Cutting, dieting

I had been bulking for the last 8 months and achieved my second-heaviest mass and bodyfat percentage: ~91.5kg and ~20% bodyfat. I read a fitness article that explained how it can be preferrable to bulk and cut in the 5%-15% bodyfat range because your appearance will be more trim in that range and it is possible to remain within that range during bulking/cutting cycles. It convinced me, and I decided to begin intentionally “cutting” for the first time in my life to lay a foundation for a future bulk.

Cutting was easy for me. I lost 12kg over three months. Cutting was a new experience, and enjoyed exploring the sensations of hunger, physical weakness “unfed workouts”, and tiredness. My lowest sustained weight was 80kg and my minimum weight was 78kg (with dehydration and fasting). I didn’t follow a diet - I ate to the point that I was always hungry but not starving. I maintained my 5-6x/week weightlifting routine and added a bit more cardio (2-3x per week instead of 1x on top of ~50min cycling every weekday). I probably lost some muscle because my cut was so rapid. My weightlifting numbers were reduced slightly.

24-hour fast

I have never experimented with fasting before (outside of the intermittent fasting schedule imposed by Vipassana meditation camps). I thought it would be interesting to try out a 24-hour fast.

Goals

To explore what extended fasting feels like and how it differs from an extended caloric defecit.
To evaluate what a 48-72 hour fast would be like.

Setup

I fasted from 8am Saturday to 8am Sunday. On Saturday, I started with a ~1.25x bigger breakfast than my “cutting breakfast”. I went to a 1pm HIIT kickboxing class at Flykick, and otherwise had a relatively sedentary day. On Sunday, the recovery day after fasting, I consumed comparable calories to a normal cutting day.

Outcomes

I experienced some negative side-effects:

Extreme irritability
Physical weakness and feelings of fragility
Frequent dizzyness and head rushes
General physical discomfort

Surprisingly, I barely experienced other, expected negative side-effects:

Hunger (aching or craving)
Nausea
Lack of concentration

I experienced some “positive” side-effects:

81.1kg -> 80.0kg
Increased ability to focus
Spiritual feelings-inducing light-headedness

Conclusions