Is Fasting Good For You?

I used to do the whole bodybuilder thing of eating frequent meals throughout the day so that I would stay in an anabolic state. I wanted to build muscle and it seemed like the logical thing to do. I think the bodybuilding approach is a sure fire way to build muscle fast but it's definitely not right if you're prone to gaining fat. If you're a former fat boy like me, you probably have very greedy fat cells and all that food that enters your body will be stored straight to them. Occasional fasting is good for increasing your insulin sensitivity in your muscles so that you will gain muscle easier. I'm not sure what it does to your fat cells but you certainly do burn quite a bit of fat with occasional fasting.

Bodybuilders fear that they will go catabolic (a state where you're body breaks down cells in your body for energy) if they miss a meal or two. There's really no need to fear a large decrease in muscle mass if you make intermittent fasting a regular part of your life. There's really not that much decrease of real muscle mass. Your muscles may deflate a bit due to the loss of glycogen stores (glycogen is stored with water which make your muscles swell) but your body will not give up that muscle easy if you regularly do some kind of strength training. Plus fasting releases growth hormone which promotes fat loss and muscle growth.

If you're doing the whole bodybuilder thing and you gain fat easily, you may want to think about skipping a meal once in a while. It won't kill you.