Does It Work & How To Do It Right
Achieving Intermittent Fasting Abs | Calculating Your Time | Best Food for Muscle Gain | Abs Diet Plans
Well, hitting the gym is excellent, but you know you can combine your workout routine with fasting for abs? In this guide, we let into a little secret about how intermittent fasting can help you gain a chiseled six-pack.
You will also learn how to achieve this goal the right way, and finally, we will provide you with the best food to break intermittent fasting for muscle gain and abs diet plans you can adopt.
Achieving Intermittent Fasting Abs
You should know that the speed at which you get a six-pack is dependent on:
- Your present body composition
- The visibility of your six-pack
- The process you choose to get a six-pack
The process you choose to get a six-pack is critical because not everyone that works out gets a six-pack even after years of training, and this is because they are most likely using the wrong approach.
Intermittent fasting is one of the best ways to increase HGH (human growth hormone) and testosterone levels. These are fat-burning and muscle-building hormones that play a key role in helping you achieve six-pack abs.
Before attempting to get intermittent fasting abs, you first need to calculate how long it would take for you to get a six-pack. Also, you need to decide how best to guarantee success in the time taken to achieve the six-pack.
Anatomically, we all have six-pack abs. The question lies in whether it is visible or not. Abs only become visible when your body fat is low.
The abs of males are visible when they have about 15% body fat. However, the abs become even more pronounced with between 12% and 10% body fat.
For females, a 22% body fat composition will reveal abs. But their abs become chiseled and defined when they have between 20% and 18% body fat composition.
Calculating Your Time to Six Pack Abs Intermittent Fasting
There is an easy formula for knowing how long it would take to reach your body fat percentage goal and reveal your six-pack abs.
But first, you need to follow these four steps:
Step #1: Determine Your Lean Body Weight
It is how much you would weigh if you had zero body fat. You need to know your current body fat percentage to find this out.
To determine your lean body weight, you divide your body fat percentage by 100, then multiply by your present body weight to determine how much fat you are presently carrying.
For example, if you are male with a current body weight of 170 Ibs (77 kg) and a body fat percentage of 20%, your body fat will be:
Current body fat: 20%/100 = 0.2 x 170 Ibs = 34 Ibs.
To calculate your lean body weight, you subtract your current body fat from your current body weight as follows:
Lean body weight: 170 Ibs – 34 Ibs = 136 Ibs.
Step #2: Select your Body Fat Percentage Goal
You have to decide how lean and visible you want your fasting for abs to be. For example, if your body fat percentage goal as a male is 12%, you divide this by 100 (i.e., 0.12) and then use the formula below:
Six-pack bodyweight goal = lean body weight divided by 1 minus your desired body fat percentage goal.
Using the previous example:
Six pack body weight goal = 136 Ibs / (1 – 0.12) = 136 Ibs / 0.88 = 155 Ibs.
Step #3: Calculate the amount of Body Fat you should lose
To achieve your body fat percentage goal of 12%, you will need to subtract your six-pack bodyweight goal from your current body weight as follows:
Body fat to lose: 170 Ibs – 155 Ibs = 15 Ibs.
Step #4: Calculate how long it would take to achieve the loss of 15% of Body Fat
It is recommended that you lose about 0.7% of body fat per week. Losing more than this in body fat per week could lose both body fat and lean muscle mass. However, by sticking to an average of 0.7% of body fat loss, you would experience lean muscle gain.
Here’s how to calculate the time needed to achieve a 12% body fat loss percentage.
Your weight loss goal per week = (0.7/100) x current body weight = 0.007 x 170 Ibs = 1.2 Ibs per week.
The time = body fat loss goal divided by weekly weight loss goal = 15 Ibs / 1.2 Ibs = 12.5 weeks.
Achieving a 15% body fat loss at a rate of 1.2 Ibs per week would take 12.5 weeks to attain through six-pack abs intermittent fasting.
Best Food to Break Intermittent Fasting for Muscle Gain
The most important thing about any diet is that you’re eating healthy food. No matter what intermittent fasting regimen you follow, if your diet isn’t full of nutritious, whole foods (like fruits, vegetables and lean meats), it won’t do much good for your abs. So make sure to eat a balanced diet with plenty of lean protein and whole grains.
When you want to break intermittent fasting, you need to avoid sugary beverages and high-carb diets. These meals can increase your insulin hormone levels which boosts fat storage in your body while also slowing down your testosterone and growth hormone levels.
In addition, consuming a meal high in sugar or carbs will raise your ghrelin levels, causing you to experience hunger pangs, making fasting the following day harder. Ghrelin levels fall post-eating due to a rise in insulin. The best food to break intermittent fasting for muscle gain include:
Protein from:
Fermented foods like:
- unsweetened kefir
- kimchi
- sauerkraut
- pickled veggies
Vegetables and fruits like:
- Cooked veggies
- leafy green leaves like spinach
- veggie juices
- raw fruits, such as raspberries and avocados
Healthy fats and oils like:
- coconut oil
- olive oil
- grass-fed butter
- nut butter
- ghee
You can also eat soups and even bone broth. You should avoid heavy meals to prevent bloating. A small meal or bulky healthy snack would suffice. You can prepare a salad consisting of veggies, meat or fish protein, avocado, and eggs. Drink homemade fruit or veggie smoothies and protein shakes when available.
The best meals are those that have fewer carbohydrates and more proteins, which will help you reduce your calorie intake and control your weight. To learn more about how to break your fast, read How To Break A Fast: The Best Food To Eat After Fasting.
Abs Diet Plans
There are several types of abs diet plans you could try out. However, you could adopt a six-week diet plan for your abs where you eat six meals daily.
You can alternate between large meals and small healthy snacks. This snack can be consumed two hours before your lunch, and then you can have one more snack about two hours before your dinner.
For each meal, you have food known to help build your abs. These power foods include:
If you are not sure what meals to consume, you can consult a nutritionist or dietician. Also, if you are allergic to certain foods like nuts, it is advisable to avoid them entirely. Make sure the healthy snacks you eat do not contain ingredients that you may be allergic to.
The Bottom Line
Intermittent fasting can be a great way to build muscle and lose fat, but it has to be done right. You need to make sure you’re eating enough protein and taking care of yourself in other ways (like getting enough sleep) so that your body doesn’t break down during the fasting period.
Six-pack abs intermittent fasting will not only give you well-defined, chiseled abs but also reduce your body fat percentage, provide lean muscle gains, and boost your focus during training.
Intermittent fasting for abs is catching on fast amongst the bodybuilding community. While there is still room for further research, it is clear that many athletes and regular folks have benefited tremendously from intermittent fasting.
Losing weight and building muscles is easier when you have a meal plan made just for you. Let us help you set up your fasting diet preferences and choose the perfect plan for your body type. Take a look at our Intermittent Fasting Meal Plans.
