Hello đđŒ 30 F, I have done intermittent fasting before and I love it. Trying to get back into fasting and make it part of my lifestyle. Are there any major differences between how long women should fast compared to men? Due to our hormonal differences, cycles Etc. I have heard that women shouldnât fast for 16 hours. I just want to get the best info. TIA
Check out the Fasting Method podcast! It is hosted by two women with clinical experience working with fasted patients and they talk about women and fasting a lot. According to them, women can fast but itâs easier to fast earlier in your menstrual cycle rather than later, and itâs certainly okay to go much longer than 16 hours.
If you have a history of hormonal issues you might need to take a different approach, but that is something you would need to work with a doctor to figure out.
It varies more on an individual level than on a gender level, assuming your fast will not exceed more than a few days. If you plan on fasting longer than this, expect hormonal downregulation that will reverse when the fast ends.
not really the only thing to understand is body fat is naturally higher in male than female
In the end only you will know what works best for your needs
Remember you fast every night, I would tend to not go further than 7 days unless checked medically but after that it is up to you
look at doctor fung books or online good old youtube to get a good feel for it also a few podcasts could be helpful
https://open.spotify.com/episode/2ZdOl4cO0F2fsPjssJagbj?si=OYfqe5UWSzCM8BED7MCEMA
https://open.spotify.com/episode/72vKavHqYdhPJILsS7J2nt?si=DCIkFmN8T-yFzknZbMk7cg
https://open.spotify.com/episode/0iuCqD1vOz42ivwhOixbrw?si=kaV0D-5vSVK2Qyu68EhCcA
The only way to really know would be to get blood work done during a prolonged fast and after.
A lot of negative articals on fasting out there probably made by major food/medial companies to keep you in their loop.
You could literally make an artical saying if you fast longer than 24 hours your stomach will srink and dissolve itself, youâll implode and die. People would believe it if itâs from a âtrust worthyâ source