Does Intermittent Fasting Work for Women?

[Sara]

I saw this article posted on Lauren Brooks blog. It talks about the hazards and drawbacks of intermittent fasting for women. Yikes, sure covers a lot! A bit overwhelming if you ask me.
BTW: Can read it here: http://breakingmuscle.com/nutrition/train-man-eat-woman
Just bringing it up because I thought it would bring about a good discussion.

[linda]

I read the article. It’s full of anecdotes! Which is fine….but, they are anecdotes. (I mean, there are JUST as many women, posting on this site, who have VERY DIFFERENT ANECDOTAL EVIDENCE TO OFFER!)

For me, someone saying, “I don’t eat dairy, wheat, grains, or sugars” is just a different form of “diet control”. IF really is simply “diet control” – and I believe it is controlling not only the window of time in which you eat, but also the calories that you eat within that window. I don’t EVER remember reading ANYTHING in IF about “bingeing” as being appropriate or laudable!

I am very interested in what the studies will show, about IF and hormones….THOSE studies I will read.

I’m not experiencing sleeplessness, lack of periods, moodiness, etc. I did reintroduce caffeinated coffee into my diet in the last 2 months, but actually still feel like I could take it or leave it – I do NOT think it is the ‘caffeine’ which is making the difference in IF working for me.

[Gloria]

In my 30’s, still have the hormonal ‘stuff’ of fertility – and, uh. IF has ROCKED for me – esp. when it comes to my periods! Of course, I’m also nowh ere near low bodyfat -and I think that variable changes a LOT around how your body reacts to caloric ‘restriction’ of any kind.

The other thing that’s puzzled me a lot about a lot of the blow-back to IF is…. uh. This is how humans used to eat. We ate when there was food, and when there wasn’t, we went hungry, and we hoped we could get more food in us before we died. And yet, somehow, we managed to have babies and propagate the species.
To me, eating infrequently seems to be more ‘evolutionary normal’ than breakfast at 8, lunch at noon, and dinner at 6. And I suspect that a lot of people who aren’t living in ‘modernized’ societies STILL eat like that today.

But that’s just me.

I wonder how much of the ‘additional stress’ they talked about was because they were…. well…. stressing themselves out over eating?

[Julie]

I definitely don’t think fasting is for everyone, but no one knows how they react to anything until they try. This is all a huge experiment. I know for example, my friend who did an ultra low cal diet — one I wouldn’t personally be able to do for 21 days straight which she did. However, I am able to do a 24 or 36 hr fast occasionally and she said she tried to skip breakfast a few times and felt awful — admittedly, she said maybe it’s mental but she prefers having more meals spread out than waiting for a bigger meal. I don’t judge. Whatever works. All I know is that every since I regularly started skipping breakfast and throwing in the occasional 24 hr fast, I’ve been in the best shape of my life.

[Anna]

I am glad that more people are writing about intermittent fasting in regard to women, so props to her for doing so. I also remember reading the other blog piece she referred to a while back and thought the same thing. However (of course I have a “however”), I don’t like the tone of ‘women shouldn’t be doing it, period’. I 100% believe that it is entirely individual.

I have been fasting now for close to a year and a half. I had all my blood work done plus additional vitamins tested for also in February of this year, and everything is within normal ranges with me except for my ferritin levels (which I’ve always had an issue with). Cholesterol is perfect, blood pressure is perfect. I’m healthy as a horse in that regard. There is no way I could have lost all the weight I did without incorporating intermittent fasting. It was hard as hell in the beginning, but I trained myself into it and had no problems. Up until fairly recently I was doing ESE twice a week. Now I’m doing more Leangains style. I can work out fasted or not. As far as I’m concerned, it’s a mind over matter thing. I am NOT saying that the women who have problems are making it up. All I know is my own experience. And so I don’t like it when other people who have bad experiences then make blanket statements, such as this one (which really bugged me):

I, too, developed a coffee addiction that I’d never had before experimenting with fasting. If you didn’t have a coffee addiction before IF, you will after.

Huh ruh? Drinking coffee is a choice that we make. Coffee is addicting. Yeah, start going down that road and you may run into problems. I myself never got through my fasts relying on coffee. You can probably get through fasts snorting cocaine too. But that is illegal and unacceptable, so of course you wouldn’t do it. There needs to be some common sense here.

One thing that I do find interesting which was pointed out in these blogs is the possible correlation between stress levels and fasting. I’m personally under a lot of stress right now, and my regular tried and true ESE fasts were not working for me, so I changed it. But again, without studies to back this up, it’s just anecdotal. We can convince ourselves of anything we want, imo.

My option is that if you legitimately give IF a go and it’s not working, don’t do it! Or change it up! One of the other problems with the blog is that there is no set definition for what IF is. Is it ESE? Is it Alternate Day Fasting? Is it Leangains? Or is it just skipping breakfast? If you don’t eat for 6 hours, is that IF? Kinda reminds me of the breakfast podcast by the guys in regard to there not being a real definition of what breakfast is. So, what is one woman’s personal experience may not be applied to how other women are applying IF. If you are super cut and lean, and you do 36 hour fasts twice a week and you have problems with it, then DON’T DO THAT! But don’t tell the woman who is 250 pounds not to do it either. Let her figure it out for herself.

Here is a quote in the blog regarding Krista:

This led her into a vicious cycle of fasting, restricting, then bingeing. Krista clearly stated, “If you didn’t have an eating disorder before you started IF, you will afterwards.”

And yet, just before this, Krista said:

An occasional fast, whether it is for religious purposes, sickness, or inflammation reduction, can be safe and useful. Fasting for a few hours or a day here and there can teach you that you won’t dwindle away, that you will survive, and you will actually get a chance to experience real hunger. Krista explained some of the positives as, “cellular cleanup, enhancing insulin sensitivity, and reducing inflammation.” Krista will do a partial fast on Sundays when she is relaxed, calm, well rested, and just doesn’t want to bother making breakfast, but she said, “calling it a ‘fast’ is sort of glorifying it with a sense of purpose.” Then she will get around to eating in the mid-afternoon. “IF has helped me observe and more accurately understand my physical hunger signals, which has been very helpful.

So obviously, there is the possibility that this tool can be used and abused. But if you listen to your body, and don’t abuse it, I don’t see that anyone should have to go down that dark road.

We do need more studies. That is certain. The guys give us everything they’ve got, but unfortunately a lot of it is geared towards men because that is what studies are available.

[Kelly]

I found the blanket statement of ‘fasting is bad for women’ in that blog to be annoying as well. Stuff that is based on anecdote and personal experience, while interesting and maybe entertaining, does not pass the smell test of real science.

Well designed long term research studies: lots of them, are what is needed here. I don’t take anything as gospel that does not have a butt load of real hard evidence (i.e. lots of research). Opinions and personal experiences are just that. There are so many variables that are involved with eating, dieting, working out etc that my reaction when I see this stuff is to say “Well, that depends… ”

Because I don’t really know the circumstances of what that person is doing. Fasting does not work for everyone because there is a huge psychological/cultural component involved in dieting, hunger and eating that you can’t account for and can’t control for either.

Some people get freaked out not eating for a few hours and will go into a self induced “hypoglycemia” which is mental not physiological. Their blood sugar is fine but they have convinced themselves that they feel like crap. OK, fine. The first time you rode a bike or roller-skated was probably a real Charley Foxtrot too.

For many things in life there is a steep learning curve. Fasting falls into that category. It’s not a requirement to lose weight and it is not magic but it is a great tool in the tool box, once you master it. Losing fat and maintaining a lean body requires lots of tools and a fair amount of practice. Lifting weights requires practice too. Most things in life worth doing are that way.

As for the ‘fasting causing eating disorders’- LOL. Most women obsessed with losing weight, getting lean and working out fall into borderline ED territory. Particularly the ones who write and read fitness blogs religiously. Short of religion, politics and sex nothing gets peoples’ shorts in a bunch more than diet & food. I’d say it’s all related in a way but I’ll leave that to others to sort out.

The interesting thing about the interwebs is that everyone can have their say. The bad thing is that opinions tend to count as real fact. That’s not so good.

[betty]

I think we are all different. Even with scientific evidence, you still have to find what works for you. Fasting is not for everyone, whether it be mindset, emotional eating, stress, or an actually flux in hormones.

I would think that stress would be a huge factor and lack of sleep would be part of “stress”. It is for a calorie deficit, let alone fasting.

For me the scientific data was my doctor checking my hormone levels throughout my weight loss journey. They really didn’t “flux” much and in fact my thyroid, progesterone, and adrenal levels improved, even with 24 hour fasts. The DXA scan was the final scientific evidence that I did not lose lean body mass and that was good enough for me.

Anecdotal, I was able to 24 hour IF when I had more fat reserves (and this is when I had my hormone levels checked often). I have found that now I can only do shorter fasts. Now that I don’t have significant fat reserves I have found shorter fasts work better for me as well as heading to the gym fasted (something I did not do during my weight loss phase and the first year of my maintenance phase – mainly due to my own limited mindset).

[Anonymous]

Thanks for sharing this article.

While I definitely think the article was heavy on negative responses to intermittent fasting, I don’t think we can completely deny what these women experienced. It may be that at their level of leanness, or with a certain amount of workout intensity that certain issues are more likely to crop up for people. Even the guys have set limits on the lengths of the fasts that they would recommend at each level of leanness. IF is such a broad term, and can be used for almost anything from a 12 hour fast to a multi-day fast.

There isn’t much money to be made in studying fasting in humans, so I am not very optimistic about how many studies we’ll see on this issue. Certainly, if a person has problems from practicing IF, then I would tell them they shouldn’t use it. So simple, really. There is no harm in becoming aware that some people do run into issues. I would easily agree that some people have negative experiences with IF, but that is hardly the same thing as saying that women, as a whole, shouldn’t use it. Big difference. It’s wise to judge well how it affects you, and drop it if it causes problems. For example, I had problems arise while doing a ketogenic low-carb diet, but that doesn’t mean it’s bad for all women. Obviously, it’s helpful for many, especially those with blood sugar issues.

It may be that intermittent fasting is too stressful when combined with several other forms of stress on the body… long hours of workouts, certain health issues, low levels of bodyfat, etc. Maybe we will have more answers to these questions in the future.

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