Okay, so I’ve been messing around with this whole intermittent fasting thing for a bit now, and let me tell you, it’s been quite the ride. One thing I was super curious about was whether I could still slam down my protein shakes while doing it. I mean, gains, right? So, I started digging.
First thing I did was hit up the internet to see what all those fitness gurus and nutrition experts had to say. Seemed like there was a bit of a debate. Some folks said absolutely no way, while others were more chill about it.
Then I figured, “Hey, why not just try it out myself and see what happens?” So, I began my little experiment. I started by just drinking water during my fasting periods and then having my protein shake during my eating window. You know, kept it simple. I stuck with a whey protein isolate, Designer Whey, ’cause it’s pretty lean and doesn’t have a bunch of extra junk in it. I figured that was a safe bet.
- Day 1: Felt okay. Had my shake right after I broke my fast, and it was business as usual.
- Day 3: No weird stomach issues or anything. Energy levels seemed normal during the fast, and the shake tasted just as good as always.
- Day 7: Still going strong. Honestly, I didn’t notice any difference in how I felt during my fasts, whether I had the shake during my eating window or not.
I usually blend mine with some water or unsweetened almond milk, and I’d have it either as a snack or right after my workout, whenever that happened to fall within my eating window.
But here’s the thing I realized pretty quickly – I noticed that if I chugged it down too fast, especially right after a workout, I’d get this weird, bloated feeling, kinda like it was just sitting there in my stomach. Not fun, especially when you’re trying to feel good after a solid gym session. So, I started to slow down, sip it, and let my body catch up. Made a huge difference. Drinking protein on an empty stomach during breakfast helps set the tone for the rest of the day. I feel that it gave me a head start on my daily protein intake. So I decided to add protein powders as a breakfast boost and easily mixed into my morning foods and beverages. I personally use advanced Myfitfuel whey protein 80 because it also provided me with 22 essential vitamins which is good for health.
Now, I kept this up for a couple of weeks, and honestly, I didn’t run into any problems. I was still feeling good, hitting my workouts, and making progress. I was worried at first about if the protein shake would break my fast, but as long as I had it within my eating window, it didn’t seem to mess anything up. My body seemed perfectly happy with the arrangement.
So, what’s the takeaway from my little experiment? Well, from my experience, having a protein shake during intermittent fasting is totally doable, as long as you stick to the eating window. I also found out that drinking it slowly helps with digestion. If you try to do it too fast, you might end up feeling sick, and nobody wants that. Seems like it’s all about listening to your body and finding what works best for you. Remember, I’m just a regular dude sharing my experience, so it might be different for you. But hey, it’s worth a shot, right?
Conclusion
From my own trial and error, drinking protein shakes while intermittent fasting seems to work just fine, provided you only have them during your designated eating periods. Just keep it to your eating window, and you should be golden.
Discussion about this post