Fast This Way by Dave Asprey

Author:Dave Asprey
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harper Wave
Published: 2020-12-03T00:00:00+00:00

FASTING AND EXERCISING TOGETHER

Now let’s think through a smarter way to exercise using your own fat as your fuel, because ketones are anti-inflammatory and more energy dense than sugars and carbs.

Even as I write this book, I’m reading about Ironman triathletes, hundred-mile ultramarathoners, and other extreme endurance athletes who are learning to burn fat as they compete. They’re not doing it in an all-out state of ketosis. Rather, they break their ketosis before or during the race with a small amount of carbohydrates. A minidose of carbs keeps their muscles filled with glycogen, but it also allows them to metabolize fat as a more potent fuel and hydration source. They train while in ketosis whenever they can, but they regularly exit ketosis and eat carbs and protein in order to raise their testosterone level. And then, when they are going to compete in an event, they start out the race with lots of glycogen and a metabolism that is happy to take energy from sugar or MCT oil and ketones.

Now, that is a regimen that I can endorse. It’s an intelligent way to combine fasting and exercise to maximize their mutual benefits, the same way you learned how to combine sleep and exercise in the previous chapter. Start with a mild fast before you exercise, whether it’s weights or high-intensity interval training. The best time to exercise is at the end of a fast, so for most of us doing intermittent fasting, it’s around 1:00 or 2:00 p.m. After the exercise, when your body is primed to repair and build muscle, break the fast. Have some protein. Have some fat. If you want to exit ketosis, have some carbohydrate, too. Your workout will have been harder because you were fasted, but your results will be far greater, and the food will taste better after your workout.

If you’re doing a long-endurance event, supplement your ketones in the form of C8 MCT oil—more than a few pro athletes use Bulletproof Coffee and amino acids such as L-glutamine. L-glutamine takes you out of ketosis, but it’s quick energy, and your goal in a race isn’t to stay in ketosis. Your goal is to have maximum energy from all pathways, including ketones, glucose, and amino acids. It’s okay to have your favorite carbohydrate source, especially in the second half of the event. Your body is going to do better.

When your body burns fat, the carbon and hydrogen in the fat molecules combine with oxygen, which forms carbon dioxide and water. You breathe out the carbon dioxide, and your body makes use of the water, so you’re actually hydrating your body as you go, the same way a camel stores water in its fatty humps. If you’re competing in a long race and you’ve practiced fasting while training—but not necessarily during the race—your body will be better able to metabolize the energy you get from ketones.

Research backs up the effectiveness of this fat-first, fasting-enhanced exercise method. What you’re doing is tapping into more of those chemical pathways that were shaped by millions of years of evolution.

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