I’m often asked by people what they can do to lose some weight or what they can do to shake up their current routine. It’s incredibly hard to give advice on such a matter without asking a ton of questions and without truly understanding the unique lifestyle of the individual at hand. Recently, I’ve had a few people ask specifically about trying Intermittent Fasting (IF). For those of you unfamiliar with the concept of IF, the protocol is fairly simple on the surface: choose a set period of time in which you don’t eat. IF can be done once in a while with a 24-hour fast every month or year or it can be as committed as a 16-hour fast done daily.
As I wrote earlier this year, I’ve dabbled with IF and had some good results. I was already in good shape before using the strategy, but IF helped me get leaner; the downside was that I found it hard to gain strength while on this protocol, which is why my eating window is now closer to 14 hours than 8. I’ve also stumbled across a few IF success stories on the internet written by reputable sources such as John Berardi of Precision Nutrition, but I’ve yet to come across an article on IF written by a woman- something that I realized when discussing IF with a female friend of mine last week. I’d never really thought about how fasting could affect women differently than men, but since we are so hormonally different, have different levels of muscle mass and different metabolisms, I decided to scour the web for more info.
My findings? Well, there are far more negative things said about IF by women than there are by men. Seems as though most women have success at first but eventually start suffering negative consequences. Two articles found in my search really stuck out to me:
The first, Shattering the Myth of Fasting for Women: A Review of Female-Specific Responses to Fasting in the Literature, uncovers that most studies on IF revolve around the successful results of men and that the major results of most studies show that the metabolism of women actually suffers on an IF protocol. These results don’t necessarily surprise me, as we already know that caloric restriction wreaks havoc on the female metabolism as well; now, IF doesn’t necessarily equate to caloric restriction, but it is far from shocking that prolonged periods of fasting can cause women to hang on to their fat stores rather than burn them.
The second article, Train Like A Man, But Eat Like A Woman!, is filled with the personal IF stories of a handful of female fitness coaches, and the results are quite staggering. Most of the women experienced some success followed by increased levels of stress and subsequent weight gain; one women even went as far as to say: “I became a hormonal crazy-person”. If you’re a woman and are considering giving IF a shot, please take a look at these articles before you begin.
Something we all want to avoid…
Now, before we jump to any conclusions, there are definitely women out there who have had success with IF; don’t take this article as me condemning the strategy for all women. We are all individuals and different strategies will work for different people. If you would like to try IF, I would simply advise that you have your ducks lined up in advance:
- Ensure that you know your required macronutrient requirements and plan your eating window to ensure these needs are met.
- Listen to your body! If you feel stressed, light-headed, have trouble sleeping or stop menstruating, please take a step back and alter your eating patterns.
- Be realistic about your capabilities; if you’ve had disordered eating problems in the past, something like IF might not be a good choice.
Finally, the one thing that continues to stand out is that IF is still a very new phenomenon and the body of studies is still quite thin. As a diet strategy that has shown some promising health benefits, more and more studies will surely be done and we should have a much better grasp of the effects of IF in another decade or so. In the meantime, it seems as though IF can be a good strategy for men, but one that should be generally avoided by women. As with most things, a sporadic fast every now and then will certainly not hurt you, so don’t stress if you find yourself in an extended fast every now and then. In the end, my message to women must once again read: Don’t be afraid to eat!!! Do your best to avoid extended fasts and binge episode, and to stay consistent with small meals full of quality food. Life is short and we all need to indulge every now and then, but if you’re consistent with your actions you’ll have earned the right to indulge!
For more information on IF or other nutritional strategies, don’t hesitate to drop me a line!
Happy Monday!
- DW
