There’s no question that intermittent fasting is all the rage these days.
But what many people don’t realize is that there are some significant differences between the way intermittent fasting affects men and women.
Why is intermittent fasting different for women?
In part, it’s because of their unique biology.
Women tend to have a higher proportion of fat on their bodies than their male counterparts (1).
This means they store more energy in the form of fat.
This extra reserve of energy can help during fasting periods.
However, women have a slower metabolic rate than men too, which can make it harder to burn that fat off (2).
Another factor is that women’s bodies are more sensitive to the hormone leptin, which helps to regulate appetite (3).
This means that women may find it harder to stick to a fasting protocol and are more likely to feel hunger pangs during a fast.
However, this does not mean they should not give intermittent fasting a try.
It just means that the protocol should be adapted to suit the woman and for her to pay attention to her body’s hunger signals when fasting.
Due to fluctuations in hormone levels, women may find that their intermittent fasting results vary from month to month.
All of these factors mean that women need to approach intermittent fasting from a different angle than men.
But when done correctly, intermittent fasting can be a powerful tool for boosting weight loss, improving energy levels, and stabilizing moods.
Intermittent Fasting Plan For Women
Women need to be careful not to overdo it with the fasting – too much can lead to hormonal imbalances.
However, some health issues linked to hormone imbalances can be helped with fasting. For instance, in the case of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS).
PCOS is a condition where a much higher amount of male sex hormone is produced by the ovaries.
Long story short, this can lead to infertility and, as many women with PCOS are often insulin resistant, they can experience weight gain (4).
Fasting can be really beneficial in helping women to reduce insulin resistance.
The knock on effect of this is that this will also help to reduce their weight.
Better still, it can also improve the woman’s chances of getting pregnant (5).
After the age of fifty, women go through a hormonal change called menopause.
Many women gain weight during this time of their lives (6).
This is an occasion when women can benefit from intermittent fasting in order to lose that weight.
With regard to the negative side of fasting, it can have an adverse effect on blood sugar control (7).
It can also affect reproduction (8) because it can reduce or stop menstruation (9).
However, this is usually when women take it to extremes and fast for too long and reduce the number of calories they eat too much.
Take things slowly.
The best plan for intermittent fasting, if you are a woman, is to take things slowly.
Pay attention to how your body responds and adjust your fasting plan in light of that.
The best way to ease into an intermittent fasting schedule is to take baby steps. Start with one day a week to begin with.
Start with a short fast and build up.
A great way to start is by fasting for twelve hours and eating during the other twelve hours.
The following week, you can then increase to fasting on alternate days.
Once you feel comfortable with doing that, increase the days of fasting until you are doing a twelve hour fast every day.
As long as you have not noticed any unwanted side effects, increase the fasting time while reducing the eating time by one hour at a time.
An ideal fasting time is sixteen hours, when you will be eating within the other eight hours.
Do not fast for longer than twenty four hours.
Women can fast for up to twenty four hours, but should not be tempted to go longer than that without food.
This is because it can upset the delicate balance of hormones.
This includes an increase in cortisol and cause melatonin to be released earlier than usual (10).
This change in melatonin release can disrupt the sleep wake cycle.
Chronically high levels of cortisol, which is the stress hormone, can cause increased hunger and cravings.
This could lead to weight gain or slow down weight loss (11).
If a woman is following an intermittent fasting plan to lose weight, this is obviously not ideal.
Do not exercise excessively on fasting days.
On days that they are doing any length of fast, women should either not exercise or only do gentle exercise.
High intensity exercise needs to be fuelled, so overdoing things on an empty stomach is not advisable.
The only exception is to exercise at the end of the fasting period and eat straight afterwards to replace the stored energy in your muscles (12).
Yoga, Pilates, or a walk are ideal ways to exercise when fasting, and are great for your overall well-being as well as your fitness.
What to eat and drink?
As with anyone else following an intermittent fasting plan, women should drink plenty of water to keep them hydrated and to help them keep hunger pangs away.
Presumably, they are following the plan for health reasons or to lose weight.
So it makes sense to stick to a healthy diet.
Ideally, women should keep processed foods, sweet snacks and desserts to an absolute minimum.
It is best not to eat processed breakfast cereals for breakfast.
Porridge, overnight oats, or Greek yoghurt and berries make a better choice and will keep hunger away for longer.
For lunch, check out our other article for some ideas of what to eat in the middle of the day.
Despite being named as lunch suggestions, they can be used to break your fast if you are skipping your regular early morning meal.
Evening meals should include lean meat or fish, together with plenty of vegetables and some whole grains.
Fruit makes a perfect way to end the meal instead of sugary, stodgy puddings.
Women are best advised to keep the evening meal light and healthy.
In addition, the last meal of the day should not be eaten within two hours before bedtime.
When women should not fast ?
Women should avoid intermittent fasting if they are pregnant, trying to get pregnant or breastfeeding.
Women who have ever suffered from an eating disorder should not follow any fasting protocols either.
Listen to your body.
Finally, if women notice that intermittent fasting is interfering with their sleep, making them feel anxious or stressed, or causing any unwanted side effects, it is advisable to stop and seek the advice of a doctor or dietician.
References
Gender differences in fat metabolism https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11706283/
4 Factors That Make It More Difficult for Women to Lose Weight https://share.upmc.com/2018/07/harder-for-women-to-lose-weight/
Differential physiological responses to central leptin overexpression in male and female rats https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5739960/
Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/polycystic-ovary-syndrome-pcos
Fasting as possible complementary approach for polycystic ovary syndrome: Hope or hype? https://xeniamed.it/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/22.-Fasting-PCOS.pdf
Obesity in menopause – our negligence or an unfortunate inevitability? https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5509974/#!po=13.6364
Glucose tolerance and skeletal muscle gene expression in response to alternate day fasting https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1038/oby.2005.61
Gonadal Transcriptome Alterations in Response to Dietary Energy Intake: Sensing the Reproductive Environment https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2607546/#!po=22.7273
Intermittent Fasting For Women: A Beginner’s Guide https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/intermittent-fasting-for-women
Endocrine and chronobiological effects of fasting in women https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11334904/
How Too Much Stress Can Cause Weight Gain (and What to Do About It) https://www.orlandohealth.com/content-hub/how-too-much-stress-can-cause-weight-gain-and-what-to-do-about-it
Intermittent fasting: Should you exercise on empty? https://edition.cnn.com/2014/12/30/health/dailyburn-exercise-empty/index.html
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