LeanGains 2021: Round 1 Results

Here are the results of practicing intermittent fasting per the LeanGains protocol over the last 10 weeks (April 12 — June 12, 2021)

If you are unfamiliar with LeanGains and/or Intermittent Fasting, I recommend that you take a look at the posts below and the links contained within. Unless noted otherwise, I followed the same principles/procedures/methods contained within those documents.

LeanGains Results: Round I
LeanGains Results: Round II

Background

I have not closely tracked my macronutrient or caloric intake since leaving California 5 years ago – I’ve just been kinda winging it, loosely following “dirty KETO” when I’m motivated, but eating a typical American/modern diet when I’m stressed and/or unmotivated … the results? 30 pound weight gain and a 10 inch increase in waist size. 

My Plan & Goals

My plan for this cycle is documented here: LeanGains 2021: Round 1 — Plan

For the first couple of weeks, I tried to stick with the plan I laid out. A quick summary would be:

• 16:8 Intermittent Fasting with a 2pm – 10pm eating window
• 3 workout days + 4 rest days per week
• Always eat high protein, but cycle high carb + high fat as well as caloric intake. 
• 2150 Calories (high carb, high protein, low fat) on workout days (Monday, Wednesday + Friday)
• 1600 Calories (low carb, high protein, high fat) on rest days (Tues + Thurs, possible Saturday + Sunday as well). 
• This adds up to 12850 per week which translates to a 2150 kCal deficit per week, which should equal .6 lbs per week or 2.5 lbs per month. Keep in mind these numbers are for a sedentary lifestyle. 
• Day-to-day macro and calories levels could be adjusted based on hunger + activity levels while keeping the weekly numbers in mind.

Even though I had experience with LeanGains in the past, I was not sure what I should expect. Based on the calorie deficit I was working with (assuming my TDEE was calculated correctly), I thought I’d lose  somewhere between 5-10 pounds. I expected a big initial drop due to reducing my carb intake, but was not sure where I’d end up once my body adjusted to this change. 

This initial plan was based on my experience and research from 2013. Things have changed a bit since then (goals, information, health, etc) and this is somewhat reflected in the ways I adjust my plan a couple of weeks in:

• Working out 6 days per week, almost exclusively with bands
• Much of my training time is spent doing physical therapy exercises for knee and shoulder injuries
• My low calorie days were high fat, low carb, which translates to less volume. I found this to be one of the more difficult aspects of IF per the LeanGains protocol. Since I started working out 6 days per week (recommended schedule for the bands I am using), I changed my goals to: 
  • 2150 Calories (low carb, high protein, high fat) on Monday, Wednesday + Friday.
  • 1600 Calories (high carb, high protein, low fat) on Tuesday + Thursday
  • 1200-2150 Calories on Saturday + Sunday depending on hunger levels, activity and other factors (more on this below). Alway high protein, but high fat/carb changes based on what I want to eat that day or what’s available to me. Being flexible here makes things easier mentally.
• Since I am usually super busy on Saturday + Sunday and think about food much less, I tried pushing eating as late in the day as possible, sometimes only eating one meal a day (OMAD) after 8pm. Practicing OMAD on the weekends has resulted in shortening my eating window on some days, frequently going 20:4. 

Results

Body Measurements

*Average body fat % is the average of the following methods: IFCalculator, Skinfold (suprailliac site only) and Naval Research Method. The individual measurements for each of these methods can been seen in Appendix I. This number is the average of the measurement taken over 3 days.
**This is the first time I’ve measured a loss in LBM during IF. I will need to keep a close eye on this.

Strength Measurements

In the past, I’ve always kept track of my progress strength wise to see if my training was working and also to make sure I wasn’t losing too much muscle mass. Using bands, I’ve found it harder to measure gains.

Conclusions/Thoughts

During this cycle I learned some new things, as well as reinforced some of the things I observed previously.

Key Points:

• Going into this, I thought that the cheat days I always took on Saturday may have been slowing progress. In reality though, I think having a weekly ‘break’ to look forward too every weekend was huge in staying disciplined. 
• Going high fat on workout days and high carb on rest days has made sticking to my marcros easier, but I’m not sure how it will/has affected my progress, if at all. 

What’s Next?

I’m hoping to keep the momentum going and jumping right into LeanGains 2021: Round 2. I have a family vacation in a few weeks and I’m hoping to be at a point where I can take a week or so off and not have a huge setback, or at least be in a good spot still once the vacation is over.