How Long Can You Fast Without Losing Muscle?

This is exactly how long you can fast without losing muscle. Don’t ignore this!

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How Long Can You Fast Without Losing Muscle?

As noted above, Intermittent Fasting can help to preserve lean muscle by increasing growth hormone. However, if you don’t get enough protein within your eating window to support muscle maintenance, then you can run into issues of muscle loss.

While Intermittent Fasting, you can have fasting lengths from 12 to 36 or more hours. Clearly, with fasts lasting longer than a day, you’re not able to get all of your daily protein needs in. So if muscle maintenance is your chief concern, you’ll want to aim for shorter daily intermittent fasts. (At this point, you’ll definitely want to take my free Intermittent Fasting schedule quiz HERE!)

Because protein is the most satiating macronutrient, it can be a bit difficult to fit all of your daily protein needs in during a smaller eating window (with a longer daily fast). This is why the Complete Intermittent Fasting Bundle recipes focus on high quality sources of protein at each meal during the eating window.

From there, the length of time you fast each day depends on your own goals and needs. For example, if you’re working on building muscle or if you have higher protein needs due to age related bone loss, then you might want to opt for a slightly shorter fast (12-14 hours). However, if your protein needs aren’t as high, then you might do well with slightly longer fasts (16-20 hours).

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The 21 Day Intermittent Fasting Program

The 21 Day Intermittent Fasting Program provides step-by-step strategies to help you use Intermittent Fasting with delicious, protein-packed meals to support fat loss, reduce hunger, and boost gut health.

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