Need advice on intermittent fasting.
deanna198888
Posts: 64
I came across an article online saying that intermittent fasting is bad for females. I have been Paleo for just over two weeks now and have been fasting for the past week. I eat between 12pm-5pm. I have tried searching online for more information and everything I keep finding says that it is bad for females because the calorie restrictions can harm fertility, mess with sleep cycle and hormones. I am still eating more than enough calories, my first meal is usually around 1000 and my calories for the day are usually between 1300-2000.
I haven't had any issues so far from the fasting, I feel pretty amazing and it has not hurt my sleep or moods. I read on Mark Sisson's website that you should only fast if your fat adapted. I am not sure if I am or not, I don't eat many carbs so I assume my body is burning fat for fuel but I don't know, I should be in ketosis at this point. The fasting has made big improvements in my health, my blood sugar has stabilized, it used to constantly be up and down. My morning fasting numbers were in the mid 100's when starting and are now in the 70's. I really like intermittent fasting, but don't want to harm my health in the long run.
I haven't had any issues so far from the fasting, I feel pretty amazing and it has not hurt my sleep or moods. I read on Mark Sisson's website that you should only fast if your fat adapted. I am not sure if I am or not, I don't eat many carbs so I assume my body is burning fat for fuel but I don't know, I should be in ketosis at this point. The fasting has made big improvements in my health, my blood sugar has stabilized, it used to constantly be up and down. My morning fasting numbers were in the mid 100's when starting and are now in the 70's. I really like intermittent fasting, but don't want to harm my health in the long run.
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hmm not sure, I tried a 16 fast and it wasn't too bad, I may try it again.0
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I'll have to find where I read it, but from my understanding, IF temporarily drops your hormones while you're doing so, but they bounce back immediately after. I'll get my results from lab work Thursday and will be interested to see if there's any significant difference since I started IF a few weeks ago.0
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I'll have to find where I read it, but from my understanding, IF temporarily drops your hormones while you're doing so, but they bounce back immediately after. I'll get my results from lab work Thursday and will be interested to see if there's any significant difference since I started IF a few weeks ago.
So nothing long term and just stop if I start to have symptoms? I wont be TTC for at least a few years so as long as my long term fertility is unaffected I don't care. How have your results been? How long of a window do you eat?0 -
My body fat percentage is dropping, even though the weight is just staying around the same (so long as something is moving, I'm good). I do 5:2 fasting, because I personally prefer it... it's helping me work through my emotional eating issues, because it's forcing me to realize that I'm not actually hungry a lot of the time, I'm just bored/tired/etc. 16:8 wasn't giving me any results and I had lots of headaches before I started eating for the day. No idea why, but I'm prone to migraines and avoiding them at all costs is my primary goal.0
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I did my first all day fast last weekend and I am into my second one now.
I work night's once a week and the 24 hour fast seems to work well for me.
I came across yet another article on fasting on Marks website.It has lots of good info and links to other articles he has written on the subject.
http://www.marksdailyapple.com/fasting-weight-loss/#axzz2UgJRk2Os
As for the window for eating,when I am doing daily intermittent fasting I work within a 16/8 or a 14/10 window and it suits me fine.0 -
Considering you've only been eating paleo 2 weeks, I would give your body time to adjust to that before trying IF. It's a huge change your body is going through as you become fat adapted, and I would be concerned that add IF on top of it right away is too much of a shock to your body. Jason Seib recommends eating paleo for 4-6 months, and then once you get accustomed to it and if you're not seeing results that you would like, then start tinkering around with different forms of IF.
When I first started fasting (16/8), I lost my period for 2 months, so I really do believe that it does mess with women's hormones. That was pretty scary for me, as I've never had issues with my cycle my entire life. And I wasn't restricting calories significantly. After I started having these issues, I read up a lot about IF and women, and I found that there also just isn't much evidence that it improves fat loss for women.
I currently still eat within an 8-10 hour window most of the time, and have started experimenting with eating 2 big meals each day, instead of 3 meals, and I really like that because of the convenience of planning less meals and being able to be flexible with schedule changes.0 -
On his Leangains site (http://www.leangains.com/) Martin Berkhan recommends that women do a 14/10 split rather than 16/8 split to help alleviate negative side effects.0
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Well I attempted to stop IF but I am still basically eating on the same schedule. I wake up when my son does which is usually around 8 and then I am busy with him for a couple hours (hes a clinger) so I still am not eating my first meal until 11ish or later and eat dinner around 5pm. I made bulletproof coffee this morning and figure I will start drinking that so that I am at least giving my body something until I actually eat. The only thing I can do is eat another meal after dinner but I am just not hungry after anymore, my appetite is really starting to go down.0
