Good Morning (or afternoon by now) my friends! I hope everyone is hanging tough out there with the current situation. Stay safe and stay sane, and stay ready! We will get through this situation. Aaand on that note, to kick off the new week on the positive, this is The Workout of the Week from GoodAttitudeFood.com. This is The Fasted-State Workout.
In the Post…
Coming up in the post this week I wanted to explore some things about intermittent fasting and doing fasted state workouts. In a few minutes of research on the topic, I quickly saw there are many opinions on both sides of the fasted-state workout vs. eating before a workout argument. For that reason, I switched gears a bit. There is so much research on both ways that I am not going to come up with anything ground-breaking here or really add much value beyond what someone’s own google search would do. Instead, I am going to just write about what I am doing right now with eating and working out.
There will be a The Food section this week and it’s going to be a super-easy and fun meal anyone can make – Build It Yourself (BIY) Pizza!
The workout this week is going to include some dumbbells, resistance bands, more DDPY, some bike work, some shadow boxing, and of course, disc golf practice with the portable basket!
Intermittent Fasting (IF)
If you are not familiar with intermittent fasting (IF), it is an eating pattern that cycles between periods of consuming food and periods of not eating. You could also call it time-phased eating, or time-restricted eating. Here is a good article from Healthline.
A person practicing IF may eat between Noon and 8 pm, and then fast the rest of the day, for example. A common form is the 16/8 method where people fast for a 16-hour window and eat during an 8-hour window of a 24-hour period. Other methods fast for longer periods of time and some have detailed caloric/time constraints to follow. This post will focus on the 16/8 method because it’s the only one I have really tried and documented for myself.
What I do
My IF routine is that I do not eat before 11 AM and I do not eat after 8 PM. I am not super-strict with this. Most of the time I eat the first meal of the day when I am hungry and not at a set time. The last meal of the day is usually before 8 PM, but again I usually try to wait until I feel hungry.
I drink coffee with milk and chocolate collagen protein powder in the mornings. Because of the milk and the chocolate powder, this might not be considered a “true fast”.
The first meal of the day is usually lighter. Maybe a couple of eggs, a protein like bacon or sausage, and maybe some veggies or potatoes. Maybe a sandwich or wrap, or a few slices of meat with some lettuce. Sometimes, something like just bread and veggies dipped in hummus.
Dinner, or the second meal of the day, is usually a bigger meal. I try to eat mostly protein and veggies. Eggs, meat, and a Birdseye Steamfresh bag of veggies are a quick easy meal. Or something like what’s coming up in The Food – BIY Pizza!
Workout Before Eating
I like to workout before I eat. There is some science behind it. For me, I feel good when I do this and that’s the main reason for it.
An article from The Telegraph, written by Max Lowery, breaks down what happens when a person works out in a fasted-state vs. a fed state.
A very brief, oversimplified summary is that fasted-state teaches the body to use fat as a fuel source instead of sugar. The theory is that fasted-state training is a way to teach your body to burn fat instead of glycogen for its fuel.
Maintain Weight
IF and fasted-state workouts have helped me maintain my weight. Before getting healthy I was about 245lbs. Then I got down to under 155lbs but was not eating very healthily. I reintroduced dairy into my diet, along with heavier resistance training, and gained some weight quickly after, but the gain stopped and it’s leveled off. I have been able to maintain my weight between 165lbs and 170lbs for about a year doing what I am writing about here.
Another great article about intermittent fasting and it’s benefits can be found here – Why Skipping Breakfast…
Teach Your Body To Use Fat
IF is said to teach the body to burn fat as fuel. It allows us to reduce the level of glucose in the blood – which is sugar and is a primary source of fuel. Fasted-state workouts help burn whatever glucose is left in the blood, then when depleted, the body to switches to burning fat because there is no more glucose. Fasted state workouts are said to be able to burn up to 20-30% more fat, according to the information in Lowrey’s article on 2MealDay.com, The Truth About Fasted Exercise.
On To The Food!
BIY Pizza
I usually don’t eat a ton of pizza. But I LOVE pizza.
Lately, I have been buying these “healthy” pre-made pizza crusts and been putting my own toppings on to make some Build It Yourself Pizzas.
Build It Yourself Pizza
Build-it-yourself-pizza is super easy! I get the crusts pre-made. Then I buy a store pizza sauce. Get some fresh Mozza. Maybe some parmesan. Then you can really add any toppings you want to the pizza.
Pepperoni, Green Pepper, Green Olive and mushrooms Combo
One of my favorite pizza combos is pepperoni, green peppers, and green olives! That is the pizza I am showing here.
The cool part about BIY Pizza is you can just put whatever you want on it. It’s way cheaper than Papa Murphys and you can make them as healthy or junky as you want!
BIY Pizza Steps
- Preheat your oven – follow the instructions on the pizza crust. The Wild Harvest crust says to preheat at 400 degrees
- Put a crust on a pizza pan and add the sauce. Plop a spoon in the middle of the crust and then swirl the sauce out to the edges of the crust
- Add pepperoni, green pepper, green olives, mushrooms and cheese
- Bake for about 10-12 minutes – or until cheese is melted and the crust is golden brown
- Pro tip – I like to run the broiler for about 1 minute to add a nice golden brown color to everything
- Cool for about 5 minutes
- Eat that Pizza!
This is the easiest and funnest way to make pizza I know! Since the pizza maker is in control of the ingredients in a Build-It-Yourself pizza, it could be as healthy as you want and as customizable as you want. The Wild Harvest crusts are healthy, taste good, and super simple!
WHY have I not been making this all my life?
I actually made another one of these while writing the post. So good! Added sausage to this one.
Also look for a bonus mid-week edition of The Food sometime later this week!!
The Workout
As always – do a dynamic warm-up. I do this one from FightTips.com, it’s my warm-up for everything!
The Workout Schedule
This week we have the usual 7-k-steps for at least 4 days goal. In addition, I am doing some work with my resistance band set, some shadow boxing, some DDPY, and other fun stuff! I try to do most of the workout stuff before I eat, so I am working in a fasted-state.
Step Count Update
I am counting my steps up to 1,000 miles walked. Last week the count was 789.85 miles. Over the past week, I walked 29.91 miles. The new step count is 819.76 miles! WOOOO! I have walked over 800 miles – since around October.
Monday
Mostly recovery day. Getting out for a walk. Throwing some discs. Even if it’s snowing!
Tuesday
4 round tabata workout with weighted gloves. Shadow boxing and “basement style kung fu” moves.
Intveral timer set to 8 x 20X10. Combo moves during the 20 seconds, at about an 8 out of 10 intensity. Boxer shuffle and d-moves for the 10 seconds, at like a 5 out of 10 intentity.
10 minutes or more on the stationary bike – depending on the knee.
Wednesday
Hopefully a round of DIY disc, weather allowing.
Resistance Band Workout. Three rounds of RBFTBs. Resistance Band FIIT Tabata Burners Baby! WOOOO!!!
My resistance band set is one of the best home gym things I ever got. $20. VERY versatile home gym tool.
Thursday
DDPY Day!
Dude? Do you DDPY? Diamond Cutters are for Disc Golfers!
Friday
Dumbells. I found a sweet dumbbell workout video from Zeus Fitness.
I am basically doing the first round of this video below, but repeating it three times. In the video he is adding more reps, I am just doing the 10 reps of each move, three times each.
Saturday and Sunday
Open format but will definitely be working to get in those step goals! DIY Disc or a rural disc course maybe. I might get the Mountain Bike out on the trails if the knee recovery continues.
Stay Safe, Make it a Great Week!
There you have it my friends! Thank you SO MUCH for reading! Thank you to the content providers. Thanks for the great youtube workouts from DDPY and Zeus Fitness. Check them out. Make it a great week!
For most of my life, I thought I needed to eat breakfast every day. “Breakfast is the most important meal of the day”, afterall. Turns out that junk was some advertising stuff made up to make me eat cereal as a kid. I stopped listening to people saying I had to eat breakfast, started doing daily IF, and it has helped me lose a lot of weight and maintain a healthier weight. No macro counting, no strict diets, just disciplined about the time when I eat. I added fasted-state workouts into the mix. These really make me feel good. Heroes and heroines maybe don’t need to eat every 4 hours. Maybe twice every eights hours is actually better, after trying IF and fasted-state workouts, I don’t think I can ever go back to “three squares a day”. Be happy and healthy! Be the hero or heroine in your story!
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