Hey gang! I have a (maybe dumb) and very specific question that I couldn’t exactly find the answer to, so I’d love it if you could weigh in a bit.

TL;DR: Newbie, strength training 4x a week, eating window is 11:00-17:00, is it okay to train at like 17:30?

I’m usually a long distance runner but decided to exclusively do strength training this winter. I’ve also been on a fairly strict 18/6 IF schedule since about June and I’m really happy with it and used to it by now, so I don’t like the idea of quitting IF just to accommodate lifting. IF is more for health reasons than for weight loss for me, it stops me from going goblin mode on junk food in the evenings and really helps with mental clarity in the mornings.

IF and running in the evening after my window worked great together, never had any complaints about it, and the first two weeks of regular strength training with this schedule seemed pretty good as well. I’ve eaten at a bit (maybe 300-500 kcal but idk) above maintenance with about 1-1.5g of Protein/kg during my window and visually my muscles have already improved and I’ve gained about 1kg. That’s okay for newbies, right?

Recovery seemed fine so far as well, a good bit of new stimulus DOMS in the first week, but it’s noticeably easier after the second now despite hitting technical failure on a few exercises each workout (still figuring out my limits lol). AFAB people supposedly recover faster anyways I’ve heard, so I’m not super worried about delayed recovery due to fasting tbh.

The most common answer I’ve found when researching fasting after a workout has been ✨ Eating after a workout will replenish your Glycogen stores. ✨

…which is such a nothing-burger of an answer! The goal of fasting IS to empty the Glycogen stores. I don’t get what this answer can be useful for…

Further, when I search up resources on fasting and weightlifting in general, I usually just get answers regarding lifting in a fasted state in the morning, which (unless a 15 minute Cardio warmup puts me in a fasted state lol) I’m not doing.

I’ve also read that the anabolic window isn’t really relevant for casual lifters, it’s more for serious athletes that actually benefit from optimizing muscle gain by like 5%.

So yeah, after all that rambling: am I doing any serious harm in the long-run? Not just “eh, it could be a bit more efficient” but actual damage? Because I feel good, I perform like expected and I don’t want to quit IF as a lifestyle. I may be swayed to compromise and have like, a protein bar or something like that after training if the benefit is great enough I guess, or I’d be down to move my training into my eating window. What do you think?