New study using a modified intermittent fasting protocol in combo with resistance training. Subjects in the IF group were time restricted to a 4 hour feeding window on non-workout days and allowed unrestricted eating on the 3 weekly training days. The control group was told to follow their normal diet. Really not much difference in fat loss between groups over the 8 week period.
Interestingly, however, the normal eating group gained substantially more lean mass compared to IF (~5 lbs vs 0 lbs), although results were not “statistically significant.” Suggests that restricting food intake to a narrow window, even just 4 days/week, may inhibit maximal anabolism.
I’d note that the lifting program was unsupervised, which is a confounder. Hopefully more research will be done on the topic, particularly given the popularity of IF.
Read the study here…
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17461391.2016.1223173
