Women and IF - an interesting and alarming blog post

gmallan

I just read this blog post that outlines possible difficulties and effect of IF on women and their hormones/hunger etc using mostly anecdotal evidence

http://breakingmuscle.com/nutrition/train-man-eat-woman

Just wanting to get some opinions/anecdotal evidence/scientific evidence about WOMEN who have tried IF. Has it been successful for you? What positive effects did you see? What, if any negatives? Did you hate every minute of it? Do you prefer eating steadily throughtout the day?

To be clear I haven't tried IF, I'm just curious about others who have.

Thanks in advance

wackyfunster

There is an IF group with several threads on this topic... you may wish to join if you are considering IF!

TL;DR: IF can potentially mess with women's hormones. YMMV. Some women do 22/2 with 0 issues, some women lose their period with 16/8. 14/10 seems to be safe for virtually everyone, but once again, YMMV. Worst-case scenario is elevated testosterone levels and lower estrogen levels, which can be viewed as being advantageous for weight loss in the short term, if not something that is advisable in the long term.

FitandFab33

I tried IF (leangains style with either 14 fasting 10 eating days or 16 fasting 8 eating days). It wasn't much of a challenge for me because I was busy with the baby most mornings and breakfast was always put off. I loved working out fasted in the mornings- I did have extra energy and made gains while doing it. (I only did the IF for about a month- though I still fast for 12-16 hours daily depending on what's going on so it's not a huge difference, I jsut don't make a POINT to do it now and don't work out fasted all the time)

I am breastfeeding, so my hormones are already a mess. And not that I know for sure, but I think I lost the same amount of weight as I would have on a different eating schedule (calories in < calories out).

I did try ONE 36 hour fast.. just to kind of "see".. and meh. It wasn't an awesome experience.. it wasn't hard.. it was just a day. No issues with my workout that day either.

I don't think I would commit to IF as a long-term thing, but one day of fasting every 3 or 6 months is doable. I think it's a reconnection to hunger and treating food as fuel instead of an emotional crutch (for ME- not suggesting that for anyone else).

alaskaang

I've done it and can't say that I really noticed any gains from it that weren't just attributed to overall calories and eating habits. It is nice to not constantly think about food and know that I can go without for a day or so. The longest that I've done was about 36 hours. A 14 hour fast / 10 hour feeding window is very easy and probably what I do for the most part now, but it's not a conscious choice, just what works with my schedule.

The most benefit I got from IF was this summer when I was on the road and we were filming for hours on end. By not eating until we were done for the day, I never had to stop for restroom breaks.

I do think that it being easy or not is also going to depend on what you eat. It is not something that I could have done comfortably when I was still eating grains. I was always one that had to eat every 3 to 4 hours or I'd get dang cranky, headache, etc. Whether it was the "sugar crash" or because I'm allergic, I don't know, but I don't have that issue any longer.

I do wonder about the hormonal concerns though. I didn't correlate the two being related, but my ovaries did shut down a couple months ago (I'm 43) and my hormone levels dropped to that of pre-puberty / post-menopausal. Not a fun place to be, and now I have to take my hormones since I'm not producing them.

Firefox7275

Just because you still have your period does not mean that your hormone levels are normal, there is a stage when the body is stressed or deprived of nutrients or bodyfat is too low when ovulation stops but menstruation continues. For some women things have to be quite bad before periods actually stop, but before that stage fertility can still be damaged.

PaleoPath4Lyfe

I was doing regular IF and I loved it. The freedom to go out for the day and run errands, shop, etc and not have to worry about stopping somewhere for food was pure freedom.

I saw the best progress when I was working out regularly and doing IF. I had great energy and ate in the evening with my husband for supper.

I started the Leptin Reset protocol and stopped IF due to my Endocrinologist doesn't recommend for people with Thyroid issues. He said if I can get off the meds as I have decreased them significantly then I could go back to IF'ing again.