Why Intermittent Fasting Doesn't Work For Women

Intermittent Fasting has been a hot topic for the last few years. The internet is awash with testimonials of all the amazing things it can do for people: improved digestion, better sleep, better energy levels, the fastest way to lose weight, and more! And, surprisingly, there is some science to back it up! However… most of the studies done on intermittent fasting… are on Men. This discrepancy is important because what's good for the goose, is not always good for the gander.

To quickly explain IF for those who are unfamiliar, it means taking in the bulk of your calories within a specific time window. There are a variety of protocols out there, but an example would be to not eat for 16 hours, and then get all your food in the remaining 8. So what does that look like? Well, stop eating at 6pm, wake up in the morning and don’t eat breakfast until 10am. That gives you a 16 hour fast, and then you need to get in all your calories for the day between 10am and 6pm. That’s intermittent fasting.

The problem with women fasting for weight loss, is that our hormones react differently than men’s do. While men and women both have the same hormones, we have them in drastically different ratios. And the life cycle of hormones is different as well: while men can experience andropause, it’s a very different experience than what we experience in menopause. 

The handful of studies that do look at intermittent fasting and women point to this result. But I was able to come to this conclusion a bit earlier through anecdotal evidence from my clients.

While I never jumped on the IF bandwagon, I did start to see an influx of new clients who had experienced the exact opposite of what they had hoped when using IF. While some did see a bit of weight loss, all experienced major cravings, zero energy, and most gained unhealthy weight rather than lost. We also saw a huge drop in energy and libido - none of them had the motivation to actually get into their workouts, let alone crush them on the level my regular clients usually did!

Thankfully, getting them all back on a normal, healthy diet, focusing on getting in the right amount of food, and a healthy ratio of all their macronutrients (proteins, carbs, fats), along with proper amounts of water and fiber, brought all of these women the results they were looking for! Energy came rushing back, sleep improved, all of a sudden they were going at their workouts with gusto!!

But why did it happen? Why didn’t IF work for them? It was especially frustrating to a few of them, as they had embarked on this journey with their husbands or partners, who saw some decent results! I have a few theories.

First, while ideally you’re supposed to get your full complement of calories within the 8 hour window, I don’t think most people actually do. I think most people aren’t actually paying close attention to their intake, just to the timing, and the shortened window means that most people see a slight reduction in their intake. For a lot of people, I think this is where the weight loss comes from, but it’s also where the troubles start.

Women don’t deal with caloric restriction very well. While men on temporary low-calorie diets see some positive hormone changes, like increased testosterone and growth hormone, women tend to have a different reaction. Their bodies go into storage mode. It’s like their bodies say “Hey, I haven’t been getting much food, soooo anything you give me, I’m going to store as fat so I have some extra energy when I need it!” And the hormonal changes are also not great. Women experiencing caloric restriction frequently see changes in their menstrual cycle, and might lose their period altogether. This may be an evolutionary adaptation to make sure a child is only born when there’s enough food to ensure its long term survival.

So when women do intermittent fasting, I believe their bodies are getting starved of the energy they need, and then flip into survival/storage mode, leading to a change in hormones that results in less energy, greater fat storage, brain fog and a host of other issues.

So, what’s the solution? Well, don’t do IF if you’re a woman! The faster way to fat loss is through macro balancing. I firmly believe that the best weight loss programs for women, especially those over 40, use macro-balancing as their foundation. 

Macro balancing is simply taking in the right amount of healthy carbs, fats, and proteins, along with proper water and fiber. For most women, this usually means they’re taking in more calories than normal, but the ideal amount of calories for their daily energy needs. So the body is getting all the vitamins & minerals it needs, all the carbs for energy, proteins for muscle building, and fats to help with inflammation and hormone balancing. When the body is routinely getting what it needs, it doesn’t have any need to store fat, so it finds its own equilibrium and you see changes in body composition, energy comes flooding back, sleep improves, so does mood and libido!

So if you haven’t had success in the past with Intermittent Fasting, it might be beneficial for you to shift strategies. If you have any questions about Intermittent Fasting, or our TBT program, which uses macro-balancing, feel free to reach out to us at support@simonelovell.freshdesk.com

Thanks again! Talk soon!

Xo

Simone

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