The first time one of my previous personal training mentors introduced me to the concept of fasting, I thought they were mad. I love my food, why would I want to stop eating for a whole day, I asked myself? However in order to get the best results for myself and for my clients, I decided to give it a go. After all I had heard that it could increase your fat burning hormones by 2000% and could really help with adding extra lean muscle, so why not?
I’m not going to lie; the first time I fasted I absolutely hated it. Up until this point I had been eating every 3 hours and it was a real shock to the system. I always have breakfast and because I hadn’t, I started to feel very low on energy, even felt a little sick. It was not a day I enjoyed and I ended up pigging out on everything I could find soon as the day was over.
The thing was though, one of my friends a personal trainer in London was getting really good results from fasting, so I thought I’ll give it a go again.
Again the second time, it was similar to the first, not as bad though.
However there was one positive thing that I noticed on this occasion, it was in the afternoon after about 16 hours of not eating, all of a sudden some energy came from nowhere. This energy was my fat being used for energy.
So I decided I would give it a proper go and try it once a week for a couple of months. I have to be honest I did not really see any amazing results, like what I had hoped for. One thing that I had being doing was eating a very random meal afterwards, basically anything I could find.
The more I tried the fasting the easier it became, so one week I was not so hungry at the end and I just had a small snack, high in protein. This is the moment that changed my view on fasting.
I realised that fasting followed by a high protein meal, low in carbohydrates worked a treat. This is a pretty recent event but over the past month I have noticed some positive results.
I have got stronger, I have got leaner and my tolerance to carbohydrates has increased, so it took a while but I am well and truly converted. Yes, I still find it hard as I love my food but the results I am achieving make it far easier to follow.
So I say to you, give it a go and see how you get on. On your first fast just go for 12 – 16 hours and build it up over time to the full 24 hours.
You will find that if you’re like me and eat like a horse, it will suppress your appetite and it will give you energy that you have probably never felt before. So give it a go and start getting leaner, stronger and feeling great just as I have and my personal training clients have.
Harry Pointon
Health Coach/Personal Trainer
Harry Pointon Personal Training