Hi, I’m 19 y.o female and I just started to change my lifestyle and eat more healthy. I would like to start fasting but I don’t want to lose weight (I’m 5’2 and 92 lbs). I have been underweight my entire life no matter how much I eat. Would fasting make me lose weight even if I eat the same amount of calories?
Rather than actually fasting, your body might get benefits from time restricted eating where you keep your eating within a window of 12 hours per day (so not eating for 12 hours) as this gives your gut some time to rest between processing food. Because of your low weight I wouldn’t recommend restricting your eating beyond that since it can lead to further weight loss.
Other than that you should keep your focus on eating proper homecooked food and avoid ultra processed food and junk food.
If you are underweight, I would not recommend fasting. You are still quite young and your metabolism is working at full capacity. I would say eat more protein and quality complex carbs. Eat when your hungry as well, stay away from bread, pasta and rice as these are just not good for you. Focus on eating whole foods, tons of veggies and everything else will fall into place. Sugar is also something you should steer clear of, sugar causes inflammation, heart problems, obesity and the body has really no use for it. Proper diet is really what changes lifestyles, you can exercise until you are blue in the face, however if the diet is poor. Results are harder to achieve.
You just need to eat at maintenance or slight (50 Cal?) surplus. You said you want to eat more healthy, that’s fine but healthier foods are usually lower in calories so plan to be eating a larger volume of food. Since you’re a girl I would also make sure you’re getting enough healthy fats in your diet also.
Dont have any answers but in a similar boat - 5’8” - fluctuate between 118-123lbs, generally can’t gain weight even in my mid 30s no matter how much I eat. I am doing it for health reasons as well. I’m starting with 14/10 (nothing after 7pm first meal at 9am).
Ive read you begin autophagy after 12 hours, with 24 hours really kicking things off but for obvious reasons i will not do a 24 hour fast any time soon. So far no blood sugar issues which have been an issue for me in the past. Might try 16/8 if the next week or two go fine and see how that goes. Definitely eating normally in my eating hours, no diet stuff, mostly whole foods though.
Unfortunately for people in our situation the most health benefits occur in the 24-72 hour fasting period but even giving our digestive systems time to renew and clear out completely is likely still very beneficial, there has been no time in history when humans had access to food 24/7 until very recently.
Again, new to this so do your own research and talk to your doc, especially if you have blood sugar issues from being a lower weight. Good luck!
Do not Fast. At your age and also if you’re underweight, you will cause many problems with your hormones which will affect all aspects of your health. For women in general, of child bearing age, they should not fast longer than 14 hours. You need to focus on fat, but the good types. Dark chocolate, avocados, coconut oil, butter etc. If you email me @ ashley@affinityhealthcoaching.com, I’ll send you the file I have for healthy weight gain in adolescents.
Long as you eat in a surplus you should gain weight. But for the amount of calories you need it would probably be easier to break it up into two or three meals since you’re not used to eating very much I’m just assuming that you don’t eat that much that’s why you’re underweight.