Hey everyone, I recently posted in this subreddit about writing an ultimate guide for women doing intermittent fasting, the post got 300+ comments so I decided to write it:
It took me months, and ton of hard work, but I finally made it!
I worked with two PhDs to try to be as precise as I could!
Growing research has suggested that intermittent fasting can be even more beneficial for women when certain modifications are followed.
For this reason, we have collected some tips for women to approach intermittent fasting in an even more successful way.
The main difference for women around intermittent fasting when compared to men seems to be the impact of this type of eating routine on female hormones and their effect on everyday life.
So the guide will mainly focus on hormonal related topics (hypothyroidism, Breast-feeding, pregnancy, PCOS, Menopause…)
We talk about:
1- The potential benefits of intermittent fasting for women
2- How to do intermittent fasting as a woman
3- Intermittent fasting tips
I’ll post the link in the comments, obviously, it’s totally free, I made this specifically for the reddit community, I hope you will enjoy it! Please share your comments.
This is great, good information. Anything that helps more people discover IF is a great.
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One point though - you say in here “Intermittent fasting isn’t easy” - I would argue with that! In my experience it’s shockingly easy, and that’s part of what’s so powerful about it.
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I’ve been doing IF for 2 years now and it’s just how I live now, I don’t even have to think about it - I’m 75 lbs lighter now. I just don’t eat early or late, nothing to think about. I have no desire to eat at other times at this point. I feel so good physically, and have so little angst around food now. And I find this to be true for most people I know who do IF.
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Instead, I would say, it might be hard to get started doing IF, or to find a rhythm that works for you, but once you’ve found your groove, I think eating this way is actually *easier* for most people. I think the hardest thing about it often is getting past the idea of how hard it’s going to be.
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I think the idea that IF is hard keeps people from trying it and being successful, and that’s a real shame since IF could literally save people’s lives.
I would just like to add that as someone who has ARFID and is autistic - I can eat my safe foods (which are all garbage) + ensure and still lose weight. I’m doing really well w just intermittent fasting and not changing my diet and just intuitively eating outside of the fasting period.
My doctor agreed this is the most manageable lifestyle change and my blood work is perfect.
Wanted to let others know who may be struggling. It comes off slower than others probably but im averaging 1.5-2kg a month
Wonderful, I’m very excited to read the research you and your colleagues have done. Thanks for all your hard work!!
I’ve been intermittent fasting for about 70 days now and am already seeing some results. Looking forward to seeing your tips in staying strong!
UPDATE: I have read the article & bookmarked women-fasting.com. Great article with a lot of concise, organized information! I am relatively new to this and this article reinforced that I definitely need to continue to try IF. 🙂
Thanks for the guide! I have a few questions.
I’ve been skipping breakfast, but my husband says he’s read research that IF only really works well if you skip dinner (which just seems impossible to me.) I try to eat 12-9pm. Will this still have any benefits?
I’ve read that women might do better with a relaxed fasting window of 14-15 hours vs 16:8. This seems way more feasible for me; it’s easy to skip breakfast but not my evening snack! Will this work?
One thing I’ve noticed doing IF so far is that I get full super fast! It’s kind of a problem, since I can only manage to eat 2 meals and 2 snacks (all drastically smaller than normal) in my 9-hour window, to the point that I wonder if I’m getting enough calories. How do people manage to eat enough and not feel full/sick? I don’t want to eat fatty foods or fat bombs, which gross me out. I generally eat a lot of lean protein, vegetables, and nuts, but somehow even nuts seem too “rich” on IF. I’ve almost stopped craving them.
FYI, I just started IF this week and I’m not really overweight, just trying to lose my 5-10 pounds of COVID fat and reap other health benefits (longevity, disease reduction, etc.)