In this post, I really wanted to dive into how to do intermittent fasting for women properly without causing any health issues. In some cases, women experience missed periods or messed up hormones. Although, with some minor changes, you can actually avoid these issues and reap the awesome benefits of fasting. Here’s how:
The Problem With Fasting For Women
Intermittent fasting for women is an absolutely incredible diet hack for enjoying a diet and getting lean effortlessly.
If someone is used to eating breakfast and small meals throughout the day, it’s tough to stay in line with your diet, let alone enjoy the great pleasures of life. With that said, I believe men and women can do intermittent fasting by using the proper strategies.
I believe I have a pretty good idea of what causes these major issues for women.
After seeing a handful of intermittent fasting women results from my Goddess Toning Program, I decided to talk with the women that have been using intermittent fasting and I found out a few common clues to their success:
Ayla (Actor, Sterling Knight’s girlfriend)
Elise Webb
Usually intermittent fasting for women should not cause any issues… but when women begin seeing issues from fasting, they typically are doing too many things at once.
First and foremost, you cannot go too low in calories. Trying to fast all day and then still eating in a huge calorie deficit will put too much stress on your body.
Next, could be a combination of low calories and knocking out carbs or fats from the diet. Which is going to have a negative effect on your hormones and even training.
Finally, another common issue is adding in too much cardio or strenuous activity. So if you were to do too much activity while on low calorie diets (which typically happens) this is how the problems for women begin to arise.
Intermittent Fasting Plan for Women
After flushing out all of the common issues that create a frustrating experience for women, I came up with a solid intermittent fasting plan for women that contains solutions to these problems.
1) Intermittent fasting for women diet plan
I would recommend women never go less than 10 calories per pound of goal body weight. Going less than that is going to cause issues regardless of what you do.
2) Maintain a balance of nutrients in your diet
Ensure you are getting a balance of wholesome foods along with your moderate calorie deficit. You need to include carbs and fats to support hormonal functioning and training performance.
3) Limit Strenuous Activity
There’s no need to spend hours doing intense cardio or breaking yourself down with too many workouts per week.
Allowing yourself to do a three strength training sessions per week and including walking as your form of cardio is where the magic starts happening. Your body is then not trying to juggle too many things at once. I rarely see any issues when women follow the strategies above. It’s not taking your body into too many extremes.
The final strategy and possibly the most important of them all is to listen to your body!
Listening to your body is how you’ll continually be able to do intermittent fasting and see the great results you deserve while enjoying the process.
Some days, fasting could be effortless. And on some, you may feel hungry first thing in the morning.
That’s okay!
Learn how to fit this into your schedule and still hit your calorie deficit if that means having a small snack in the morning.
On top of that, you can begin fasting only 3 to 4 hours each morning, making sure to have tea, coffee, and sparkling water to blunt appetite. Gradually, you can work on fasting on the same schedule each day and possibly for a couple more hours.
I hope you found this intermittent fasting for women guide helpful. Let me know what you think of these strategies and make sure to share your intermittent fasting experiences!
If you’re interested in learning more about intermittent fasting, I highly recommend you check out my intermittent fasting guide.