Warrior Diet during large exam?

[banker22]

Hi all

I have a long, taxing exam coming up in 5 months. Think MCAT level of difficulty with high emphasis on complex reasoning but also a decent amount of conceptual and factual recall. In short, its an 8 hour beast (roughly 9-5). It's the GAMSAT, if anyone is familiar.

I also need to lose some fat over the next few months. I have started some kettlebell work along with some light easy cardio, and want to start a diet but am worried about my cognitive performance (and endurance) on this exam if I'm running at a deficit.

Are my fears unfounded? Does anyone have this kind of exam experience on the warrior Diet?

Thanks !

[BRUTE]

in general, fasting/keto types of diets are awesome for exams. a body that has adapted (over weeks/months) to get all its energy from body fat will be less dependent on external glucose and provide all day steady energy.

that being said, for high-end performance it can still make sense to provide external energy at the event.

banker22 could do WD until the exam, and then supply external energy on that day if needed. fast-acting glucose and MCT oil come to mind.

[jacob]

"IF needed" is the key-word here. The last thing you'd want is to overdose on fast sugars and cause an overreaction in an insulin system that isn't used to this... then watch yourself fall asleep half an hour later. This is particularly likely if you're used to a strict WD. If you cheat at random, the body is not as susceptible to over or under-reactions.

Energy is needed (=highly useful) on WD for events that take more than 1500kcal, typically a 2 hr+ endurance effort. Thinking hard doesn't really qualify since the body is quite capable of supplying sufficient energy for the brain and walking around effort by metabolizing fat. I'd bring some snacks just in case but use them more as a morale booster.

[banker22]

Thanks both. I had considered bringing some food to eat during the exam to give me that extra boost, similar to how endurance athletes "train empty, race full", which has shown to offer improved performance. However, with an exam I am more worried about state dependent learning. If I am studying and practising while fasting, then I should take the exam in the same state to take advantage of the state dependent learning effect. Or perhaps I am overthinking this and the benefits / drawbacks are in reality very small.