Originally Posted by
redlude97
Agreed on the first part, not so sure on the second part.
In terms of achieving an equal calorie deficit what is your opinion on retaining fitness and muscle mass in terms of "normal diet" and IF? Be as scientific as you'd like. I would really like to have this conversation, preferably backed by studies. It is pretty much a consensus that losing weight while raising FTP is difficult to impossible. The goal is usually to maintain FTP while losing weight resulting in an increase in W/Kg. Physiologically, things are going on during IF and especially fasted training that can maybe overcome this hurdle with proper nutrition periodization
No fair! I remember this table but not the PDF URL. I only get the abstract from your link, no table, etc. It's a study of sleep low, train low (low carb availability) vs. train high.
Short-term periodization of dietary CHO availability around selected training sessions promoted significant improvements in submaximal cycling economy, as well as supramaximal cycling capacity and 10-km running time in trained endurance athletes.
Without the PDF we don't know what their definition of "economy" is. So of course the SL group's fat oxidation improved, but with a concomitant decrease in CHO oxidation. There's always a trade-off. Also no TT results for the two groups, which is what I would call the determinant result as far as desirability of SL etc. goes. See my tag line.
Many of us do a variation on the SL thing by simply training in the morning before breakfast, or going on training rides for several hours without eating, etc., which all have a similar effect on fat burning. But then we also do intervals to keep the carb burning apparatus in good condition.
Chapple started this line of thinking back in 2006 with his Base Building for Cyclists.
AFAIK the method by which one periodizes nutrition to achieve this increase in fat burning makes no difference.
I ran across an interesting article on pros doing what one might call permanent nutritional periodization:
https://www.ridemedia.com.au/feature...weight-debate/