Originally Posted by
MinnMan
I'm no expert, but I don't see how you can do a 72 hour fast without losing muscle. I also can't imagine what the benefit might be as compared to less severe fasts.
btw I've rather easily fallen into a routine of 16 hour IMF, 5 days/week. I'm naturally a moderate, I guess, but this is working out pretty well for me. Also, on
Carbonfiberboy 's advice, I've been enjoying whey protein shakes after my long weekend rides.
Why would your body consume muscle if it has fat to burn? That's the reason you store fat in the first place. If you had extremely low body fat and made more physical demands than the fat could supply, then I suppose muscle would be utilized, but that would be an extreme case.
If humans couldn't go 48-72 hours without food, the human race would have died out millions of years ago. There are many studies that show fasting individuals lost less muscle overall compared to restrictive diets of longer duration when similar amounts of weight were lost. In fact fasting is one of the best ways to increase growth hormone and in men.