Intermittent fasting for women

Intermittent fasting for women

Intermittent fasting is gaining in popularity and research confirms that spending some time food-free can have health benefits such as weight loss, improved blood sugar control and reduced inflammation.

But, there’s a catch that affects a lot of people.

Intermittent fasting can negatively affect the hormones progesterone and oestrogen. So, it’s not necessarily a quick fix for women who are still menstruating.

Fasting can interfere with ovulation and your menstrual cycle. Even if you’re not trying to get pregnant, oestrogen and progesterone have effects across your body. Intermittent fasting can still be effective for women, but you must do it correctly.

The impact of fasting on women’s health

Women can get many of the same benefits from intermittent fasting as men.

  • Weight loss
  • Improved immunity
  • Reduced inflammation
  • Better blood sugar regulation
  • Improved gut health
  • Decreased appetite
  • Improved blood pressure
  • Lowered blood triglycerides

The effects of intermittent fasting for women, though, usually aren’t as dramatic as the results in males. And the reasons are entirely based on hormones.

Fasting can make oestrogen and progesterone take a nose-dive.

How fasting affects hormones

Throughout your menstrual cycle, your oestrogen and progesterone levels change. The rise and fall of your hormones is chiefly regulated by gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH).

GnRH can be very sensitive to environmental factors. Fasting can prevent it from functioning well and releasing the chemicals needed to stimulate oestrogen and progesterone.

One reason may be that fasting makes your body behave as if food is scarce. Because this is not a good situation for a healthy pregnancy, your body stops ovulating to prevent you becoming pregnant.

That lowers the oestrogen and progesterone in your body, which can cause a cascade of symptoms, including:

  • Changes in your menstrual cycle, including skipped periods
  • Moodiness or irritability
  • Hot flashes and night sweats
  • Headaches
  • Low sex drive (libido)
  • Dry skin
  • Hair loss
  • Acne
  • Trouble sleeping
  • Heart palpitations
  • Infertility

Menopause and fasting

After menopause, oestrogen and progesterone levels don’t fluctuate much, remaining at a relatively constant low level.

This means that intermittent fasting may be more effective for post-menopausal females. But you need to be cautious.

After menopause, ovulation and menstruation won’t be affected by intermittent fasting, but some women still experience symptoms of having low hormone levels after menopause. So, you must start slowly and be aware of whether fasting is causing additional symptoms.

How women can fast safely

If you’re pregnant, breastfeeding or trying to conceive, intermittent fasting isn’t recommended. But if that doesn’t apply to you, you may be able to reap some of the benefits of intermittent fasting without a major impact on your hormones. But you should consider a few precautions first.

It’s not that you shouldn’t try intermittent fasting, but you’ll be better to go slowly.

Don’t go to extremes

There are several different approaches to intermittent fasting and some are more intense than others.

      • Restrict eating to certain hours per day
      • Eat on a normal schedule for five days of the week and restrict calories on two days
      • Fasting on alternate days

Post menopausal women

Start with a 12-hour fasting/12-hour eating, for example, you fast between 8 p.m. and 8 a.m. After a couple of weeks, increase your fasting time by two hours, for example 7 pm to 9 am.

Assuming it’s going well, after another  couple of weeks, increase your fasting to 16 hours, say 6 pm to 10 am.

Adjust the times to suit yourself. If you feel that it is not helping, or you have a worsening of symptoms, then dial it back to a schedule that makes you feel good.

Menstruating women

Fasting will be more effective and cause less hormonal imbalance if you time it with your cycle.

If you are still menstruating, the best time for you to do intermittent fasting is after your period starts and the week after.

You’ll need to limit your fasting during the two weeks before your period is due, as that is when you will be ovulating. During that time, your hormones are more likely to be affected by fasting.

And the week before your period your body is most vulnerable to stress. Oestrogen drops during that time, leading to cortisol sensitivity, symptoms of which include mood swings, low energy and increased appetite or food cravings.

So you can work up to a 16 hour fast but only do it in the early part of your cycle. After that, confine fasting to an easier 12 hour regime.