So excited to find out that Bodybuilding.com just awarded my feature article the “over 40 Amateur of the Year” in their 2013 Site Awards…! When I originally wrote the article, I had just won my Pro Card as a WBFF Pro, and it was such an honor to be able to share some of my journey into fitness with others. We all have our New Year’s Resolutions, and at the top of my list was to write articles for Bodybuilding.com…then I found about this award and..well…you could say that I’m taking this a sign that I’d better make this resolution a reality!!!
Thanks to ALL OF YOU for making this possible, for following my posts, commenting, asking me questions, and working with me! Please keep the comments and questions coming, and I promise to do my best to turn them into articles over the next year!
xoxo
Hi my name is Kelli, I am inspired by all of the input that you are putting out there for women approaching 40 or are there already. I get so much out of all that you have done. The diet, the workout, and your achievements. keep it coming. My question is about intermittent fasting don’t understand when you do it? How many hours in between meals? What are the benefits? Confused about the carb cycles when to eat carbs? Maybe you can explain in another wonderful upcoming article? You are a power of example. The skies the limit.
All the best,
Kelli
Hi Kelli,
I don’t actually recommend IF very often to my clients, and only do it myself on occasion..in my off-season, (remember, I stay withing 5 lbs of stage weight!) I slack on the 6-meals-a-day protocol and go down to 4…so….I usually end up doing what is called a 16/8 fast, meaning I DON’T EAT for 16 hours straight – basically I wake up, grab a double espresso and a BCAA drink, do some work online, and then go hit the gym by 11 am…that means I have my first meal , a post-workout meal, at around 1 pm…
I have done longer fasts in the past, usually to “kick-off” the diet season, where I’ll fast for 20 hours, work out at the end of the fasting window, and then eat 2 meals in the 4 hours left before bed…
I definitely will be writing more about this! But in the meantime, check out John Berardi’s great article at http://www.PrecisionNutrition.com
Have a healthy winter Kelli! xoxo
As I said, I don’t recommend IF for clients, and only do it myself occassionally when I’m not in contest prep. It’s something I would do more due to lifestyle factors like sleeping in late, wanting to get a workout in, and maybe heading out with friends afterwards to enjoy a big brunch.
a 16/8 fast means that you don’t eat for a period of 16 hours, and then you have an 8 hour window to eat, for a total of 24 hours. If you had a last meal at 8 pm, then you wouldn’t eat again until noon the following day. In my opinion there is no observable benefit to IF dieting other than lifestyle factors. I don’t recommend it for women to do often as it will only exacerbate the down-reglation of our hormones as we age and put us into hypocaloric states longer where we risk being catabolic for longer periods of our day.