re: Intermittent Fasting- anyone do it?

This morning I put cinnamon, a dash of cayenne, clove, nutmeg, and cardamom. It's similar to a chai mix, but the cayenne is for an extra kick.

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that >50 cals doesn't break a fast

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You mean <50?

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I've been doing it for few weeks and IF seems to be working for me pretty well and i've been taking bcaa

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Just something I came across on that:

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Supplementing BCAAs

Some recommend sipping on branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs) during their fasting period to better preserve muscle. While this technique would definitely help with preserving and building muscle, it is technically putting you in a fed state. In other words, you're not truly fasting. As you know, amino acids combine to form protein. There are 20 aminos that are used as the building blocks of protein. These include the nine essential amino acids leucine, isoleucine, valine, tryptophan, threonine, phenylalanine, methionine, lysine and histidine, as well as the 11 nonessential amino acids arginine, serine, cysteine, glycine, proline, alanine, tyrosine, aspartic acid, asparagine, glutamic acid and glutamine.

If you consume just one of these amino acids, you're essentially consuming protein and therefore are technically not fasting. The BCAA leucine poses a special problem with IF. Here's why: The brain uses blood leucine levels as an indicator of how fed the body is. So if you're sipping on BCAAs, the leucine is signaling the brain that you're currently well fed. Although no work has been done on this issue during fasting, it's easy to project that if the brain senses you're fed, the benefits that come from fasting may be compromised. My suggestion is to avoid BCAAs and any of the 20 proteinogenic amino acids (those used in the building of proteins) until you're in your feeding period.

Amino acids that aren't proteinogenic can be consumed during fasting. I'm talking about amino acids like beta-alanine, betaine, D-aspartic acid and, even though they're not amino acids (but some people classify them as such), carnitine and creatine. These are fine to sip on during the day, especially if you're training in a fasted state.

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LINK

Two things that I recall reading a while back about IF but not sure how significant:

1st is that your body burns fat quickest in the 18-24 hour window of fasting.

2nd is that fasting is one way of naturally improving testosterone levels.

I have a lot of IMO but here it goes. IF is more of a style of dieting and not a magic button for weight loss. Sure, it can help a little bit won't be dramatic. By having a few BCAAs in the morning might break the fast, but it won't make you fat. The idea is to do a sustainable lifestyle change. If you feel uncomfortable doing something, stop. Adhere to the guidelines if you are trying to lose quickly and efficiently. If not, enjoy yourself and have a little here and there to enjoy the change.

Like when I did keto to lose some pounds, I didn't care to be in ketosis but stuck to a general form of a keto diet and kept carbs down. It was easier to maintain and I didn't stress about it. Still lost weight and I was stress free.

Right now I'm going a crash diet that is very strict and I adhere to it because I want to lose weight quick. However, when I get the desired effect, I will move back to IF style and keep carbs relatively low unless near a workout. But you can bet your arse I ain't giving up my coffee with cream in it to worry about fasting lol

That's how I look at it. I try to stay fasted but one lil dash of lite creamer is less than 30 cals and if that and Splenda knock me out( they don't spike my blood sugar, I checked) than so be it. I am more worried about overall cals and macros and with me being on trt I don't worry about if I am creating the best hormonal environment.

In the end all that shite is so meaningless anyways, it matters but the amount it does is so small there is no reason being miserable over it.

I'm too lazy to link why coffee breaks the fast. Drinking coffee is a personal choice, but you're technically breaking fast. Will it completely kill IF benefits? No

Nevermind

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Has anyone done IF when working out in the morning? How did you manage that? I'd prefer my feeding window be in the evenings

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I do it. I work out at about 10:30 AM everyday although I do have a cup of coffee with a splash of creamer in it in the mornings around 7:30. I used to work out after lunch, and I've noticed no difference in the intensity or ability in workouts. I was hungry during the tail end of the workouts during the first week or so, bit I'm fine now.

Have some bcaa and then fast as normal except first meal should be largest. Read the lean gains protocol

I've tried IF for about two weeks now, and lost around 5 lbs. Mind you, this makes it about 15 pounds total since I really committed to getting back in shape in January.

Last week I also downloaded myfitnesspal to really keep better track of my calories. My first observation is that even though I've cut out most sugar and starchy foods, I'm still consuming more carbs than I realized. Additionally, even when I thought I was eating a good amount of protein, I'm only around the RDA of 0.5 g/lb of body weight.

In the gym, my first week or so of fasted workouts were great and unaffected. Today I just felt off and tanked on most of my working weight sets. However, I think this may be more a result of poor sleep last night.