @Jim Lahey I'll certainly keep things update on here.

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Just as a side note.. your face is looking a heck of a lot thinner these days.. well done sir!

Caeseji said:

Thank you very much sir and I saw you got featured on the Low Carb Program Twitter, well deserved!

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Yes.. my ugly mug seems to pop up all over the place these days...

@Caeseji Not sure if this has been mentioned. And not sure if this is outmoded thought but the idea is that when you work muscle at the gym you actually damage the muscle. By eating protein after it helps rebuild the muscle and then some. So on and so forth. At least that is how I remember it. Muscle repair process?

Caeseji said:

That is true, causing micro-tears in the muscle that get repaired as it goes, honestly it seems like a LCHF way of eating will help this out a hell of a lot. Plus I do love my natural protein so thanks for reminding me there!

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Great. I can honestly say it worked great for me back then. I wish I could do the same now. I was single then and had more free time on my hands.

I am now in search of a new diet and I am very interested in your post. How will it affect my health if I follow your example?