The whole idea of not eating for 16 hours is a scary thought, I had visions of me being starving and worst of all, watching the clock and counting down the minutes before I can eat. There was none of that!
I started this when my schedule was pretty straight forward, meaning every day I trained at 12:30 so my meal timings were the same every day. So for me this was as follows;
1:30pm – first meal (biggest)*
4:30pm – second meal (medium)*
7:30-8pm – last meal (smallest)*
*amount of calories
I followed this for two weeks and I must say for the two weeks I never felt hungry once. Regards to what I ate, I kept away from junk as usual but I increased my carbohydrate intake a fair bit. My main source of carbs came from protein flapjacks which have 30g carbs and 20g protein per bar which I had straight after my workouts. Other carb sources came from oatmeal which I normally added the dry oats to my protein shakes. My post workout meal was fairly simple and easy, I relied on meal replacement shakes, not ideal or the best option but it was the easiest option for me at the time.
So I finish training and immediately have a protein flapjack, my meal replacement shake (which included BCAA, creatine and L-glutamine) and a 300g tub of cottage cheese.
My second meal which was a “real” meal would normally be sirloin steak with steamed vegetables. This did vary and I’m not sure if this has been done before but I did have some beef burgers but instead of the bread buns I used portobello mushrooms. I just grilled them for a few minutes per side added some mozzarella cheese to the burgers and ate it like a normal burger – DONE.
The last meal was simple; it was basically another protein shake which consisted of 40g protein and 2g carbs per serving which was perfect just before bed.
Regards to my training my strength has gone through the roof, this could be because my carb intake was higher than it normally is which means I have more fuel for my workouts. My workouts were split over five days where I focused on one body part per session, trying to spend at least an hour (around 20 sets) making sure I hit the muscle from every angle. After the weights I did some cardio, nothing too taxing but enough to break a sweat, cardio sessions lasted maximum 20 minutes.
I refrained from checking the scales the entire time, mainly because I was getting a bit tired of it if I’m honest. This time I just went of what I looked and felt like, I’m looking better in the mirror; my muscles seem fuller which is a bonus. I think the main indication of my progress is based on two key factors, if my waist line is the same and if my shirts are getting tighter.
Check and check!
I enjoyed the experience granted it was a short one but due to my schedule I couldn’t stick to training times and my meal timings were getting sloppy towards the end, so some days I’d have my first meal at 1pm and others it would be at 4pm. It was just a nightmare trying to keep within the 16 hours and working your meals around it. Don’t let that put you off though; if you can train at the same time on a daily basis then this would be good routine for. I originally planned to do this for a minimum of 4 weeks but I can’t do it due my time commitments, with work and me just starting a nutrition degree and not knowing when I can train it’s just not the best option for me. I do encourage you to give it a try though even if it’s only for a week, you have nothing to lose!
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