Hey everyone! Previously I was doing a 20:4 window or even OMAD. I’m 17 weeks pregnant and have been mostly doing 16:8 this whole pregnancy. Is there any research you guys have on IF through pregnancy? I know most people quit. It has just become my natural eating pattern over the years and I find it really hard to operate outside of that because I’m just not hungry anyways but I have lost a bit of weight unintentionally since getting pregnant. Any studies?
I wouldn’t doing any IF while pregnant. There’s no research done because its generally consider unethical to do any experimental studies that may harm a fetus.
Keep in mind that if your body doesn’t have enough nutrients for the fetus, your body will sacrifice its own nutrients. A common one is calcium loss which effects your teeth and bones.
I don’t have any studies, but 16:8 doesn’t sound that drastic to me. It can be normal to not feel hungry during pregnancy. The first 15 weeks of my last pregnancy I barely ate, and I lost some weight as well—3 pounds. It can be normal to not feel well in the first trimester and lose some, but then you should be regaining it starting in your second trimester.
If you’re continuing to lose weight that will be a red flag because the baby should be growing. And not all weight gain in pregnancy is fat—you have the baby weight, the amniotic fluid weight, the placenta weight, the extra blood weight, and then yes some fat. So if you continue to lose weight and you’re almost halfway through then yes, you’re going to need to force yourself to eat more to sustain a healthy pregnancy.
If you can eat adequate calories in your feeding window then you’d have to be fine. I mean, there have been plenty of babies born to mothers who didn’t eat all day long and who only ate one meal a day because that’s all that was available. How could we have evolved is IF was impossible during pregnancy. Three meals a day is a modern concept. You’ve already said you’ll up your calories.