To fast or not to fast? (So much contradictory information!)

[EyUpMiDuck]

Good morning everyone. I just wondered if anyone has any lived experience on whether fasting is good or bad for women?

I've been doing 16:8 or 18:6 for around a year. I then read some information and listened to podcasts by Megan Ramos and Jason Fung, who recommend even sometimes doing a 24 hour or 36 hour fast. There seems to be lots of research etc about the benefits of fasting.

However, I then heard Stacy Sims talking on a podcast, saying women shouldn't fast!

For context, I'm interested in fasting partly for health benefits but also I'm trying to lose 7-10 pounds. I'm not overweight (BMI 22), but I'm quite short and definitely feel/look better around 7-10 pounds lighter. I've been trying to lose these few pounds for around 6 months but nothing is working (I track every calorie and only eat around 1200 a day plus I'm quite active).

I've now really confused myself about whether to stick with 16:8 every day, do a 24 or 36 hour fast sometimes or completely stop fasting!

I started as I have gastric problems linked to chronic fatigue syndrome amongst other things and it felt like nothing else was working. I'd been told 5 small meals was best for cfs and I couldn't understand why as surely my body was using energy constantly digesting foods? So decided to try it and it definitely has helped my symptoms (not resolved). I think it wouldn't harm to try. I'm flexible this week just did 15 hours but normally do 16 -20(average 18 hours in last year). You have to ride out the first few days (maybe plan when your not got anything to physical on).

Thanks for your reply. As I said in OP, I've been fasting for at least 16 hours for the last year (I find it quite easy!).

My question was more about the contradictory information that is out there and I'm trying to decide what to do!

Just giving this a bump to see if anyone else has any thoughts or experience?

Zoe did some research... think they came down in 16/8 being fab for you but long fasts not great for women's hormones... worth checking out

I just love fasting and find it works very well for me - easy, enjoyable and keeps the weight stable ..... so I've done a mix of everything over the last 5 years, lost a big chunk of weight and believe it suits my body

@EyUpMiDuck I have noticed a few female strength training gurus that I follow (which includes Stacy Sims) are not fans of intermittent fasting. They would rather women (especially if menopausal) do strength training for health as a primary response combined with a high protein diet for losing weight, which supports the muscles in doing the strength training. If you exercise a lot (particularly strength training) then extended fasting is hard to do. Stacy’s mantra is a trained woman is well fed (or something like that). As I do a lot of exercise, I have decided not to fast more than 12 hours, which is overnight. I have increased my protein intake particularly at breakfast time and cut out all my snacks except mid morning.

I have been losing weight, so it does seem to be working for me. Increasing my protein has reduced my appetite for coffee, and I am drinking a lot more tea!

I loved Stacy’s book and I watch a lot of her You Tube stuff. There is a lovely British You Tuber called Melissa O’Neill who has a similar message to Stacy.

Find fasting useful to eliminate a few pounds from weekend/holiday excess. I skip breakfast and run fasted. Although I do have a cup of tea for breakfast and a cup of tea after my run. It works for me in terms of weight loss.

I personally think the use case is maintaining the body's ability to use fat for fuel efficiently. Like MAF training does. It's an important function of the body. Use it or lose it!

I do 16 hour fasts twice a week. Anything longer than 24 hours seems unhealthy to me but I'm no expert.

I love fasting and genuinely feel and look better having done them so surely if fasting was unhealthy that wouldn't be the case. I trust my body to be my guide here and in this case fasting makes me feel healthier.

I used to find it helped but then I think it stopped working for me. I’ve been following Stacey and some others who say that eating a protein rich breakfast around sunrise and before you have coffee is best. Fills me up and I don’t overeat during the day.

I think fasting does suit some people or works in the short run but isn’t ideal for everyone. Worth also trying skipping dinner rather than breakfast especially if you usually eat late.

Thank you for the replies. It's interesting to hear about different experiences.

Thank you for recommending Melissa Neil. I'd not heard of her before. I've just watched a couple of her YouTube videos. Will watch some more later.

@R053 I've done some serious binge watching of Melissa Neill's YouTube videos in any spare moment (well, mainly while cooking/cleaning, etc!) over the last few days!

Have you had success from following any of her advice? I'm wondering if I need to make some changes. As I said in my OP, I think I'm quite similar to Melissa's 'starting point'. I'm still a bit confused by the contradictory information from different 'experts' but a lot of what she says seems to make sense.

@EyUpMiDuck yes. I did go to a dietician though to get a protein eating plan tailored for me. She front loaded the proteins early in the day starting with breakfast so I wouldn’t feel so hungry and over eat later on. I finish eating by 5.30 pm, so it is fasting lite! It has surprised me how well it works and I have lost 3 kilos since mid December (about 6 pounds? I have forgotten imperial measurements since moving to Oz!)

I am doing Melissa’s work out types - lots of weights, high intensity intervals for cardio and not as much running. Her science is very on point too, which is what I like about her You Tube content.

I really got in to weight lifting in my late twenties. Loved it! Lifting heavy, counting calories and macros (inc using protein powder) kept me at a size 8.
Now in my 40s and perimenopausal, this all went out the window. Just put on weight and I couldn’t figure out why the old tools no longer worked. So far, fasting is though. I think you need to experiment and find out what works for you (and your hormones).

Thank you for all the replies here. I'm still feeling so confused. It's so hard that so many 'experts' have such opposing views and all seem to have research and evidence to back-up what they say.

I think that's because the human body is so adaptive. There are many different features which react to different environmental factors. It's like we have different 'modes'.

I am having the exact same dilemma. FWIW I didn't find I lost that much on fasting. So my new protocol is as follows

• exercise days: fuel before a workout with a small protein smoothie. I eat afterwards but not within the hour per Stacey
• then I try to do fast days on my rest days. Typically 20-4 hrs (basically don't eat from after dinner and then try to not eat breakfast or lunch and hang on for dinner the next day).

My workouts are better so far. Weight has gone down but I had post Xmas fat to lose so not sure that's a fair comparison

That's interesting to hear @Whyherewego

Do you mind sharing what a typical week looks like for you in terms of fasting, workouts, meals, calories/protein, etc?
Are you at a healthy weight/trying to lose weight?

I do 3 x cardio, 2 x yoga, 1 x weights in a week with 1 total rest day.
On the exercises days I have a protein smoothie before which is protein powder, milk, banana and sometimes some other fruit. Afterwards, c 2 hours later I'll usually have eggs. Dinner is usually homecooked meal with a meat or fish protein at the centre.
I've got a sweet tooth so I do have treats, hot choc or biscuit or rice pudding on my exercise days.
On the fast day I just have black coffee or tea and nothing else until dinner which is then as above.
I am 70kg and should really be about 66/8. So I've not huge amounts to lose bit it is fat unfortunately!

I was listening to this latest Zoe podcast with Prof Valter Longo the fasting scientist from the US. It's about time-restricted eating for longevity rather than weight loss but some of the points made are interesting.
In the podcast Longo says he thinks that 12 hour fasts are best for the long term. You can do longer ones but you might end up harming yourself in the longer run. Also in the podcast: Tim Spector says he thinks 12-14 hours is about right. I had not heard this viewpoint before (ie that longer fasts might be medically harmful)
The fasting research is still quite new in the great scheme of things and I am not sure how much has been done on the effects on women specifically (or subgroups of women eg post-meno)

That’s interesting thanks for sharing a link to the podcast

Thank you. I often listen to Zoe podcasts, but not listened to that yet.

I'd love a podcast with different people, with their differing views all debating this together. I've done a quick search, but can't find anything.

I listen to one podcast/read an article and am persuaded by them that a couple of long (up to 36 hours) fasts per week are good. Then I listen to something else that says don't fast for longer than 14 hours and definitely don't exercise fasted! So confusing!

I'm a healthy weight, but really want to lose a few pounds (and particularly prevent a gradual creeping up of weight).

I'm quite short and already calorie count/eat healthy food, am active etc. Since I turned 40 it just seems like I have to eat so few calories to not gain weight, which is really not sustainable when I'm so active.

Here's Stacey Sims and Mindy Pelz who have differing views, I listened to it a while ago and felt it was a bit of a fudge, but basically Stacey Sims just said she focuses on women who are active he shouldn't fast from what I remember

I guess it depends on why you're fasting, some of the cell cleanup mechanisms don't happen until you've been fasting a while, but if you're mainly focusing on weight loss, then that's different. And again, there's a difference between what you do every week and what you might want to do once in a while for different reasons.

Thank you @SierraSapphire
I'll listen to that tomorrow.

I'm reading Fast Like a Girl by Mindy Pelz. I'm doing 16:8 4-5 days a week and it helps my energy- I have MS (multiple sclerosis). There's some research that supports longer fasts (3 days) for neurodegenerative conditions like MS so my aim will be to build up to longer fasts over time.